News' editor Dom introduces himself to the YOKKAO Community
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself and give you my perspective on YOKKAO and what they are doing for the sport that we all love. My name is Dominic but my friends call me Dom. I am from a little city in England called York but spend all of my time now residing in the North East of England in a city called Newcastle.
I have been involved with Muay Thai for just a little over a year now and it has quickly become a massive part of my life. Ever since my first training session I knew that this was going to become a passion of mine. When I walked in to the gym for the first time I was extremely apprehensive, as you would be if you were the top end of 90kg, had never done any kind of fitness before let alone doing any kind of combat sports!
I was quickly welcomed into the gym family and even more quickly welcomed into the community. I was amazed at how accessible everything and everyone was. What really blew my mind was that you could train with some of the biggest names in the sport. When I had only been training a couple of months, a member of the UK YOKKAO Fight team, Liam Harrison, came and did a seminar in Newcastle with Andy Thrasher. It was mad, my mind was totally blown!
When I try to explain this to my friends, that either don’t understand how big Liam Harrison is or don't have an interest in Muay Thai is hard. To put it into perspective for them, I tell them it was like getting the opportunity to be taught football by Lionel Messi or David Beckham for a couple of hours. I mean, it is just totally unheard of!
I got to discover Liam from watching videos on YouTube. I had the heads up from a couple of lads from the gym saying how good he was. I discovered his fight against Houcine Bennoui from YOKKAO 8. That was when I knew that YOKKAO was the real deal!
After I had seen that, I really wanted to know more. I spent many hours watching the fights from previous YOKKAO events and scrolling through the site catching up on all things YOKKAO related. Through this process what I discovered was how much YOKKAO is actually doing for the Muay Thai scene in the UK, how influential they are being. It is just amazing how much exposure the UK fighters get when they get to fight on the YOKKAO shows. They also bring the worlds best Thai fighters over here to run seminars all over the country to educate us and help us take our own game to another level.
Saenchai and Pakorn earlier this year came to the UK and toured the isles breaking all kinds of records selling out nearly every venue that they were attending. So much so that some of the gyms had to put on a second day just to squeeze everyone in! To have some of the best fighters in the world fighting in the UK, like they are doing at the moment is just incredible and a huge boost for the sport and people who are participating and I feel lucky now to be apart of the team.
With YOKKAO 14 & 15 now within reaching distance we know that the show is going to be one of the most impressive shows to date with the likes of Saenchai, Singdam, Liam Harrison, Jordan Watson, Greg Wootton and the recently released Reece McAllister and Josh Turbill fight going down. These names ring through the Muay Thai scene in the UK as some of the most talented and ferocious fighters. To have them all under one roof is just impressive!
I look forward to working closer with YOKKAO and the team of fighters to bring you some of the best news, fighting tips, nutrition tips, news from the UK scene, interviews with fighters and much more.
Watch the previous fight between Liam Harrison and Houcine Bennoui and begin to prepare yourself for what will be an amazing night of world-class Muay Thai on 10th October at the Bolton Macron Stadium! If you are as hooked on Mauy Thai, as I am, make sure to get your tickets soon or you are sure to be missing out!!!
