Howdy folks, and welcome to the post-fight analysis part of this blog!!I had my first amateur Muay Thai fight on Saturday, Oct 13th. It was held at L'Academie Sportive in Montreal, as part of the Quebec Olympic Boxing championships. They had a full afternoon of Thai fighting in amongst the regular boxing.
In the days leading up to the fight, fighting was not actually my worry! Making weight was! That shouldn't have been too much of a worry, but of course, it was. In the end, the worry was for nothing and I weighed in fine for the 150 lbs limit (67.8 kilos). But the last week I was on a diet of salad and tuna and a regime of long, slow distances on the stationary bike at the gym! I was giddy a good portion of Wednesday and Thursday, attempting to not drive myself bonkers thinking about the fight, and doing my best to use positive visualization techniques to imagine myself winning.
I drove down to Montreal on Friday, knowing full well that, being a horrible morning person, the cost of a hotel room was very much worth the security in knowing that I didn't have to drive 2 hours pre-fight, worry about traffic, the weather, etc. Turned out to be a good idea as the hotel had a sauna, pool, and I got a very good night's sleep. I was weighing 153 lbs when I got to the hotel, so spent a few hours doing a salt-bath that evening to get rid of some water weight. What's a salt-bath you say? Only a very, very boring 2 hours spent in a saturated solution of table salt to draw water out of your body by osmosis! 2 hours in the bath tub is not fun. But it's a bit more bearable than going in and out of a sauna! And you can read in the tub. Once out of the bath, I watched tv, relaxed, and tried not to think about the fight that morning. I did have a dream that evening that I completely forgot how to punch and kick! But otherwise I slept quite soundly, which surprised me.
Saturday morning, I got up at 7am and weighed myself: 149 lbs - Woo hoo!! I went back to bed for another 1.5 hours to get some more sleep. At this point in time, I was very hungry and also very thirsty! Being used to 4-6 litres of water per day, cutting fluid intake for a day was a shock for me. But it worked for making weight. And catching up on fluid with 3 hours between weigh-ins and the fight wasn't a problem.
After dressing, packing, and repacking my gear to make sure everything was there (head gear, mouth guard, shin protectors, gauze, tape, you name it), I called the valet service to get my car out of the garage (again, another perk to staying at a nice hotel!!). L'Academie Sportive was a couple of blocks east of my hotel, a short drive. I found the gym, parked the car and went inside. The lady at the desk didn't seem to understand what was going on, so I hung out a bit until a few other fighters showed up. We were all congregated around the main fight venue doors until 10:10am when they finally started the weigh-ins in a different room.
Kruu Bob and Wendy showed up around 9:50am, and I was very, VERY happy to see them! Up until then, I was nervously standing around, listening to my iPod and avoiding everything else. It was so nice to see a smiling face; even better, the smiling face of your instructor!
Weigh-ins got started, forms for medical purposes were filled out, I weighed in and that was it! I scarfed down a protein bar, at which point in time Kru decided that breakfast was in order. We tossed my gear into his car and headed across the street to a diner which had pancakes and high-carb items on the menu. Kru was adamant that I throw back a breakfast with alot of carbs and it had to be pancakes or waffles. It was hilarious - I've never had anyone practically force-feed me pancakes before!! I ordered this huge plate with waffles, bananas and chocolate syrup, and alot of coffee. The three of us sat and chatted and had breakfast for an hour or so, which was very enjoyable - talking about Thailand, Cambodia, travel plans for December and January.
We headed back to the gym and found the warm-up "room" for the red corner - a small storage room off the gymnasium itself. The fights were being held in a gymnasium with the ring elevated in the centre of the gym. It was questionable whether we had walked into a fight or a rave!!! Disco lights and rave/dance music seems to be the choice of 'ambience' for Montreal fights!!
The next 2 hours or so were a mix of prepping for the fight, warming up, and attempting to stay calm and energized all at the same time! Not an easy feat. Kruu Bob wrapped my hands with gauze and tape (not the knuckles though) and warmed me up easy on the pads. He also tapped my shin guards in place so they wouldn't wobble around during the fight. These weren't my standard shin guards - these were simple foam ones I bought last week that would allow for a much more penetrating shin and more pain. :)
I think the worst part of the whole fight scene is sitting/standing around waiting. I was 3rd on the card (although you wouldn't be able to tell from the names as somehow they got my name spelled horribly as "Paola Phillina" - the worst rendition of my name I have ever seen!!!). Fights were supposed to start at Noon, but the promoters kept putting it off and putting it off. We finally got started around 1pm, and they cancelled the 2nd fight so I was up 2nd on the card.
Dom and Kurt from the Academy showed up, which was fantastic, so Kruu asked Kurt to be his assistant in the corner (in prep for Dom's pro fight in Montreal November 10th). The ring assistants came by with the gloves for the fight - 10 oz gloves!! Small little things! Awesome though - Rival brand and I really liked them (thinking of getting a heavier pair myself). 10 oz gloves weigh nothing when you're used to 12 oz and 16 oz!! Kruu tied them on and then taped the laces in front of the assistant. He then put on my headgear and greased up my face, massaging my nose to get the airways open so I could breathe well. Then, more waiting. A bit more light pad work. When the first fight went on, I started to get really nervous!! No turning back now!!!
As the first fight ended, we walked to the red corner of the ring, preparing to enter. Kruu Bob held down the ropes for me and I hopped over top (hoping to hell I didn't miss and wind up flat on my ass!). I did a modified/shortened Wai Kru (three bows and then sealed the ring), winding up back in my corner. At that point in time, I stood in my corner, bowing, and Kruu put his hands on my head, forehead to my forehead, and we stayed like that for a bit of time. I'm not one to ever believe in energy transfers, etc., but I must admit that this act, the head-to-head quiet moment, was one of the most calming experiences I have ever had. Seriously. It felt like any nervous tension I had was drawn out of me and I knew at that point that all would be ok as I had support of my Kruu and he believed in me. I know, sounds strange, but I really did undergo a sort of transition at that moment.
I'm not entirely sure I can re-cap each individual round. There were punches and kicks and alot of clinching, more kicks, some punches, etc., but exact details, I'm not able to give. You can see the fight video at www.youtube.com/Piila2 . All in all, I didn't get hurt. Yes, I got punched a couple of times HARD, but nothing that really rocked me. I think I landed many more hard blows than she did, and I'm convinced she was probably hurting the next day. What shocked me was how absolutely GASSED I was half-way through the first round. Okay, my cardio is good, so I know that wasn't the issue. I was shocked at how much nervous tension can take out of you. It completely zaps your energy and left me flat-footed and shocked. Half-way through the first round, I simply stopped. Kruu Bob says it looked like I had blanked out for a bit, but I was actually thinking. I simply wanted to hit "pause" and regroup! Everything was happening way too fast - too spastic. I could hear him yelling at me to throw punches or kick, but my brain seemed to pause. It finally started up again, but it was an interesting 20 or 30 seconds of dead time!!
In the 3rd round, about 30 seconds in, I had her on the ropes and threw a couple of punches. I got her with a left hook at which point she spun away and dropped her head. I chose that time (consciously or subconsciously) to land a straight knee right into her head. Ooops. Knees to the head weren't allowed. And followed it up with a right cross square on her head as well. Until I saw the video, I didn't even know what had happened - I think I simply caught her with the right cross. So did Kruu Bob and Kurt.
She dropped to the ground, crawled over to her corner and sobbed there. The ref counted to 8, then her corner bitched and complained, so they stood her up and gave her some more time. Meanwhile, I'm standing in the neutral corner wondering what the hell is going on! Then the ref turns to me and motions that I've got a point taken away from me, which I still didn't understand why.
Once we finally got going again, I just laid into her. I managed to teep her IN THE FACE! Twice!! Personally, I was impressed! I didn't think I could teep that high! Woo hoo!
My opponent was awarded the fight on points, a split decision. Although I would have liked to win, I must say that the experience was completely worth it, and losing means that I have learned alot and have alot to work on before my next fight!!
A couple of things I was happy with:
1. I could hear my corner the entire time. I even managed to listen and implement Kruu's yelled orders during the rounds a couple of times. I didn't fight deaf to my corner, and that I'm very happy with.
2. I used combinations throughout.
3. I actually shielded kicks!
Things I need to work on:
1. My hands were dropped WAY too far down!! Very, very bad.
2. Charging. I rush my opponent and need to wait for them more.
3. Returning attacks off of my defense - need to do more.
4. Feet all strung out - a result of charging.
5. Kicks - I like kicking to the legs and don't seem to aim for the body enough.
6. Need more body shots and stop relying so much on right hooks.
7. More effective clinch position - knees weren't landing on target.
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