Welcome to China Taison! !

I tried it on Monday!

I'm so proud of myself, I can't even type in proper grammar.

Ok, now that I have calmed myself down, I will explain my situation.

I went to the national stadium. Met up with the coach and watched some matches. The rules here were different with those in Shanghai. No elbow/knees and no direct punches to the face but it's allowed to kick the head of your opponent.

The platform was square. The one in Shanghai was round. Square platform breeds linear fighting. So skill was thrown out of the window. It was rather large as well, the one in Shanghai was a lot smaller.

Now on with the match. The guy I faced seemed to favor grappling. He was almost crawling. He had a low center of gravity, and had open arms. He rarely struck me, but instead, relied on trying to counter when I kicked. He had a problem though. The platform was square. I cornered him and smashed away with punches and sprawled when he tried leg tackles. I caught him with a back kick once, and he did a scoop throw on me twice. It was tough though.

The second guy I faced was a former TKD practition. I lost to this dude. Not only did he have superb kicking ability, he was good at wrestling and knows how to punch well. The thing I like the most with this match was that I was able to throw him 3 times. Not Judo throws, wrestling! I caught him with once with powerslam, once with leg tackle, and the last was. . . I held his legs, carried his stomach on my shoulder like you hold a infant. Then I slammed him down. Spine buster? Good thing the platform was soft. I lost because I was pushed out of the platform. I couldn't compete in striking, and when I tried grabbing, he would either sprawl or get me with his side-kick.

Anyway, this was a really refreshing experience. I like this rule, although it wasn't what I imagined. I was caught in the corners too much, and the fighting was very linear like a karate kumite. It was strange though. I felt as if I was in a wrestling match more than a kickboxing. Ok, 80% of the match was striking, but the points came in when you started to throw people around or knock them off the platform. It was hard getting points in. I kicked the first guy and if he kicked back, i was awarded no point. If I kicked him, and he grabbed me and successfully threw me, I'd get 1 point and him 3 points.

These dudes are hardcore, and probably, sooner or later, I will go join them in training. It was fun due to restriction on ground-fighting. It was really challenging but fun. It's also a good crowd pleaser.

-Taison out

Sounds like great fun Taison; was the event full contact(apart from no head punching)? I'd love to have a go at something like this, it sounds really interesting.

Was it hard to adapt to the new club's style, or did you find your previous training held you in good stead. Why was it so linear- could you not have been the one to sidestep? Although I must say, when I spar in Chang-hon TKD, I also find it very difficult to use sidestepping effectively.

That's great Taison. It seems like you had fun and was something you weren't used to. When you said sooner of later you would join them in training weren't they in China? Wouldn't that be a far travel to train.

Thats two of us who have stretched our kicking legs over to another style as 'tourists'

Anyone else going to try something new? We could get personal reviews of all styles from an outsiders perspective. Come on, the grapplers all seem to roll any and everywhere, I say its time us strikers went knocking on doors
Who's going to take up the quest?

Bo-ken - They have an established organization here in Thailand that follows the Internation Rule of the Asian games. I can just take the BTS [speed train] to the club.

Supremor - Yes, the platform is almost the size of a TKD "ring". Their tactics were to try and corner you, so that you are unable to use sidestep efficiently. When you did sidestep you can fall off the platform if you're not careful. The one I had experience in was much like a sumo ring. It is easier to sidestep on a round platform than a square one. My previous training did aid a lot in terms of standup grappling. Mostly, I was able to dominate in the clinch and I escape many throws which I found very similar to Judo. In terms of Kickboxing. It was a breeze except for the "TKD" guy. He was WAAY too fast for his weight.

Cord - Yes, I thought about trying this for a while then maybe try something else like Classical Kickboxing or maybe some other South East Asian MA style like Lethwei or Pradal Serey. The only problem is. . How am I supposed to get into Myanmar?

-Taison out

That seriously sounds like such a fun sport! I started with MT, and ended up just starting at an MMA school about a month ago. I think I might look up San shou tho, cuz it def sounds fun.

Getting punched in the face is ALWAYS fun, irrespective of setting or rules