Chamuakpet Hapalang - Devastating Knee in Combination (65 min)

First off, I have to say that I was very lucky to even film with Chamuakpet, one of the greatest fighters in Thai history, because he is seldom in Thailand. He has been living and teaching in Japan for 20 years. I was alerted by a student of his that he was visiting, and I'm so happy to be able to add him to the Library, archiving his beautiful style. Thank you to those students of great fighters who have opened the door to documenting hard to find and get to legends. The Library now holds a session from every Fighter of the Year from the years 1981-1991, with the exception of one, and I'm working on documenting him as well. This is all in keeping with the precious nature of the Library. So thank you everyone who is supporting the Library, in every way that you do. This will mean something in 20 years, 40 years, in ways we can't imagine.

Chamuakpet is one of the most decorated fighters in Muay Thai history. He held 4 Lumpinee belts and 5 Rajadamnern title, and won Fighter of the Year in 1985. Holy shit! It’s amazing to have those numbers at either stadium and it’s incredible to have fought and won titles at both stadia, but it’s unreal that he had that many at both stadia.  When I asked him how this was possible, while he was sitting in the front seat of our rental car and I tried to keep my dog, Jaidee, from sticking his cold nose into the legend’s ear while we drove him over to Samart’s gym after our lesson, Chamuakpet just kind of shrugged. “You could fight at both rings.” Yeah, you could, I exclaimed. Honestly, having one at each is rare. Yodkhunpon is one of the few fighters to simultaneously hold the same belt, at the same weight at both stadia. What Chamuakpet did was very near unbelievable. Not only did promoters and promotions not cross over (one reason why it was rare), as I'm told, each stadium had it's own scoring bias. Lumpinee scored advancing, clashing fighters high, Rajadamnern awarded more femeu, technical fighting. Somehow, he was dominant under both scoring biases. 

Fight to watch:  puncher vs muay khao fighter Samransak vs Chamuakpet - look for a young Dieselnoi in the corner at the end.

Watching him fight, you can see why he was such a top fighter. There’s this word in Muay Thai, dern, that means to go forward. It also is the word for walking. Though in some of his fights he's a very able step back and counter fighter, for me what is most intersting is that he's most potent when he's walking, and how he walks when he goes is just that. He’s literally just walking forward after his opponents, appearing to never break pace. He strikes with punches and then knees up into the chest, using the open side as a Southpaw fighter vs Orthodox, just the way any kicking fighter would throw a kick at the end of a few punches. But he’s walking as he goes, so he’s close enough for a knee. In working with him in this session, we worked on this left knee (he’s southpaw, I fight southpaw) for the whole hour. He folds other elements into it, but learning how and when to use that knee is his bread and butter. You see big Southpaw Thai kickers take advantage of the open side, he does it with a knee. And it’s brilliant. What to look out for:

1. As a note, I was really nervous in this session. I felt kind of mushy from having fought a couple days before and driving all day down from Chiang Mai, so I’m literally not creating strength in my limbs and body. As such, watch the difference in his forms. Look at how he postures and the way his upper body and lower body work in tandem to create this forward-pressing machine. It’s beautiful.
2. Yoke yoke, the knee he teaches me comes almost straight up. It hinges from the hip but the power comes from the standing leg, almost entirely. There’s no lean back from the upper body at all, but you pop up on the standing leg’s toe and the kneeing leg just swings up like a piston. It’s super loose in the hip, the leg is more or less relaxed as it rises, but the whole leg is folded in on itself to keep it compact. It’s very much like an uppercut.
3. Chamuakpet insists that I knee up into his solar-plexus or chin. He explains that fighters have abs, which they can flex and protect themselves from the impact of a knee. The mid-chest and chin have nothing in the way of muscles you can flex to protect, so you hit there and it’s just devastating. It’s so f***ing fast, too.
4. He has me land that southpaw, left knee into an orthodox fighter’s chest as they’re coming with their big right cross. He has me use my left arm to come inside the cross, to block it (kind parrying out at the elbow) and then slam that knee right inside the punch. He has me do this a lot, because it’s about timing and seeing that punch.
5. I noticed in his fights he interrupts with low kicks. Like, really low kicks. In this lesson he goes after the inner thigh, saying that if you go after the ankle you’re too close and will still get hit. He says you slap it without much power, just enough to sting, which actually gets the opponent to put weight onto the leg to kind of “endure” the kick, and then you switch it up and punch instead as they put the weight on the front foot.
6. You can knee someone’s chin from clinch-range. It’s the same thing Langsuan does with an uppercut, when you’re in neck-grabbing range for the clinch, but Chamuakpet’s knee just comes right up the chimney. This requires perfect execution of the same details he asks for in his regular chest-target knee, but more pogo-stick action on the standing foot to get the height and narrowness of the folded leg.
7. He steers the opponent in the clinch by the insides of the arms. Like a big wheel, turning and kneeing. He can then step outside their stand for throws  - he gives a few examples with detail of how to push/pull at the same time. He also sometimes takes double outside position and jerks the arms at the forearm and inner elbow to kind of yank his opponent forward at the same time he knees. Off-balance and knee, off-balance and knee. He doesn’t lock.
8. Don’t take turns. Chamuakpet has me throwing some elbows on top of knees and punches, but he makes a point that he hates watching fights where they elbow and then wait for the opponent to elbow before going again. He has me throw to interrupt the opponent’s turn, as well as “burn” with repeated knees to not wait for counters.
9. When you throw repeated knees, you bounce on the ball of your foot the exact same way you do for repeat kicks. When you kick, he pivots hard on the standing foot and doesn’t really glide forward on the kick at all. You step first to cover distance, but pivot on the ball of the foot to whip the hip and leg around. It’s fast and stings.

Special thanks to Em for writing to me and letting me know that Chamuakpet would be in Thailand. She trains with him in Tokyo and again, it’s very cool (and meaningful) to me that students of these legends are getting in touch with me to help make sure their krus make it into the Preserve the Legacy Muay Thai Library! 

You can watch my vlog after training with him, talking about training with him and dropping him off at Samart's gym, because he wanted to see Samart's brother Kongtoranee.  

TIP BOX: if you are inspired by what you see and want to show added appreciation you can send gratuity directly to Kru Chamuakpet. Every time I send these extra donations and thank yous the Krus are really touched. Just message $5 or more via PayPal to the address sylvie@8limbs.us, please in the "add a note" section specify "for Kru Chamuakpet". I will transfer the funds. Not every kru is in need in the same way financially, as others, but I am told that it is difficult for him to scrape together funds for his visits to Thailand, so I'm sure any donation would be appreciated. 

KRU FUND: additionally, 5% of all Patreon pledges go into my Kru Fund, and is directed back to the Krus and ex-fighters who have helped make this documentary Library possible: http://8limbs.us/muay-thai-thailand/starting-the-kru-fund

If you enjoyed this session you may also like these in the Library which explore similar themes:

#48 Dieselnoi Chor. Thanasukarn - Jam Session  (80 min) watch it here 

Possibly the greatest fighter who ever lived, Dieselnoi, teaches his fighting tactics and strategy, keys to winning as a Muay Khao fighter. He is accompanied by Rajadamnern Featherweight champion Nopidej Sor. Reodi, so you get to see see the interaction between two related philosophies of the Muay Khao style. This session could be watched and studied over and over.

#45 Langsuan Panyutapum - Monster Muay Khao Training (66 min) watch it here 

One of the greatest knee fighters who ever fought, 1987 Fighter of the Year Langsuan shows how an elite Muay Khao fighter of his day trained. This session is powerful on the basics that elevate the body and mind, at high repetition, allowing the relentless, pressing style that made Langsuan the fighter nobody wanted to fight.

#41  Samson Isaan - The Art of Dern Fighting (64 min) watch it here 

To "dern" in Thai is to "walk", which means basically to just come forward no matter what, to create a relentlessness. Voted Fighter of the Year in 1991, Samson Isaan was one of the great Dern Fighters of the Golden Age, and in this session he shows his forward pulsing techniques which are meant to just overwhelm his opponent. Also a great session for pressure Southpaw fighters. 

#8 Sangtiennoi Sor Rungroj - Advanced Clinch (52 min) watch it here 

The Golden Age Lumpinee and Rajadamnern Champion, a legendary Muay Khao fighter who fought all the greats instructs on the finer points of clinch technique. Small differences that make big differences. Advanced tips on the swim-in and turn, and the importance of going from long distance techniques to short distance grab and lock.

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