By Nethaneel Mongonia | photos by Samuel Mongonia
Thanks for having me back TXMMA.
I fought in the TBA tournament in 2011, and after stepping out of the ring un-triumphantly, I realized that something needed to change in my game. And I started that next training day in a new direction. The challenge was to bring home the most prestigious armature muay thai title in the north American continent, The T.B.A-SA Class A Muay Thai Classic title.
My experience at the 2011 tournament changed me. I made a lot of friends from both the northeastern states and from Canada, and I learned what it takes to make a great fighter. I realized that it takes a whole gym to make a champion. No one can do it themselves, we are all equals in the gym, and we’re all responsible for one another’s growth. I used to work hard for everything, and then I realized that in training, it’s not the quantity, it’s the quality of what you do. I had to shake off a lot of old boxing gym myths about training, and start implementing new methodological and ideological approaches to training and style, and I began approaching things much more scientifically. This took everyone else to the next level, which then took me to the next level I needed to be at to win.
After the 2011 TBA tourney, I had a couple of fights in Oklahoma with Kru Troy Green’ promotion out there, great people, and I love working with them because they’re a group that have sacrificed a lot for this sport. And I was fortunate enough to bring home a few titles from Oklahoma, The USMTA’s National Tournament title, and the USACS’s C.E.C. title, and represent them this year at the TBA as well.
Thai-boxing isn’t a fashion statement, or some glamorous Rocky montage. It’s a life style, and a gritty one at that. Its sweat, blood and tears, and people asking you “what’s that you do… Tai chi?” (Laughs) but most of all… it’s about friendships and family. For instance, I arrived at the venue for weigh-ins, and I ran into a friend from last year’s tourney, Matt Kendall. And without this guy, I’m not even sure that I would have made weight. He was so kind that he lends me his tub, sauna suit and room to make sure that I made weight and was rested. He helped corner Alexis, Alan and me, warmed us up. And I am eternally grateful to this guy. He had already made weight, and for all he could care, we weren’t his responsibility, but he treated us like family and expected nothing in return.
Thai-boxing isn’t like MMA. And nothing against MMA, however, you can’t just go pro after a 5-0 record. In fact, best case scenario of going pro in Thai-boxing (Other than Thailand that is) is a 15-0 record, while most promoters prefer 25 fight before making the change to pro status. So the challenge I was up against was huge, coming in at the bottom of the experience level, fighting guys with way more fight experience then me. With that said, my record was seven wins and three losses. It’s hard getting fights in Texas, and the fights you do get, people often don’t even know what they’re looking at. So you have to travel for the sport you love and the odds are often stacked against you and the cost is coming out of your own pockets. This tournament was pretty tough, I’ve got to admit. I fought twice in one day, and once more the next morning. The structure of the bouts was three, two minute rounds, which doesn’t leave you with much time to impress the judges. And as you know, Muay Thai is a sport of heart, conditioning, and skill. It’s like sprinting and playing chess at the same time… and in the tournament structure its blitz chess. This is a sport of ultimate will, and we seek only to test ourselves against the best, to find the highest mountain to climb.
The first guy I fought was Jason Powell from Art of Eight Muay Thai. His fight Experience in Thai boxing was 1-0-0/1KO, 3 smokers; however his MMA record was 15-6-0/5KO. That’s a total of 25 fights to my ten fights I had. We both came out aggressive throwing combos. Where I pulled ahead was the execution of elbows and knees that shut down my opponent. When the dust cleared, I was awarded a unanimous decision over an extremely tough guy.
My second fight was against Chris McMillan, a seasoned Muay Thai amateur vet from Calgary Canada. His record was 14-7-0/2ko in Muay Thai, and 1 Smoker for a total of 22 fights. The Canadians have a huge Muay Thai scene, and a lot more fierce competition then we have here in the States. I came out kind of weary of his style. He had a very Thai style, using a lot of teeps and kick. To his credit, the guy was pretty slick. In the end it was my power, speed, combos, intelligence, skill and determination that won me the fight.
My last fight was against my toughest opponent yet, Adam Edgerton. His fight experience of 7-4-0 wasn’t as rich as my other opponents, but he came to win, with both him and his trainer coming out fresh off a win and from both a Ramon Dekkers and John Wayne Parr seminars. I knew he would be the one I would end up fighting. We had been eyeing one another since we first signed up for the bracket, hoping to test ourselves against one another. when I was “In the hole” waiting to step in the ring, Rami Ibrahim, like the warrior poet he is, spoke these words to me “Hunger isn’t what you have when the fight is going your way, hunger is what you have when you’re losing and the s*** has hit the fan” and with those words I stepped into the ring to face my toughest opponent yet. I never allowed myself to think about being tired or about the title, only focusing on the task at hand, that was all that mattered. Besides his height making it extremely difficult for me to land knees on him, I still somehow landed my far share of hard combos, but he pulled ahead in the Boxing/hands department, with his great combos and fast hands, so I had to adapt. Where I think I pulled ahead was my foot work, my head movements, I landed a couple of elbows and back-elbow combos. I stitching my combos together as to set up a lot of kicks, and did well in the clinch. Basically, using the whole Thai-boxing arsenal.
It was the toughest fight I’ve ever fought, and an all out war that ended by a split decision (29/28, 28/29, 30/27). And with the ref raising my hand, not only do I bring this title home for Kru Pong’s, but I bring the honor of this title back to my home state of Texas, and to my home town Houston. I had came to the Thai Boxing Association’s Muay Thai Classic to fight the best, and that’s who I fought…The best. I have much respect for all three of the guys that I fought, and for everyone else in my bracket, and I’m sure our paths will cross again. And with all that said, I hope that we’ve put Houston on the Muay Thai map, and showed that we do have good muay thai talent here. And I’m very excited about the recent peaking interest of Legacy FC in potentially holding a Muay thai card here in Houston.
I want to thank Hong Kong Food Street, Nine Dragons Martial arts, and my home gym Kru Pong’s Thai Boxing. I want to thank all my supportive team mates, Sam Mongonia, Uriel “Woody” Figueroa, Alexis Chavarria, Josh Ferraro, my wife Roni, my mom and my dad (RIP pops), my friends and family. And I want to thank Michael Corley for bringing Kevin Ross and Cyrus Washington to Houston for a seminar, And Kevin Ross for the clinch work. I also want to thank my buddy Lance for the physiological science and its implementation to maximize my results in my training regimen. I want to thank Matt Kendall for cornering and everything while we were at the TBA tournament.
It’s been a long road and I want to thank everyone for their continued support, in winning these title I’m representing not only Kru Pong’s and the KPFT, But also the surrounding areas of Ardmore OK, and the organizations that I represent their titles. I’ve got to keep moving forward. My next goal is to defend my USACS Oklahoma state title Sept 8th, and hopefully bring home the Arizona USMTA state 159Lbs title at Bad Blood Muay Thai 19 on Oct 6th.