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Congratulations to Long Bui for
placing 3rd in the middleweight division of the USA Pankration League 2009 National Championships!
Ma Du tattoos ... these are some hardcore students of the Nam Phan MMA Academy!
Saturday, June 13, 2009
In Waiting
Trying to work on getting at least one last fight for this year. I still have 2 fights left on my Strikeforce contract
so hopefully they can make that happen. i'm really hungry for a win... especially after the ridiculous outcome of
my last one.
In the mean time, I've been working out regularly and training students at the academy. Anyone
who is interested, come out and try a day's worth of free classes!
One of the academy fighters is competing
in his 2nd pro mma fight. July 10, kenny quach will fight josh mejia at the quiet canyon country club in montebello, ca. call
us for tickets and support our local guy!
here's a pic of me and pasna at the silver wolf gym in japan. don't
know when i'll be back there. it would be great to go back again someday.
The Ma Du team finishes strong and I'm really proud of our guys! We took 2 guys and they both placed! Congrats
to Max Thunyakij (left, featherweight) and Kenny Quach (right, lightweight) for both placing second in the
open (advanced) brackets in their respective weight classes!!!
Interesting thing happened at the tourney that tells
you that in jiu jitsu, you never know what can happen. Max actually won 2 medals! He only wanted to compete
in the beginner's but when I noticed one open spot left for the advanced division, I signed him up hehe. He wasn't
crazy about the idea but I tell him it's good practice and besides, what have you got to lose?! He ends up placing better
in the advanced division than he does in the beginner division!!! 2nd place in the open division and
3rd in the beginner's division.
Overall, it was a great accomplishment for our team. We celebrated with a
wonderful home cooked meal made by my lovely girlfriend. It was healthy and delicious. But the celebration is over
and back to training for our upcoming events. May 30 - both Max and Kenny have a kickboxing event at South
Coast Kickboxing in Costa Mesa. The 3 of us also have a grappling tourney hosted by Grappling X in San Bernadino,
CA, June 13. It's gonna be a busy summer!
I find out in the next 2 weeks if I'm gonna be back in Japan
for Sengoku again. Still up in the air but I have my thoughts about who they might pair me up with. I'm thinking
Jung Chan Sung. I'll post as soon as I know.
I took a week off to relax and recuperate. It's time to get back in focus for the next fight. Hopefully by the end
of the month I'll know when, who, and where I'll be fighting. In the meantime, gonna find some jiu jitsu tourneys
to compete in. After the FWGP, I'd like a rematch with Omigawa. Or maybe a chance to fight current Shooto World Champ
"Lion" Takeshi Inoue. I'm feeling good about fighting at 145. I would have loved to get a fight with Rumina
Sato, but after his loss to Inoue, I heard he might retire or drop to bantamweight. I'm definitely NOT down with dropping
that much!!!
I'm also prepping my guys Kenny and Max for the military pankration on May 16 at Camp Pendleton and
a couple of kickboxing fights May 30. Kenny also has his 2nd MMA fight July 10 at the Quiet Canyon in Montebello, CA - opponent
TBA. Come and support these guys! We'll have more details as the dates get closer.
this is what I said to the ref after the fight backstage - Me: With all due respect, you know that was an early stoppage.
I had guard and was defending. Ref: (in Japanese) Safety first. Me: Have you ever heard of samurai spirit? (he nods)
Well I have kamakazi spirit. Ref: What do you mean? Me: In the ring or cage, I am ready to die! Ref: Oh my,
you are crazy!
My cornerman replies: He is not crazy. He has "kokoro". I later asked him: What does
that mean? He says, "You have heart!"
today was a very interesting day. i woke up this morning at 147.6, after my first one hour run at got down to 144.6, then
after my second one hour run i made 142.00 on the dot. the reason why i got down so low is because the scale at the weigh-ins
are a little bit heavier. 12 o'clock japan time was the pre wiegh-in trials, to see how much you are wieghing before the
official weigh-ins. When i stepped onto the scale i was a little bit heavy, i was at 65.2 which equals out to 143.4. I was
way too tired to go run again, so i told mr.Paz to go buy me some chewy type candy to build up some saliva to spit out. I
filled up a cup full a spit and i went to go try the scale and the scale said i was still over. Then i decided to go use the
restroom. I got back on the scale and got down to 65.15 which comes out to be 143.3. i went back to the chewing and check
the scale again at 65.05 which is 143.11. i was getting so frustrated and tired, but i figure just suck it up for a little
bit longer. i step on the scale for one last time and i finally made weight at 64.9 kg which comes out to be 142.78. i was
so happy to finally make weight, i was standing in the middle of the room naked screaming my lungs out. ok, now off to the
official weigh ins!
when i landed in Japan i was 147.6,
so i was a little heavy. While i was waiting for my buddy Paz at the airport i figure i just should pick up my metabolism,
so i started eating one tiger milk protein bar per every hour. When Paz finally got in, me
and him went to eat some food. I got some gayonza and a bowl of rice and my weight got up to 149.6 . i figure, i will just
wake up in the morning and run like crazy at the gold's gym in japan which is free for fighters. When i woke up this morning,
metabolism was high so high i lost 3 pounds overnight just by sleeping. I got down to 146.6 and then after my run i got down
to 144.6.
Nam defeats Hideki Kadowaki - a solid right on the button drops Kadowaki, a big KO win for
Nam at 3:09 in the first round.
"It was an extreme honor to have an opportunity to compete with one of my greatest heroes."
- Nam Phan
CONGRATULATIONS, NAM!!!
MMA legend Caol Uno visits and trains at the MaDu Academy.
Nam Phan MMA fighter Kenny Quach demolishes his opponent
(Vincent Martinez) in 18 seconds of the first round to mark his MMA pro debut win. Congratulations, Kenny!
Kei Maeda, Kenny Quach, Nam Phan
______________ Nam Phan Fans!
Click photo to add Nam on Myspace
________________ Other Recent News:
Nam took 3rd place at the No Limits No Gi Tournament April 26, 2008.
Nam defeated Saad Awaad at Gladiator Challenge
February 16, 2008