The reader must be wondering why this report came somewhat late. Well, that's because I was in Thailand on Dec 5^th to catch the latest Muaythai Vs Sanda Challenge, and only came back yesterday. And after seeing how Sanda's best of the best fought against the Thais, I'm left without a doubt on who is the true King of the Ring. Chinese Sanda's winning streak up till Sep 23^rd had given its fighters illusions of grandeur that have left many observers, including myself, fooled about how efficient it has become. But on Dec 5^th, Sanda's improvements in recent years proved to be totally irrelevant against the might of Muaythai. At Senam Luang near the Grand Palace in Bangkok, in front of thousands of Thai spectators, the Thai fighters, no longer underestimating their opponents this time, brutally punished the Chinese for daring to defeat their national martial sport. And what better day to do so then on their National Day, on the 74^th birthday of His Majesty. They crushed the Chinese with a 4 to 1 victory. And the worst part for the Chinese is its only win was a giveaway from the Thais to let them save some face. The Chinese can be said to have been fully annihillated that night in Bangkok. Incidentally, while in Thailand I asked a friend to record the event for me on videotape, which I will convert into VCD format very soon. If the reader doubts my words, he or she can always order them from me later and find out whether I speak the truth or not. For all fans of ring sports it is a VCD worth collecting, to be watched & pondered over for a long time to come. Now for the fight reports:

The 1^st bout is the 56kg category fight between Zhou Yongjin, a fresh national Sanda runner-up & Pawaijun Yodongsong, a young 17 yr old fighter. Zhou is a fighter with only 2 techniques - the push kick and charging waist grab. In the 1^st round Zhou started impressively by succeeding in lifting Pawaijun up and slamming him to the canvas 3 times, whereas Pawaijun seem not warmed up yet to this kind of Sanda tatics.

But as these kind of throws consume a lot of physical strength, Zhou became more and more exhausted further into the bout. He became so tired that even his push kick is gone & he can only try to shoot in for the grab. Pawaijun was prepared for this. Everytime Zhou try to grab he will crank his neck to foil him.

He landed many powerful knees on Zhou's body & face, and also low kicks to his legs. In the 5^th and final round Zhou made a final attempt at fighting back, throwing Pawaijun 2 times, but it was too late - the battered Zhou had already lost the bout on points.

The 2^nd bout is the 60kg category fight between Wang Jingfeng, the "Divine Hand of Yanshan" and Atachai Pasanlancha, a champion with powerful punches & kicks. The Divine Hand proved to be quite mundane after all.

In the 1^st round Wang could still run around throwing side kicks & flick kicks, even sweeping his opponent to the canvas twice, but Atachai's kept kicking his inner thigh, which obviously had a painful effect which showed on Wang's face. At the end of the round Wang's legs gave way & he was knocked down by a low kick.

Sure enough, only 2^nd round into the fight Wang, covering his head, was cornered and Atachai floored him with one knee and several killer body punches into his ribs, effecting a KO.

The 3^rd bout is the 65kg category fight between Mongolian Sanda World Champion & this year's Sanda King hopeful, Geriletu, the "Grassland Eagle" and Yudtacha Seeyudtong, a fighter with rapid hand & legs.

Just 1^st round into the bout Geriletu was overwhelmed by Yudtacha's fierce combos, which left him no choice but to desperately try to grab him & fall to the canvas together. Geriletu's techniques, especially his double flick kicks, seemed too fancy and had no effect on Yudtacha. The rest of the bout Yudtacha landed so many blows on the Mongolian that it looked more like a Muaythai workshop. Inner thigh, outer thigh, left kick, right kick, punches, an elbow to his face.. yes, Geriletu took all these even as Yudtacha appeared to be just playing with him.

He was also knocked down by a right cross to his jaw in the 2^nd round of the bout & only got up on the 8^th count. He managed to sweep/throw Yudtacha to the ground a few times but that was about it. Dazed & heavily injured, at the end of the bout he wobbled and could hardly stand properly. He kept muttering to himself that he had never experienced such a heavy beating before. Mind you, he is one of the best Sanda fighters in the world. Though he is tough enough to take all the punishment he is still as helpless as a child in front of Muaythai's best. With this victory the Thais have already won this Challenge.

The 4^th bout is the 70kg category fight between Wang Sanzhen, another fresh Sanda star who spent 3 months in Bangkok learning Muaythai, and Longtakan Bamongpor. This is the giveaway match. As the Thais have already won, I suspect that Longtakan has been asked to lose the bout beforehand as he fought in a totally irrational manner.

Throughout the bout Longtakan used only his right leg, and only kicked Wang on his lead side at his mid-section, as if inviting him to grab his leg. Of course Wang took full advantage of this "present" and threw/swept his opponent around.

And the punches that Longtakan threw were all half hearted as compared to Wang, who fought more like a Muaythai fighter than a Sanda fighter. Does the reader realize the implication of that? The masses were quiet as Longtakan stood with a blank expression at the end of the bout. Only the Chinese supporters were jubilating their only "victory", of course.

The 5^th and last bout is the 75kg category fight. The Chinese side is represented by Sanda World Champion & Sanda King hopeful, Yuan Yubao, the "White Brow Vigilante" who incidentally defeated last year's King of Sanda, Liu Hailong before. As some of you may remember, Liu is the supposed "Conquerer of Muaythai" at Guangzhou on Sep 23^rd.

Yuan fought Koontek Songpeipasek, another firece fighter who pummeled him with rapid combos. Yuan's fast kicks, despite his size, seem to lack power and did not hurt Koontek at all. He also took an accidental kick to the groin area which knocked the spirit out of him.

And as expected, he continued to be hit with left kicks, right kicks & many knees. Soon enough in the second round got floored by a driving knee to his solar plexus. Seeing that Yuan was unable to continue, the Chinese coach threw in the towel, effecting a TKO for Koontek. So the final result is 4 : 1 in favor to the Thais.

Yuan Yubao, perhaps better than Liu Hailong, can be called the best of the best in Sanda. Yet like Geriletu, he was well outclassed by Thai fighters who were well-prepared for them this time. We don't even have to talk about the rest of the Sanda team. Only now have the Sanda fighters tasted complete defeat. After seeing with my own eyes I feel that Sanda's supposed tremendous improvements are exagerated & it was obvious they still had a long way to go before they can ever come close to being an equal of Muaythai. I also remembered that in the last challenge in Guangzhou the knees & elbows that the Thais landed on the Chinese did not count for points, which was unfair & resulted in their points being significantly reduced. This time in Bangkok they counted these sucessful hits. However, except for the 1^st & 4^th bout, the Thais won so clearly that points didn't really mean much. As far as I can see, Muaythai fighters have learned their lesson and seen through all of Sanda's tactics. From now on, there's no way Chinese Sanda can gain any upper hand from the Thais. Unless Sanda can come up with something new & effective, there's no other way for them to match Muaythai except to improve their conditioning, stamina and striking power the old fashioned way - through ancient CMA methods which may be vague; or simply learn as much as they can from the Thais. I do not think this loss is a set back to the progress of Chinese Martial Science, but rather it is a loud wake up call and another overdued opportunity for the Chinese Sanda advocates to learn from their weaknesses. They can beat every other martial art/sport in the ring but they cannot beat the King, the ultimate striking art which is Muaythai, unless they adopt Muaythai! The Dutch Muaythai fighters, who have beat the Thais on numberous occasions through the years, are good examples of this fact. Of course, most Chinese are too proud to follow in the Dutch's footsteps. But it is the Thais who have the last laugh, as I have said in the past. For the Muay Thai Vs Kung Fu challenge, this episode proves that history & destiny continue to be on the side of the Thais. The Chinese have their work all cut out for them..

*The 2 VCDs of this latest Dec 5^th 2001 Challenge in Bangkok is now available, but only in Thai. Titled Muay Thai VS Kung Fu: The Revenge, its total length is 1 hr 46 mins. The final bout is abruptly cut off by ITV's late News in the 2^nd round, just before Yuan Yubao was TKOed (yes I know, stupid TV station). But otherwise it is pretty complete, with great action throughout. I'm selling at S$10.00 for local guys and US$10.00 for foreign orders, which includes postage fees. Readers who need the 2 VCDs email me here. 

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