Josh Koscheck vs Paulo Thiago

Josh Koscheck will finally get the chance to redeem himself for what I personally feel was a fluke loss to Paulo Thiago back at UFC 95. I think it was a fluke not because Paulo Thiago isn’t a good fighter, that’s clearly not the case. I mean, the guy has a black belt in both Judo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu - both of which are extremely applicable to mixed martial arts.

I think it was a fluke because Josh Koscheck lost that fight on the feet, which is an aspect of fighting where he certainly has an advantage. Even as the fight was transpiring, Joe Rogan was praising Josh’s crisp striking while criticizing the sloppy, reckless, “chin up in the air” style striking of Paulo Thiago.

They say everyone has a “punchers chance” and I guess it was just Paulo Thiago’s lucky night that night - he should have stopped off at 7 eleven on the way home and bought some lottery tickets. But then again, he won a mini-lottery anyway because that knockout won him “knockout of the night” honors and the $65,000 dollar bonus that comes with it.

Since then, Josh Koscheck - who is now the most active fighter in the UFC stating that he would like to fight every month - has knocked off 2 very impressive victories over Frank Trigg and Anthony Johnson. Paulo Thiago has since been defeated at the hands of Jon Fitch, but let’s be honest, most people lose to Jon Fitch. However, in his next bout, Paulo Thiago shut down the previously undefeated UFC newcomer, Jacob Volkmann.

As for how these 2 guys match up stylistically, I think that Josh Koscheck has the edge. He’s a lot stronger and he’s much more explosive than Paulo Thiago. He’s one of the most accomplished wrestlers in the entire organization having gone 43-0 in his junior year at college and then going on to becoming a 4 time NCAA Division 1 All-American.

His striking has improved leaps and bounds due to his time spent training at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, California. And on the slim chance that anyone will be able to outwrestle him and put him on his back, he’s been working on his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and has now earned his brown belt.

Granted, Paulo Thiago is an accomplished Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt but it really seems unlikely that he’s going to be able to out-due Josh Koscheck’s superior wrestling ability and get the fight to the mat. The better wrestler always has the option to dictate where the fight will take place and in this particular instance, I feel as though Koscheck will steer the fight away from Paulo Thiago’s strength and keep the fight standing.

I doubt that lightening is going to strike twice and Koscheck - being the more technical striker - will likely show the world that his previous loss was a fluke. The betting lines for this fight will be interesting considering the outcome of their previous fight so if the odds are anywhere near even (I highly doubt they will be), then the smart money will be on Josh Koscheck.

Randy Couture vs Mark Coleman

THIS SITE USUALLY HAS THE FIGHTS (There’s an annoying survey though).

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Randy Couture vs. Mark Coleman; as irrelevant as this fight may be to the light heavyweight title picture, we’re still going to get to see 2 legends of the sport square off at UFC 109. Neither fighter is at the top of their game at the moment, but considering that their combined age is 90, that’s to be expected.

However, that being said, both fighters are actually coming off wins, and wins against noteworthy opponents I might add. Randy Couture recently edged out Brandon Vera for a decision victory at UFC 105 and the last time Mark Coleman fought - which was at UFC 100 - he outwrestled and out pointed Stephan Bonnar.

And that’s what makes this particular fight so intriguing - the wrestling ability of these two fighters. Randy Couture, as we all know, is a very accomplished wrestler (three time Olympic team alternate and three time division 1 all American) and he uses those skills perfectly in the octagon. As a matter of fact, he oftentimes uses the octagon cage to his advantage - as we saw against Gabriel Gonzaga back at UFC 74.

Not to be outdone, Mark Coleman has a pretty serious amateur wrestling background himself as he also wrestled in the Olympics, placing 7th overall back in 1992 in Barcelona, Spain. Randy Couture has been inducted into the UFC hall of fame and well, so has Mark Coleman. As a matter of fact, there are only 6 fighters that have been inducted into the prestigious hall of fame and now, we get to see two of them (the only 2 that are currently active by the way) square off in the main event.

As for how I see this fight playing out, well, there’s a good chance that their wrestling ability, being as high calibre as it is, will cancel each other out. In which case, it’ll come down to who’s sharper in the other areas of the game. I believe that of the two, Randy Couture has aged a little bit better as he’s kept himself in phenomenal shape.

His cardio and fight preparation is never to be questioned and with Mark Coleman, the same thing can’t be said - as we watched him gas in his fight with shogun. Coleman trains out of team hammer house, which is a great stable of wrestlers, but it’s not a well versed team like Randy Couture has at his Xtreme Couture facility in Vegas.

Since they may neutralize each other in the wrestling department, there’s a good chance that this fight may be decided on the feet, in which case, I can certainly see Randy Couture getting the better of the stand up. Randy is an excellent boxer and he seems to be a little quicker than Coleman. And while Coleman has some knockouts on his resume, most of those have come by way of ground and pound - which is a technique that he “godfathered” by the way.

So, all things considered, I’d say that Randy Couture certainly has the edge in this one. He’s a little bit quicker, little bit sharper with his striking and when the odds come out, if they’re anywhere near even, then the smart money should be on Randy Couture.

Grey Maynard vs. Nate Diaz

On January 11th, we’ll get to see a rematch between Grey Maynard and Nate Diaz for free on Spike TV. Recall that these two have squared off once before in the semi-finals of the Ultimate Fighter Season 5 reality show. In that particular fight, Nate Diaz was victorious as he used his superior Brazilian Jiu Jitsu skills to submit “the bully” with a guillotine choke in the second round.

Since then however, Grey Maynard has been on a tear and he’s yet to be defeated in his professional MMA career. Maynard, who wrestled alongside Rashad Evans at Michigan State University, has been using his amateur wrestling background to literally “bully” his opponents around the Octagon. As a matter of fact, he is perhaps the most accomplished wrestler in the UFC’s lightweight division at the moment.

If Grey Maynard is able to get past Nate Diaz, the victory will put him in contention for a shot at BJ Penn’s lightweight title. Although I don’t believe that any lightweight in the UFC at the moment has what it takes to dethrone the seemingly unstoppable BJ Penn, Grey Maynard, if anyone, poses the greatest threat.

He’s big, strong, aggressive and he has a legit wrestling background. GSP revealed the key to beating BJ Penn in their last fight and if there’s anyone in the lightweight division that can duplicate that strategy, it’s Grey Maynard. BJ Penn and Grey Maynard also used to train together so I imagine he’ll be able to put together a great game plan.

That being said, in order to get that title shot, Grey Maynard has to first get past Nate Diaz - which is no easy task. Like his brother Nick, Nate is often overlooked and underestimated and because of that, he oftentimes shocks the world with his performances. He’s cocky, but for good reason, and he can certainly back up all the trash talking he does.

Having beat Grey Maynard before, he’ll certainly be entering this fight with the mental edge. And having been submitted via guillotine choke, Grey Maynard will have to be extra cautious when he shoots in for those takedowns.

In terms of how these guys match up, it’s fairly even. Grey Maynard is obviously the more powerful of the two and he’s the better wrestler but Nate Diaz - being a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under Cesar Gracie - is excellent at fighting off his back. He always stays active and always threatens from the bottom and if an opening presents itself, he’s quick to slap on that triangle choke - as Kurt Pellegrino experienced first hand when Nate Diaz submitted him and won “submission of the night” honors at his expense.

This is one of those fights that could go either way and it’s got “fight of the night” written all over it. But that’s not a very bold prediction considering that Nate Diaz has won either “fight of the night” or “submission of then night” honours in his last 5 fights. Job security in the UFC is terrible but with the performances that Diaz is putting on, regardless of whether he wins or loses, his job is pretty safe.

Dustin Hazelett vs. Paul Daley

This clash between Dustin Hazelett and Paul Daley is a classic pure striker vs. pure grappler showdown. Set to take place at UFC 108 in Las Vegas Nevada, this fight is sure to end with either a devastating knockout or an incredible submission. After all, Dustin Hazelett’s last 4 wins in the octagon have come by way of submission and the last 2 have won him the “submission of the night” bonus.

On the other end of the spectrum, Paul Daley’s last 11 victories have come via strikes. Paul Daley doesn’t go to decision very often and although he’s relatively unknown to the American audience, he’s been bouncing around from organization to organization and knocking dudes out left and right.

Paul Daley splits his time between Team Roughhouse (where he trains alongside welterweight standout, Dan Hardy) and Vos Gym, where he trains with some of the best heavyweight Muay Thai practitioners in the world. His training partner Gilbert Yvel also happens to be fighting on the same card so they’ll be looking to head back to Amsterdam with a pair of victories under their belt.

However, in order to get that victory, Paul Daley is going to have to fight off Dustin Hazelett’s takedown attempts. Dustin Hazelett was recently awarded his black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu from Jorge Gurgel so it’s no secret what his game plan in this fight will be; takedown, control and then submit. Hopefully Gurgel - who’s known to slug it out despite his superior skills on the ground - will instruct him to fight smart.

As for how this fight will likely play out, it’s pretty clear cut. If Hazelett gets Daley to the ground, which might be easier said then done considering that Daley has a wrestling background, then he’ll end up getting a submission victory and becoming 1 step closer to a title shot. If however, he gets clipped in the process of trying to get the fight to the ground, he’ll be waking up, confused about his whereabouts, and hearing the sounds of Daley giving his post-fight victory speech.

Junior Dos Santos vs. Gilbert Yvel

UFC 108 is stacked with knockout artists and this fight is no exception. Junior Dos Santos has been on a tear since he entered the UFC and shocked the world - well, he shocked the hardcore MMA enthusiasts who actually know about Fabricio Werdum’s background - when he knocked the former PRIDE star out cold in the very first round back at UFC 90.

During the broadcast (prior to the fight), they showed Dos Santos warming up on the pads in the locker room and although I had never heard of him, I was amazed at his hand speed. The dude was fast, and from what I could tell, he had a lot of power behind those punches as well so I instantly bet my buddy - who was watching the fights with me - 20 bucks against his 40 (2:1 odds) that Dos Santos was going to take it.

Since then, I’ve been betting on Dos Santos in each of his fights and I plan to do the same in this one. Gilbert Yvel, for those who haven’t seem him fight before, is certainly the more experienced of the two. He has over 50 fights under his belt, 31 of which have ended with a knockout - but what else would you expect from a guy nicked named “the hurricane” and training out of the “Vos Gym” alongside the likes of Ernesto Hoost, Remy Bonjasky, Antoni Hardonk and Paul Daley - who’s also on the card.

However, while Yvel is the more experienced of the two and there’s no question that he’s a vicious striker, what is to be questioned is his non-existent ground game. He’s great at what he does, and that’s swinging for the fences and putting people to sleep, but once the fight hit’s the ground, I have a feeling that he may be in some trouble.

Although we have yet to see what Junior Dos Santos can do on the ground, he trains out of black house with the Nogueira brothers and Anderson Silva - all 3 of which are black belts in BJJ - and he himself has his brown belt. So, on the off chance that this fight ends up on the ground, I’d have to give the edge to Junior Dos Santos strictly based on his grappling credentials - although we haven’t seen him place that knowledge into action yet.

As for who I think will come out on top, I’m going to have to go with my cut and put my money on Jumior Dos Santos. He’s far less experienced, but he’s been impressive thus far and hopefully, he’ll be smart enough to take the fight to the ground if he’s not getting the better of the exchanges on the feet. Either way though, this fight is sure to be fireworks as both fighters are known for their aggression and knockout power.

Thiago Silva vs. Rashad Evans

On January 2nd, after we’ve shaken off our hangovers from new years eve, we’ll get to watch a showdown between the two latest victims of Lyoto Machida. Rashad Evans will be looking to get back to his winning ways after he had his 14 fight unbeaten streak put to an abrupt end back in May.

Originally scheduled to face Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Rashad now finds himself up against Thiago Silva, who’s fresh off a devastating knockout victory over Keith Jardine. Keith Jardine is Rashad’s good friend and training partner so one can only assume that Rashad will have some additional incentive to avenge his friends loss.

In terms of how these guys match up, both have knockout power in both hands and both aren’t afraid to stand and bang. Mind you, Rashad tends to move around the octagon quite a bit and he waits until he sees an opening before he explodes.

Thiago Silva on the other hand seems to be a little more aggressive, which is most likely the result of the years he spent training with the chute boxe academy in Brazil before moving to American Top Team. And on the slim chance that this fight hits the ground, both fighters are well versed grapplers.

Rashad Evans has a base in wrestling as he wrestled for Michigan State University and while the 48-34 record that he amassed during that time isn’t overly impressive, he’s blended that wrestling base in with his overall style. I mean, if Rashad wants to take you down, there’s a pretty good chance that he’s going too - just re-watch his fight with Stephan Bonner.

As for whether or not he’d want to take Thiago Silva down however, now that’s a different story. Thiago Silva holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which is surprising to most people seeing as how he likes to keep the fight standing and knock his opponents out using his Muay Thai skills - about 80% of his opponents to be exact.

As for how this fight will play out, this one is tough to predict. Both fighters have only been defeated once, and both of those defeats were at the hands of Lyoto Machida. And a fighters first loss, especially if that loss was a devastating knockout, it’s always interesting to see how he will rebound from it.

For some, it’s the best thing that could possibly happen and it gives them newfound motivation to train harder and for others, that first loss triggers a depression, a downward spiral and the fighter is never the same. We’ve had the chance to see Thiago rebound from his loss when he absolutely destroyed Keith Jardine at UFC 102 back in August.

As for how Rashad will deal with the loss, that remains to be seen. Thiago is yet another tough test for him but then again, with the way the UFC has been cutting fighters, and with the light heavyweight division being as stacked as it is, there really isn’t any easy fights to give him.

With both of these fighters being as well rounded and hungry as they are, this is a really tough fight to call. I imagine that come fight time, the betting lines will be nearly even and if they’re not, I suggest that you put some money on the underdog because this one can easily go either way. This one is as close to a coin flip as it gets.

Fight Night At Patong Stadium

So I rolled by the stadium last night to watch the fights. Most of them were incredible so I figured I’d throw up a quick entry. Six guys from the Patong Boxing Gym were fighting - which made things a little more exciting (and gave me some additional incentive to lay some bets down). On a side note, the Muay Thai stadiums are the only acceptable place to gamble in Thailand. It’s highly illegal everywhere else.

Anyway, of the 6 fighters, 4 were Thai’s (trainers here) and 2 were foreign students. I was a little nervous before the fights got underway because I rarely see the Thai trainers working out. They’re usually busy training us students so they seem to neglect their own training routines. I’d ask my trainer every day leading up to the fight if he had done any training and occasionally, he would say that he went for a run - oftentimes he would just shake his head and say “no, not train”.

The night of fights started off with the kids. They must have been about 8 years old and without any knockout power at all, but it was still entertaining to watch. One of the kids (seen below in the black shorts) spent the majority of the time running around the ring to avoid being cornered by his much larger opponent, yet he was still landing some crazy kicks and knees as he was scrambling around. He ultimately ended up losing on points but he fought with a lot of heart and it was hilarious to watch. A good start to the night for sure. Here’s a quick video..

VIDEO OF KIDS FIGHTING (Coming soon, taking a while to upload)

The next fight featured one of the Thai’s from the gym. I’ve never actually seen this guy train - himself or anyone else for that matter. It seems as though he just does maintenance work around the gym. He’s either sweeping, watering the plants or cleaning the rooms. He’s a super nice guy but to his detriment as a fighter, he’s extremely small.

He’s 26, with a couple hundred fights, but even the announcer at the stadium announced that he was 16 years old. To my surprise though, he’s an awesome fighter. He was lacing his opponent with some big shots (mostly punches) but due to his lack of size/overall power, he wasn’t able to get the knockout and when it went to decision, the judges awarded the victory to his opponent because in Muay Thai, punches don’t count for any points at all.

A couple fights later, another one of the trainers entered the ring. His name is Yodarwut and he’s the most active fighter at the gym. He’s been fighting on nearly every event that I’ve been too. He recently got married so perhaps he’s looking to save some extra cash. Anyway, every time I watch this guy fight I’m amazed by his heart.

Most of the fights I’ve seen of his end up going to decision. I remember watching him fight a guy that they flew down from the Por Pramuk gym last year and at the time, he was really out of shape. He had just come back from a long stint back at his home and as soon as that fight started, you could tell that he was a little less precise with his striking than his opponent. That particular fight ended up going the full 5 rounds and he received heavy applause both during and at the end of the fight for the effort that he gave.

The fight last night however, was a different story. Now that he’s back in shape, he looks sharp - literally. He ended up catching his opponent with a devastating elbow and within 10 seconds of it connecting, the right side of his opponents victims face was drenched with blood. Check the video below (the elbow strike I’m talking about is at 1:03 into it).

That strike ultimately ended the fight as his opponent was bleeding heavily and Yodarwut became tentative to engage beyond a circuit point, and for good reason! The fighters at the stadium are NOT required to get any blood work done prior to stepping in the ring so for all he knows, his/your opponent COULD be HIV positive. It seems as though the thought of potentially contracting something serious rarely enters the minds of the fighters but it’s definitely something to consider before making your decision. Anyway, the doctors eventually called a stop to the fight at Yodarwut was awarded the victory!

For the next fight, we have my trainer (Mungkonkaw aka. “Nuy”) against some stiff competition - one of the trainers from the Tiger Muay Thai gym. Tiger Muay Thai is one of the most successful, most popular gyms in the country and due to their success, they’re able to hire some great fighters to train their guests.

“Nuy” was originally scheduled to fight “Ritt” but when Ritt walked into the stadium, I noticed he had a cut over his eye so rather than fighting Ritt, “Nuy” fought Tanwa - who like “Nuy”, has over 240 fights. Up until this point, I had never seen my trainer throw a punch, a kick - nothing! I had no idea what to expect but as soon as the fight started, he looked extremely comfortable, as if he hadn’t missed a beat with his training.

I guess when you’ve been training and fighting since you’re 8 years old, it becomes second nature and when it comes down to it, your instinct takes over and your reaction to everything is just automatic. Anyway, “Nuy” ended up winning the decision as a result of some great knees in the clinch. Here’s a brief video I took of one of the rounds..

Alright, the next fight featured a fighter from the Gym named Tawatchai. Tawatchai - who’s the current Bangla stadium champion here in Patong - put forth what was by far the most impressive performance of the night.

His opponent - who was much larger and much more experienced - was flown in from Bangkok specifically for the fight in order to give Tawatchai a tougher challenge. Well, Tawatchai stepped up to the challenge and ended the fight in brutal fashion. Check out this first video..

Now, although I appear to be close to the action while filming that, I really wasn’t at all. The close proximity of the video is a result of the zoom feature on my camera being fully optimized. I was a good 50 feet away and yet, it still sounds like Tawatchai is connecting with a baseball bat rather than his shin bone.

And yep, here’s the finish…

That’s definitely a rough way to earn a couple hundred bucks. Hope it’s nothing too serious.

That’s it for the Thai fighters. At this point, the gym is 3-1 on the night and the vibe is good. Up next is a fight between an American guy named William - who’s been training at the Patong Gym for about 6 weeks - and an Australian fighting out of the Rawai Muay Thai gym who I imagine has been training for about 6 weeks himself.

It wasn’t the most technical fight, but let’s be honest, in the heat of the moment, you go to what you’re comfortable with. Ten to twenty years experience of fighting with both feet on the ground usually triumphs over the 6 weeks you’ve spent kicking the pads - which of course, explains why there’s not many kicks being thrown here..

Later that night, William said that before the fight started, a few members of the primarily Australian crowd were shouting obscenities at him - which only gave him further motivation to finish the fight in convincing fashion.

After ending the fight with a knee to what appears to be his opponents chest, William said he chanted “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie” to sort of rub the victory in the faces of those who were insulting him before things got underway.

To finish things up, a veteran foreign fighter named Don took on an experienced Thai guy. Don is from England and like myself, he came here once, got hooked on the place and now he sort of splits his time between Thailand and his home.

In order to earn some additional cash while he’s here so he can stay longer, he fights quite a bit at the stadium. He was here last year and towards the end of his trip, he had 3 fights booked within a 10 day period, or something crazy like that.

Anyway, his experience ended up paying off for him here as he ended up overwhelming his opponent with barrages of overhand rights and hooks. He was pushing forward the entire fight and although punches aren’t awarded any points by the judges, the fact that he had his opponent back-pedalling for 5 straight rounds got him the victory.

So, the end result at the stadium was 5 wins, 1 loss and the end result of the evening? Well..

AFTER THE SHOW IT’S THE AFTER PARTY!

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Settled In At Patong Gym

So I’ve been here for a couple weeks now and I’m finally getting back into the routine of things. The week of debauchery has ended, the friends that I flew down with have gone back home (one of which vows to be back for good in March), and I’ve got myself settled in here at the Patong Boxing Gym.

I’ve trained at the Patong Boxing Gym before. I even wrote up a review on the place, but as you could tell by the review, I really like it here so whatever, I figured I’d stop by once again. I’m staying on-site at the camp this time, which is a nice change of pace because it’s so peaceful up here.

Last year I was staying in town and there was way too many distractions (girls, nightclubs) down there so it’s easy to get sidetracked from the training. Up here, it feels like you’re a world away from all that but when you want to go into town for some shopping or to hit the clubs on a Saturday night, you just have to go down the hill - which takes a mere 5 minutes via motorbike.

And speaking of going “down the hill” on a motorbike, I had my first crash tonight. Me and another guy staying at the camp wanted to head into town. He wanted to go see his new love interest (more on that later) and I wanted to get a sub from subway to switch things up a bit (I’m really getting sick of eating rice for every meal).

We walked over to the convenience store next to the singpatong gym - which is where we usually get a taxi - only this time, the big SUV that they usually drive us in wasn’t available. As an alternative, he suggested that he give us a lift down the hill on his motorbike. Three guys; one motorbike - it didn’t seem like a good idea at the time but then again, it didn’t seem like a bad enough idea to prompt us to walk down the hill either.

So we hopped on and since I was quick to call “giving” not “receiving”, my friend was in the middle and I was sitting at the back. It was fine at the start. A little awkward sure, but we were getting from point A to point B and that was good enough. We made it to “the hill” (perhaps the steepest in Patong) and we weren’t going that slow either.

Seemingly out of nowhere, the driver pumped the breaks a bit (perhaps because we were going a little too fast) and when he did that, he completely lost control of the bike and I didn’t even have time to yell “oooooh sheiiiiiiiiiit” before I was sliding down the concrete.

Immediately after it happened, I stood up and walked over to the side of the road. My right leg was in pain, but aside from that, nothing immediately stood out as being injured.

EDIT: It’s the following day now and my right shoulder is messed up. I must have done something to my rotator cuff because it hurts when I elevate my arm upwards and I can’t throw a punch. I had to skip training today, which sucks because I could hear everyone else training from my room. When I’m healthy, there are times where I just feel like relaxing and taking the day off, but at least I like having the option to train. Hearing screams of exertion, followed by the sound of shins cracking into the pads was pretty discouraging knowing that I couldn’t throw on my gear and head down to do the same. Hopefully I’ll be back at it in a few days.

And Speaking Of The Training..

When I was able to train, things were going well. My cardio is still shit (with no signs of it getting any better either), but my trainer is awesome - and that’s really all it comes down too. The training here is all one on one so you get a lot of individual attention and since my trainer is really good, I couldn’t ask for more.

The gym is located on a really quiet, yet scenic road so I usually start my training sessions off with a run. I grabbed my camera the other day and filmed a bit so you guys can see. It was about to rain though and it looks much nicer when the sun is out - especially at the peak of one of the hills where you get a view of the Andaman Sea.

I was wearing my Ipod as I was filming that so I only noticed how hard I was breathing when I re-watched the video. Like I said, my cardio is embarrassing - which brings me to the next couple videos. My friend filmed these about a week and a half ago so I figured I’d post them up. Notice how neither of the videos elapses the .20 second mark? That’s because after that initial 20 seconds, I’m usually hunched over trying to catch my breath. Ah well, it’s a starting point.

The guy that’s holding the pads is the great trainer I was talking about above. He’s actually fighting one of the trainers from Tiger Muay Thai in a couple days so I’ll try to post up some video footage of that.

A Story in Development

Alright, so if you’ve been following these entries for a while, I’m sure you know by now that I tend to get myself into dramatic situations with some of the local girls. I mean, there was the “fatal attraction” entry where a girl named Fon threatened my life and balcony hopped into my room one night. Then of course there was the “trouble in paradise” entry, which is actually the most read entry of the entire training journal - but I won’t bother summarizing that one, you can just read it for yourself if you haven’t already.

Anyway, with this being my third trip here, I’ve finally come to understand how things work and I intend on using my knowledge to ensure that things go smoothly and I avoid the type of drama that I encountered during my first couple trips. After all, I like it here in Patong and I don’t want to be looking over my shoulder for vengeful girls whenever I leave my room.

Luckily for my readers there’s a Thailand rookie here with me who seems to be making all those highly entertaining mistakes so I won‘t have too. He’s from Canada as well (about a 2 hour drive from where I live) and he’s started what promises to be a long and meaningful relationship with a Thai bargirl (sense the sarcasm there?).

What was supposed to be a drunken one night stand on a Saturday night has, at the time of this writing, developed into a 12 day whirlwind romance - at least in his mind. What he doesn’t understand is that this girl has come to Patong from Issan to work, earn money and provide for her family. That’s where her priorities lye and those priorities aren’t going to change.

That being said, he’s not paying her and she’s not going into work. So, either she has a lot of money as it is (in which case she wouldn’t be working in the bars) or she’s “working” him in some way or another. When you first speak with the bargirls, they ask you a series of questions..

1) “What’s your name?”
2) “Where you from?”
3) “How long you stay?”
4) “You come Thailand before?”
5) “What you work in *insert country here*?”

Friendly conversation? Could be. But perhaps it’s more than that. Perhaps they’re sizing us up with these questions and what they really mean is..

1) Just asking your name, not important, but they won’t remember if you ask them 10 min. later.
2) Are you from a desirable country?
3) Is there enough time to make you fall in love OR How long can I get money out of you for?
4) Are you a newbie? Because newbie’s are easy pickings.
5) Do you have “big money”?

Now, he’s from Canada, he’s never been here before, he’s just arrived and he’s staying for half a year; that has got to be a quality score of at least 98/100 with the bargirls.

The first girl he picked up immediately tried to move herself into his room and came on pretty strong with her intentions. So strong in fact, that he had to kick her out of his room and at 4 in the morning, she was running around the camp, banging on peoples doors and causing a big scene.

His current girl pulled the same thing, and by day 3, she had moved her laptop and wardrobe up to his room. He’s kept her around, so I guess he likes her, but I just don’t see this ending well. Even on the off chance that her intentions are not in the least bit money oriented and she genuinely just wants to spend time with him without any monetary compensation, he has the intention of being a “butterfly” (term for a player here) behind her back, and I see the potential for that to blow up in his face - especially considering the fact that she has already told him straight up that if he wants to change girls she’ll cut his dick off and kill him (she said this while wielding a knife as she was cutting up some fruit).

All signs with this point to disaster and I’m not the only one to warm him about this sort of thing. He’s got all the right advice, but he just chooses not to listen. It’s like we’ve all touched a hot burner on an oven, got burnt, warned him not to touch it himself because it’s hot, and he’s ignoring our advice and reaching out for it anyway.

I guess there’s nothing else I can do now other than observe and report the seemingly inevitable, drama-filled conclusion to the story. He’s been missing a lot of training sessions as well, but while he’s been hurting his chances of making it to Lumpinee stadium, he’s been dramatically increasing his chances of becoming the welterweight champion of the USC - the ultimate snuggling championships.

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