Check out TUFMED’s video “The Flying Knee” featuring Florida’s Alex Berrios.
For those not familiar with Alex, he is one of the top American Nak
Muay. Known for his technical skill set as well as his finishing
prowess, Alex is one of the brightest stars. He trains out of Tampa Muay
Thai in Tampa, FL and is someone you definitely want to keep an eye on
in the American Muay Thai and Kickboxing scene.

The post TUFMED – “The Flying Knee” – The Alex Berrios Story appeared first on muaythaiauthority.com.

Tampa Muay Thai will be hosting a seminar with Muay Thai legend Jongsanan “The Woodenman” Fairtex. The seminar will take place on March 24, 2012 at Tampa Muay Thai in Tampa, FL. Pre-registration for the seminar is $75 before March 17th and $85 after.

For those not familiar with Jongsanan he is 5x world Muay Thai champion, a 2x Lumpinee Stadium champion and a Rajadamnern Stadium champion. He is also very recognized for his eight extremely entertaining fights with Muay Thai legend Sakmongkol. Jongsanan is currently located in California and anyone interested in Muay Thai that is near the Tampa area should not miss this opportunity. Jongsanan is a legend of the sport and Muay Thai practitioners of all skill levels would benefit from attending this seminar.

Contact Ray@TampaMuayThai.com to pre-register.

The post Jongsanan “The Woodenman” Muay Thai seminar at Tampa Muay Thai appeared first on muaythaiauthority.com.

The post Video: Alex Berrios talks win over Travis Lerchen at Friday Night Fights season opener appeared first on muaythaiauthority.com.

Alex Berrios will be taking on Travis Lerchen on January 20th in New York at Friday Night Fights Muay Thai season opener. The Tampa Muay Thai fighter will be taking on Travis Lerchen in the night’s main event. Berrios is a highly skilled technical fighter and will be looking to rebound from his loss to Joseph Valtellini this past September. Muay Thai Authority caught up with Berrios, who was kind enough to answer a few questions about his upcoming fight.

MTA: You were supposed to fight Ben Case in the first full rules event in NY, but things got switched around and now you are fighting Travis Lerchen and it isn’t full rules. What were your thoughts regarding the opponent change and not fighting full rules now?

Alex: It was kind of disappointing to switch away from full rules, but not a big deal. Nor was the opponent change a big deal. The bigger concern was the weight change, but lucky for me, that wasn’t a problem. Now instead of feeding for weight loss/performance, I can focus my nutrition purely on training/fight performance. Different approaches. I will ask Justin, to keep me in mind for that debut of full rules in his event.

I want to say that I’m relieved Travis could agree to the fight on pretty short notice. I definitely was not myself my last fight and hope to show in this fight that my last performance was an exception and temporary setback.

MTA: Do you prefer to fight in the light heavyweight division?

Alex: I prefer to fight 170-175. This will be my heaviest fight weight.

MTA: How much does your game plan change with the fact that there are no elbows to the head anymore?

Alex: No elbows to the head, isn’t a big game changer. I don’t think it’s wise to invest a whole strategy on just a narrow dimension. It mainly means I won’t have to worry (as much) about taking an elbow while in the clinch.

MTA: Like most fighters you have a regular job, how difficult is it to manage this and properly being able to train for your fights?

Alex: It takes more discipline and drive. It is a balancing act and sacrifice to accommodate any fight training schedule. My main feeling of accomplishment isn’t the fight itself, it is the mountains of work day in and day out to prepare for it.

MTA: You said you want to show that your last performance against Joseph Valtellini was an exception. How do you plan on doing that?

Alex: I plan on using some kicks, punches, and knees at the right time and place. haha. Kidding. I will be a lot less careless.

MTA: Are there any other plans lined up for you after this fight or will you have to wait and see what happens after this fight?

Alex: I live day by day. No solid plans. Hope to be a gym rat training for fights in 2012. I’m thinking of playing another sport between fights. You’ll laugh. Baseball! I can’t help it, I grew up playing ball.

MTA: Any words for your supporters?

Alex: Thanks to all muay Thai supporters. Without you, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to do what I love.

The post Alex Berrios talks about his upcoming fight with Travis Lerchen at the Friday Night Fights season opener appeared first on muaythaiauthority.com.

• Berrios needs to use his size advantage, especially in the clinch
• Slow down the fight and don’t allow Valtellini to unload flurries, working behind a solid jab or push kick to keep him at bay is important
• Make Valtellini fight backing up, don’t wait for him to move in, Berrios needs to move into him and meet him in the middle

• Press the action, but he can’t attack in a straight line, angles are key when he moves in to avoid Berrios accurate strikes
• Pressing the action he will basically be walking into Berrios who will likely look to slow him down by clinching, fighting in the clinch with the bigger Berrios must be avoided as it slows the fight down and Berrios possesses excellent knees in the clinch
• Turn it into a dog fight, Valtellini can’t let Berrios work his technique he has to turn this into a rockem sockem type fight, which will make it easier for him to land one of his killer shots

The post Keys to Victory: Alex Berrios vs. Joseph Valtellini appeared first on muaythaiauthority.com.

At times it can be both a burden and a blessing to bear the title of Khru: sometimes you feel hated, sometimes you feel celebrated. If the outcome of a fight is a loss, sometimes the blame goes beyond the fighter and is suffered by the trainer. But if the night goes as planned and results in a win, then the glory goes around the camp and all its members share the victory. Right now Khru Ray Cole of Khanomtom Muay Thai is feeling more blessings than burdens. When one of your pupils is ranked ninth in North America by MuayThaiAuthority.com, to have contributed to that placement can make any Khru feel a sense of accomplishment. But with a visionary like Khru Ray, he won’t stop to smell the sweet aroma of achievement for too long. He is always trying to go a tier higher, a mile farther. A sweeter smell for him is when all his fighters saturate the top ten rankings. That is just how he is.

The story of Khru Ray is a tale of ambition and inspiration. Long before wearing the title of Khru, Raymond Cole was a normal teenager doing the same things people his age did, like watch TV. Well one day while watching television he saw a Muay Thai scene and something inside him caught fire and hasn’t stopped burning since. A short time later he acquainted himself with Muay Thai and began learning the art at the age of 15. His first amateur fight would soon follow in 1999, and four fights later he would leave the amateur circuit to try his career at the pro level. During this period he even found the time to go through a brief Eskrima phase and learned some Filipino Stickfighting. But his true passion had always been reserved for Muay Thai, which became apparent back in 2005. That year, with a professional record of 9 and 6, Ray could no longer resist the voice of his heart and answered the call to become a Khru, and for seven years now has been teaching the sport in his hometown of Tampa Florida. But what distinguishes this Khru among other trainers is that he gives lessons in a gym which he is Founder and President of.

Khru Ray Cole gave birth to Khanomtom Muay Thai, a stronghold devoted to the preservation of authentic Muay Thai in America. Established in the Khru’s birthplace of Tampa, the gym today serves as a crucial part of the Muay Thai network here in the States. It has become a guiding lighthouse for authentic Muay Thai seekers in the Florida area. It is the gym that number nine ranked Alex Berrios proudly represents, and is also associated with many respected fighters and trainers in the game. Khanomtom Muay Thai is home to a purist philosophy in its approach to training and tradition. Its style of teaching is calibrated to be in-tuned with the same techniques and traditions taught by the Muay Thai camps over in Thailand. Khru Ray credits its success to the precise execution of his purist philosophy, of his insistence to strictly adhere to the cultural details he was accustomed to during the training trips he had taken to Thailand.

What adds marvel to this story is knowing that the successful business feat would never have transpired if it weren’t for the vital contribution and commitment of one man. It takes a true visionary to manifest a dream, to realize all the risks, and more importantly, all the lasting rewards that setting up Khanomtom Muay Thai would return. In an interview with the 29 year old entrepreneur, Khru Ray reveals the path he has followed that has brought him to where he is now:

When did you start taking Muay Thai seriously? In 2005 I decided to travel to Thailand for one month to train Muay Thai from the source. This way I can understand the art more than what I’ve been taught up to that point by my previous instructors. I’ve always had an intense respect and admiration for the art and sport of Muay Thai ever since I first saw it on TV when I was 15. I knew that in order to truly learn it I would have to step out of the box, outside of my comfort zone and travel half-way across the world to Thailand. I went and trained for one month. When I returned to the states I had a new-found respect for Muay Thai, the art and culture, after being immersed in it. That’s when I really started taking it seriously. Not only did I decide that this is what I want to do for a living, teaching and promoting Authentic Muay Thai to the American public, but more, I really wanted to make an effort to show my appreciation to the origin of the art by doing everything possible to stay true to the culture and authenticity of Muay Thai. That’s why my trainers are held in very high regard and all my students are taught to do the very same and I accredit all of our success to this.

Who inspired you to take interest in the sport? Like most fighters, I was originally inspired by Bruce Lee as a teenager to take up martial arts. One of the first Muay Thai fights I watched on video was Jongsanan Fairtex vs. Sakmongkhol Sitchuchok. That’s when I really had a “hero” for the sport of Muay Thai. He was a big inspiration to me and I watched all the fights he had on video over and over again. That’s one of the things I’m most proud of, that since 2007 Jongsanan and I have been great friends and he has been a mentor of mine and trained me for a few of my fights.

What made you decide to be a Khru? I was teaching Muay Thai a few years before my first trip to the motherland but it was very informal. Actually, it was out of a 3-bay storage shed unit in the ghetto. I didn’t promote classes really. By word of mouth around Tampa, people found me and I would just say jump in and train with us and help me cover rent. In fact, this is how Alex Berrios found me. He had just moved down to Tampa permanently from Iowa in 2005. He had a couple Muay Thai fights by then. He got my number from a friend who owns a TKD school. He recommended Alex come see me if he wanted to do Muay Thai. The rest is history. We’ve been brothers ever since. His dedication in training to fight is what motivated me to teach Muay Thai more prominently. I felt more of a responsibility as a trainer now that he wanted to compete regularly. Once I became more formal and organized with our training, many more students followed and were compelled to train hard and compete so this was the driving force behind my teaching. And again, when I returned from Thailand, I felt obligated to employ more elements of Thai culture and adapt our training to emulate that of the camps in Thailand. After that, the improvement in everybody’s skills and work ethic was incredible.

What were the things you noticed that they did in Thailand differently? The Muay Thai I was teaching before going to Thailand was informal due to the lack of true instruction and coaching. It was more just a group of us getting together three or four times a week to practice what we knew. I started Muay Thai under a student of Ajarn Surichai Sirisute. So although I had attended a few seminars with him (Ajarn Chai), it was still mostly just accumulating techniques and practicing them. What I witnessed in Thailand was obviously a much more sophisticated methodology of training for fighters, and the regimen and skill progression that I witnessed was a very humbling experience. It was like learning Muay Thai all over again, which was a great feeling. I was inspired! I told everyone the best thing I learned after my first trip to Thailand was that after eight years of what I “thought” was Muay Thai, I knew nothing about Muay Thai. So returning from the first trip, I had kept the same training schedule and regimen that was taught to me. So we were not just practicing techniques and sparring three times a week anymore. It was training two times a day, six days a week. It was not just jump rope for 15 minutes but jogging for an hour before padwork, sparring, plam. That’s what I truly learned after my first trip; Muay Thai is not just a way of fighting or Martial Art, it is a way of Life! And from then on, it became mine and I made it priority to share it with everyone who had the desire and dedication to learn and make it part of their lives as well.

What do you love about being a Khru? I love Muay Thai. My whole life revolves around it and I love teaching and sharing it with the world. I’m very meticulous in my teaching methods. Very organized. I tell everyone I’m full time trainer and part time fighter. That’s because my true passion is sharing what I’ve learned from my fights and installing it into the next person who displays the dedication to learn. I love to fight. I love the competition, the adrenaline rush, the ability to show my skills, to test my heart and guts, to see what I’m made of. But I find it even more gratifying to see my students perform and execute the skills that I instilled in them. That’s my pride and joy! This is why I put my students’ training priority before my own when it comes to fighting. My responsibility is Khru first and Nak Muay second.

Are you known for a particular technique or style when it comes to training? I don’t believe I’m known for any particular style. Maybe other folks or those who have fought me or studied to fight me think different. I would say my “style” is Classic Thai. I try to be anyway. That’s the style that’s been taught to me so I’m constantly trying to perfect it. When you see my students fight, you would probably say they all kinda look like me as far as technique, but they all have their own preferences, strengths, physical attributes, and I train them accordingly. That’s Classic Thai style. That’s one of the best things that I learned from my trainers, that every fighter should be taught differently but the same. Different by: training their strengths, personal skills, and preferred techniques that they perform well, and drilling them into muscle memory for that is what they’ll execute in the ring. Same by: keeping the same rhythm, footwork, and body mechanics.

What are your present thoughts on Muay Thai as a sport? I think right now is an exciting era for Muay Thai. Especially in the States. I’m so happy to see more promotions over here employing great Thai fighters and also helping American fighters get some kind of exposure. Also guys like yourselves, the MuayThaiAuthority.com has been an awesome gift for the exposure of our sport in this country. I know you guys are working very hard and I’m very grateful for it! We need the general American public to see the beauty of Muay Thai. I believe if we can display it in a way the American culture can understand without compromising its integrity, then we will get the respect we deserve here in the U.S. The question is how? I truly believe that little by little, we are finding a way. The popularity of Muay Thai has grown immensely just in the last five years, and it’s only going to snowball from here. When we see a Muay Thai promotion take over pay-per-view television like the MMA organizations have, then we will know we have reached a milestone. Until then, we have to keep working hard. It’s never just a matter of time but time AND effort!

Is there anything you want to promote in this interview? I would like to promote Khanomtom Muay Thai. This is my baby. It started as a dream, a creative idea while training in a storage shed, and in six years it turned into a monster! We have a huge following here in Tampa and we have Khanomtom62 in Bangkok, our second location which is ran by my trainer Khru Aey. There we have 10 fighters who are frequent Lumpinee and Rajadamnern competitors and are very successful. We are slowly expanding and reaching out to more areas in the U.S. but for now I don’t want to take anything for granted. We worked very hard to get where we are and will only work harder for our growth.

There’s a lot of fire in Khru Ray’s words, even if you are only reading them. After interviewing Khru Ray, the thought of how driven this man is was hard to ignore. His words seem to infect and motivate, challenging you to do something more productive with your life. I guess that effect is common for someone whose job is to coach people into doing their best. A power like that is an indispensable talent in the art of mentorship, and Khanomtom Muay Thai is stronger for having its captain in possession of such skill.

I asked Khru Ray if there was anything he wanted to highlight about his life, but being the visionary he is, he feels as if he is just getting started, with bigger goals on his mind that he still actively pursues. But if his life was suddenly plucked from this world tomorrow, those left behind who really knew him would say he had done a great deal more than what some people do in a lifetime. Residual gratitude will be owed to Khru Ray from future patrons of Khanomtom Muay Thai and from the Muay Thai community in general. In erecting Khanomtom Muay Thai in Tampa, he has also installed an institution to support the sport in here in America, as well as extending the reaches of authentic Muay Thai on a global scale.

If you ask Khru Ray what pushed him to create KMT, he’ll probably tell you the reason wasn’t all about personal glory. He was always thinking about the bigger picture, which involves the future of the sport here in the U.S. He has a true respect for Muay Thai and is grateful for the brotherhood he formed over the years with those close around him, and the fiery force that drives him is fueled by these loves. The work he puts in is just a repayment to these loves, to both Muay Thai and the companions who stood by him during times of blessings and burdens. That is why he is more celebrated than hated. So to conclude, Khru Ray Cole: ambitious, inspired, devoted, unselfish, and humble. That is just how he is.

The post Khanomtom Fire: Khru Ray Cole appeared first on muaythaiauthority.com.

Muay Thai in North America continues to grow and there are a variety of talented fighters that will help put North America on the international map. Two of those fighters happen to be on a collision course with one another. Canada’s Joseph Valtellini and Florida’s Alex Berrios will stand across the ring from one another at Friday Night Fights’ September 23rd event in New York. Both fighters are highly skilled and their potential is through the roof, but one will be knocked down a peg while the other will continue his rise up the ladder.

Both fighters are dedicated to their craft and both have the capability to finish the fight at any moment. Who will end up coming out on top? That is the million dollar question. Valtellini is a very explosive fighter that has not let a single one of his pro fights go the distance, he has ended all four by (T)KO. Berrios is also very capable of ending a fight early, but his pace is more methodical, as he picks you apart making you feel foolish for stepping in the ring with him before he finishes the fight.

Berrios has dealt with explosive and aggressive fighters before and doesn’t feel it will present a problem for him. A perfect example is Anthony Nieves from Georgia, a fighter who, like Valtellini, pushes the pace and is explosive. Berrios was able to manipulate the fight and not allow Nieves to fight his normal type of fight, using his technical prowess to score, which allowed him to take home a unanimous decision win over Nieves.

“I also have fought many aggressive, in your face fighters, so it’s not new territory,” said Berrios. “Even an aggressive fighter can be manipulated to conform to a strategy, but that may be too subtle for most of the audience.”

Despite being known for his explosiveness, Valtellini has great technique, but he would rather finish a fight rather than risk leaving the result to the hands of the judges. He feels that his technique mixed with his explosiveness is what makes him such a dangerous fighter.

“I train for all my fights the same way and that is to finish the fight. I have seen too many fighters leave it to the judges and not get the call they were looking for,” said Valtellini. “In order to finish a fight, you need to have your timing, technique, and power working perfectly together.”

Both fighters were at Friday Night Fights July event “8-to-1”, Berrios because he was fighting Rigel Balsamico and Valtellini because he was cornering his team mate Troy Sheridan. Valtellini recalls sizing up Berrios, because he knew he could be a potential opponent; however, he didn’t expect to be facing him so soon. Despite being at the event, Valtellini was not able to watch Berrios’ dispatch of Balsamico in spectacular fashion, as he was back stage with his fighter. For Berrios, the fight is a bit of a change from the norm as he on most occasions is the smaller fighter in the ring. This time around he will be the taller and likely heavier fighter of the two come fight time. Usually fighting at 175 lbs or higher, Berrios is now dropping to 165 lbs to meet with Valtellini.

Both fighters are dedicated, Valtellini training out of Team Ultimate with Kru Paul Minhas and Berrios training out of Khanomtom Muay Thai (Tampa Muay Thai) with Kru Ray Cole. Hard work is probably an understatement when referring to Valtellini and Berrios as they prepare for the bout. This in purposes of helping build North American Muay Thai is one of the bigger fights that we can have. Two highly touted prospects with nothing but a bright future ahead for both fighters; however, one of these roads to the top is about to hit a slight detour.

The post Valtellini vs. Berrios: Collision Course appeared first on muaythaiauthority.com.

The post Alex Berrios vs. Joseph Valtellini set for Sept. 23rd Friday Night Fights event appeared first on muaythaiauthority.com.

The post Video: Alex Berrios talks about his TKO win over Rigel Balsamico appeared first on muaythaiauthority.com.