As I’m sitting in an airport for another half-day layover, I remember that the most terrible part of traveling to Thailand is the journey there. It is awful.
You can’t get a direct flight to Phuket from the US, so you’ll have at least two, if not 3, long layovers in addition to the long flight. I am currently on a 3 day stay after having to get up at 4:00 am to start my first leg.
I don’t like dwelling on negative thoughts, so I decided to write a bit about how lucky I am to be here and how grateful I am for the opportunity.
It has been a lifelong dream to train and fight in Thailand. Three years ago, I decided that I was not going to dream anymore … I was going to start DOING. A few months later, he was training in Thailand.
Not knowing what I was getting into, I presented myself out of shape, thinking that I would get in shape in Thailand. That was a big mistake. I spent most of my first month training, getting off the mat. When Thai coaches see weakness, they take advantage of it. I literally got my butt kicked every day, but I’ve never had so much fun in my life.
Finally, I got to where I was hitting people as much as me. It got to the point where I felt like I was ready for a fight.
I faced an Australian boy who was half my age and twice my size. (Actually, he only had a small size advantage, but he was young and in good shape.) I ended up winning, but that just made me want to take things a little further.
It had been years since I had competed and I started to wonder if I could get back to the level I was at when I was younger. I wanted another fight. This time, I had to fight a Thai.
After being knocked out by a Thai when I was just starting out in the fighting game, I felt like I had to avenge that loss. I have had several Muay Thai fights in my career, but I only fought one Thai opponent that time. I will never forget how incredibly strong he was in the clinch. How devastatingly it hit and how tough it was. I couldn’t hurt this kid.
I set a new goal for myself, and that was to fight in Thailand, against a Thai rival. I have attended dozens of Thai fights in Thailand. EVERYONE is amazing at Muay Thai. Even the ones you laugh at when they walk into the ring because they look overweight or super skinny end up as stone-cold killers. Even the older ones you can see their skill set is not what it was before, they are still tougher than nails and give you NOTHING. You have to to win a victory in Thailand.
I came home more determined than ever to reach their level. I started training like I hadn’t in years, and when I returned to Thailand, this time I was ready for the regiment. I showed up in shape and was ready to train. The camp went unbelievably good. I couldn’t have felt more prepared when I stepped into the ring for my fight against a Thai opponent. Unfortunately, he didn’t feel the same way. It did not appear. I never got to the bottom of why he wasn’t there, but I literally stepped into the ring, only for the promoter to tell me my opponent was nowhere to be found. I had scheduled my fight for the last weekend that I was going to be in Thailand, so I went home feeling like a girlfriend who had stayed at the altar (not honeymoon either).
In order not to get discouraged, I immediately began planning my return to finish what I started. I went back to Thailand with several people from my gym. I was super excited to have everyone there to watch me fight. We had incredible training and I lined up with an opponent for a fight. However, shortly after scheduling it, I suffered a knee injury during a fairly heated training session with a Russian student who was also training there. (Russian fighters are famous for thinking that every sparring session is for the world title. They have no control and go to the wall. Their technique is not that good, they are just maniacs at sparring).
I finally had to back down from the fight and go home for knee surgery. He had a torn ACL and some other knee damage, and there was no way he could have fought that off. I literally couldn’t push off my left leg.
My 50th birthday is stealthily approaching, so my window is closing. Even before scheduling my surgery, I bought my ticket to go back to Thailand for this fight. I would go back no matter what.
My wife told me once that she wishes she had OCD so she could do things. That statement is not completely wrong. He probably would have given up on this impossible dream of having a final fight in Thailand if he weren’t obsessive, compulsive. I probably would have listened to my body, my mind, and my common sense, and I would have thrown in the towel. I’m just not connected that way.
After my surgery, my knee never really recovered. A nerve was damaged during surgery which prevented my quads from firing. I have no upper leg muscle to stabilize my left leg. I still have an 85% rotator cuff tear, and yes … I turn 50 in 2 months. I don’t even like to mention these things because it seems to me that I am making an excuse for a loss I might incur. I am not. I will win, and if not, I will try again until I win.
I had to change my approach to fighting in pretty drastic ways. I am VERY out of my game physically, but I am also MUCH smarter and MUCH more laser focused. They say fighting is a ‘tough guy’ sport. I would say that, for the good guys, it’s a thinking man’s game. Don’t get me wrong, you have to be physically able to withstand the rigors of fighting, but learning to minimize those rigors and maximize your strengths is also something that is lost among many younger fighters. This is not a sport for young men, but it would benefit any young fighter to have the wisdom of an older fighter.
Keeping things in perspective. I am not fighting for a world title. Actually, I am not fighting for any title. I am fighting for ME, and only for Me. I fight because it is what makes me happy. I fight because it has helped me stay young. I fight because it is in my DNA.
It has been a long road to come back from my injury. As I sit in this airport, I can’t help but reflect on how lucky I am to be able to do what I do. I have an incredible support system. My wife has unwaveringly supported this effort. She pushed me when I got depressed and refused to let me give up.
If I can survive the next 3 days traveling to Thailand, I will go back where I am happiest. I will embrace the journey and finish what I set out to do. Many thanks to all who have offered words of support and much love to those who will soon punch me in the face.
