WKO 

(World Kumite Organization)

By Roberto Pedreira

There are two Muay Thai gyms (or camps) in Pattaya that do not offer a more general menu of activities, and WKO is not one of them (they are Sityodtong and Nikiema). WKO is a relatively new facility (since 2009) but its director, Robert McInnes is not a newcomer. He has been in Pattaya since the middle 90's or possibly before. He is a kung-fu and kyokushin karate man originally. He operated the International Boxing School and then a large kung fu school on Sukhimvit, not far from where WKO is now located (WKO stands for "World Kumite Organization"). WKO is a large five-story building including a well-equipped weight floor, a fully matted grappling floor, and "martial arts" floor, clean showers and restrooms on every floor. Basically, it has everything anyone would need to train productively.

The training is about equally divided between K-1 style kickboxing (Muay Thai without elbows and clinch), English boxing, sometimes kyokushin style kickboxing (as opposed to kyokushin karate), and for those who, being in Thailand after all, want to train Muay Thai, there are two and sometimes three trainers. There are usually lots of foreign kick-boxers, from Australia, Russia, Croatia, France, Italy, Holland, England, Pakistan, Japan, Singapore, and a variety of other countries, and even some Thais. In other words, whatever you want to train, you can do it at WKO.

I started training at WKO in March 2009 mostly because it was the only gym I could get to on foot. The weight room was a plus. The trainers were no more and no less competent or motivated than in any other gym (although for quantity, Sityodtong is tops). What WKO offered that was quite unusual was sparring as a regular part of training, twice a week, and anyone who wanted to was welcome to participate. Everyone would spar two or more rounds with everyone else and there might be 8 guys (sometimes fewer). ranging from professionals, semi-pros,  to novices, some Muay Thai fighters, some kyokushin guys, some kick-boxers, some boxers. 

Unfortunately, for reasons unknown to me, they phased it out. There is still sparring but one would need to make individual arrangements and the emphasis is on people with fights coming up. Sparring can be dangerous and people are quite reasonably cautious about who they spar with. Sparring with the wrong people can also be a waste of time and guys who take their craft seriously don't want to squander their time in the ring with someone who can't help them get ready for their fight. That doesn't mean that you can't spar. You can, but you have to find your own sparring partner. Good sparring partners are scarce. "Good" means someone who is skilled enough for YOU, but not too skilled, close to your own weight (or your next opponent's), who can give you the problems that you want to work on and has sufficient self-control to avoid hurting himself or you. Ideally, you would need someone to supervise as well..

Nick Kara is around to help with that. Since sparring is no longer routine (as of August 2013), you'd need to specifically make your interest known and then see where that leads. Even then it is unlikely that you are going to get much sparring unless you provide your own sparring partners (which is reasonable and probably the best way in any case). One way is to pay one of the Thai trainers to spar with you. Another way is to make friends with people who seem to be about your weight and skill level. Without sparring practice, no one can get any good at any form of fighting. Finding good sparring partners isn't easy, but it has to be done one way or another.

Muay Thai Knees

Trainers come and go, at all gyms. Sometimes come, go, come back, and go again. WKO is no different from the rest. But usually Mongkhon Khalek and Mat will be on the job from 3:30 to 5:00 (although most people leave before 4:45). I don't know about Mat's background, but he is competent and friendly. Mongkhon was a major champion. 

Mongkhon is versatile He also won a kyokushin title a couple years back. His specialty is a type of knee strike that he developed himself, as I found out one day when I suggested doing a round of knees only. He didn't like the way I threw my knees. I was hoping for some tips but instead the round morphed into a 45 minute discussion of knees and their application and Mongkhon's particular method of throwing them. 

Mongkhon explained that necessity was the mother of the invention of his knee technique. He was in the ring against the legendary Samart. He threw a knee at the champion and got knocked down with a left "hook." He got back up, and threw another knee and got knocked down again. He didn't get back up. Back at the camp, he decided that he needed to improve his knees.　He worked out a way to throw a knee with his rear leg, while keeping his head both too far back to hit, and for insurance, tucked under his deltoid.  

He demonstrated on me. "Punch me," he said. I tried. I couldn't reach him. His head was too far away, and was tucked behind his deltoid. He liked to throw his right knee when the opponent led with his left hand (a basic power jab for example). The essential key is that you must twist at the waist and thrust the knee forward. It felt extremely unbalanced and awkward to me, but one couldn't argue with his results. It would obviously take some time to dial in.

The point: Keep on open mind and learn from whoever can teach you. I may never be able to execute knees as well as Mongkhon, but at least I now understand better how to avoid them (don't throw power jabs while standing in front of the man), and I am more aware of the gaps in my own knee game.

Here is the classic GTR article on "Devastating Muay Thai Knees and how to Defend Them": Khao-Ti

Another learning opportunity arose. While talking with a guy who also arrived early one day, the topic of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA came up. He was Dinesh Kanh, originally from Sri Lanka, but raised in Melbourne, Australia. In fact he was a student of Nick Kara, since he was a a 16 year old kid and he was 32 in 2013. So he had 16 years of boxing and kick-boxing. Watching him work the pads left few doubts that he knew his business and watching him spar with Tyson Sims, a talented left-handed amateur boxer, removed any remaining doubts.

Dinesh walked around at 76 kilos and fought at 72 kilos, so he was generally in shape. He had a kick-boxing record of 14-1, and a boxing record of 2-3.  It was evident that his boxing was better than his kick-boxing (in my opinion) yet his record didn't reflect that. The reason why, I speculated, was that he used his superior boxing skills to win kick-boxing fights. But his boxing wasn't particularly superior to guys who concentrated on boxing. He confirmed my hunch. The point isn't that boxing is better than kick-boxing. The point is that how effective your game will be depends on how good the opponent is at that game. As in chess or war or any strategic activity, there isn't a best way to do anything. The best way depends on what the opponent does, which in part depends on what he is capable of doing, and what he thinks you are capable of doing and intend to do. Which means that accurate, reliable, relevant information is valuable. You don't have to use what you know but it doesn't hurt to know it. It is good to have options.

Above. Muay Thai, kick-boxing room.

Above. Martial Arts room.

Above. Grappling room.

Above. Nick Kara (with tats), Mat (leaning on rope), and Mongkhon Kalek (right).

Above. Mat working with kick-boxer Dinesh Kanh.

Above. WKO trainers, Mat (left), Mongkhon Kalek (middle, (Mohammad Bahrami (right).

Above left. Mohammade Bahrami working with Dinesh Kanh. Right. Tyson Sims skipping rope, Nick Kara observing, heavyweight boxer discussing strategy for upcoming fight in Australia. 

Above. Dinesh Kanh and Tyson Sims, hand sparring.

MMA

Dinesh Kanh (left), a boxer/kick-boxer, was interested in learning how a grappler would take a fight to the ground. I showed him three of the most basic ways. (Mohammad Barahmi is on the right). The first four pictures illustrate the "pisão" to "bear-hug crack-back". 

1. Pisão to opponent's led leg. Mohammad is holding the pad with his hands down. In reality, he will probably have them up. You will therefore have to clear them or fence your own hands in, obviously, without getting punched or kneed too hard.

2. Dinesh has fenced his hands in, head in middle of opponent's chest, with neck straight.

3. Dinesh keeps his back and neck straight and up, making it difficult for opponent to insert a guillotine. Dinesh will push with his head and pull with his arms, sending Mohammad to the floor. He will make every effort to make sure that the opponent falls laterally, rather than in a "guard" position.

4. Dinesh demonstrates one of the grip positions that you can use. Obviously, he will immediately close the distance and off-balance and pull Mohammad to the ground before he can start thinking about throwing knees. Do not leave space for him to apply knees.

 If it looks like the opponent can slip in a guillotine or throw knees, try it. If you are doing it correctly, neck straight, forehead on his sternum, it won't happen. 

Below, Dinesh demonstrates a right hand punch to double-leg take-down. 

1. He throws the punch. His left leg is forward. When he retracts the punch, he simultaneously drops his left knee. 

 2. Dinesh keeps his back and neck straight and up, lifting, tilting, and turning the opponent.  He can now transition to a Bahiana or drop his hands behind the opponent's knees (pulling them together), putting him on the floor. 　

**

The third basic take-down was a fore-hand Brazilian Beach Slap to Bahiano (which B.J. Penn used on Gomi). I didn't take pictures.

Keep in mind that Dinesh just learned these a minute before the pictures were taken. He isn't even a grappler. But he is a trained athlete. He didn't say "Ok, I  got it, what's next." Or, "that's too simple, show me something more complicated." Rather, he wanted to drill it 20-30 times. That is what athletes do--Keep it simple, and dial it in.

Videos

Nick Kara in Action

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07E3e0ukBTc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az0Q7Q53emg

(c) 2013, Roberto Pedreira. All rights reserved.