Rambaa Somdet M16 - The Stinging Attack | 83 min (Patreon)

Aside from the new Muay Thai Library session above, there are lots of links to additional Rambaa material below, check it all out.  Also, with patron support we've been able to redesign the entire 8limbsus forum. On the forum there is a thread where everyone can discuss this session:  Discussion - Rambaa Somdet M16 Muay Thai Library Session - if you have questions, things you really liked about it, reflections on the session please do share them there. You can login with Facebook.

[this video is a new burn with the commentary volume improved - updated 5/19/19)

I really like Rambaa. He's got a gentleness to him that borders on sadness, but he wears it well. If you watch the old videos of him, when he was Somdet Sit Or. with his boombox and sunglasses, leaping into the ring and doing some slick moves (which were the style at the time, hello "running man"), you'd be pretty amazed at what he's become in this softer version. But if you think he's changed entirely, you'd be very wrong. Just move with him in the ring for a quick minute and you'll feel that other version of him. It wakes up. He's SO FAST. When I first trained with him, maybe 5 years ago when I first moved to Pattaya, he was a tornado of pain. He's settled a bit down from that and was really beautifully focused in this session, bringing forward techniques that he's clearly thought a lot about and used. His style is flashy, but it's also totally practical. And, like a true, Old School MMA fan who just loved martial arts and consumed them all, then put them together in his body and mind, Rambaa shows me techniques that he liked from other fighters. Wonderfully, he called upon two fighters - both his seniors - from the Golden Age who are in the Muay Thai Library. You can watch Rambaa teach me these techniques, through the lens of Rambaa's brain and how he saw them, and then you can go watch the two men he took them from teach me the same things, directly.

Rambaa is not a Femeu style fighter, but he understands what a Femeu fighter is aiming for and he can steal that. How to snuff someone's power, how to take them out of their rhythm. He borrows that purpose and then makes it his own, as a short, super powerful and fast puncher and kicker. He takes it easy on me in this session, but if you want to see him drop a man twice his size with a teep, just hang out at his gym for 10 minutes and watch him spar.

I'm really happy to bring Rambaa's personality out in this session as well. As I mentioned before, he was pretty crazy as a young fighter. In fact, the nickname "Rambaa" translates pretty directly to "Lunatic," and his actual fight name is Somdet, which is a quite auspicious name. Like the Hulk, who is also Banner, Rambaa is also Somdet. He started his gym a few years ago and now trains about 30 little kids. I mean little, like 6 years old to 11 is the main age range, but he's got some late-teen and early-20s champions as well. They call him "Uncle," and that's very fitting. Like your uncle who is an awesome father but your dad's got all the great stories of what an outrageous youth he was. Rambaa has great pride in his young fighters and, in fact, changed the name of his gym maybe 2 years ago from the Rambaa Somdet M16 gym to "Baan Rambaa," which is like "Rambaa's House." He says, "we're not a gym, we're not a camp, we're a family."

Some things to look out for: 

1. Quick over Power: on a number of the techniques Rambaa goes through, the intention is speed over power. It is especially evident in how much it improves my elbows, the first thing we work on. His kind of "pistol whip" elbow that comes from the outside to hit the side of the head... that thing is awesome. But it's not powerful. It's fast.

2. Strong Front Side: Rambaa says that at his gym, everyone has to have a strong front side. You kick with your lead foot to set up for your power. You punch from the lead to set up for your power. You can step down off of any kick or knee and strike again immediately.

3. "Pi Burklerk" Kickout: I call Burklerk "Arjan," which means professor, but Rambaa calls him "Pi Burklerk," which is how you call an older sibling. It's sweet. And Rambaa really loves the standing-leg kick out that Burklerk perfected back in the day. Burklerk kicks lower than Rambaa does, but Goddamn... Rambaa's placement hurts and that leg is going. In Burklerk's targeting, ALL of you is going.

4. Karuhat Switching Stance: Rambaa also loves Karuhat's switching of stance. His take on it is to use the ambidextrous approach to stay unpredictable, not only switching on a strike. He makes me relax in it, it's used for finesse and timing.

5. Mai Glua: This means to not be afraid. It's the main point of why he called on both Burklerk and Karuhat. He said neither of them could do what they do if they were afraid, because they'd stay too far away. You have to stay close. Close is safer. He even shows me how a kick at one range hurts and one step closer is a piece of crumpled paper being lobbed at you.

6.  The Ultimate Arm Lock: Rambaa feels me use an arm hook, which I'm pretty good with already. So he extrapolates on it, giving it his treatment, which involves really snaking around the arm so tight that your fist is on your opponent's shoulder (mimicking an uppercut is what became the key for me) and then with that same hand holding the outstretched elbow of your other arm that's barring the opponent's neck and stretching them out. It's horrible. It's amazing. You can see a still of it in the photos below.

Some stills from the session

Shadow Boxing

Check out the Slow Motion we shot of Rambaa's Shadowboxing. We are trying to get more slow motion captures of all the legends:

watch the slow motion here on YouTube 

An Interview With Rambaa Somdet

watch the interview here 

If you appreciate this session you can send a thank you or donation to Rambaa. 

TIP BOX:   I'm starting a Send Krus matching policy where I'll match any thank you donation to krus in the Library up to $50 a month. Just message $5 or more via PayPal to the address sylvie@8limbs.us, please in the "add a note" section specify "for Rambaa". I will transfer the funds, and cover any extra fees.

KRU FUND: additionally, 5% of all Patreon pledges go into my Kru Fund, and is directed back to the Krus and ex-fighters who have helped make this documentary Library possible: http://8limbs.us/muay-thai-thailand/starting-the-kru-fund

If You Can't Get Enough Study More From Rambaa in the Archive

Study Rambaa's unique clinch throws and clinch philosophy  

 Rambaa Somdet - Clinch Throws & Trips | (34 min)  

Then check out Kevin and my Geek out 1 hour breakdown of the video from that session, in slow motion:

 Slow-Mo Geek Out - Rambaa Clinch Discussion (1 hr)  

Previously published Rambaa Material for the Public

You can also read about my first extended work with Rambaa 3 years ago, when he really toughened me, and first taught me the pistol whip elbow:

Brutal Work with Rambaa Somdet M16 and an Elbow Never Seen Before  << this article includes an hour and 23 minutes of our sessions

you can watch that YouTube here 

If you enjoyed this session here are some related sessions from the Library

#17 Burklerk PInsinchai - Dynamic Symmetry (82 min) watch it here 

Arjan Burklerk is a unique master of Muay Thai from the Golden Age, boasting one the highest win percentages in Thai history, and possessing a beautiful craft that harkens back to older styles of fighting with powerful, dynamic symmetry and control of space. 

#20 Karuhat Sor Supawan - Switching To Southpaw (144 min) watch it here 

2x Lumpinee Champion Karuhat Sor. Supawan in this epic video posts installs a limited Southpaw core which leads to developing high level ideas found in his switching style: tracking and attacking the open side, watching for and dictating weight transfer. This is the blueprint of a legend's acclaimed fighting style. 

#47 Silapathai Jockygym - Master of Teep Distance (64 min) watch it here

One of the great femeu fighters of the Golden Age unlocks the secret of his teep oriented dominance which made him one of the most difficult fighters to face in his day. The lessons here are precious as he unfolds the details of how to use the teep and tempo to always put the fight where you want it.

#9 Yodkhunpon "The Elbow Hunter" pt 1  - Slicing Elbow (37 min) watch it here 

Simultaneous Raja and Luminee title holder at 118 lbs, Yodkhunpon was one of the most feared elbow fighters in Thailand, and in this session he teaches the looseness and spacing that made his lead elbow such a viscious weapon. He also shuns the traditional rocking chair knee, and instead teaches a powerful stand-in crossing, open-hipped knee that compliments his elbows up top.

#43  Kongsamut Sor. Thanikul - Muay Mat Style (74 min) watch it here

This Lumpinee champion is perhaps most notable for when he lost a fight for the 102 lb Lumpinee belt, against famed Samart. Samart winning his first belt of many. Kongsamut has a beautiful Muay Mat (punchers) style that he mixes with low kicks, very differently than the Pornsanae style. He fights in close, and is constantly twisting, hitting high and low. Any Muay Thai puncher would benefit from the principles in his style.  

Remember There is a Whole Archive to Study! 

check out the full Muay Thai Library archive of videos.