by Michael Corley
After spending close to two years in Thailand working and competing I returned home to Houston, Texas late April 2011. I was happy to get back to Texas and enjoy some time off relaxing and eating some American food! So after about 2-3 weeks being in the States I got the call to be on The Challenger Muaythai Reality Show. I had made an alright name for myself competing in Thailand in The Challenger Qualifier 8-Man in Pattaya and competing in events like the Toyota Cup, and was really excited to get out and test myself against some top international fighters.
I think I was kind of a wild card getting on the show, so I was on a flight 3 days after I got the call and headed to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. When all the fighters arrived at the house I noticed some world champion competitors for the show Jordan Watson, Marco Pique, Madsua, Franki Giorgi, Colossa etc… then I also noticed 2 competitors that I had fought before in Thailand Jason Woodham and Faizal Ramli. Lastly I saw my friend Cyrus Washington and him, me, Rhyse Saliba, and Jesse Miles all roomed together. We all got along and were pretty chilled and a relaxed room.
First day of training was cool, because a lot of us wanted to get in there and start dropping some kg’s and also shake jet lag. I was running a lot trying to get my weight down. I probably arrived to the show at 78-80kg (172-176lbs) and fights were to take place at 72.5 (160lbs). I knew I needed to keep running a ton, because I had the feeling I was going to be picked to fight first, being that I am an American and not a well-known name in Muay Thai. The energy in the gym was awesome…pads cracking and not one weak dude in there hitting pads. There were great trainers there as well to add to the energy. Training times/length would be altered due photo shoots / interviews / filming so that didn’t sit well with some of the fighters. Me personally, I was a little bothered, so I started carrying a jump rope with me places so that I could stay on my cut.
After about 2 days of training/filming I believe they introduced the weapon of the week for the first episode which was conditioning. We had seen in the training/running who came in top shape and who was on vacation (me) haha. Vuyisile Colossa was chosen as the top conditioned athlete for the weapon of the week and then he chose me as his opponent. I knew that I would be picked in the beginning, but first sucked. I had a feeling it was coming, but I was excited to fight anyone on this show, so many top guys, and $100,000 on the line really inspires fighters to bring it in the matches.
The fight was the next day and I needed to make weight. Out came the sauna suit and I started alternating light jogs and elliptical to try and save my legs. I was about 5kg (10lbs) out and made weight but my legs were a little shot from all the running I did.
The day of the fight was a little hectic. We were booked, I believe by accident, to do a press conference for the announcement of the show, the day of the fight! Not much time for rest and relaxation the day of your big fight, right? After that was completed we were back to the villa and me and Colossa had to head up to where the fight was being filmed. There was a long wait before we ended up coming out for our fight. Being the first fight of the series I'm sure there were a lot of kinks and such that needed to be worked out before we came out for the fight.
THE FIGHT
Colossa came into the competition in great shape and really brought it. Round 1 would go to Colossa, but I did have my moments. Round 2 I started off well and landed some nice techniques and caught a kick and dumped him. Right after that he took control of the round and ended up scoring a flash knockdown. I wasn’t rocked just didn’t see it. Round 3 I could feel I was down in the fight so I started getting real aggressive and was looking for a cut to try and turn the fight around so I started throwing more elbows and a couple landed, but no damage. Colossa sensed I didn’t have anything for him that night and started turning it up more and started doing damage on my legs. He was landing well and eventually dropped me in my corner from leg kicks. The ref stopped the match even though I got up, and I don’t blame him. I could have continued, but Colossa had my number that night.
AFTERMATH
It was a great experience fighting a top fighter like Colossa and meeting/training alongside the top guys of the sport. Sucked to be first off the show…but it was a great time and I learned a lot. I saw how some of the competitors were training and from that I knew that in the future I needed to step it up if I ever want to be a world champion in this.
Sorry if my performance let down the USA MT circle. I will be back a stronger fighter from this! Thank you to the show, staff, coaches, and Stephan Fox and the whole WMC for this experience!
I think I was kind of a wild card getting on the show, so I was on a flight 3 days after I got the call and headed to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. When all the fighters arrived at the house I noticed some world champion competitors for the show Jordan Watson, Marco Pique, Madsua, Franki Giorgi, Colossa etc… then I also noticed 2 competitors that I had fought before in Thailand Jason Woodham and Faizal Ramli. Lastly I saw my friend Cyrus Washington and him, me, Rhyse Saliba, and Jesse Miles all roomed together. We all got along and were pretty chilled and a relaxed room.
First day of training was cool, because a lot of us wanted to get in there and start dropping some kg’s and also shake jet lag. I was running a lot trying to get my weight down. I probably arrived to the show at 78-80kg (172-176lbs) and fights were to take place at 72.5 (160lbs). I knew I needed to keep running a ton, because I had the feeling I was going to be picked to fight first, being that I am an American and not a well-known name in Muay Thai. The energy in the gym was awesome…pads cracking and not one weak dude in there hitting pads. There were great trainers there as well to add to the energy. Training times/length would be altered due photo shoots / interviews / filming so that didn’t sit well with some of the fighters. Me personally, I was a little bothered, so I started carrying a jump rope with me places so that I could stay on my cut.
After about 2 days of training/filming I believe they introduced the weapon of the week for the first episode which was conditioning. We had seen in the training/running who came in top shape and who was on vacation (me) haha. Vuyisile Colossa was chosen as the top conditioned athlete for the weapon of the week and then he chose me as his opponent. I knew that I would be picked in the beginning, but first sucked. I had a feeling it was coming, but I was excited to fight anyone on this show, so many top guys, and $100,000 on the line really inspires fighters to bring it in the matches.
The fight was the next day and I needed to make weight. Out came the sauna suit and I started alternating light jogs and elliptical to try and save my legs. I was about 5kg (10lbs) out and made weight but my legs were a little shot from all the running I did.
The day of the fight was a little hectic. We were booked, I believe by accident, to do a press conference for the announcement of the show, the day of the fight! Not much time for rest and relaxation the day of your big fight, right? After that was completed we were back to the villa and me and Colossa had to head up to where the fight was being filmed. There was a long wait before we ended up coming out for our fight. Being the first fight of the series I'm sure there were a lot of kinks and such that needed to be worked out before we came out for the fight.
THE FIGHT
Colossa came into the competition in great shape and really brought it. Round 1 would go to Colossa, but I did have my moments. Round 2 I started off well and landed some nice techniques and caught a kick and dumped him. Right after that he took control of the round and ended up scoring a flash knockdown. I wasn’t rocked just didn’t see it. Round 3 I could feel I was down in the fight so I started getting real aggressive and was looking for a cut to try and turn the fight around so I started throwing more elbows and a couple landed, but no damage. Colossa sensed I didn’t have anything for him that night and started turning it up more and started doing damage on my legs. He was landing well and eventually dropped me in my corner from leg kicks. The ref stopped the match even though I got up, and I don’t blame him. I could have continued, but Colossa had my number that night.
AFTERMATH
It was a great experience fighting a top fighter like Colossa and meeting/training alongside the top guys of the sport. Sucked to be first off the show…but it was a great time and I learned a lot. I saw how some of the competitors were training and from that I knew that in the future I needed to step it up if I ever want to be a world champion in this.
Sorry if my performance let down the USA MT circle. I will be back a stronger fighter from this! Thank you to the show, staff, coaches, and Stephan Fox and the whole WMC for this experience!
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