In an exciting night from the Sleeman Centre, Cosmo Alexandre en route to winning the entire tournament would beat Dhzbar Askerov of the Contender Asia Season one, Tum Mardsua and John Wayne Parr.
Cosmo beat Dhzbar of the first season’s Contender landing some dangerous elbows that drew blood on the way. John Wayne Parr was his next opponent who Cosmo stopped in the 2nd round with low kicks. In his final bout of the night Cosmo fought a very technical match against Tum Madsua. Sweeps were exchanged and Cosmo and Tum fought often in the clinch. After three tough fights Cosmo Alexandre has won Evolution 17 and will be going to the King’s Cup in Thailand. The Evolution 17 winner is officially Cosmo ‘The Boy’ Alexandre!
Gago Drago versus James Martinez. From It’s Showtime. The former reality show competitor from Contender Asia season One would fight future reality show competitor Gago Drago. Gago is set to participate in the Enfusion show soon!
More news from my friends at Boxx Tomoi! It looks we have 3 more fighters in the Z-1 tournament, one in each of the following weight categories: 60 kg, 68 kg and 70 kg.
You can read more about the Z1 tournament series here.
Ahmed Saadi is from Dubai, United Arab Emirates now residing in Tunisia and has been a busy fighter in the 70 kg weight class. Ahmed formerly trained out of the Fight Academy of Dubai.
Ahmed Saadi
Dmitry Ushakanov is another tough fighter from Russia and at this point probably one of the fighters with the most punches on his passport having fought everywhere from the USA to Russia and now Malaysia. Needless to say he’s a very decorated fighter as well.
Dmitry Ushakanov
At 60 kg Ismail Ramil will be representing his home country from the gym Malaysian Tigers.
Ismail Ramil
It looks like a very interesting and exciting tournament especially given the 4 different weight classes to be contested. I like my tournaments with variety like this.
Here’s another quick note in case you don’t already know about it: Evolution 17 is happening this weekend at the Sleeman Centre. This event is brought to you by Queensland Promotions.
Evolution 17 poster
Not much more to say about this. The lineup is needless to say pretty crazy and it does make one wonder who the wild card entry will be. Virtually all of the opponents have history with each other with Parr having already fought Dzhabar, Preacher and Cosmo and Cosmo having fought Parr, and Ekkelboom. Saturday August 29th is when it happens. It looks like a lot of promotions are adopting the 8-man tournament style more and more. I’m not sure what the rules or format is but I am guessing it’s 3 rounds of modified Muay Thai rules. Best wishes to all the fighters involved.
I really doubt tickets are at this point even available but see Evolution’s site for details.
Update as of 8/27/2009: It looks like the wild card will be Jason ‘The Malteste Mauler’ Scerri up against John Wayne Parr first. Some history here as well because apparently both have challenged one another before.
Cosmo Alexandre is a unique entity in the world of international Muay Thai. Cosmo is the first Brazilian to win the WMC Intercontinental and WPMF (World Professional Muay Thai Federation) World title. Some of you may also remember his participation in the It’s Show Time tournament Reality TV show last year where Cosmo fought Sem Bramm in the final. Cosmo has participated in very high level competition in Muay Thai both internationally and in Thailand including matches in Rajadamnern Stadium. Much thanks to Cosmo for taking the time out of his very busy schedule to do this interview. It should be noted too that this interview is in one of three languages (Portuguese, English, and Thai) that Cosmo knows!
Lucija Ryker once remarked about Cosmo that Cosmo was one of the truly nicest persons in one of the most brutal sports. That to me is also a good summary of my experiences with Cosmo Alexandre.
Cosmo with his WPMF title
FatsoKing: Thanks for granting this interview Cosmo. Let me ask the first and most obvious question: How did you get your start in Muay Thai?
Cosmo Alexandre: You are welcome! I was a soccer player before. When I was 19 years old I started train Muay Thai. A little while after I had to choose between Muay Thai and Soccer, so I think I made the best choose.
Do you train Muay Thai full time?
Yes, I train Muay Thai full time, it is my job.
Can you tell me about your training facility and trainers?
I train at Mike’s Gym in Amsterdam now and some times I go to Thailand to train at Rompsrithong Gym.
What made you decide to go to Thailand to train?
There aren’t many events in Brazil and there aren’t any sponsors. So it is very hard to make a living from just fighting. So, I needed to move to Thailand with my family because I knew it would be better for us.
Cosmo executes one of his famous jump knees
Who would say was your toughest opponent in Thailand?
Led Mongkon was my toughest opponent in Thailand. I fought against him at Radjadamnoen.
And who was your toughest opponent internationally?
Against Yodsaenklai in Jamaica. I was very prepared but he broke my nose in the first round so I couldn’t breath for four rounds. I tried but I didn’t finish the fight.
Unlike many fighters you publicly acknowledge your spiritual beliefs in the ring by wearing t-shirts with Jesus on them and also acknowledging thanks to God. What made you decide to do this?
I became a Christian when I was teenager. I know everything happens in my life because God allows . If I am a good fighter , it is because He helps me everyday in everything. And the minimum that I can do is to show to everybody around the world: He is the Way, He is the Truth and He is the Life.
What is the Brazilian Muay Thai scene like? Are there many opportunities for Thaiboxers in Brazil?
No, it is very hard to be a fighter in Brazil. But there are great fighters!
I notice that you have “Hoost” as your nickname. How much of an influence was Ernesto Hoost on your style of fighting?
Yes, in the beginning I had another style. Some people in Brazil said I had Hoost’s style. But now my style is very different and I think it looks like more Thai style and my fight name is “Good Boy”.
I notice that you have done modified Muay Thai rules and Full Thai rules fights. Do you prefer fighting with elbows or no elbows?
Yes, I prefer to fight with elbows. I really like it.
You have been able to fight in many places internationally. Is there a place you prefer fighting? Where do you want to fight next?
I know of many countries now from fights. I liked Australia, Jamaica, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan …I don’t know. I think all the countries but I would like to get to know USA, Greece, and Spain.
What inspires you to fight most?
God! He inspires me and give me motivation. Motivation to be known as one of the best fighters! And now my son too!
In your opinion what is the biggest difference in fighting in Thailand versus else where in the world?
The Rules…here everybody knows that a kick is more important than a punch. In Europe it is different, more like K-1 Rules.
Who are some names in Brazil in Muay Thai that we should look for in the future?
Vitor Miranda (heavy weight ) is the best fighter from Brazil. He needs one chance in the big events here.
There was some controversy in your losses to Shane Chapman in New Zealand and to Eugene Ekkelboom in Australia. Can you give us your opinon on how those fights went for you? And did you think the outcome was fair?
Both, hard fights!! In New Zealand Chapman went down 2 times…and the fight finished as a draw. Against Eugene the fight was very hard and very close! I think I won. Many people there think the same. But I think he is a great fighter!
What is your total fight record so far?
40 fights , 29 win and 1 draw
If you could rematch any of your past opponents who would it be and why?
Yodsaenklai , because I can do more than I did the last fight.
What do you think is the most important thing for any Thaiboxer to know?
Fight with heart.
Do you have any messages for your fans or to anyone in the USA that may not know you as well?
I would like to say, Thank you God for your love in my life. Thank you for my family!! Thanks to my fans around the world that cheer for me and never quit on your dreams.
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”Joshua 1:9
Cosmos is fighting this weekend in Australia at the Evolution 17 event. Best of luck to Cosmo Alexandre!
Here’s a short glimpse of Cosmo at work in the office.
Hey everyone. Just wanted to let everyone know that my friends at My Muay Thai have a very nice and detailed writeup about the Queens’ Birthday event from a first person perspective by Laura Dal Farra (AKA LDF).
It’s a fairly complete write up detailing what happened before and after the fight. LDF also discusses what happened during the stage collapse even before she fought!
Just so everyone knows I’m not associated with My Muay Thai so I’m not getting paid to mention My Muay Thai or Laura or anything. I’m just a fan of her writing and the site. Thanks to LDF for the writeup. You’ve become my favorite columnist on My Muay Thai.
Some interesting news via Muay Mag. On August 20th, 2009 Buakaw Por Pramuk left for China on basically a scouting trip. It looks likely now that Buakaw will participate in some Muay Thai matches in Henan, China in the future. For now Buakaw will appear at events in China without fighting. Buakaw and his trainer confirmed that his contract ends with K-1 MAX at the nd of the 2009 tournament. Buakaw has already qualified for this year’s K-1 MAX final and will be fighting to win another K-1 MAX tournament title. Buakaw won his first 2 K-1 MAX tournaments in 2004 and 2006. Notably he defeated Dutch standout Andy Souwer for one of them.
Buakaw with K-1 MAX belt
Buakaw also apparently wants to move on with his film career. Buakaw appeared in a Thai. With the increased interest in Thai martial arts films featuring Tony Jaa it would seem Buakaw would be a natural fit. Buakaw also mentioned that he hoped to participate in fights in Europe following his K-1 MAX career.
Read more about Buakaw and his K-1 MAX activities here.
The topic of Muay Thai as an international amateur sport has been a hot topic here. From the reports of the 1st ever Asian Martial Games with Anuwat to discussions about unified rules to the current movement in the USA, Muay Thai is at the focal point. The 1st Asian Martial Arts Games have not had an easy time of it with the Thai press.
At a cost of 270 million baht it was criticized widely as a waste of money and event organizers for next year’s games in Beijing, China have been watching closely and taking notes to avoid the mistakes of the first games.
Anuwat, 1st Asian Martial Arts Games participant
What mistakes? It would seem that despite a well chosen venue many fans shunned the Games in Bangkok because of complaints about bad judging, poor publicity, and overall disorganization.
The first Games featured judo, jujitsu, karate, kickboxing, kurash, Muay Thai, pencak silat, taekwondo and wushu and featured 980 athletes from 40 countries. The lack of proper publicity failed to attract fans to watch kurash, pencak silat or taekwondo. And in Bangkok one can watch Muay Thai in any given venue with exciting matchups. For example, the prior nights Ratchadamen and Lumpini had packed houses. Ratchadmanen hosted 2 series of Lumpini versus Ratchadamnen. The following night Lumpini was packed with Saenchai fighting and WBC flyweight number one contender Panomroonglek Kratingdaenggym. Needless to say, other events drew attention from the 1st Asian martial Arts Games.
The lack of education among Thai competitors and their teams was evident in the 57-kilogram kickboxing event. Thai Pongpan Plengsantiea and Kazakhstan’s Birzham Aukenov fight ended and Thai coaches promptly protested that Aukenov was unfairly allowed to win because of poor judging.
After some meeting of the Thai muaythai officials and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) as well as the Asian kickboxing federation president, the Thai organizer Santipab Intrapat came out to admit that the Thai fighter failed to score properly and the protesting Thai team apparently did not understand the difference between muaythai and kickboxing rules. The irony is then that teams are assembled quickly without fully understanding the sport.
The lack of information resulted in near empty venues for other sports such as kurash. The publicity never clearly made it obvious that some of the performance oriented events were instead much closer to dancing than the combat sport of Muay Thai Thai audiences came to expect. Kurash and Pencak Silat will not be included in the 2nd Asian Martial Arts Games in Beijing, China. Instead the 2nd Games will have boxing, taekwondo, wrestling, judo, wushu, jujitsu, kendo, Muay Thai, karate, aikido, kendo and kickboxing.
Neither are included at the event in China next year.
How this aligns with the Olympics is obvious. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is committed to maintaining 10,000 participating atheletes in each event. As a result events invariably get jetisoned in lieu of other sports which earlier in the bid to include karate and squash were eliminated in the second round of IOC consideration. With Muay Thai having a nation identifying root word in it’s name it obviously will not make the cut. Further the USA IOC member Anita DeFrantz has said ““Obviously, they have to be drug free. Obviously, they have to include women and men. And they have to bring some element to the program that doesn’t already exist. But that’s just my opinion.” With female boxing now being added to the 2012 Olympic program it’s safe to say Muay Thai won’t be considered. If the 1st Asian Games are to be any measure of the future likelihood of Muay Thai becoming an Olympic sport then we have to look at the first means of measurement: attendance. Thus far, Thai audiences don’t seem to care.
The Science of 8 Limbs 
Muay Thai as Olympic Sport
•August 21, 2009 • Leave a Commentby Fatso King
The topic of Muay Thai as an international amateur sport has been a hot topic here. From the reports of the 1st ever Asian Martial Games with Anuwat to discussions about unified rules to the current movement in the USA, Muay Thai is at the focal point. The 1st Asian Martial Arts Games have not had an easy time of it with the Thai press.
At a cost of 270 million baht it was criticized widely as a waste of money and event organizers for next year’s games in Beijing, China have been watching closely and taking notes to avoid the mistakes of the first games.
Anuwat, 1st Asian Martial Arts Games participant
What mistakes? It would seem that despite a well chosen venue many fans shunned the Games in Bangkok because of complaints about bad judging, poor publicity, and overall disorganization.
The first Games featured judo, jujitsu, karate, kickboxing, kurash, Muay Thai, pencak silat, taekwondo and wushu and featured 980 athletes from 40 countries. The lack of proper publicity failed to attract fans to watch kurash, pencak silat or taekwondo. And in Bangkok one can watch Muay Thai in any given venue with exciting matchups. For example, the prior nights Ratchadamen and Lumpini had packed houses. Ratchadmanen hosted 2 series of Lumpini versus Ratchadamnen. The following night Lumpini was packed with Saenchai fighting and WBC flyweight number one contender Panomroonglek Kratingdaenggym. Needless to say, other events drew attention from the 1st Asian martial Arts Games.
The lack of education among Thai competitors and their teams was evident in the 57-kilogram kickboxing event. Thai Pongpan Plengsantiea and Kazakhstan’s Birzham Aukenov fight ended and Thai coaches promptly protested that Aukenov was unfairly allowed to win because of poor judging.
After some meeting of the Thai muaythai officials and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) as well as the Asian kickboxing federation president, the Thai organizer Santipab Intrapat came out to admit that the Thai fighter failed to score properly and the protesting Thai team apparently did not understand the difference between muaythai and kickboxing rules. The irony is then that teams are assembled quickly without fully understanding the sport.
The lack of information resulted in near empty venues for other sports such as kurash. The publicity never clearly made it obvious that some of the performance oriented events were instead much closer to dancing than the combat sport of Muay Thai Thai audiences came to expect. Kurash and Pencak Silat will not be included in the 2nd Asian Martial Arts Games in Beijing, China. Instead the 2nd Games will have boxing, taekwondo, wrestling, judo, wushu, jujitsu, kendo, Muay Thai, karate, aikido, kendo and kickboxing.
Neither are included at the event in China next year.
How this aligns with the Olympics is obvious. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is committed to maintaining 10,000 participating atheletes in each event. As a result events invariably get jetisoned in lieu of other sports which earlier in the bid to include karate and squash were eliminated in the second round of IOC consideration. With Muay Thai having a nation identifying root word in it’s name it obviously will not make the cut. Further the USA IOC member Anita DeFrantz has said ““Obviously, they have to be drug free. Obviously, they have to include women and men. And they have to bring some element to the program that doesn’t already exist. But that’s just my opinion.” With female boxing now being added to the 2012 Olympic program it’s safe to say Muay Thai won’t be considered. If the 1st Asian Games are to be any measure of the future likelihood of Muay Thai becoming an Olympic sport then we have to look at the first means of measurement: attendance. Thus far, Thai audiences don’t seem to care.
Posted in Commentary
Tags: Olympics Muay thai 1st Asian Martial Arts Games