Training at SuperPro Samui in Thailand

So, first report from my Thailand trip :) Internet access has been pretty limited up until now, so not been able to post much here.

I just spend a week in amazing Koh Samui, Thailand, and had the pleasure of stopping by the SuperPro Samui gym on the island for some training.

The gym is (naturally) mainly a Muay Thai gym, but they have adapted MMA and Submission Wrestling into their program for those interested. Most people coming here, are obviously there to learn Muay Thai, so the MMA classes are quite small.

The gym is located aruond five minutes on motorbike from the biggest tourist beach on the island (Chaweng). Walking to the beach would probably be pretty long from there, but there is a pool if you really want to swim. The place is one big building with rooms for rent at typical thai prices (=rediculous cheap) and includes free training every day.


The facilities were pretty nice although I found the gym itself pretty small and cramped. It is basically a small weight lifting area, two rings and a cage. Then there is a very small matted area with about 6-8 heavybags. Much smaller than I am used to in my own (luxury ;)) gym back home.

The MMA/grappling class is done in the cage, so there is limited space. But it is ok for 3-4 couples max to spar at the same time.

The trainer when I was there, was a big guy from Armenia. Seriously, this guy was BIG. With an obvious judo background, biceps the size of my thighs and a passionate love for 100% muscle-style headlocks of all types, it was quite a bitch to roll with him :D Being in complete vacation shape, I was not really in the mood for power vs. power rolls, but we had some good rolls and I was more sore than ever before in my life the day after the training from being folded, cranked and crushed in every imaginable way for two hours.

The training itself was mostly sparring. About 10-15 minutes of technical (=headlock) training and then some rolls. The guys training there (about 5 that day) was really, really nice and I had some great chats with them about training and traveling.

Technical level was quite low, but ofcourse, I guess only few people come to Thailand to learn anything but Muay Thai, so I was not surprised. I had some good, nice rolls with the guys and it was great to do some physical training on my vacation.


I also ran into a really cool guy from Germany, David Marcina, who fought my friend Thomas La Cour a few years back, when I was in the corner. At first I didn't recognized him but suddently it came to me. He told me he has had more than 30 fights now so that was very impressive. Great sparring with him, he had a solid base in the grappling and had improved lots since I saw him fight in Denmark.

All in all it was cool to visit the gym, even if it was only for one day. Samui is a fantastic place and I would recommend anyone thinking of going to do it. Muay Thai training looked really good, there were some very good guys there. Unfortunately, my hip injuty prevents me from joining in (plus the fact that I am too lazy for that crazy training LOL).

Today, I just flew on to Phuket, and in five minutes I will walk to Tiger Muay Thai gym. They asked if I can teach some of their grappling classes and I will gladly do that. Looking forward to meet the guys there and get some good training out of it :)