Team YMT finally completed their quest to Muskogee Oklahoma to compete in the StriKing Muay Thai Tournament.
Here is a quick recap of the events:
We arrived safely Thursday Nov 6 and immediately began the weight cut for PC Jack, Zhang and Julius. We also had the pleasure of cutting weight with some new friends from Houston Muay Thai and Kru Pong's Muay Thai.
On Friday all of our fighters comfortably made weight and got to relax for the rest of the day watching Glory on tv and eating.
First fight on Saturday for us was Jack for the mens 135 B class. Jack got in there and fought a close war against an opponent from the US. Jack had just enough edge in the clinch and overall power to win unanimous decision. Also need to mention that there was one pretty sick elbow in there that made a sweat cloud...ohwaaaay!
Second up was Julius for the mens 125 c class. Julius got in there with the guy who would eventually win the entire tournament in a very devastating fashion. Julius used great technique and kept a tight guard, but the opponent was one of the strongest and fastest fighters there that weekend. We made a call, and decided to live to fight another day. Julius has improved so much in the last little while. We are excited to see what he does next.
This concluded our Saturday. Mike had only this year's TBA champion in his bracket, so he would fight in the finals on Sunday. Jack had a four man bracket, so likewise he would fight on Sunday for the gold.
Sunday saw Mike and Jack up back to back. We had a flight to catch and needed to win and go home.
Mike stepped up against the 2014 TBA champ. After a 2 and a half year lay off, Mike came back into training and fighting this year, racking up 1 fight and a few demos. This was an incredible test for him and we were excited to see him rise up. Mike opened up with hard straight knees, and rallied with this punches. His opponent, however, used his speed and strength to get inside, work a strong clinch game and then moved enough to keep the fight in his favour. It was a banger of a fight, but Mike lost to a great opponent. He did show us that the title was not out of his reach, and we are confident he will be back with some impressive wins.
Jack was our final fghter, matched against a tough customer from the U.S. This, as PC Patrick would say, was a great Thai vs Dutch style match up. Almost right from the get go, Jack got in his opponent's face to open up with power punches and kicks. His opponent tried to play a strike and circle game but Jack put too much pressure for it to work. Clinched up, it was actually a very tight race. His opponent utilized good turns and had some strong knees of his own. However, Jack still applied more pressure in this range and continued to move his opponent backward.
In the end, Jack was announced as the winner unanimously, and the B class StriKing tournament Champion!
It was an incredible weekend, one which we will not soon forget. All of our fighters faced the top guys at the tournament. This was a very valuable experience for all of them.
A sincere thank you to the coaching and support team: Kru Jen, PC Construction, PC Patrick, PC David, PC Cam and Imtiaz. Also a thank you to all who supported us in our fundraisers and training!
Love, respect and believe from the YMTeam!
