I remember the night Kru Apple messaged me on Facebook like it was yesterday. It was April 22nd and I was going to bed soon. It was near impossible to find fights in Chiang Mai during the pandemic so I had recently had a lot of let-downs with fights. I was feeling discouraged about when I may fight next so my surprise was multiplied when I read his message. He messaged me late at night, which was highly unusual, to say I was going to fight in Bangkok next month. My entire body seized up a little bit. I couldn’t imagine what it would be and I hadn’t fought in Bangkok before so this increased my surprise more than normal. I asked, “What promotion?” to which he replied, “Go Sport.” I had never heard of it before so I thought maybe that made sense. It’s gotta be a new promotion.
That night I probed to find more information. Long story short, I learned this was a brand new promotion for Lumpinee Stadium and my body seized up yet again. I thought for SURE this couldn’t be correct but that is the only information on this promotion that could be found. I hadn’t fought in a while. Surely he wasn’t sending me to Lumpinee. The following day, it was the first thing I asked him when I walked into training and, of course, he concurred. It was a new promotion that would take place at Lumpinee Stadium. I felt my heart race and drop to my stomach. It is truly a dream come true but I did not feel I was ready for such a high level stadium. But as I am, I wasn’t going to say no to a challenge and surely NEVER going to say no to an invitation to Lumpinee. In addition, I knew he wouldn’t send me to do something he thought I couldn’t do. I experienced a lot of mixed emotions all at the same time but only one thing remained clear to me regardless of how I internally felt: it was business time.
preparation
We immediately got right to work. At the time, I was under the impression that I had about 6-7 weeks before I was heading to Bangkok. We started working on all the little details where I fall short – anywhere from accuracy to balance to technique. We were refining the things we set a foundation in already. I started running up the mountain more. I was watching videos he would send me each weekend. I was watching my nutrition and weight. I focused on sleep. Things were moving forward.
Unfortunately, yet looking back it was fortunate, Thailand then broke out in its third wave of the virus. Bangkok was highly infected and places all over Thailand started to shut down again. We were informed that the fight was delayed until further notice.
It was during this time I started to practice weight cutting. I hadn’t had a lot of practice with it in the past because I’d never been required to lose much. However, the main benefit was the mental strength I gained from this. Any fighter you know will probably tell you that cutting weight is one of the least fun aspects of combat sports.
After refining my training regimen, learning exactly what I needed to do for weight cutting, practicing my nutrition, learning how my body weight reacts to specific things within all of these aspects and lifestyle choices, and much more, at this point, I was just waiting for the call to head to Bangkok. The fight date and opponents kept changing constantly due to covid for one thing or another. It started to become mentally draining on some days. I kept getting internally drained until I decided to change my perspective. There was no way I was going to “peak” for a fight. There was no way I was going to have something well planned out and perfect. I couldn’t plan for an opponent, a date, a fight weight, anything. There were a few times where I was told I was fighting the following week but it didn’t go through. These things changed regularly. I began to always expect a new message from Apple with some sort of new information on one of these things. This isn’t a complaint but rather a picture painted. My perspective changed instead to living it, breathing it, and being ready for anyone at any time. As far as fight weight goes, I had already practiced enough that I was confident I would be able to make any fight weight (within reason, of course) that I was asked to do. Once I was just ready for whatever, whenever, things started to get a lot easier.
When the promotion started up again, I started hearing about opponents, fight dates, and fight weights again but was no longer phased by anything. “Anyone, anytime” was my mentality. I received an official fight day but then it started getting delayed one week at a time. Needless to say, by the time the date came, I was WELL ready for it.
FIGHT WEEK
I had a hard time actually believing I was going to Bangkok when I was finally told the fight was on again. I was encouraged to start making preparations for logistics but I was slow to move because I felt that things would just change again after making so many plans. However, the fight truly WAS on and I had to make preparations fast. During this same exact time I was also informed that Apple couldn’t come with me because of a different and very important commitment he already made.
Therefore, figuring out a corner was also on my fight week “to-do list”. One person dropped everything and committed to coming which was great, but then I needed to find another. Later one of my closest teammates stepped in to help as well. He started to learn how to tape hands for a fight because I was going to need someone who knew how to do it (then much later we had another mutual Kru friend step in to come down and help; I’m forever thankful for all of these people’s time).
Then, funny enough, 2 days before I was supposed to fly out, there was another cancellation scare due to covid. For most of Wednesday, I believed the fight was cancelled yet again after having booked our flights. So when I boarded my flight on Friday, I still left room for doubt. I wasn’t going to believe it until I was in the ring.
WEIIGH-INS & FIGHT DAY
Weigh-ins were the evening before and felt rather anticlimactic. I was slowly brought back down a small hallway where I was able to see a glimpse of the stadium for the first time. This is when I finally felt it’s presence and the internal excitement began. This hallway contained the small preparation rooms for “red corner” and “blue corner”, with the tiny room where the scale laid in between. It was nothing fancy; only business. Each room had a simple yet old and grey metal structure like that of a navy ship.
Tuesday was fight day. Most of the day was uneventful as well. I caught up with some friends and family, read a book, listened to music, refueled myself, etc. There wasn’t much going on. I just kept myself pretty unbothered. I remember driving to the stadium feeling like it was just any other day. I didn’t feel this way because I didn’t care. I felt this way because this is what I prepare to do and think about every day of my life. It felt like time moved so slow for so long but when it came down to getting ready moments before, we were rushed. I was brought to the blue corner room. We immediately got to business: taping hands, oil massage, vaseline, gloves, etc. I had no time to sit there and get nervous about it. There was no waiting, no warming up, and no time to think. It was time now.
We walked behind the stage while the first fight was taking place. I met a new friend during my days in Bangkok and he was sitting there waiting with me for his turn to fight. I looked over to the other side of the stage and there was my opponent. It all felt so casual yet the thickness of the air was real. I watched my friend walk out and watched his fight from behind the stage. I remember hearing the cracks of kicks and reactions of those around. During his last round I remember thinking “Well, this will all be over in about twenty minutes. Let’s make the best of it”. Next, I was up.
I patiently waited on the stage for my time to walk to the ring. I heard my song come on and honestly laughed a little to myself and had to get my smile under control because I’m known for loving this Thai song too much. I knew some of my friends that know this were watching online and laughing about my walk out song choice. It was a very surreal feeling to be standing there, laughing to myself, but I am in the presence of history and what I’m having fun doing right now is part of something bigger than myself. I didn’t want to let nerves and the reputation of the stadium get the best of me so I kept part of my brain shut off. It was business time. I needed to be able to just focus on myself more than anything else.
I truly didn’t know what to expect from my opponent. I knew nothing about her, other than she had a lot more experience than me. Each round I could only think I needed to do what it took to win and that included relaxing myself just enough to think clearly and pace myself. You allow yourself to be in very dangerous positions when you’re tired. The next thing I knew, it was over. It felt like each round went by so fast. By the end of the fight I had already known that I won. The couple minutes it took for my hand to be raised felt like an eternity. This moment made all of the ups and downs, doubts, countless days and hours of hard work and frustration worth it.
Obviously I wanted to win but going into it I wasn’t sure if I would. I was so rusty, I had never fought in Bangkok before, and I had an injury going into it. I am humbled by the experience and really appreciative of my opponent for sharing the ring with me. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, she’s definitely tough.
I think there were a lot of factors that went into my resolve and mentality during the week and the few days leading into the fight but one of the main ones was the unpredictability. Since I already had a lot of practice being unphased by changes, not knowing things, being ready for anything, etc., I was just overall more relaxed than I could probably put into words. I couldn’t help but think that whatever is going to happen is going to happen and it’s out of my control now – worrying wasn’t about to help me win. Instead, I chose to enjoy the moments leading up to it and reminded myself I put the work in already and this is what I dedicate so many hours of my life to. I won’t magically become an expert on one thing or another before I step into the ring so it’s better to relax.
Overall, it was a great experience. I learned a lot about myself as a person, as a fighter, and as a student. I am still so grateful for such an awesome and supportive group of people in my corner. It would have been an entirely different experience without them. It is an incredibly surreal feeling as well to be part of the history of something I love so much. However, it’s not over yet. There’s a lot of work to do both on myself and within the sport of Muay Thai. I look forward to what the future holds, regardless of what it brings. I also definitely hope to be back
Blog Post by Ariel McGuire
Follow @ArielMcGuire
