TUFFguy of the month: March 2011

Who: Kim Khan Zaki “Zig Zach” Professional Middleweight Muay Thai Fighter from Singapore. 

http://www.zigzach.com/

 

Claim to fame:
• WMC Muaythai Against Drugs Singapore Winner 2006
• Contender Asia Season 1 Fighter
• Contender Asia Finals Viewers Choice

Why him: He came a long way from being a chubby kid to where he is today.

Zach started training Muaythai at the age of 17. Initially picking up the sport only as a form of weightloss, as he weighed a hefty 90kgs as a kid. Coming from a notorious neighborhood and school, where fights broke out often, he decided that Muaythai would be the perfect sport for him.

Not only would he learn how to defend himself but because of the intensity of the training it would help him to lose weight at the same time. As he improved and progressed over the months, the only way he believed that he could really test the skills and knowledge he acquired from training, is by getting in the ring and fighting!

After a year of training, he represented Singapore at the IFMA World Championships, even though he lost his first fight due to a dislocated shoulder, the injury never set him back nor did it end his dream. Zach came back a stronger, better, smarter fighter by perfecting and making use of all his other weapons.

12 years down the road. Zach has now fought and won numerous fights around the world. Zach was also selected to be one of the 16 fighters on Mark Burnett's international hit reality TV Show, The Contender Asia, making him Singapore's most experienced and top professional middleweight fighter!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAI42PS0ppw 

Our favourite Martial Arts Quotes, what's YOURS?

Below are some of our favorite martial arts quotes...

I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times. ~ Bruce Lee

Champions are made from something.
They have deep inside them, a desire, a dream, a vision,
They have to have last minute stamina; have to be a little bit faster,
They have to have the skill and the will.
But the will must be stronger than the skill. ~ Mohammed Ali

Courage first; power second; technique third. ~ Author unknown

It's not the style that wins the fight, without the fighter, the style is nothing. It is the good fighter that makes any particular style a good style for him. The style has no power within itself, only the power in which we give it when we apply what we learn. ~ Phillip Session (aka BlackDragon)

It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog~ Author unknown

A black belt is just a white belt that never gave up. ~ Author unknown

The belt only covers 2 inches of your butt, the rest you have to back up on your own. ~ Royce Gracie

Tomorrow's battle is won during today's practice. ~ Samurai Maxim

Like a blacksmith pounding a piece of red-hot metal, hard training shapes and changes your body and mind. It is not by rubbing or patting it, but only through continuous hard work that an ordinary object can become a sword ~ Helwig

Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even. ~ Muhammad Ali

What are your favorite martial arts quotations?

What's the most important thing in a fight?

In short, mentality or YOUR MIND.

Have the ferocity to know the other person is going to eat dirt, but remain calm so that you don't start acting blindly.

There are a few basic ground rules...
1) Accept that you're going to get hit. Be ready both mentally and physically to take it.

2) Don't waste energy. Don't make punches you know aren't going to land, wait for an opening and get it.

3) Control your territory, then your opponent's. Footing is extremely important; being able to shift your balance freely makes you intensely more effective.

4) Don't try to be flashy. Flashy moves look cool, but are often times wasteful and ineffective.

5) Protect yourself. Defense yourself carefully and use your guards.

Fighting is not pretty, fighting is not kind. Anytime you fight you need to keep in mind that one of you could die. If you're going to fight, take it serious and treat it like the other person is going to kill you because that could very well be the case.

Source: | Answerbag http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1664398#ixzz1FtWtKWFz

Tattoos with TUFF contest winners

Thank you for all the amazing photos and votes! A total of 25 participants and 917 voters! Wow... you guys rock! You are the pioneers of TUFFSPORTtribe. Here are the much anticipated results...

1st prizes: 3 winners (of a full set of TUFFSPORT clothing and equipment) are...

1. Highest "Likes": Joarys Joaquin Ponce Gomez

How he won: He got a total votes of 166.

Highest "Likes" from TUFFSPORT:Michał Grzegorczyk
How he won: He got a total votes of 160. ( 107 from TUFFSPORT)

(All the votes are collected from TUFFSPORT facebook page, Muaythaistuff facebook page, and other posts on both pages)

2. TUFFSPORTcrew's favorite: Gianni Palagi

How he won: He creatively featured the word: TUFF on his gadget, his tattoos are insane ( we spotted a TUFFSPORT yantra duo tigers and Tattoo's collection garuda on him), he got a total votes of 99 and he voted for others!

2nd prizes: 5 winners (of a pair of ankles) are...

1. Aldrin Orman
2. Robert Shindruk
3. Michał Kostrzewski
4. Jerar Gimenez
5. David Duvi Canales Redondo

How they won: TUFFSPORTcrew collected all the voters, put them in excels alphabetically, assigned each voter a number from 1 to 917, and let random.org randomly selected five numbers from 1 to 917 one number at a time.

Special prizes: those 23 participants who sent in photos (just in time before the closing date for photos) will get a Tattoo's collection vest. Those 23 winners are...

1. Andres Lopez
2. ליאת ויועד אילוז טורנוא
3. Seb Muaythaipernois
4. Mike Manwaring
5. Zbyszko Z Bogdańca
6. Lisandro Michel
7. Alex Garcia
8. Juan C Duran
9. Sergio Huron Segarra
10.Billy Holani
11.Junior Engelhart
12.Byron Hull
13.Georgia Tsao
14.Alan Gillingham
15.Robert Shindruk
16.Hernan Maximiliano Gaitan
17.Tonya Moore
18.Thomas Ochoa
19.Savoia Dino
20.Crummie McGrory
21.Sean Mcloughlin
22.Claudia Galli

TUFFSPORTcrew will contact the winners regarding the sizes and shipping details later so pls keep in touch!

Thank you for all your wonderful work!For those who miss the prizes this time, more cool contests are coming up in the near future, so pls keep checking us up!

These 30 winners will post photos of themselves wearing the prizes on TUFFSPORT's facebook wall... pls feature your faces this time :) within 7 days after the received date. All photos from the participants will be considered public and TUFF Co., Ltd has the right to use them for any marketing purpose.

TUFFSPORT sponsors "The Night of Champions"

On Saturday the 5th February 2011, TUFFSPORT sponsors the event: Situla, the Night of Champions at the sports hall Marof in Novo Mesto, Slovenia.  There were fighters from five countries clashed for nine titles Slovenian champions league professional Thai boxing.

The contest was supported by the world organization IFMA / WMC holds Novo Mesto Thai boxing academy Scorpion, in addition to nine matches for the Champions League titles will finally see them in the prestigious contest between natives Mirko Vorkapićem and Dutchman Rick de Legejem.

Competition for the champion belt was severe, because they were competing internationally recognized professional and amateur fighters. Among them were the medal winners from European and world championships, local resident Francis Grajš and Ptujčan Tadej Toplak, Croat Nevenka Mikulic and Serb Aleksandar Gogić.

Of the more interesting fights evening is to highlight the first club match in the history of Slovenian Thai boxing, as they have in the finals of 75 kg placed locals Oman Matthew and Michael Lap.

The bronze of the previous World Cup Tadej Toplakom faced Ceh Jan Vlasak, multiple medalists in major competitions Franc Grajš dealt with the experienced Dutchman Cengizom Ozpamukom. In the super heavyweight repeated last year's finals, which Deadline Štrucl tried to give something back to Srbu Srđanu Selešu .

For the first Thai boxing club Khun kao from Ljubljana and Pit 119 of Karlovac. Muay Thai Scorpion gyms from Novo Mesto compete. 

 

Link: http://www.dolenjskilist.si/2011/02/04/38297/sport/ostali_sporti/Na_finalu_lige_tajskega_boksa_vsi_najboljsi/

MMA / UFC fighter with tattoos.

Fighters use their bodies as canvas to demonstrate their tattoos for power and believe.

Which fighters' tattoos do you like best? Why is that so?

1. http://mmasplatter.com/?page_id=207

2. http://www.mmatattoos.com/

TUFFguy of the month: January 2011

Who: Edwardo Maiorino from Brazil

Claim to fame:
• World champion Super Heavy Weight WKL
(World Kickboxing League) 2009
• 2007 Brazilian Muaythai champion
• 2006 Brazilian Vale Tudo tournament champion
• 2004 Vitória EXtreme Fight MMA Grand Prix champion
• 2004 K-1 Brazil Challenge champion
• 2004 WKN Brazilian Muay Thai champion
• 2003 World M-1 Kickboxing GP in Venezia third place
• 2nd place in K-1 Brazil Grand Prix 2003 (São Paulo-SP)
• 2003 K-1 World Grand Prix Preliminary Brazil runner up[3]
• 2003-05 Brazilian Muay Thai Confederation champion

Why him: He knows what he wants and never ever gives up his dream!

His tattoos:Maiorino has numerous tattoos on his body. Most of them are dragons in various forms such as tribal, in black and white and in colors.

So far, these are what we spotted…
1. Right Arm
-Japanese letters
-Ancient warrior
-Female portrait
2. Left Arm
-Thai letters mean “Good Luck”
-Tribal dragons
3. Back:
- Dragon
4. Torso
-Dragon (on the right side)
-Dragon (on the left side)
-Asian warrior (on the left side)
5. Right Leg
-Dragon
6. Left Leg
-Cross

Check out pictures of his spectacular inked artworks below!