fight club
you know, every once in a while, you get epiphanies. every once in a while, you realise something more about life than you thought possible. its my pleasure to continue training in mixed martial arts cos the past two classes have brought up many epiphanies, all thanks to this guy in my muay thai and grappling class named Gallen.
see, even he has a cool, knight in shining armour name. ok, lets stop being gay. Gallen is from the states. i am a bit unsure of his past, whether he is a singaporean now living in the states, or he is an american chinese with singaporean roots. in any case, gallen will be gone in about a months time to china cos he runs his own business. if my hearing and slang deciphering equipment served me well, i think gallen is also the son of some minister here, which also complicates matters.
needless to say, all you need to know is that gallen is an absolute gentleman and he and his lovely wife go to darren's dojo and yes, they do fight each other. (hows that for marital problem solving)
i met him last week during grappling class. prior to this, i saw his photo on darren's wall with the caption "thai sex boys" over it, so i assumed he was one of the sinewy muay thai instructors that help out here. but yea, he sorta clarified with me on that one.
incidentally, gallen is also a (relatively) good muay thai striker. he lives for the fight, literally. hes like an excited kid whenever he fights. when he takes me down, hes smiling like a maniac. but the main thing about gallen is that he is absolutely helpful and informative. he goes the extra mile to make sure u get the moves and teaches you new stuff. like ive learnt the muay thai elbows, hooks, uppercuts and slightly more advanced footwork from him. (now to go and practise like a madman)
he actually stayed back with me like 45 minutes after class to work out these things. he says its cos he likes my "gung ho style" and the fact that im "earnest".
"youre very powerful for a small guy. very fast. you could be a good fighter." (say this with an american-chinese slang)
so yea, i guess im hooked again. there is life after canoeing after all. i never thought i would look forwards to dedicating myself to another sport in which i can probably learn a lot more about.
ok, so far, no epiphanies yet. wait la.
the thing that struck me when i was going back home on the mrt was this:
darren's extending his classes by half an hour. thats a 50% increase at no extra cost. hes doing this cos apparently the fight team lost out cos of not enough practise on takedowns during the recent tourney. its not about the money in this system. and even though people dont really talk and arent that chatty, there is a sense of togetherness especially when you look at the fighters who fight in tourneys. they all know each other and theres respect going on here.
gallen:"i once fought this guy whose arms were twice my size (his are about 1.5 times mine) and he was much taller than me. (gallen is about 1.8, give or take 2 cm) *laughs* wow, we fought all right, but after that we hugged each other and said 'good fight!'"
gallen:"no other sport is as exciting as this. you see two advanced fighters going full force at each other. that is very exciting. very very exciting."
gallen:"if youre fighting me, and we both look at each other in the eyes. thats scary. *laughs* its very exciting.*laughs again*"
gallen:*referring to my slack guard* "dont worry, when you get hit, youll learn. i did."
ok, look, maybe the way i put it makes gallen sound like a retard but you get the gist of it. and hes no retard. hes got the scars to prove it. his chest has been broken before. he once made the mistake of looking down when he was fighting. he got a knee to the face which shattered his nose bridge. theres a bump there now, slightly more brownish than the rest of his face tone. if you have ever seen a muay thai knee, you would know how vicious and brutal and punishing it is. it can drop a horse.
but even after all this brutality, fighters still stand up, laugh and pat each other on the back (after returning from hospital).
its strange behaviour isnt it? if you are on the outside looking in, youd think all of us were retards and crazy idiots who place their bodies on the line for nothing tangible. my whole left arm is bruised from blocking shots to my head today. better my arm than my cranium anyday.
there is a certain purity to a fight. have you ever fought a friend? or even a stranger. no, i dont mean street fights, those are lose-lose situations and those are life or death situations. a lot of ppl lump them together with fightsport but the reality is vastly different. dont ever get into a street fight. its a matter of who loses more and nothing else.
going back to the question. have you ever willingly fought a friend? you know, hes your best mate, you both put on gloves and you step up toe to toe and slug it out. its a different feeling. youre scared. of course you are. hes gonna bloody fucking kill you. and you know what? youre gonna do exactly the same thing to him. its scary, isnt it? now who do you feel more scared for?
the adrenaline kicks in somewhere in between and you go into a primal state but its balanced by a higher order form of thought because the best fighters use their brains. its a mighty tricky, keeping the primal aggression, tempering it, moulding it to your whim. it allows you to take the punishment and it blanks out just about everything else. for a few moments in time, its just you and your very best friend.
you need the higher order thought processes as well. when ure tired, and you will get fucking tired more fucking fast than you ever realised, its gotta kick in. efficiency, gotta keep the guards, read him, footwork, defence, offence, strategy. its like playing chess but its harder cos any mistake gets you punished. im pretty lucky. i havent taken a full force punch yet. ill try my best not to. but eventually i will, someday, and then it still has to carry on, gotta keep functioning, keep moving, keep staying alive.
its all a game, isnt it? yea, a game of life i guess.
can you see the purity of the sport? maybe yes, maybe no. just imagine: what could be purer than a sport that defines you. its about character, it really is. you cannot be a weak character in the ring. and its not about winning your opponent. thats so american-trash talk. some can win even by losing. if you dont understand that, you dont understand anything about this sport.
i really hope i become stronger, in character and skill, not strength and speed an stamina or whatever nonsense that goes away when youre 40 plus years old. you want the important things. you want them to serve you all your life. keep on fighting cos life is one big fight after all. somehow, by getting it on in the ring, you just might be better prepared for more shit the world throws at you. maybe.
the learning curve here is steep. there is no other way. the best way to learn is to get hit. im serious. if ure an idiot (like me), once u get hit, you become magically smarter. its a tried and proven formula for dummies.
epiphanies. haha, the purity. all these are mere words. if you want the purity, you hafta work for it. you have to sweat and bleed (literally) for it.
you be crazy you know. but yea, youve got a bunch of crazy purists on your side.
what could be worse?
see, even he has a cool, knight in shining armour name. ok, lets stop being gay. Gallen is from the states. i am a bit unsure of his past, whether he is a singaporean now living in the states, or he is an american chinese with singaporean roots. in any case, gallen will be gone in about a months time to china cos he runs his own business. if my hearing and slang deciphering equipment served me well, i think gallen is also the son of some minister here, which also complicates matters.
needless to say, all you need to know is that gallen is an absolute gentleman and he and his lovely wife go to darren's dojo and yes, they do fight each other. (hows that for marital problem solving)
i met him last week during grappling class. prior to this, i saw his photo on darren's wall with the caption "thai sex boys" over it, so i assumed he was one of the sinewy muay thai instructors that help out here. but yea, he sorta clarified with me on that one.
incidentally, gallen is also a (relatively) good muay thai striker. he lives for the fight, literally. hes like an excited kid whenever he fights. when he takes me down, hes smiling like a maniac. but the main thing about gallen is that he is absolutely helpful and informative. he goes the extra mile to make sure u get the moves and teaches you new stuff. like ive learnt the muay thai elbows, hooks, uppercuts and slightly more advanced footwork from him. (now to go and practise like a madman)
he actually stayed back with me like 45 minutes after class to work out these things. he says its cos he likes my "gung ho style" and the fact that im "earnest".
"youre very powerful for a small guy. very fast. you could be a good fighter." (say this with an american-chinese slang)
so yea, i guess im hooked again. there is life after canoeing after all. i never thought i would look forwards to dedicating myself to another sport in which i can probably learn a lot more about.
ok, so far, no epiphanies yet. wait la.
the thing that struck me when i was going back home on the mrt was this:
darren's extending his classes by half an hour. thats a 50% increase at no extra cost. hes doing this cos apparently the fight team lost out cos of not enough practise on takedowns during the recent tourney. its not about the money in this system. and even though people dont really talk and arent that chatty, there is a sense of togetherness especially when you look at the fighters who fight in tourneys. they all know each other and theres respect going on here.
gallen:"i once fought this guy whose arms were twice my size (his are about 1.5 times mine) and he was much taller than me. (gallen is about 1.8, give or take 2 cm) *laughs* wow, we fought all right, but after that we hugged each other and said 'good fight!'"
gallen:"no other sport is as exciting as this. you see two advanced fighters going full force at each other. that is very exciting. very very exciting."
gallen:"if youre fighting me, and we both look at each other in the eyes. thats scary. *laughs* its very exciting.*laughs again*"
gallen:*referring to my slack guard* "dont worry, when you get hit, youll learn. i did."
ok, look, maybe the way i put it makes gallen sound like a retard but you get the gist of it. and hes no retard. hes got the scars to prove it. his chest has been broken before. he once made the mistake of looking down when he was fighting. he got a knee to the face which shattered his nose bridge. theres a bump there now, slightly more brownish than the rest of his face tone. if you have ever seen a muay thai knee, you would know how vicious and brutal and punishing it is. it can drop a horse.
but even after all this brutality, fighters still stand up, laugh and pat each other on the back (after returning from hospital).
its strange behaviour isnt it? if you are on the outside looking in, youd think all of us were retards and crazy idiots who place their bodies on the line for nothing tangible. my whole left arm is bruised from blocking shots to my head today. better my arm than my cranium anyday.
there is a certain purity to a fight. have you ever fought a friend? or even a stranger. no, i dont mean street fights, those are lose-lose situations and those are life or death situations. a lot of ppl lump them together with fightsport but the reality is vastly different. dont ever get into a street fight. its a matter of who loses more and nothing else.
going back to the question. have you ever willingly fought a friend? you know, hes your best mate, you both put on gloves and you step up toe to toe and slug it out. its a different feeling. youre scared. of course you are. hes gonna bloody fucking kill you. and you know what? youre gonna do exactly the same thing to him. its scary, isnt it? now who do you feel more scared for?
the adrenaline kicks in somewhere in between and you go into a primal state but its balanced by a higher order form of thought because the best fighters use their brains. its a mighty tricky, keeping the primal aggression, tempering it, moulding it to your whim. it allows you to take the punishment and it blanks out just about everything else. for a few moments in time, its just you and your very best friend.
you need the higher order thought processes as well. when ure tired, and you will get fucking tired more fucking fast than you ever realised, its gotta kick in. efficiency, gotta keep the guards, read him, footwork, defence, offence, strategy. its like playing chess but its harder cos any mistake gets you punished. im pretty lucky. i havent taken a full force punch yet. ill try my best not to. but eventually i will, someday, and then it still has to carry on, gotta keep functioning, keep moving, keep staying alive.
its all a game, isnt it? yea, a game of life i guess.
can you see the purity of the sport? maybe yes, maybe no. just imagine: what could be purer than a sport that defines you. its about character, it really is. you cannot be a weak character in the ring. and its not about winning your opponent. thats so american-trash talk. some can win even by losing. if you dont understand that, you dont understand anything about this sport.
i really hope i become stronger, in character and skill, not strength and speed an stamina or whatever nonsense that goes away when youre 40 plus years old. you want the important things. you want them to serve you all your life. keep on fighting cos life is one big fight after all. somehow, by getting it on in the ring, you just might be better prepared for more shit the world throws at you. maybe.
the learning curve here is steep. there is no other way. the best way to learn is to get hit. im serious. if ure an idiot (like me), once u get hit, you become magically smarter. its a tried and proven formula for dummies.
epiphanies. haha, the purity. all these are mere words. if you want the purity, you hafta work for it. you have to sweat and bleed (literally) for it.
you be crazy you know. but yea, youve got a bunch of crazy purists on your side.
what could be worse?
posted by tim tay at 10:31 PM
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