Author: Keith Mason

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So, in 2020 when I was starting to lose hope about my Muay Thai career (due to COVID-19 putting a halt to the Muay Thai scene) I got a life changing message from one of the biggest companies in the martial arts industry. After going through multiple interviews, I finally got offered a job to be a part of Evolve MMA Team in Singapore.

I have done a lot of things in my Muay Thai career and had great opportunities, but never had the full package where I could really focus on building a future and being financially stable – so this was life changing news for me.

I actually wrote a blog towards the end of 2020 called ‘A change of goals’ talking about my future goals and I actually wrote this exact sentence…

‘So now I think I’ve realised that my goal isn’t necessarily to win any sort of title, I just want to fight the best, get paid what I feel I deserve and to get the exposure I deserve. But more than that I just want to be happy and build a future whilst fighting and to keep making memories. And as a result of being happy whilst fighting I’m sure titles will come – a happy fighter is the most dangerous fighter!’.

It was like the universe answered me after writing this blog, I was genuinely considering retiring at one-point last year and I’m not ashamed to say that I shed a few tears about it. I just felt I was having bad luck constantly with injuries and not getting opportunities I worked hard for my whole life, then to top it off I thought COVID-19 could have potentially ruined any future plans.

I am absolutely buzzing to get the opportunity to train and coach with my former team mates from Petchyindee – Nong O and Sam A alongside multiple other champions who I’ve looked up to since I was a kid. I can finally focus on a few things 1) Building a future for myself through this sport. 2) Enjoying my life and doing something I love. 3) Becoming the best fighter in the world.

I am going to keep this short and sweet as I have made a video (below) on my YouTube channel explaining things in more detail, but one thing I will say to any fighter, young fighters especially – work hard and keep the vision strong because there are opportunities out there for you to build a better life! It’s taken me 15 years to get there but I’ve got through the tough times with injury and even losing my trainer, but I always stayed on it and I’ve reaped the rewards now.

GOOD TIMES ARE COMING…

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2020 has been a year where it could be very easy to focus on the negatives, due to COVID-19 putting a stop to a lot of plans especially being a Muay Thai fighter, but I sat back and reflected and it made me realise a lot of things.

Both myself (and I’m sure a lot of my fight friends) have struggled with going from travelling the world doing what we love, whether that is fighting or coaching experiencing different cultures and meeting countless amount of different people, to literally being stuck in the same place and being stopped from doing what we love.

This year has allowed me to sit back and reflect and made me realise how lucky I am…

It has driving me crazy at times, but one thing it made me realise is that I am very lucky to have been able to experience a lot of the world and lucky to have a lot of stories to tell from my experiences.

I was fortunate enough to go to Jakarta in February to help Andy Howson for his debut on One Championship against Josh Tonna and this was definitely a turning point for me this year.

After suffering multiple injuries and problems with my hand I was starting to lose the buzz for Muay Thai and questioning if it was even worth it anymore, but seeing all the top-level athletes fighting on One Championship gave me that spring in my step again and made me realise that I belong in those big events! From then on in, I trained most days and got into the best shape I’ve been in since my hand injury.

After Jakarta I was booked in for my 3rd hand surgery which was a massive success considering there was a chance I’d never be able to make a fist ever again.

**To hear more about my hand surgery and injury journey you can watch my video here

I felt like a newbie to the game again learning new tricks and being humbled in sparring daily!

I then made the decision to move from down south up to Bad Company gym in Leeds to train and fight for one of Europe’s best gyms.

I got the chance to spar day in day out with the likes of Liam Harrison, Jordan Watson and Joe Craven and was hitting pads with some of the best coaches in the game (Richard Smith, Andy Howson and John Gillies). I felt like a newbie to the game again learning new tricks and being humbled in sparring daily!

My confidence was hit a bit after so many issues with injury but moving to Bad Company and having great training partners definitely gave me my confidence and spark back again and if it wasn’t for the pandemic, I’m sure I would have had a fight under Bad Company by now.

This may sound a bit cliché but one thing I’ve really realised this year is having negative energy brings nothing but negative outcomes, I had a few slip ups this year and let my negative emotions take over me in frustration and that went on for a month or 2… maybe 3! But as soon as I came out of the negative mindset and focused on training and keeping my vision strong, positive opportunities started to arise.

I have been approached by one of the biggest companies in the world and will shortly be moving on to the next chapter of this mad story (all will be revealed soon). This means I won’t be fighting out of Bad Company anymore, but I will be staying in contact with the Bad Company gang as they have helped me out massively this year – but certain opportunities in this game you have to snap up when they come and this is one of them!

I want to give massive shoutout to everybody at Bad Company and 4 Corners Gym for all the help and support this year and also a massive shout out to my pad man back home Marky Phil – absolute legend helping me get back on track.

And a massive thank you to everyone who has shown support to me over the last year (or 2) I have been inactive – you all still have faith in me and that motivates me a lot.

This year I want to say less and do more, but I plan on making waves in big organisations like One Championship and to start back where I left off.

Happy New Year everybody

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As soon as I stepped foot inside Rajadamnern stadium in 2011 I automatically built an obsession of winning a Rajadamnern/Lumpinee title. I had just turned 15 years old when I first got a taste for the stadium scene, I was in love with the atmosphere the stadium was filled with and the passion of the fans, gamblers and fighters. As soon as I got my hand raised, I made it my mission and main goal in life to become a stadium champion.

I lived a different life to most teenagers. I was going to Thailand for long stints on my own, as soon as I finished high school I was going on and off for months on end trying to chase this goal until the age of 22.

I made it my mission and main goal in life to become a stadium champion.

I was stopped in my tracks multiple times by a recurring hand injury and every time I went back to Thailand after this injury it was like I was starting from the beginning again. I went from being in talks of fighting champions/former champions for good money (in Thailand terms), to unknown prospects for peanuts all in the space of a year and all because of an injury.

In order to get high up in the stadium circuit, the only way really to do that is to stay in Thailand for years and graft away – and even then, you have one loss or a bad injury that sets you back a few months, you could be put right back down the pecking order.

After the 3rd time of a hand injury reoccurring, I started to lose hope of my stadium dream. Even though I had built up quite a lot of fights in Thailand and in the stadiums on some of the best fight cards of the year, I wasn’t consistent enough to break through to the big big fights because every time I got close this injury would come back to haunt me.

I was heartbroken in my last fight in Thailand and to add salt to the wound, I got my wage packet after the fight and was given 25,000 baht (£614) which was nearly half of my best wage I’d got in the stadiums.

So not only had I lost hope of my dream I’d had since I was 15, but I had also earned shit money and to top that off my hand was an absolute swollen mess.

I underwent surgery (that I had to pay for myself), then left Bangkok and came home. This is when I really started losing hope on the stadium dream – I had paid for surgery but my hand was mangled for months afterwards – so I couldn’t work and couldn’t earn money. I was borrowing money off of my parents and friends just to scrape by and it was then when I realised something needed to change.

I was borrowing money just to scrape by and it was then I realised something had to change.

I’ve achieved massive things through this sport – I’ve beaten current and former stadium champions, fought on some of the biggest cards in Thailand yet I hadn’t a pot to piss in. I was skint and now looking back on it pretty depressed and it shouldn’t be like that.

The stadium Muay Thai scene was great, I had so many unforgettable experiences and memories, but after the surgery on my hand and time out afterwards I had a lot of time to reflect on things.

Was I really happy in Thailand? Was I just telling myself I loved that Thailand life? Could I go through all of that again just for a bit of silverware? Do I really want to be aged 24 and fighting the best for peanuts?

I had so many unanswered questions in my head and as time has gone on I have realised that winning a stadium belt isn’t the be all and end all – The Muay Thai game is changing, there are new organisations giving boxers the money and platform they deserve and giving the elite level fighters a chance to make a living from the sport and also compete against the best fighters in the world.

I always put my goal first – it has never been about the money but just about being the best. But I have had 2 surgeries now that have cost me around £12,000 which means I have actually lost money from Muay Thai, due to chasing this dream.

Its time to start being clever and building my future which means asking for more money.

Now I just want to fight the best and get the exposure and pay I deserve – and I’m sure the titles will come.

Yeah, the titles are nice, but let’s be honest as soon as you either lose the title or retire from fighting everybody forgets about it and it becomes a distant memory, or as soon as you’ve stopped being as active in the fight game everybody starts to forget your achievements, it’s just one of those things.

So now I think I’ve realised that my goal isn’t necessarily to win any sort of title, I just want to fight the best, get paid what I feel I deserve and to get the exposure I deserve.

But more than that I just want to be happy and build a future whilst fighting and to keep making memories. And as a result of being happy whilst fighting I’m sure titles will come – a happy fighter is the most dangerous fighter!

This is a bit of a deep blog for me but its something I’ve wanted to share with people because I always get asked “when are you going back to Thailand?” so this probably will answer your question. I will still 100% be going back to visit and train at Petchyindee but I doubt I will move to Thailand on a permanent basis ever again.

This blog also isn’t to put any body off going to Thailand I think fighting and living in Thailand has been a big factor of why I’ve been so successful and has given me the platform to build a good reputation as a world class fighter, but my mindset and goals have changed now.

I am happier at the moment living in England, training at Bad Company gym and being around the people that are close to me still and I can also earn money and build a future for myself which in my opinion is nearly impossible to do whilst living in Thailand.

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5 o clock in the morning my alarm had woken me up, I hopped off my top bunk got ready and headed down the stairs of the famous Sasiprapa gym to go check my weight on the scales… 101lbs, perfect! We jumped in Thakoon’s (owner of Sasiprapa gym) car and headed to the famous Rajadamnern stadium to weigh in.

I hadn’t ever stepped foot in any Muay Thai stadium as it was my first time in Thailand so this was my first experience, I never thought at age 15 my first experience of a Muay Thai stadium would be weighing in at one!

I tried to just look as confident as ever to mask the fact that I was shitting myself a little..

I stroll in through the doors and was the only white boy in the room so straight away everyone’s eyes were on me and a lot of them were quite blatantly having a chit chat about me right in front of my face, if that weren’t daunting enough I then had to line up for a doctors check in a line full of angry little dehydrated Thais and it was at this point I thought “WTF am I doing here?!” I tried to just look as confident as ever to mask the fact that I was shitting myself a little. I went through all the procedures, doctors check, handed my passport to the officials and then waited for my time to weigh in.

“DANIEL SASIPRAPA GYM” was belted out by one of the officials, it was my time to weigh in…

So it wasn’t quite my Ricky Hatton style weigh in I had hoped for in fact it was quite the opposite, I had to walk in to a caged room with a few Thai men surrounding it in my boxer shorts… well that’s what I thought. I was about to jump on the scales when the officials then told me to whip my boxers completely off, I looked back at my dad and Thakoon with little puppy eyes thinking again “WTF am I doing here” then stripped off and then hopped on the scales.

I made the 101lbs (45kg) limit then went and had breakfast at the little restaurant outside the stadium. I was really struggling to eat due to the nerves it was a completely different experience to what I had expected and I felt like a proper outsider and completely out of my comfort zone.

All these nerves but I still knew what I had to do and I was still 100 percent confident I was going to get through it all and get a victory.

I finished my breakfast then headed back to Sasiprapa gym and was basically forced by the trainers to sleep, I tossed and turned for hours all I could think about is the fight more excitement than nerves:

All these thoughts going through my little brain. I felt majorly confident though and was counting down the hours to go back to the stadium and get ready to fight. The time had come, the Mongkon, gym robe, Thai oil, Vaseline, hand wraps and tape had been packed and ready to go to Rajadamnern stadium.

My opponent threw an up elbow in my direction then smiled, I just gave him a smile back and turned to my dad and said “he’ll regret that”.

The stadiums in Thailand are not like a football stadium or how you would expect a “stadium” to look, the changing rooms (or should I say room) is definitely not as luxurious as a football stadium changing room. 1 room with a load of old wooden tables and some groggy showers and toilet cubicles, with every single fighter and their corner men filling one table each – there were no blue corner or red corner changing rooms.

I hadn’t seen my Thai opponent weigh in so I was getting my Sherlock Holmes on and tried to scope out who my opponent could be. As I looked around I caught eye contact with a Thai lad who looked similar size to me I was sure it was him but I didn’t want to ask and seem like I was bothered.

I then got oiled up for the pre-fight massage, the Thai trainers absolutely caked me in the stuff I looked like I should feature in Madame Tussauds! After the massage had finished I sat up on my table and made eye contact again with the same Thai, he was now shadow boxing whilst looking at me dead in the eyes – he then threw an up elbow in my direction then smiled, I just gave him a smile back and turned to my dad and said “he’ll regret that”.

My hands had been wrapped, they were as solid as a rock I then got called up to put on the official fight gloves – beautiful black and red Raja 6 ounce gloves. They were rock hard and I could feel my knuckles through the gloves, love it!

Time was ticking and it was getting closer and closer to the fight, my trainer had said his final prayer before putting the gym robe and mongkon on me and then we were taken out to the arena. I was sat down on wooden bench watching the fight before me sat next to my opponent!

The crowd were going absolutely bonkers, it was the same sound I’d heard in videos on Youtube and it was the sound I dreamed of for a long time. The gamblers and the crowd bellowing every time one of the fighters threw a shot and the longer the round went on the louder it got. In the end I remember it being an absolute one sided beat down and it ended in a referee’s stoppage. The fighter who lost walked past me with 2 big cuts on his face from elbows the blood was pouring down his face and chest he looked like he was in a lot of pain… probably not what I needed to see before my first professional fight, however I was in the zone and so focused and had that young 15 year old kid fearless mentality.

I then stood up and strutted to the ring the lights seemed to brighten and as I jumped into the ring I looked around and was in a bit of disbelief at the fact I was finally inside the very ring all of my idols had stepped in, this is truly when I fell in love with Rajadamnern stadium.

The live band had started playing the famous wai kru music (pre fight ritual dance) , the traditional wai kru had been finished then me and my opponent come to the centre of the ring for one final face off before we had to scrap it out, he was laughing at me and I could tell he was really underestimating me and not taking me seriously and I couldn’t wait to make him pay for it. The first round bell rang the first kick was thrown and I remember thinking “that just felt like kicking with a foam shin pad on” so I carried on kicking away.

Everything was going well I started off slow and tried to play the game a bit but I knew I had a lot more gears to go up and was growing in confidence by the second. The first round had been done and my corner were happy with how I was doing.

Round 2 came around quickly and I upped the pace a little bit more throwing my boxing a bit more trying to break my opponents heart with hard shots and assert my dominance in the centre of the ring however as I was throwing the punches I was getting caught in the clinch somewhere I didn’t really want to be but I felt surprisingly stronger than my opponent so I stayed in there and worked throwing some big knees.

My opponent wasn’t the same guy smiling and underestimating me anymore I was beating him in every aspect, he was crumbling by the second as I was crashing knees in to his body then landed the money shot and caught him with a beautiful knee dropping him for an 8 count. He was hurt badly but I took my time because I didn’t want to rush in and get caught with an elbow, this was real Muay Thai now!

After the 10-8 round 2 I just used my head and listened to my corner but in round 5 I realised “SHIT I haven’t even thrown an elbow yet” so I was looking to land at least one even after my opponent kind of conceded defeat, my opportunity came and I threw a beautiful right elbow which landed perfectly on my opponents chin he then clinched me and that was the last shot of the fight.

I’d done it, I cruised to a unanimous decision victory in the most famous stadium in the world against a Thai! It was the best feeling in the world, I had dreamed of fighting in Rajadamnern ever since I started competing in Muay Thai.

I especially wanted to win so I got to mimic my favourite fighters by getting a victory picture by the famous Rajadamnern wall, so as soon as I got out of the ring I made it clear where we were going… straight to the wall!

I felt famous I had tourists coming up and getting pictures with me it was my 5 minutes of fame.

We walked back in the changing rooms and I gave my opponent a hug and said thank you which him and his team seemed to appreciate, I was then called in to an office where I received my Rajadamnern ID card and my fight wage… 300 baht I was absolutely buzzing how many fake Ralph Lauren t shirts could I buy at MBK with that?!

I always watched the Thais in the stadiums on YouTube and they look invincible the way they absorb certain shots and not show any pain and how calm they were whilst doing it all. But one thing this first trip to Thailand and first fight in Thailand taught me is that everybody is human and if I work just as hard if not harder than them and have a strong mind that I could beat the Thais.

I’ve stuck with the same mentality from then to now and it has rarely failed me yet! I had loads of psychological challenges in my first fight, getting through the weigh in alone was a mental battle, Thais talking about me and staring me out, the daunting look of the stadium and the fear of the unknown so I knew if at the age of 15 I could stay confident and relaxed still after all of them mental obstacles I had to overcome that I could make it big in this game and this was the start of something special.

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Ever since I stepped foot in to the Muay Thai gym I heard fellow team mates talking about how amazing Thailand was but how intense the training regime was for fighters out there.

So I soon became obsessed with watching Thais training on YouTube especially Buakaw, I admired the way he smashed the pads so fluently. I then met and started training with my trainer Parnpetch Sitpraphom (Sasiprapa) who was ex Rajadamnern champion and won awards for being the most exciting fighter on the most popular Muay Thai channel in Thailand – Channel 7. He moved to England to be with his wife Chrissy who only lived 5 minutes down the road from me! I always used to pick Parnpetchs brains about anything Muay Thai related and he used to share some amazing but eye opening stories with me about his time as a fighter in Thailand. I HAD to go see it for myself!

My parents had finally given in to me pestering them about going to Thailand to train, it was the only thing I thought and talked about so they saved up the money for me to go.

I was amazed and knew straight away I was going to fall in love with this place.

When me and my dad landed in Bangkok I couldn’t believe my little eyes, yellow, pink and green taxis everywhere, a man in a hi-vis blowing his whistle unnecessarily every second waving some mad lightsaber looking thing at tourists and taxi drivers it was all a bit mad!

We then headed to Ladprao 130 to the world famous Sasiprapa gym. On the way to the gym my jaw was dropping… 3 fucking people and their dog per motorbike, about 20 lads sat in the back of a pickup truck on the highway?! Surely not? I was amazed and knew straight away I was going to fall in love with this place.

About an hour and a half/2 hours of sitting through horrendous Bangkok traffic we finally made it to Sasiprapa gym and met the owners Thakoon, his wife and their son. They showed me to my room which was upstairs in the gym overlooking the ring. The room was only small but I was sharing with 3 other lads, 1 Brazilian, 1 Swiss and 1 Chinese fighter my dad stayed across the road in an apartment and left me to it.

Straight away I had to learn not only how to live with older people but older people from different countries, but they all took me under their wing and treated me like a little brother. I’d been in Thailand for about 2 hours and I’d already received numerous amount of culture shocks, but there was still more to come…
NO TOILET ROLL to wipe my fucking ass?! What the fuck is that hose doing next to the toilet?!

So I stroll down the stairs and meet Torsak (Thakoons brother) I asked him if he knew where the toilet roll was kept and he just kept laughing at me and kept pointing at this hose by the toilet AKA the bum gun! I was mortified at first but grew to weirdly like the bum gun… but that’s a story for another time.

6:30am I was woken up by Rachan my Brazilian roommate – time to get ready for the morning run. I got ready and came downstairs where I then met all of the Sasiprapa Thai fighters, none of them spoke English they just stared at me awkwardly, I didn’t really know how to take it but just followed them to the running route. We walked down the soi (street in Thai) which absolutely stunk of dirty river water (if you’ve been to Bangkok you will know what I’m talking about) and got to the main road which was an exercise in itself trying to dodge all the motorbike taxis and pickup trucks going by.

It was like a dream come true – I remember kicking the pads thinking I was Buakaw!

We then start running down a little pathway that led to a little neighbourhood where a couple of families lived. They lived in what looked like little tin huts the kids had rags on for clothes some didn’t even have anything on their feet. They were obviously very very poor, it was the first time I had ever seen people live in such bad conditions no air conditioning units no nothing to keep them cool in the summer time of Thailand. However I couldn’t help but notice how happy and free the kids seemed running around bare foot playing with each other with no care in the world, it was bitter sweet moment for me and has stayed with me ever since.

We had finished the 8km run my skinny little legs weren’t used to that type of distance but I sucked it up and got my gloves on ready for 5×4 minute rounds of pad work. It was like a dream come true I remember kicking the pads thinking I was Buakaw all the Thais watching me shouting “oooooway… oeeeeee” every time my whole 45kg body turned in to a kick.

I then got told it was time to clinch… no timer was set it was just clinch until you’re told to stop. 40minutes straight of get my neck yanked down, thrown like an empty cigarette packet and my ribs getting slapped constantly with knees… I knew this was the place to be to improve in every area of my game but especially the clinch the Thais are just a different level when it comes clinching. Parnpetch’s old trainer then grabbed my arm pointed at the bag and said “knee 300” then I got to finish and shower and refuel to get ready for all of that again in the evening.

The training regime everyday was the same morning and night – wake up, run, train, eat, sleep, repeat. But 3 times a week we would add in boxing sparring with 18 ounce gloves on!! I thought this is my time to shine, this young Thai had been spanking me twice daily in the clinch but I watched him hit pads and thought my technique outside of the clinch was better. So we Vaselined the eyebrows, lace the big pillows up and get ready for 3x4minutes of boxing sparring.

It was like “the dog house” in the Mayweather gym me and the Thai went glove to glove bit down on the gum shield and just let loose. You hit me ill hit you back harder was my attitude and that very attitude gained the respect of the whole gym. The Thai didn’t ever show any emotion towards me, he never tried to interact with me up until that punch up, then he wouldn’t stop shouting “DANIAN” at me he couldn’t pronounce my name properly bless him!

After a hard week and a half of training pushing my body to what was probably the maximum limit for a 15 year old and experiencing so many crazy but amazing things in Thailand I was ready to fulfil my dream and fight and ready to fight in the biggest stage you can fight on as a Muay Thai fighter… Rajadamnern Stadium.

After my fight at Rajadamnern Stadium me and my dad travelled to the paradise island of Koh Chang for Songkran (Thai new year) which is one massive water fight and street party for 2/3 days! This just topped off one of the best times of my life it was like I was living in my own movie. It was the trip of a lifetime and it really did change my life and career for the better.

I realised when coming back to England that even a week and half training with these Thais changed my clinch game massively and after that trip I went on a bit of a streak of TKOing my opponents with knees from the clinch – I’d adopted the techniques that were getting done on me and was using it to my strengths when I come back to England.

It was clear my skillset got so much better from the trip however as a 15 year old kid myself seeing young kids in poverty and young Thai fighters in poverty fighting to put money on the table for their families but not making a big deal out of it, not feeling sorry for themselves just trying to make it in life was very humbling.

The young fighters with next to nothing didn’t stop laughing and joking with their mates which made me think a lot of us in the western world really don’t have an excuse to play the victim card when these guys literally come from nothing but crack on with life.

It changed me mentally and physically for sure and was the start of something special for me. Thailand became a second home.