Why is Phuket Top Team appealing for MMA

I am writing this as an outsiders view on what I have seen and heard.

I have seen the rise of Phuket Top Team steadily over the course of this year.  The owner Boyd has used the right strategy and thinking when he started his gym and has kept it there.  The best one I have seen is no egos only dedication.  This is a good quote and thinking because then you can have anyone come into the gym and become part of the team.  I have seen a lot of gyms where there are 2-3 sections, if you are not in with the top people and bow down to their ego, they won't teach you much.

1) Location
The location of Phuket Top Team aka PTT is perfect not only for the business side to keep a steady income but also for keeping the mind relaxed more than most places.  Phuket is an island with many beaches within reach of anywhere.  If you feel stressed out one day you can go to the beach and go relax instead of train.  Most of Phuket is not built up and has a relaxing feel most places you go.  Phuket is low on pollution due to it is not built up. Cities like Bangkok and Chang Mai, pollution can be bad at times.  When you go for the jog you are breathing fresh air to the smog and pollution.
Phuket is full of Tourist and the all the gyms in Phuket have a healthy supply of tourist customers, people who come to the island, want to maybe train and holiday or people who want to train one day, so that is one of the base incomes for any gym in Phuket.  Some people don't like Phuket due to it having a lot of bars and karoke, well the bottom line is, if you stay at the gym, don't go to those places, your trip and training will just be training!  For the fighters, Phuket has a more relaxed feel, sometimes when your in the city you have to travel a couple of Kilometers to find a park or somewhere away from the busyness of Bangkok, in Phuket you walk outside and it just has that paradise feel.

2) Facility
The Muay Thai area is like any other training facility in Thailand, has the ring and bags.  The biggest appeal and highest selling point of PTT is the MMA/BJJ rolling area which is inside and air-conditioned.  I have trained at 13 coins, and the worst part of training BJJ or MMA is you sweat a lot quicker than you do training Muay Thai, so having something where you can train for longer and don't have to worry about getting a rash or anything associated with the tropical weather.

3) Accommodation
There are 2 types of accommodation at the gym, 1 is the room with air-con, TV, DVD, mini fridge, bed, and clothes line - if your not on a budget or you like a bit more comfort this is great, you don't have to worry about too much either with this.  The other type is the Budget Bamboo hut, this is a Bamboo hut with a bed, mosquito net, I have slept in something similar to this before, and believe it or not, these are cooler than a house, think it's how the bamboo reflects the heat.

4) Internet and Marketing
On par with the MMA/BJJ area is the work that has been put into the website, facebook, photo's and videos.
Nowadays Internet is really king when it comes to marketing, nearly everyone I know uses the internet, yes, including my grandparents, so this is a killer tool to use.  I first found out about PTT through my friend Will Chope who I met through Facebook and now we are good friends.  He told me about his friend Boyd was opening a Gym in Phuket, so I started to look at PTT on Facebook.
Facebook is the most powerful advertising method on the internet because if you like to say it or not, you go on Facebook at least once a day and check what is going on.  So with PTT Facebook page being regularly updated with news of fights, photo's video's and special people coming this really does help, it keeps people interested, because once people start following you, if you don't put something new up, they soon start to become board and look for something new.

5) Fighters Gym
Any person who is a fighter sees this as their main appeal.  PTT ideology at the start was to be a fighters gym is starting to get a reputation as a gym for serious fighters which is hard to come by when surrounded by tourists.  It started off by attracting some smaller name fighters which I believe will become big one day if they keep the hard work and the trainers work to high standards with them.  Now PTT is attracting bigger named fighters like Vaughn Lee.  Vaughn has just signed a contract with the UFC for 4 fights, I used to train with this guy back in England 4-5 years ago, and back then, his ground game was crazy, he was like a butterfly on the ground and quick in stand up too!!  They also have Roger Huerta teaching at the gym in normal classes, Roger is a UFC veteran.  Rob Hill who fights on Legend FC in Hong Kong.  Just these names here are a few of the bigger names who train there

6) Trainers
I can't say much about the trainers due to I have never trained with them and would be wrong for me to talk about this section in too much detail.  What I can say is they have a good mix for the MMA training.  They have Rafael Lopez who is a BJJ brown belt, which takes years to achieve, he is Brazlian, so comes from the motherland of BJJ and from my friend Will who trains there says he is really good as a teacher and rolling.  The other good mix is for the standing wrestling and take downs is the Sambo guy silviu Vulc from Russia, again this guy has vast knowledge on Sambo and is from the Motherland of Sambo.  He is also an Olympic Boxing coach and is teaching Boxing, so hand skills will improve there.
The last part is the main stand-up of MMA, Muay Thai.  This is taught by a team of Thai trainers who are former Lumpinee and Rajadamnern stadium champions, who have 1000's of fights between them and have different styles, so you can pick and choose what you want to fit into your style.

7) Media
PTT made a smart move by hiring Michael Galvin.  Michael is a professional Photographer, and has his own review site.
The Photo's taken have been done Professionally, and made to look appealing to everyone that comes to the gym.  The videos that have been done are great, showing little tastes of what you will receive, for example the Sambo technique's Silvui, basic Muay Thai Techniques.

Check out the website at
http://wwwphukettopteam.com/

Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/MMATrainingCampPhuket

Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/user/PhuketTopTeam

Legal Reasons

You might have seen my recent blog on the Tuff Girls Auditions, well all information, video's had to be removed due to the company threatening legal action if I didn't.  If any of you read my blog I didn't stat any of the results, just opinions on the different fighters as for me I didn't want to spoil any of the action for the fans of this series.

To the producers of fight girls - I have some positive words for the owners of fight girls, but I think maybe they could take legal action on this also so I shall not be giving it out.

Welcome to the world of TV and copyrights ;)

1 Week at Master Toddy's Gym

So I have now been at Master Toddy's Gym for one week, I did one previously for the first day, but I am kind of excited and need to get this off my chest, so I am updating you after only one week.

For the past week Master Toddy has been doing an audition for Tuff Girl show, so he has spent a lot of his time with them, but when he had time he spent with all the regular people training.

Day 1 - I had my first session and it was great, Master Toddy spent a lot of time with me in the morning and showed me a way to punch harder, this was on the pads, I kept making slight mistakes and he would change this and improve, I was very happy because I hadn't had technique correction in 6 weeks.  I then went onto the bag and he helped again every so often, showing me and then going to help someone else, he was showing me a funny way of punching which was very strange but I went with the flow as I knew this was leading up to something later on (the punch wasn't twisting the wrist so much, similar to the toy game where the red man and blue man are boxing each other.)  The other reason why I went with it was because he said he wanted to work with me and start me from scratch, so i am trusting him on this and going with everything he tells me, even if it looks and sounds crazy. :D
The afternoon session wasn't so good, just didn't feel much attention at all, Master Toddy was busy with his Tuff girl's program he was making and concentrating on this, so it was down to the other trainers, on this occasion I wasn't happy with instruction, just felt like they were going through the motions with me on pad, and no instruction on the bag, and thought this is going to be another 13 coins all over again.  However, when it came to clinching, I worked with Nung and he showed me some neat tricks in the clinch.  After training  I spoke with Ajarn Sing that I wanted to work on blocks the next day.

Day 2 - The next morning my foot was hurting so I gave it a miss, well I am even lying to you, haha, nah I was feeling lazy so gave it a miss
In the afternoon session it was totally different, yeh I got a hard session, but in round 3 I was starting to tire, so the trainer slowed it down and worked on technique for round 3 and 4.  After pads went onto the bag and Master Toddy was freed up a little and noticed something about my punch and told me I had to come back quicker.  Next I worked on some clinching technique with Nung and sparring techniques with Bow.  I then did knees and kicks on the bag.  This day I was more please with everything as I felt the trainers actually cared about my improvement.  I had renewed hope that this month wasn't going to be a waste of time or money.

Day 3 - Ok so this morning I trained in the morning, did my run on my own, I prefer to run on my own, I feel that every Thai person I run with runs slower than my grandma can walk, I ran about 4km starting to build the distance.  This morning, I worked more on punches, defense and attack after the kick (kick and move off and punch), this is stuff I was enjoying, this is more light because it is morning.  On the Bag Master Toddy worked on elbows, he had me, Bow and ouwan to learn how to elbow, he showed us the correct method and practice it on each other slowly, this move was a lot more effective then the current elbow I was throwing, I was previously hitting with more of my forearm, now he was getting me to hit with the tip of my elbow.  Then he sent us back to the bags to work on it, after a while he came over to me and corrected my technique, every day it seemed to be the same, not a one time show of first day show you something and leave you to it, he would come back again and again and again if he saw something wrong or wanted to add something on.  After bag work we did sparring under Master Toddy's and the other trainers eyes, We were told to fake a kick and throw a punch or fake a punch and throw a kick, first few times, this didn't seem to work, but after a while, once I got into the flow some were getting through.

Day 4 - So last day of the week, because Monday I was moving and came too late.
I woke up at 6am and ran with Jade and Bow, Bow was really funny in the run, because we would ask him several times when we got half way, do you want to keep running on or head back, and he was like, run on, then ask again, no run back, could make his mind up, haha.  funny kid, in the end we kept running on and went through all the back alleys until we got back to the gym, with out those guys I would have got lost, lol.
When we got back to the gym, we warmed up and got into the session, I didn't learn anything new this morning, but Master Toddy went to one my trainer and told him to work on elbows and punches with me, and that's all we did.  This helped me with improving my technique, I worked exactly the same on the bag, Master Toddy coming over several times to help me with technique.

In the afternoon worked a normal session with kicks and punches, knees and elbows, but the trainer focuses a lot more on the punches and elbows.  Seems like here they want me to get the technique good before moving on, just what I need.  In the clinching I clinched with a big guy, he was a little smaller than me but was a fat lad so had a a lot of weight, he was hard to clinch with, also I was a little worried about my ankle, so didn't want to trip him just in case.

Over view
Of the 4 days I trained so far I was happy, the trainers here seems to care about you improving and getting better and always have Master Toddy watching like a hawk for something, lol.  I like the fact that the trainers will help you and also Master Toddy will come over and can see things the trainer can't sometimes.

In the week I have been here i have learnt

• How to punch faster and with more power.
• Elbowing people and being able to cut them.
• More tripping technique and control in the clinch.
• Better technique in sparring.

This was all helped by the trainers and people in the gym.

From my week so far this is definitely a place to go if you want to improve you technique and become a better fighter.

Check out the gym at
http://www.mastertoddy.com/

                              

                          Bow                                              Nung watering the canvas

He is so funny, only 15 and doesn't                     (funniest thing I have seen)

     have a clue what is going on.

TUFF GIRL PRODUCTION

PICS OF THE GYM

Bags (long bag, smily face bag for working on punch placement, tear drop bag and medium thai bag)

All of the bags have body's on them so you can imagine he is your opponent.

Wall punching so you can punch full power, and practice all your punches.

Cooking area

Where all the equipment is kept.

ACTION SHOTS

Bow doing some chin-ups                                Master Toddy + Ajarn Sing watching over on the bags

                                              Trainer teaching correct knee technique        

Alex punching and getting ready for his fight.

            Bow kicking the bag                                         Bow working the pads

 Nung and Alex clinching, girls sparring                                                                More sparring

Master Toddy keeping a careful eye on things

Sit ups

First Morning at Master Toddy's Gym

Well I have just started training at Master Toddy's Gym, Sukhumvit soi 107.

Very clean, 8 bags, 1 ring, 4 boxing wall pads.

So this will be a first impression review of the gym, I will do a full review after 1 month.

So woke up in the morning for 6:30am and waited down stairs for everyone to run so I could find the route, one lad came down but when I asked 'are you running' he said 'no my leg hurts', So I think he must have fought recently. So I went off and did my run, think I did 4km this morning, just had 1 week off, so getting back into it slowly.

Got back in, more people were there now, we skipped together for about 10-15 mins, wrapped our hands and then did shadow boxing. The one thing that surprised me, is after 20 seconds of shadow boxing Master Toddy stopped me and told me not to look at their chest, look at their eyes. So I did this and about a minute later one of the trainers stopped me, and changed how I held my guard, I was like damn, I love this. I expected this to be the only technique I got this morning, but no more to come.

After shadow boxing I did pads, Master Toddy was walking round the ring, myself and another Thai on the pads, he then told me i was leaning to much into the punch and said I was easy to hit, also go down at the last second on the punch so creates more power, a bunch of other things, I could be here all day. There was alot, but was made very simple to follow.

After the pad rounds I went on the bag, I was expecting to be left alone, but no again Master Toddy came over and work on my punches more.

After the bag work, went onto clinching, I clinched for a while with the bigger guy about 70kg, 22 years old. And was good to clinch with, he kept putting me on the floor, btu I asked him for a technique and he showed me, and then we carried on, I changed over and work with a lad about 40kg, was good to work with the smaller lad because I could easily practice the technique I learn't before I went back with the bigger guy.

Then I did all my exercises, sit ups, pull ups, weights, neck lifts and called it a day because only my first day back.

But from first impression, I really felt like the trainers care and want to help you. More will come in 1 month.

My Experience of 13 coins gym

I have been at 13 coins for 1 month, I was there for the MMA program. The MMA has only been running 1 month, but it is good, I learn't so much in a short period of time, My friend Will who is experienced in 5 MMA fights says the MMA program is good here, it improved him alot, another guy with 10 fights has come down and he also really enjoyed the MMA program. The MMA program has a lot of BJJ, before they didn't have conditioning, but now they are just bringing it in, step by step.
I am leaving 13 coins for reasons I will explain below, but I will be going to the MMA program here 2 mornings a week to keep up my skills and learn new ones as I see this is the best MMA place in Bangkok.
Also, I had only learn't for 3 weeks and in my China fight I Won 2nd round by rear Naked Choke.   The fight is below and I used a technique which we practiced.

OK, now for the Thai Boxing.
At the start I felt I was learning as Sorn was just working on my kick and punches, which I appreciated, but this seemed to be the only thing he was good at, or he just wouldn't show anything more.
Pat another instructor would try and tire you out and go onto the next guy, when I watched him with the Thai fighters, he worked totally different, this just really made me angry, I know I am not Thai, but come on I am paying.
The 3rd trainer Mr. Long seems not all there but seems to be the only trainer who cares about the people learning at the gym, as a pad holder, good for basics. as a trainer, he helps and has some good tricks, better as a trainer than a pad holder.

So yeh, after the slump 13 coins had a few month back, it just doesn't seem to get back out of that, what they need is to bring in a few more fighters, 50-70kg, and some trainers who care and they will be on their way to getting there, but for me not the gym for me for muay thai, I will keep coming for the MMA and if things improve I will come back.

If you are a beginner, it is a good gym to start, but for the fighters it doesn't have enough sparring, and the clinching you are just left to do it and not adjusted on bad technique.



The positives about the training at 13 coins are you will get some basics down, they work you hard till you are dead on the pads, so when you go into a fight you will be in good shape, everyone is friendly and Mr. Coke has a great heart, shouts encouragement while you are training, like when you are clinching, he would shout at the foreigners, " 'beat him up', 'knee him hard', 'stronger' " many different things, which can be a push you harder.  I did enjoy the atmosphere there, but as my career is in Muay Thai mainly (just starting with MMA), I really need a good stand up gym to take me further.

This is my fight from China - I won by 2nd round Submission, Thank you to the 13 coins team and Brandon Kesler for helping me with my MMA skills