This is Day 1 with Yodkhunpon Sittraipum. A little bit of introduction, Yodkhunpon was perhaps the most feared elbow fighter of the Golden Age. His nickname was “The Elbow Hunter of 100 Stitches.” He had the rare distinction of holding both the Lumpinee and Rajadamnern 118 lb titles in the same year (1991), and had a fighting style nobody wanted to face. That style comes through in this session and the 7 days with him are meant to show as much depth as possible into that style. It’s a constant pressure style, focused on hemming in the opponent until cornered, and then he unleashes his systematic attack of elbows and knees – like a game of Wack A Mole. Kevin and I recorded two “watch with me” fights from his glory years, you can see plainly just how amazing he is. You can get a sense of not only how he was as a fighter, but how I see him:

This first session was already chock full of so many details, I can’t even begin to share it all. He’s unlocking the keys to his style. You can rent or buy this single hour long session here patrons get a substantial discount (see below). Most of the session is him just getting me more comfortable in the pocket, where knees and elbows can work together. You can see a basic form of that attack from southpaw in the 4 minute clip I provided. A really interesting elbows in the pocket teaching tool he uses can be seen in the GIF below. It’s just a constant trading of elbows into the forearms of a partner. Any Muay Thai gym could benefit from this and it teaches several important things. The first is: stay in the pocket. It forces you to just remain where you are under attack, building confidence in your ability to block elbows in a basic guard. The second is to counter attack immediately, learning to strike back. As soon as you feel the elbow on your forearm, you throw back. Third, and maybe most important for his style, is that this is a game of rhythm. If you watch how he does it in the full video, and in sessions that will be published soon, it’s a game of “You quit first.” Yodkhunpon, in his fights, was able to escalate the tempo of his elbow attacks, and basically overwhelm his opponents. In this drill he does the same thing. You can see this progression in the free video clip.

In the GIF below you can see a super important part of his style, his footwork. The Gallop. He’s a dern fighter, which means he is constantly coming forward, often chasing kickers across the ring. (He made a joke today about how if a Roi Et – where he’s from – dern fighter is going backwards, it’s because he’s stumbling. Don’t back up.) His footwork involves these deep steps as he gallops forward to cut off the ring. In the GIF you can see the small nuances of his rhythm, the way he drags his foot a little, the bit of bounce. This lightness of movement compliments, and contrasts with his crashing attacks.

It’s very interesting to pair Yodkhunpon with Karuhat because each of them were famed for their elbows. They threw them in very different stylistic ways. Karuhat would time his for dramatic cuts that would win rounds and ultimately fights, Yodkhunpon would overwhelm his opponents with them, paired with knees. Karuhat was a pressure fighter, but he has a kind of wave-like back and forth movement that made him both very difficult to attack, and unpredictable. Yodkhunpon on the other hand has very little backward sway. Everything is right in front of him, in a smothering fashion. The fighter Yodkhunpon might the most be like is Dieselnoi, in that he shares the same stalking, hemming tactics, and then the very violent, escalating tempo attack (with knees, instead of elbows).

This is Sylvie Study Episode 22, you can see it On Demand here. At top is a free 4 minute extended clip, but you can watch the full 64 minute commentary video of this session on Vimeo On Demand. Purchase of the video or subscription lends support to legends of the ring as the krus gets 55% of the net proceeds from this series, distributed; patrons get a substantial discount (you can purchase Episode 22 individually after the trailer below, or look to Episode 22 in the full list). You can also subscribe to the entire series, there are now over 28 hours of commentary training footage published:

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Two GIFS

In this session you find lots of additional techniques shown, and below are two that stand out for me. The first is Karuhat teaching proper stepback on the caught kick. This is part of a larger technique designed to protect a Southpaw’s fighter against an Orthodox kick to the open side. In Karuhat’s approach, you catch the kick while stepping back, switching stance. This effectively turns your open side into your closed side, demoting the point your opponent might be scoring. You then have an open shot for your own open side kick. In this scenario if you exchange kicks, you out-point your opponent even though two kicks have landed. It’s kick for kick, so the open side vs closed side is what determines who dominated the exchange. This little bit of the GIF though deals with the finesse with which you step back once you have switched stances on the catch. I have a tendency to pull my ass back at this point (that’s bad), whereas Karuhat is telling me to stand upright and relaxed, and to draw back, and even slightly over, to expose your opponent to a big scoring kick. You can see how slack and relaxed he is, and pulling me into his strike to boot.

closing the openside from Southpay, landing a higher scoring kick

The second technique which stands out is in the GIF below. It’s not uncommon that you’ll be locked up, with your opponent having something of an overturn in position (me below, you can see how slanted I am, “overturned” with my left arm too far around on my grip so I’m almost sideways into Karuhat’s stance). He’s showing how you don’t want to really struggle against this, so much as follow your outside arm under. The pull away can set this up (hips in), reversing direction. Note how closely he adheres to my body after he passes the arm, able to lock me up at any moment in the turn.

clipping under the overturned lead arm

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Episode 21. At top is the free 4 minute selected clip, but you can watch the full 63 minute commentary video of this session on Vimeo On Demand. Purchase of the video or subscription lends support to legends of the ring as Karuhat gets 55% of the net proceeds from this series; patrons get a substantial discount (you can purchase Episode 15 individually after the trailer below, or look to Episode 21 in the full list). You can also subscribe to the entire series, there are now over 27 hours of commentary training footage published:

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Clinch Throw GIFs

Below are two nice clinch throw attacks (on the outside leg) that Karuhat covers in this episode. The first GIF below is a variation of an unusual throw he’s been teaching me throughout this Intensive, mostly for use on the ropes when your opponent’s hip is pushed in toward you (which is a good defense against knees). Here he’s showing how to set it up in the middle of the ring with left knees, and then a dramatic gallop across their body and outside theleg. Ideally, they are leaning forward or putting their hips in expecting another knee. This throw I’ve called the Pickpocket, when it’s on the ropes, because it is done by walking past the opponent and kind of clipping them, sometimes in a casual in manner.

The other clinch throw to the outside comes off of an exaggerated knee, so you score this point and use the landing as a kind of fake, that then becomes a step beyond and behind their leg (below). Both of these throws come from being off-line from your opponent, here favoring your right side, which happens to be where I find myself a lot. These kinds of positions are dangerous for both of you, like you’re both in a pretty symmetrical position so nobody is “dominant.” You can be thrown and so can they, so the first one to commit with the right set up will be the one who grabs the advantage.

Learn both of these throws by watching the entire sessions, just as Karuhat was teaching them to me.

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Episode 20. At top is a free 3 minute extended clip, but you can watch the full 56 minute commentary video of this session on Vimeo On Demand. Purchase of the video or subscription lends support to legends of the ring as Karuhat gets 55% of the net proceeds from this series; patrons get a substantial discount (you can purchase Episode 20 individually after the trailer below, or look to Episode 20 in the full list). You can also subscribe to the entire series, there are now over 25 hours of commentary training footage published:

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GIF – The Clinch

A great little moment in the episode, around the 17 minute mark, is when Karuhat corrects my clinch attack. The GIF below shows it. He starts by taking my (improper) upright, far off stance, and then shows me how he wants my head on his shoulder. If you watch it a few times you notice some very important elements he throws in to keep himself from being thrown from this slightly forward lean. First of all his posture is counterbalanced with the curve of his body. Secondly, he is peppering with light knees to distract, and then does a slight drag back to rock me forward, resumes the knees, and then reverses and steps through to the right. The action and feel is like a boat that is being jostled by waves. Look at my body, how it is constantly pushed off center, sloshing back and forth. I’m relaxed so this is emphasized, it allows you to see the small shifts. This makes his step through extra effective. In this instance he uses the step through to land a big score on the ropes, but if my hips were in defending against his knees, he would turn this into a throw over his left thigh, a throw I’ve been calling the Pickpocket Throw because of how you step “by” someone.

above, quick GIF showing clinch distance, head position, and shifting direction, from the episode

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Episode 19. At top is a free 3 minute extended clip, but you can watch the full 64 minute commentary video of this session on Vimeo On Demand. Purchase of the video or subscription lends support to legends of the ring as Karuhat gets 55% of the net proceeds from this series; patrons get a substantial discount (you can purchase Episode 19 individually after the trailer below, or look to Episode 19 in the full list). You can also subscribe to the entire series, there are now over 25 hours of commentary training footage published:

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Episode 18. At top is a free 3 minute extended clip, but you can watch the full 80 minute commentary video of this session on Vimeo On Demand. Purchase of the video or subscription lends support to legends of the ring as Karuhat gets 55% of the net proceeds from this series; patrons get a substantial discount (you can purchase Episode 18 individually after the trailer below, or look to Episode 18 in the full list). You can also subscribe to the entire series, there are now over 20 hours of commentary training footage published:

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This is about being relaxed in a range, and moving smoothly through that range. This is really against my basic instinct which is to pop out of range, after a miss, or even a mistake. Karuhat is a pressure fighter, but the pressure isn’t aggression per se. It’s more constantly reading and scanning your opponent, closing the distance.

In the free excerpt above he starts talking about my elbows, wanting me to think about how arm-pressure creates openings for elbows. He is showing me his push-pull, the way he uses tension to flex or melt away. This is a larger principle for him, part of his Be Like Sand. For me a key in working his flex into my style I want to be on my front foot. For me rocking back onto my back foot stagnates me, making me less ready. On my front foot I’m much more ready to kick or check.

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Episode 17. At top is a free 4 minute extended clip, but you can watch the full 84 minute commentary video of this session on Vimeo On Demand. Purchase of the video or subscription lends support to legends of the ring as Karuhat gets 55% of the net proceeds from this series; patrons get a substantial discount (you can purchase Episode 17 individually after the trailer below, or look to Episode 17 in the full list). You can also subscribe to the entire series, there are now over 23 hours of commentary training footage published:

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click to watch the full On Demand series

Episode 16. At top is a free 5 minute extended clip, but you can watch the full 68 minute commentary analysis video of this session on Vimeo On Demand (below). Purchase of the video or subscription lends support to legends of the ring as Karuhat gets 55% of the net proceeds from this series; patrons get a substantial discount (you can purchase Episode 16 individually after the trailer below, or look to Episode 16 in the full list). You can also subscribe to the entire series, there are now over 21 hours of commentary training footage published:

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You’ll hear a background hiss in the audio of this session. Its the rain on the tin roof. In the free trailer clip there are lots of little things being show. It starts with my observation of how Karuhat’s micro movements are continually creating the “wrong distance” for me, and how this produces a vague sense of discomfort in your opponent. He also repeatedly corrects me on the height of my knees, they are too high. He wants them to come lower, they will have more length, and develop a natural rise. He also shows me the dynamics of a basic pull towards yourself throw which tangles the legs of a leaning opponent.

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Episode 15. At top is a free 5 minute extended clip, but you can watch the full 84 minute commentary video of this session on Vimeo On Demand. Purchase of the video or subscription lends support to legends of the ring as Karuhat gets 55% of the net proceeds from this series; patrons get a substantial discount (you can purchase Episode 15 individually after the trailer below, or look to Episode 15 in the full list). You can also subscribe to the entire series, there are now over 20 hours of commentary training footage published:

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perfect shot of some of the mechanics of the Cascade Throw

In the extended trailer clip you can see the fantastic outside trip that he’s taught me a couple of sessions ago, that is a superb counter to a defensive knee or hips in by your opponent.  I’m calling it a Cascade Throw because of its two stages. They do flow to together, but it helps when learning it to feel first the “step through”, and then the shoulder pull-over. This is a trip that can potentially be a foul if you put your leg behind their leg – you cannot trip using the back of your leg – this is solved by putting your head on your opponent’s shoulder, and more properly stepping next to and past your opponent. You ultimately pull your opponent over the top of your thigh, not tripping them with the back of your leg. The image above is in the middle of the ring, but In our sessions together this outside attack became a major part attacking a defensive fighter up against the ropes. Attack the body, punish to the outside of their knees come up or hips go in. Episode 14. Above is a free 5 minute extended clip, but you can watch the full 64 minute commentary video of this session on Vimeo On Demand. Purchase of the video lends support to legends of the ring as Karuhat gets 55% of the net proceeds; patrons get a substantial discount (you can purchase Episode 14 after the trailer below, or look to Episode 14 in the full list):   watch all the free videos in this series  

Episode 13. Above is a free 4 minute extended clip, but you can watch the full 79 minute commentary video of this session on Vimeo On Demand. Purchase of the video lends support to legends of the ring as Karuhat gets 55% of the net proceeds; patrons get a substantial discount (you can purchase Episode 13 after the trailer below, or look to Episode 13 in the full list):

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