One night in Bangkok… BJJ
I’ve been training purely Muay Thai for the past few months and have been missing grappling quite a bit. I looked up a few grappling gyms and stumbled across a few in Bangkok. One of them was Bangkok Bjj (http://bkkbjj.com/). Its located on Sukhumvit, Soi 1 just behind Bumrungrad Hospital and streetside to the Golden Palace Hotel. You can’t see the actual gym from the street, because you need to walk into behind the hotel. The gym itself is a tidy little setup with all the comforts like clean mats, kick bags, cardio equipment, kettlebells and other goodies.
I thought Id jump into the striking class to see what its all about. The striking class was actually called Crazy Monkey Defence class. Here a basic rundown from the website:
“CM is a unique approach to boxing principles meant to be incorporated in Mixed Martial Arts and Self-Defense. It was developed by South African martial arts coach Rodney King (not the same and no relation to Rodney King), and is taught worldwide by members of the Performance Coaching World Alliance (PCWA) . Similar in many ways to a classic boxing “high guard,” it is often first taught as a defense but can and has been used offensively by professional MMA fighters successfully.”
The class was small with about 3 other people but included some interesting concepts for MMA striking. A much tighter guard, and alot of blocking with the elbow rather than parrying strikes.
I stuck around for the No Gi grappling class which had a few more people attend. We ran through a nice choke from scarf hold position and then got stuck into some sparring. Damn I miss grappling! haha It was good to have a bit of a roll and I’m glad to say I don’t feel like my technique has suffered much after not grappling for so long.
The drop in rate per class was 400baht. The gym itself is super clean and nicely laid out. Big enough to have a few pairs rolling at the same time. The instructor himself is Prof Adam Sahir Kayoom, a Bjj blackbelt. Most of the students for foreigners and thais who had travelled abroad to study or live. It seems that BJJ in thailand is either for foreigners or the wealthier thais. Classes are run on everyday expect for Sunday, both Gi and No Gi. I think ill stick to No Gi! Not keen on wearing my gi in the thai heat. Hopefully Ill make it back down next week and post up some happy snaps!
