Sunday, October 2, 2011

The Challenger Muaythai blog - Cedric Muller


by Cedric Muller
I qualified in 2009 through a French selection tournament to represent France in the "Contender Asia: Season 2". The show was delayed quite a bit and finally it was re-named "The Challenger Muaythai", some of the fighters changed from CA2 for multiple reasons. When I arrived in the villa, I saw that all the fighters were not the same as I had initially foreseen, except Jordan Watson, Marco Pique, Jesse Miles and Faizal RamlI. I was a surprised to see some famous fighters like Mardsua, Colossa, Giorgi, Antoine and others that were now part of the show.

The days before the start of the show the ambiance was good with everyone, funny and deconstruct, everyone was friendly. The day we arrived at the villa, we knew now the competition had started and we could fight each other at anytime. The training was like usual for a fighter, hard and intensive, but I tried to not give it my all keeping some of my resources for the fight. I bunked with Colossa, Pique, Giorgi and Merza, it was a good feeling because we were the oldest and had the same preoccupation.


The choice of the fighter for the match was made by the fighter and the trainers, each week a weapon of muaythai decided who the best representative was. The first fight was decided by conditioning, Colossa won and I was disappointed because I wanted it to be me. Colossa got to choose who he wanted to fight against and he picked Michael Corley.

I wanted to fight first because I knew it was better to fight early in the show, this way I could have time for recovery before the second fight and I would also have more fighters to choose from. After watching the first match I think it was better for me to fight in the second fight, because I was able to see the conditions of the fight.

When we had to choose the fighter for the second fight, I convinced the others to choose me. The weapon was punches and I tried to prove to the trainer that I had the better skills and combination. Jason and Jordan gave me their support to choose me and Antuan used the argument that I have a good punch because I knocked him down in the past with a left hook. I was very happy with this because I would now fight early in the show, but I knew in my mind that I was not really the better puncher of all the fighters, for me it was Fadi Merza. Finally the fighters chose me and I won the competition between me and Fadi by 9 to 6.

Unfortunately the trainers didn't pick me, but Fadi Merza! I couldn't choose my opponent, I was annoyed because Fadi is a friend and I preferred to fight against Jesse or Rhyse in the first fight because I think my style is good to beat them. Nevertheless, we must be able to fight anyone to prove we are the best, I was ready to rumble and I now had to beat "The Beast".

THE FIGHT
My strategy for this fight was to use the kick, the knee and the elbow equally because I knew Fadi Merza was not a pure Nakmuay and the only danger he presented was with his punches.

The start was easy, but in the second round Fadi pressured me constantly. When it came to the fourth round I knew it was the most important round of a muaythai fight so I decided to accelerate my attack and I began to connect with my knees quite a bit. In the closing seconds of the round I moved forward and he caught me with an elbow on the top of my head, cutting me open. In the corner, Nugget tried to stop the bleeding and he kept telling me to fight smart in the last round. Fadi moved forward the entire final round, but I was able to contain him.

I won this fight with a lot of blood on my face, but I was happy to beat a great fighter like Fadi "The Beast" Merza. He gave me a war and he should be proud of this fight and the way he fought.

AFTERMATH
After the fight I lost my memory. The conditions were very hard, very hot, a lot of pressure for the show, and Merza hit me hard. In the locker room, I didn't remember the fifth round and my victory and I couldn't understand why I was there with Nugget.

I thought I was crazy or I lost a fight by KO, but I didn't know against who. I knew I was in Malaysia, but it was like a dream I had the two years I waited. The competition didn't seem like a reality, I told Nugget I wanted to stop my career because I thought it was time end my career.

Then Nugget said to me, " Cedric, you win the fight". The only thing I could think of when we were leaving to the villa was, "OK, the show continues".
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