The Challenger Muaythai blog - Mostafa Abdollahi part 2

by Mostafa Abdollahi

After my first fight and my victory by KO against Jay Woodham from the UK, I had a bad injury and my rib was cracked from his knee. I was in pain, even that night I couldn't sleep. After one day rest and recovery, I started very light training again. In the 3rd quarter final match when Jordan Watson faced off against Cedric Muller, Marco Pique and I were the only to fighters remaining to fight in the quarter final.

The blue team trainers and I focused all that week on training to beat Marco's fight style. We tried more to fight Thai style and attack with hard kicks because I knew Marco being based in Nederland’s has a Dutch style which is more K-1 with punch and kick combinations. I was planning to be opposite from his techniques. Also I knew that Marco had a very bad injury in his previous fight against Frankie.

THE FIGHT
From the start I tried to control the game and use my leg kicks and make him hurt. I knew if I wanted to achieve my goal and go to the semi-finals, I needed to win this fight. I really tried to catch the judge’s eyes with my kicks and knees. Marco was in pain and I could tell, but he was trying so hard to win this match. In between my corner men always made me relax during the fight. I used more hands and left

The Challenger Muaythai blog - Mostafa Abdollahi

by Mostafa Abdollahi

I was the Iranian Muaythai team captain for several years and earned a few medals in different international Muaythai competitions. I was one of the last fighters to be chosen to enter the Challenger Muaythai from the WMC and I only found out for definite 2 days before I had to fly to KL! The WMC (World Muaythai Council) chose me because I'm a Muslim fighter from the middle east and they were interested in my background and fight style.

When I got to the villa I recognized some famous and experienced fighters and also I knew some of the fighters already. I thought it's gonna be a tough challenge for me, but this didn't freak me out because I'm always looking for challenges and new experiences. I can say the Challenger Muaythai has been fantastic and a great opportunity for me to live & train with champions.

The Challenger Muaythai blog - Jay Woodham

by Jay Woodham
I train at the Lamiamuaythai Camp Koh Samui with Tum Mardsua, he had already been chosen to take part in the show. They were looking for another fighter, I got asked to do a video interview like a screen test so I did that. They knew I was a decent fighter from videos and recommendations and that was that really, a few weeks later I got the call and the producers said I was in the show. I was just so happy to be a part of Muaythai history to be in the very first season of The Challenger Muaythai and really excited to show the world what I could do, as I left the UK almost two years ago as a high level fighter and I feel I have improved. It was great to finally get to show case that.