#149 Provincial Kaimuay Knowledge | Santi Ubon Muay Thai (85 min)

The Muay Thai Library is known for our commitment to documenting and archiving the Muay of the great legendary fighters of Thailand's past, making sure that the details and spirit of fighters like Dieselnoi, Karuhat, Samson, Chamuakpet and so many others will not be entirely lost as Muay Thai in Thailand rapidly changes and becomes more oriented to the West. If you've been supporting the Library for long you know that we also document the Muay of so many others in Thailand, truly incredible teachers and fighters whose names may not be so well known. We are trying to preserve as much of Thailand's Muay Thai as possible, and because Muay Thai is so richly a part of decades if not centuries of cultural development this means that the Muay of many former fighters or hidden krus may never been known to the West. This session is incredibly special because it goes one step deeper down, into the disappearing kaimuay (Muay Thai camp) of Thailand. The truth is that when we have intereviewed legends of the Golden Age and before repeatedly they tell us that their Muay did not come from some special teacher or kru. Muay Thai in Thailand is broadly not passed down in some sort of one-on-one Master to Student relationship. It is born through the kaimuay, the camp, which communally developes skills, many times in the absence of direct correction. (If interested in some of this read Kevin's blog post: The Slow Cook versus the Hack – Thailand Muay Thai Development.)

The truth is that much of Thailand's Muay Thai knowledge is actually communally possessed and taught, in the kaimuay, through long term training and fighting processes. Kaimuay are not the "commercial gyms" that have become quite prevenlant. They are usually local homes or small camps that develop young fighters, producing "classes" of age groups that develop together, sharpening their skills in local festival fights, traditionally until they are able to fight in Bangkok stadia. Muay Thai has changed so dramatically since the Golden Age, kaimuay throughout the provinces are vastly diminished, and fighters are taken into Bangkok with less and less experience, but still it is IN the kaimuay that the roots of Thai learning are found. And, if the kaimuay is not saved Thailand's Muay Thai will be radically altered.

It's very, very special to include The Kaimuay in the Muay Thai Library, along side all the other great names. In this case its the Santi Ubon Muay Thai gym in Ubon Ratachatani, not far from Nungubon's gym.

Santi Ubon Muay Thai Gym, Google Map Link

So while there are really good technical instruction moments in this session, some things that can importantly improve your Muay Thai, more important is to see how it is that Muay Thai is trained and slowly developed between fighters, communally.

What to Look Out For:

1. The "rolling" schedule of training. It's not structured in stages, nor is it particularly guided, but it is more like a circuit and the trainers are supervisors and shapers.

2. The instruction is circumstantial, rather than structural. A correction or technique is offered only when the wheel gets stuck, so to speak, as a means to keep the flow of action. Everything is oriented toward continuity of practice. Nakmuay are largely doing their work under observation, until they get direct attention from a trainer for padwork, and know how to entertain themselves within the process of training.

3. Closing the Shoulders: Dah does step in to show me how to close my shoulders up when my head is in and my lock is long in the clinch. I tend to have gaps and this was easily resolved by rotating the forearms in the lock - I remember the correct rotation by equating it with turning my thumbs down. That rolls the shoulders into your ears.

4. Proper Grip: Nui comes and shows me to keep my elbows connected to the collarbone of my clinch partner, which not only allows me to leverage the head down with much less power/strength than I'd been using, but it also hurts the opponent and so allows you to thwart their movements much faster. And lastly, it closes up the gaps where an opponent could swim in or break your grip.

5. Forearm Guard: keeping your hand up on your foreahead and forearm vertical in front of your shoulder allows you to have an automatic inside position when an opponent tries to grab your neck in the clinch.

6. What "Light Sparring" means: I come upon frustration a lot when I see this blanket statement, in English, that "all sparring in Thailand is light." Firstly, no, there is hard sparring everywhere. But secondly, it's misunderstood by many what makes Thailand's "light sparring," light. The power of the strike isn't really the way you make sparring light, but rather it's "light hearted" or unemotional, the dominance is real, but the claws are retracted (so to speak). My clinch/sparring partner in this session presents such a perfect example of how to keep it light without distorting the movement or flow. In clinch you'll see Dokmaifai get the better of me and then immediately pull back to a kind of neutral position; he doesn't "let me have a turn" or give openings, but he leaves room/time for me to dominate him back. It's not 1-1, so sometimes he gets a few dominant moments in a row and then I'll get one, or vice versa. In sparring, it's the same pattern of getting ahead and then going neutral, and when each of us gets a "kill shot" on the other, we pantomime great impact to show respect to the strike (that it was well-timed, or caught us off guard, or would have knocked us out) and then keep moving. It's about continuation.

Other Sessions Referenced in the voiceover for further study:

#108 Jampatong Na Nonthachai - The Master of the Head Kick (63 min) watch it here

#104 Yodkhunpon Sittraipum 4 - The Art of Shadowboxing (64 min) watch it here

#2 Joe Hongthong - Developing Muay Khao Style (87 min) - watch it here

#56 Tanadet Tor. Pran49 - Mastering Long Clinch (63 min) watch it here

#50 Karuhat Sor. Supawan 5 - Serpentine Knees & Flow  (62 min) watch it here

Kevin's Photographs

the full album of photographs from Santi Ubon Muay Thai

If you enjoyed this session these other sessions may also be of interest:

#114 Kru Diesel 2 - The Beauty of Building a Muay Khao Fighter (1 hr, 16 min) watch it here

Kru Diesel is one of the greatest Muay Khao krus in all of Thailand. This is the second session with him in the Library. In it we dive deep into clinch as I'm able to train with one of his top fighters Sirichai (Tanadet: who also is in the Library with his Long Clinch). This is just a great session full of the small details which make a top clinch fighter.

#56 Tanadet Tor. Pran49 - Mastering Long Clinch (63 min) watch it here

This is one of the most interesting and, if mastered, dominant clinch positions one can use, and the entire session is devoted to it. I filmed with young Long Clinch master Tanadet, and discover all the small refinements he created that turned what for many fighters is just a transitional position, into an entire system of attack. This is a rare session, capturing a little known and used clinch system.

#8 Sangtiennoi Sor Rungroj - Advanced Clinch (52 min) watch it here

The Golden Age Lumpinee and Rajadamnern Champion, a legendary Muay Khao fighter who fought all the greats instructs on the finer points of clinch technique. Small differences that make big differences. Advanced tips on the swim-in and turn, and the importance of going from long distance techniques to short distance grab and lock.

#118 Phettho Sitjaopho - Muay Femeu Excellence (70 min) watch it here

Much loved Kru F of Sitjaopho Gym in Hua Hin has beautiful Muay Femeu technique. Learn his secrets to very manageable muay, featuring balance, supreme defense, the development of feeling and naturalness. Learn with me as I learn from him.

#113 Arjan Yai Muangsupan - Golden Age Forms & Dynamics (119 min) watch it here

Arjan Yai gives a keyhole into basic Golden Age forms of Muay Thai that have not all been preserved over time. He was a padman and trainer in the famed Sor. Ploenjit gym when the great Kaensak was Fighter of Year twice. He still trains stadium Muay Thai fighters. In this session he starts from the ground up in a beautiful documentation.

#142 Arjan Metprik Silachai 2 - Relentless Pace & Low Kick Attack (69 min)  watch it here or podcast here

 This is really an invaluable session as it really captures one of the oldest, most effective branches of Thailand's Muay Thai. Arjan Metprik of Khorat, who was Lumpinee Champion in 1970, and kru of the famed Thongchai Tor Silachai (FOTY 2001), really goes through all the elements of his advancing, pressuring, highly defended Muay Maat and lowkick style. One of the great coaches in Thai history.