Ajarn Yodtong Senanan.

[fire cobra]

Ajarn Yodtong Senanan passed away 2pm Thai time Friday,a great man and Ajarn he will be sorely missed by his family ,friends and the Muay Thai family across the world,R.I.P.Ajarn gone but never forgotten.

[george stando]

RIP - to true legend in Muay Thai

I am reposting this from Mixedmartialarts.com and marks site:

Muay Thai legend and Sityodtong founder Kru Yodtong Senanan has passed away in Pattaya, Thailand. Born in 1937, Kru Yodtong founded Sityodtong 50 years ago. The camp has produced countless world champions in Muay Thai, and in boxing as well., including Samart Payakaroon, Kongtoranee Payakaroon, Nuengpichit Sityodtong, Detpitak Sityodtong, Chartchai Sityodtong, Yoddecha Sityodtong, Daotong Sityodtong and Yodsanan Sityodtong.

Mark DellaGrotte, one of the leading instructors in MMA was a direct student of Kru Yodtong, and opened his famed Sityodtong gym in Massachusetts with his blessing.

DellaGrotte's website offers biographical information on Kru Yodtong, written by Damian Meyer of Australia.

Yodtong Senanan was born seventy-three years ago in the province of Banpong, which is about two hundred and fifty kilometers south of Bangkok. From an early age Yodtong had a fascination with all forms of fighting.He is the best and most well known teacher of Thai Boxing inside Thailand and around the world. He is and continues to be the individual most responsible for promoting Muay Thai to the world.

From Rob Kaman to Ramon Dekkers, anyone who is anyone in the Muay Thai world, has made the pilgrimage and have gone to Yodtong’s camp Sityodtong, to learn from the master himself. It is more than just a training camp; it’s a right of passage among foreign fighters that symbolizes that they have come of age in the Muay Thai world.

Yodtong considers all forms of combat “a science, which can be studied and ultimately mastered.” Yodtong Senanan’s world famous Muay Thai Boxing Camp, Sityodtong, is situated one hundred and fifty kilometres south of Bangkok, just on the outskirts of the city of Pattaya.

Yodtong provides the boys in his gym with their every possible need, including food, accommodation, clothing and of course training. Although some fighters at his camp never become good Muay Thai fighters, Yodtong still lets them stay and continues to look after them. He believes it is his obligation to help the boys when they don’t have anyone else to turn to.

Early Days.

Yodtong has had a passion for Muay Thai from an early age. When Yodtong was a boy Muay Thai was a lot more dangerous. Boys were not allowed to compete in fights until they were fifteen years of age. So for many years Yodtong would just go to the various Muay Thai camps in his area and just stand and patiently and patiently study the other boys training.

Yodtong started to train properly when he was fourteen years old and he had his first fight shortly after his fifteenth birthday. His fighting name then was Erawan Detprasit Banpra, his real name is Erawan Sriwaralak. The name Detrprasit was the name of his camp, and Banpra was the name of the stadium where he often competed.

He continued to fight professionally until the age of twenty-one. After this time Yodtong was in semi-retirement, but would still fight if the money was right. In all Yodtong had a total of forty nine fights, remembering that in Thailand at that period of time fighters did not fight as often as today, so his forty nine fights would be equal to about a hundred fights, by a fighter of today’s standards.

At the age of seventeen Yodtong changed camps and took the name of his new camp, Senanan, (this replaced his family name of Sriwaralak). It was at his new camp that Yodtong first began instructing the other fighters in the art of Muay Thai. It was apparent to everyone that Yodtong had a special gift for teaching fighters the art of Muay Thai.

First Camp.

After training several champions for the gym, Yodtong realized that instead of working for the manager of the gym, he should start his own gym, and this is exactly what he did. Thus, Yodtong built his first gym in 1960 at Mabtaput, which is in the province of Rayong, located south of Pattaya. Yodtong stayed at Mabtaput for approximately fifteen years until it was time to move and expand to an even bigger Muay Thai camp, which he did at Naklu.

Due to the large number of fighters training with Yodtong he had the need to change his camp yet again. This time Yodtong purchased several acres of land at Banglamung province, (which is just a few kilometres from Pattaya) and built the current Sityodtong Muay Thai Boxing Camp, (although the present gym is on the original property, the original gym was moved six years ago to it’s present site).

The Sityodtong Camp became the envy of other managers and fighters alike throughout Thailand. The fighters that live and train at Sityodtong have all their needs met there, and are not distracted by outside influences like other fighters in Bangkok. At the camp the fighters live in either the dormitories or one of the several houses on the property, depending on how successful they are in the ring. Also a full-time cook is employed to create specific meals for the fighters. The fighters don’t have to worry about anything except training hard and winning fights.

In Thailand Muay Thai is not just a sport, it is a science, and Yodtong believes that to really study and learn Muay Thai, it cannot be done on a part-time basis, but requires years of full-time dedication and intensive study. Maybe this full-time commitment by the fighters at Sityodtong is the reason for their extraordinarily success. Sityodtong has produced a total of twenty two Lumpinee Champions (Lumpinee is Thailand’s biggest and most prestigious fight venue) making it Thailand’s most successful Muay Thai Boxing camp ever.

[tenzen]

Oh man. This is sad to hear. Kru yodtong was a major force in the world of muay thai and his passing is going to have a huge impact for anyone who knows anything about muay thai. He will be missed. R.I.P Kru Yodtong

[Tee Sok]

May you rest in peace, Kru Yodtong