HongTongLek Team Quest Thailand Title Run

I know most of you have seen some of these fights already but I figured I would put them all together for people who haven't watched them. For those of you that haven't followed along, Team Quest Thailand just produced our first Thailand Champion after only being open for 8 months. You guy's can see how HongTongLek Chor Farpleansee's championship run unfolded.

HongTongLek Chor. Farpleansee

It all started back in March, 2012 when HongTongLek was called to take a fight the next day as a last minute replacement. He literally was given 20 hours notice. He hadn't had any fights scheduled so he hadn't trained hard in about a month. But he can take fights on short notice because he has what is considered a “I.Q. Style”, meaning he uses his brain and not his strength. He literally packed his bag and left for the airport 2 hours later. This fight was live on national television on channel 3. HongTongLek was a huge underdog going into this fight.

HongTongLek Chor. Farpleansee vs Phetchartchay Chaoraiooy

Before this fight, HongTongLek's career was coming to an end. He has been fighting since he was 6 years old and has had over 350 fights. Before the short notice fight against Phetchartchay, HongTongLek had just been previously knocked out by 16 year old and up and comer Songkom Sahomsin. After this was talks of HongTongLek retiring. But after the channel 3 fight his spirits had been lifted.

The promoter was so impressed with HongTonglek's willingness to take the fight against Phetchartchay on short notice that he awarded him with another big fight. This time against a young and hungry fighters named Kong Esarn. The difference for HongTongLek in this fight was that he had a full training camp. Again, HongTongLek was a huge underdog though.

HongTongLek Chor Farpleansee vs Kong Esarn

This fight was very close but HongTongLek edged out a close victory. At this point, people started talking about HongTongLek as a legit contender again. It was his experience that won him this fight. It's true what they say, you are only as good as your last fight.

Once again the promoter called and asked HongTongLek to fight on 3 days notice. This time it was against a fighter named Rocko (same as Rocky in Thai). HongTongLek never refuses a fight and with no training left to Bangkok the next day. Rocko was supposed to be tougher than his last opponents but HongTongLek's style is designed for clinch fighters like Rocko.

HongTongLek Chor Farpleansee vs. Rocko

This turned out to be a fairly easy fight for HongTongLek. It was never close at any point and HongTongLek finished Rocko with a flying knee. After this fight the promoter told HongTongLek that he might be fighting for the title next.

HongTongLek didn't end up getting the next title shot but he did win the chance to fight the toughest fight of his championship run. Rungsak Pansomboom had been on a tear leading up to the fight with HongTongLek. Rungsak had won 7 straight and again, HongTongLek was considered a underdog. Lucky for us, HongTongLek had a full training camp. So he went in 100% into the fight.

HongTongLek Chor. Farpleansee vs RungSak Pansomboom.

You can see in this fight that HongTongLek had one of his best performances ever. He literally defended everything including the kitchen sink. As the fight progressed he started to take over. After this fight the promoter was so impressed with HongTongLek's performance that he promised him the next title shot on the spot. The next day the media was buzzing about it.

The media was classing this as one of the greatest Muay Thai comebacks in the history of the sport. For those of you that don't know, HongTongLek retired at age 22 and came out of retirement at age 28. He was a huge superstar in his day but at this point in his career he was considered only a gatekeeper for up and coming superstars to fight so they could make a name off of him.

Before coming to Team Quest Thailand, HongTongLek's results were sub par on his comeback. He had won about half his fights . When we brought him in to Team Quest Thailand, it was our highest priority to give him the best training environment. If fighters are happy, it directly effects the students experience while training.

During HongTongLek's run, another fighter had been putting together a nice winning streak. Phetchartchay Chaoraiooy, who HongTongLek originally fought to start his streak. Phetchartchay put together a string of wins. The belt was vacated at this point so it only made sense for them to fight for it. This time though, HongTongLek was the favorite. Here is HongTongLek's championship fight for the Thailand title at Lumpinee stadium.

HongTongLek Chor. Farpleansee vs Phetchartchay Chaoraiooy II

HongTongLek surpassed all of his last performances . This was one of the most lopsided championship fights I have ever seen. HongTongLek dominated the entire fight.

On August 7, 2012 HongTongLek will be fighting once again at Lumpinee stadium. Check back soon to get the video and fight results.

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Team Quest Thailand fighters

Right now, I would have to say that this is the most exciting time of my life. For so long we had the dream of opening the gym here but never imagined we would be off to a start like we have. This past weekend we had another huge fight.

Adrien “Kaew” Team Quest Thailand is an amazing story. About 10 months ago he came to Chiang Mai, Thailand as a tourist not knowing what he wanted to do with his life. He had recently got out of the military and decided he just wanted to travel. He met Team Quest Thailand trainer Tanaphong “Ping” Khunhankaew and decided to start training Muay Thai. To make a long story short, Adrien is a Muay Thai phenom. Adrien in only 10 months of total training (with no past experience) has had 18 fights all ending in him either knee or elbow knocking out his opponent. Only 2 fights have got past the 3^rd round.

We are really happy to have him at the gym. This is a guy who has screwed his head on straight. He has figured out what he wants to do and has been living the Muay Thai life style. Adrien has a lot going for him. He is motivated, focused, and a good all around guy. He also is 6'4” and can make 70 kilos (154 pounds).

Adrien has been doing so well that he was offered to fight in the “Gai Yang Haa Dow” 8 man round robin tournament sponsored by Petchyindee. For those who don't know, Petchyindee is one of the biggest promoters in Thailand for Muay Thai. This is what has been so amazing about our gym. Right now we have great connections for our MMA team with organizations such as ONE FC and we can also get Muay Thai fights at the highest level. Our Muay Thai training staff works closely with the promoter Petchyindee. Petchyindee can get fights at almost any venue in Thailand, including Lumpinee stadium. So last weekend Adrien was due for his 19^th fight. To show you how good our training staff's connections are, Adrien is the only foreigner in this tournament. The winner will take home 260,000 THB. (Adrien is the white guy on the left, click on the picture to make it bigger.)

Adrien tipped the scale at 70 kilo which was not easy for him to make. But Adrien got mentally tough and squeezed off the last few ounces. Leading up to the fight, Adrien is not well known so nobody really knew his style. Basically his style is grab you and knee you until you die. Adrien faced Yodkhunporn in the first round of the tournament.

What made this match amazing for me is that in the locker room while Adrien was getting ready for the fight. Yodkhunporn's corner man started to chirp Adrien in Thai language. He was saying things like “This is muay thai, you don't belong here” and “please don't hurt my fighter”and laughing in a condescending way. Adrien was respectful and ignored him. Well here is the fight, you can see what happened:

Adrien over whelmed Yodkhunporn with his clinch style and caught him with an up elbow. Yodkhunporn was literally out for about 3 minutes and even back stage was not all together. So Adrien improves to 19-0 with 19 Knock outs. What's next for Adrien is he will be fighting in the next round of the tournament in August. The date hasn't been confirmed yet but I will let everyone know when it has been confirmed.

As I talked about in a past blog, we are looking to sponsor a few fighters. We are willing to cover training costs and accommodation if we can find the right fit. Basically we have been looking for someone that will actually take advantage of the opportunity to live in Thailand and not get distracted. Everyone who has applied has not really been what we are looking for. That is until Chris Herrera showed up over a month ago.

Chris is a fighter out of Team Quest Temecula in California. Chris has a collegiate wrestling background and has grappled for a while. He trains like a mad man and never complains. He is coachable and basically a man's man. His personality reminds me a bit of Dan Henderson's with his approach to training and fighting. He's confident while being reserved but performs.

Chris has the stereo typical Team Quest fighting style for MMA. Check out one of his MMA fights (Chris in blue corner):

Here is his Muay Thai fight Chiang Mai, Thailand (Chris shows his huge heart after being hurt badly):

Chris already has a good base for striking but I know he will improve a lot over the next year. I am excited to see him transform as an MMA/ Muay Thai fighter. Basically, Chris has everything working for him. We are really excited to have him join the team.

Our MMA and Muay Thai team is growing stronger every day. Our goal is to keep improving the team with good people who all have the same goal. Our success at this point is definitely from the students and staff. As long as we can keep a good student and staff base (meaning good moral people with the same goals.), we will continue to build as a gym.

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HongThongLek Team Quest Thailand Title fight.

LEADING UP TO THE FIGHT

Imagine training your entire life (23 years) for the opportunity to one day fight for a world championship. Team Quest Thailand's own resident fighter, HongThongLek Team Quest Thailand is getting just that. After training since the age of 6, HongThongLek has had over 350 fights. At the age of 29 he has finally earned his first shot at the Thailand title. HongThongLek earned an opportunity to fight for the Thailand Title in Bangkok, Thailand at Lumpinee stadium on July 13, 2012.

Leading up to the fight, Team Quest Thailand had lots of time to plan for the event. Being located in the province Chiang Mai, Thailand, we are quite the journey from Bangkok, Thailand. All of the students and the staff here made a trek to show support for HongThongLek. 12 of us in total traveled the 9 hour bus ride to meet and support HongThongLek for his championship fight. Unlike most destinations in Thailand that consist of the big city draw of Bangkok and the overly populated islands. Team Quest Thailand's facility is tucked away on the outskirts of the Jungle in Chiang Mai.

We arrived at 6:00am on Bangkok's legendary tourist trap of Khao San road. This road is infamous amongst backpackers looking to settle in for a few nights and party until the sun rises. Even arriving at 6:00am we sat and ate breakfast and continually watched drunk person after drunk person wandering around.

We decided to stay at 13 coins muay thai gym. The reason being is that this is a gym I personally spent a lot of time at while training in Thailand. During my time there is where I originally met HongThongLek and his twin brother Kru Joe. Kru Joe was my Muay Thai teacher. I spent about 6 months in total working with him. I learned more from him in 6 months than I learned in my previous 6 years of training muay thai. So every day Kru Joe was helping me skill build and then I got to spar and clinch with HongThongLek everyday. It was truly the most amazing training. This is why we brought them on at Team Quest Thailand. Kru Joe was promoted to Head Muay Thai trainer because of his ability to relate and explain muay thai concepts to students.

After we settled in and cleaned up, Ian (Co-CEO of TQ Thailand) and I had an appointment to meet up with Fairtex's general manager, Chano. Chano has been a huge help to us here in Chiang Mai. Fairtex is getting ready to release new models of all of their equipment so he invited us by to personally show us some of these improvements. The new equipment is amazing, I wish I could talk more about it but I will have to wait until they publicly release them.

So by this time, it was starting to get a bit later in the afternoon and it was time to start getting ready for HongThongLek's fight. We had an epic amount of support from the students and his preexisting fans. In all I think we had about 25 foreigners that came out to support him. We were later told by the promoter that HongThongLek's corner that consisted of 25 foreigners strong was a record, surpassing even support for superstars such as Saenchai sor kingstar.

THE FIGHT

I have said this before and I will say it again. There is no other sporting event in the world that matches the atmosphere of Lumpinee Stadium. The entire crowd is filled with professional gamblers. Every single fight is being bet on. The entire crowd is involved verbally and physically through out the entire event. The best thing about Lumpinee stadium is that it is relatively open. So when you pull up in a taxi you get a feel for what is going on inside.

We arrived after the fights had already started. HongThongLek was the main event of the night so he was rushed to the back. I say the back because at Lumpinee stadium there is no locker room. It's just a area in the back where fighters all prepare and get ready side by side. Literally HongThongLek was preparing with in 10 feet of his opponent Phetchartchay Chaoraiooy. HongThongLek was cool and collected though. He was focused and looked very professional. Remember HongThongLek is a vet of over 350 fights, he's done this before. These two had also fought 3 months prior and HongThongLek won very decisively with a 2nd round KO. Phetchartchay was visually very nervous and he was constantly looking at HongThonglek leading up to the fight.

So HongThongLek's name was called and we made our way to the ring. We had an army of 25 foreigners and a lot of Thai people to march out with him. HongThonLek preformed the wai kru and it was time to start.

Both fighters started off very slow in the 1st round. Both fighters were a bit cautious but in the second round is where HongThongLek took control. I would love to write about some epic battle where HongThongLek barely edged ahead to win the victory. But in reality the fight was never close. HongThongLek was on a different level. He almost played with Phetchartchay. Here is the video:

So now you are looking at the new 115lb Thailand champion at Lumpinee Stadium. What's next for HongThongLek is that he will be defending his title one time on August 7th, 2012. If he is successful than a super fight will be scheduled between him and the current 115lb Lumpinee champion where each fighter will put their belt on the line. Check back soon for updated information on his upcoming fight.

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 What an exciting week we had out here at Team Quest Thailand. It all started when I flew down to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to meet up with Matt Lindland and his daughter Robin. I was meeting Matt to take him to the ONE FC event in Malaysia and then showing him the Team Quest facility in Chiang Mai, Thailand. 

 The ONE FC event was a stacked card and I was excited to show Matt what we had going on in Asia. The plan was to meet Matt immediately after his flight at 5:30pm, check into the hotel, clean up and get to the fights. But apparently Matt's plane ran out of fuel so they had to make a pit stop in Singapore. I ended up having to wait for 3 hours while the flight was delayed.

 So we were a bit late but we arrived just in time. The fight I was looking forward to the most was Adam Kayoom vs. Gregor Gracie. I was particularly looking forward to it because I got to train under Adam Kayoom a few times while I was staying in Bangkok and the guy has some serious skills. The fight was amazing and he showed a lot of heart. He was put in some bad spots in the first round and dug deep and rallied to come back and take an exciting decision victory. It was a great fight to walk into and Matt was super impressed with Adam's performance.

 After the fights I was able to introduce Matt to ONE FC's CEO Victor Cui. Victor had a short time, so we congratulated him on the great card and after went back to our hotel to get ready to leave to Chiang Mai, Thailand the next morning. 

 So Matt, Robin, and myself flew to Chiang Mai, Thailand the next morning which was on a Sunday. We dropped off Matt's bags at their hotel and I brought them to the Team Quest Thailand facility. I could genuinely feel Matt's approval. He loved it and was really excited about getting some training in. Check out the facility: 

The next morning we had David Hulett arrive in Chiang Mai ready to start his training. If you haven't heard of David yet you will soon. David is a veteran of over 30 professional MMA fights. He has spent the majority of his training in Las Vegas, NV under gyms such as Extreme Couture, Wand's gym, and Robert Drysdales Brazilian jiu jitsu. David is coming out to look for opportunities to fight in Asia. 

So Tuesday morning Matt came over to the gym and jumped in one of the Muay Thai classes. Everyone was really excited for him to be here including the Muay Thai trainers. Matt had an opportunity to work with Kru Joe one on one. Kru Joe taught Matt a few tricks with some elbows in the clinch that will complement his dirty boxing well. 

 All of the trainers wanted to spar with Matt since it was the first UFC fighter they had the chance to meet. So we basically ran the gauntlet on him. It was a tough day for Matt. All 4 of our trainers shark tanked him. I know Matt was really impressed with our trainers/fighters skill level because he complimented them. That's something Matt doesn't do unless he means it. 

On Wednesday Matt gave a really awesome seminar on Dirty Boxing and ground and pound for MMA. We had a great turnout for it. We had more people attend then I expected. Here is some video from the seminar.

During there time here, Matt and his daughter Robin also got to experience some of the extreme tourists activities including

flight of the gibbon: 

 Elephant trekking:

The sunday market: 

 It has been a really awesome experience to build this gym from the ground up and then have Matt come out and get to witness what we have done here. At the end of our trip we finished with a nice Seafood dinner (the food was still moving). The cost of a large lobster was 1/6th the price of what it would cost in the states.

 At this point we are just going to continue to build our Muay Thai and MMA team. Our Muay Thai program has exploded. After being open for only 8 months our resident fighter “Hong Tong Lek Team Quest Thailand” is going to be fighting for the Thailand title at Lumpinee stadium on July 13th . Check back soon for updated training videos and sneek peeks into his training camp leading up to the title fight.

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