Building a Meta: Study of 4 Rounds of Sylvie Sparring with Yodkhunpon (Patreon)

[Kevin writing, video above]

This is a public post of material that is supported and made possible by my patrons. Not only in their support of the making of the Library and all of its rich history, but also in that Sylvie herself as a fighter AS a documentarian, and our patrons make possible her personal exploration of the Muay Thai of the Library. She has studied the art, first hand, like no other person in history...as a fighter. She is not only archiving the techniques and memory of great men of the art, she herself has taken it into herself, as a fighter. She's wrestled with the inspirations and the knowledge. And who she is expresses it in her own way. 

So this 1 hour video is a unique kind of document. It represents the art of a person who is bringing the art to others. Sylvie shares her process, continually and openly, more than any fighter in history. This is part of that. It also represents my own thoughts about what she is doing and where she is going. I also have been in all those rooms with her, holding the camera, editing those voiceovers. I've had a front row seat, and hold my own perspective. Taking this hour to look at pretty much everyday sparring (no highlight reel) feels important to do, because it's about the Library pouring through someone, slowly.

As I'll say in the video, this kind of slow, deep dive thinking isn't for everyone. But it is for some people. We like to do this, slow things down, take a careful look, but also draw together big ideas, the concepts that surround the techniques and art of Muay Thai. 

What is a Meta?

The motivation of the piece is that I feel that I'm seeing something special develop in her fighting, her training. It's interesting because it has to do with the concept of a Meta. A Meta in the usual combat sports analogy is usually used to describe the differences between combat sports. Western pro Boxing has a "meta", Bangkok Stadium Muay Thai has a meta, MMA has a meta. It's largely the rule set, and the asethetics that govern a sport that determine all the fighting styles, and technique preferences that are expressed in that sport. It's the reason why mid-kicks might thrive in Muay Thai, but not in MMA, for instance. I think it goes beyond that, in the inter-sport discipline discussions, but that basically what it is. For me, I'm seeing Sylvie in this video and during this last year, start developing a Meta. A Meta of her own, as a fighter. 

I might say - in fact in the video I do say - that not every fighter has a Meta. Fighters might have tendencies, or common strategies. They might favor certain techniques or tempos. But it isn't until fighters really start to express themselves, as artists, that they rightfully could be said to have a Meta. (This is a new use of the word, so that's where I'm starting out.) The yodmuay of Thailand all had a Meta, for me. It's what remains if you extract out all the concrete techniques and tactics, its the thing that gives them their shape and relevance. It's very close to Style, but I think Meta adds important elements. 

What I hope is that this video can give life to this idea of a fighter's Meta. For those that have not followed Sylvie's fighting closely, over the last 5 or 6 years (before COVID) she likely fought more than any fighter in the world, or at least any that has been documented. She clocked in with well over 30 fights a year, and she did it giving up huge weight disadvantages. She molded her fighting style into a very closed, highly protected, marching, derning, smothering attack. Because she fought so many very large fighters, often 3-5 weight classes above her, her hermited fighting style which was designed to survive blows, and finish in the clinch, became the thing she lived by. And it served her well. She's fought over 1,000 rounds of professional Muay Thai and only suffered one knockdown, while TKO/KOing her opponents nearly 100 times. She was a tiny fortress. She was growing through fighting.

But with the advent of COVID's effects on the prodigeous fighting circuit in Thailand we set on a different mission. We've called it Sylvie 3.0. But, what it really was was using prolific sparring to peel off another layer in what was possible in her, as a fighter. No longer having to survive the bombs of huge fighters 3 or 4 times a month, we wanted to improve her eyes, and find that piece of creative expression. The Muay Khao fighter that she was, was like a shell which contained a seed. We wanted to water that seed and see what would grow. 

What's very special about this year is that a large measure of it has been spent sparring with the legend Yodkhunpon The Elbow Hunter of 100 Stitches. If you don't know Yodkhunpon there are lots of filmed sessions with him in the Library, and Modern Martial Artist recently made a very nice breakdown of his style: 

watch Modern Martial Artist's breakdown of Yodkhunpon here 

If you watch the Modern Martial Artist video above, or have studied the Yodkhupon Library sessions you'll recognize many of the inner elements in what Sylvie is doing in this sparring video. She has adopted, or grown toward, some of his Meta. That's part of what is special in this. These are not really things that he has taught her...through correction. They are instead things she's learned, and more importantly adopted, through a process of incorporation, in the very pleasure of Muay Thai. Some she's purposely trained, but much of it is the result of his influence AND the influence of several legends in the Library. They are the amalgam of a life of Muay Thai, and Sylvie's 268 fights...as it has come out through this 1 year or more of lived training through sparring (rather than fighting). What I see here is the growth of a Meta.

If you are interested in the fighting style and person of Yodkhunpon, The Elbow Hunter, this post includes all the interviews, slow motion footage, technical instruction, and links to his Library sessions. 

As with everything Sylvie shares of her process, these are works in progress. This is not "look what I can do" or "this is how you should do it". In fact, this stuff is highly personal. I don't even come to these sessions because I want her to just be free to grow in whatever direction she chooses, under the experience. And purposively, we've also steered these sessions away from Yodkhunpon instructing her. Yes, he has a lot to teach in a coaching way, and he's a great instructor, but the experience we want Sylvie to have is not in these sessions as pupil/student. In a certain way, Sylvie's mind is already filled with more technical knowledge than she could ever use, simply by virtue of her attention to detail, and the last 5 years of filming the Muay Thai Library, and sharing the fighting of great fighters and krus with you all. She is a walking Encyclopedia of Muay Thai, and likely the among the foremost non-Thai technical experts in the Muay of Thailand. No, she didn't need more information, more technical acquisition. She needed experiences of living knowledge, created out of what she already knows. And that is round by round, grown on the fly. 

On the other hand, Yodkhunpon is definitely teaching, in another way. He is "sparring", but as I explain in the video, he is also guiding her possibilities through his positional choices, his defensive stances, the puzzles he poses to her. Sylvie's also benefited from just this sort of guided sparring with the legend Karuhat (her favorite fighter). You can watch those 30 days of commentary video here. This process is a special privilege that goes beyond the traditional training of Thailand. 

So my hope in this video is to introduce the meaningful concept of a fighter's Meta, and the kind of live sharing of Sylvie developing her own Meta as a fighter. It is really unknown where this will go, or how many years of growth in this are required for these freedoms in the ring. Or, how this Meta will meld with the hardened style of fighting she won for herself through those years and literally 100s of fights...it's just part of a path or trajectory. 

The video commentary is also a celebration of the Muay Thai Library itself. It's what you can do with it. Certain legends and krus in the Library really have inspired Sylvie, and have stuck to her. There is no accounting for what piece of someone, or a fight style will attract itself to you as a fighter. Some of the styles and techniques are from fighters very different than the style she fights with. This is part of the experiment of letting that grow. Below are some of the sessions in the Library which you can see were seeds for the Meta she is growing. It's important though for the fighter to not be "trying to do" specific techniques - I mean, there is a place for that, and this sparring comes out of truly years of that for Sylvie - but much more use techniques as mouse whiskers in the space. This is an analogy I like to use. The fighter must craft themselves through the techniques, rather than become an critical observer. At least that's my thought on it.

If you are interested in the fighting style and person of Yodkhunpon, The Elbow Hunter, this post includes all the interviews, slow motion footage, technical instruction, and links to his Library sessions.  

A big influence, I believe, were the sessions with Namsaknoi: Namsaknoi (1996):  #65 Namsaknoi Yudthagarngamtorn - Sharking The Angles (67 min) watch it here  and  #73  Namsaknoi Yudthagarngamtorn 2 - Overcoming Distance (61 min) watch it here

Likely both sessions were an influence, but particular the 2nd session where the hard cutting of angles and the parries were taught:

#73  Namsaknoi Yudthagarngamtorn 2 - Overcoming Distance (61 min) watch it here

The incredible Namsaknoi was one of the rare fighters who melded sheer physical power with femeu touch. In this session you learn how he exploited and explored angles, owned the edge, in a way that left him the king of Lumpinee at his weight in his day.

Keep in mind, she's not "trying to do what Namsaknoi taught her". It's more that Namsaknoi's edge attacks somehow melded in her mind, I believe, with Yodkhupon's galloping footwork, and Karuhat's windshield-wiper melts.

You can find Yodkhupon's galloping footwork taught here:

Here is a 9 minute public video on this 

You can watch the full Muay Thai Library session here:

watch it here 

Also a significant development which I believe has lead to the growth of more and more of a Meta is Yodkhunpon's version of shadowboxing. You can study that in this hour here:

watch it here 

Also, a ton of what Sylvie's Meta comes from is her engagements with Karuhat. His influence, at root, cannot be overstated, even if she is not "doing" Karuhat. His Meta deeply influenced her growth. 

You can find links to all the Karuhat material in the Muay Thai Library and elsewhere here.

Here are some of those:

#7 Karuhat Sor. Supawan - Be Like Sand (62 min) watch it here

2x Golden Age Lumpinee Champion (112 lb and 122 lbs), Karuhat is  considered elite among the elites. Mixing an explosive style with  constant off-balances, angling, and melting aways, he was nicknamed the  Ultimate Wizard. I can only describe the things he's teaching here as:  Be like sand. This is very subtle, advanced stuff, far above combo  techniques or specific defenses. It may take a few viewings to absorb  what he is teaching. Everytime I watch this I learn something new.

#11 Karuhat Sor. Supawan Session 2 - Float and Shock (82 min) watch it here

In this session one of the greatest fighters who ever lived really digs  into what must lie beneath techniques, a general state of relaxation  and rhythm, the thing that made him one of the most dynamic fighters  Lumpinee has ever seen.

#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.

#27 Karuhat Sor. Supawan - Tension & Kicking Dynamics (104 min) watch it here

Karuhat, a fighter with perhaps the slickest style of any Golden Age  great, shows the importance of tension, and patiently goes through  correcting the kick, making it quicker and much harder to read.

#50 Karuhat Sor. Supawan - Serpentine Knees & Flow  (62 min) watch it here

The legendary Karuhat teaches his winding, advancing style, a  culmination of many, many hours of our training together. You get a  glimpse into his advanced movements, and his philosophy on reading  opponents.

Bonus Session 7: Karuhat Sor. Supawan - Forward Check | 39 min - watch it here 

In this session Karuhat teaches his beautiful and unique Forward Check,  and the system of attacks that flow out of it in his fighting style.   You can read my detailed post in the Forward Check here.  This check, aggressively from Southpaw, versus Orthodox fighters eats  up space closes distance, effectively deal with one of the primary  weaknesses of Southpaw attack.

Browse the ENTIRE Library here 

There are of course many, many other influences from the Library in this. In a way Sylvie herself is the expression of engaging with the entire Library in a living way. 

In any case I hope you enjoy the piece and the thoughts on what can be done through the Muay Thai Library, for fighters or even coaches. Thank you for supporting the Muay Thai Library project, but also as a patron supporting Sylvie herself as a fighter, that very special journey she has been taking and as you can see, the Meta journey as a fighter she really is just growing into.