#119 Burklerk Pinsinchai 2 - Mastering Space with a Legend (1 hr, 47 min) (Patreon)

This session was filmed in January, 2016, before the Muay Thai Library even existed! Burklerk Pinsinchai is an incredible teacher, a vast resource of technical knowledge and practice, and this session is in many ways a Cliff's Notes to techniques and strategies I've learned in filming the Muay Thai Library in the years since then. I see so much of the Library in this session, yet Arjan Burklerk has his own beautiful style. He packs so much technique in such quick succession, we had to come up with a new method of voiceover to accommodate him. That's pretty cool, honestly.

With this voiceover we used a screen capture so that I can "scrub" (as Kevin calls it) the video and pause, rewind, rewatch portions to have more time to talk about a technique. I really like it! It's necessary in a few spots to even catch all that Arjan is teaching, and great in other areas to show various elements of a single move or technique: foot angle, distance, posture, etc. There's another session in the Muay Thai Library as well, linked below. 

What to Look Out For: 

1) In-Out Slide: Arjan Burklerk has absolutely beautiful footwork. It's seamless, paced, perfectly spaced, moves forward and back, switches stance and pivots on a dime.  A lot of the variations he shows me fall on this line of an in-out slide; you slide forward and push your opponent, timed with their strike; or you slide out and evade, but only so far that you can spring back in or your opponent falls off balance coming forward. Always ready to strike, in either of those circumstances.

2) 3 Defenses - Shove, Vanish, or Angle: Along the same vein as that In-Out Slide is a whole system of defense that is simultaneously, or at least immediately also, offense. Slide forward and shove, slide back and vanish, or pivot to the side (also kind of vanishing).

3) Clinch Frames and Turns: Burklerk was never a clinch fighter, but you can see in his techniques that he wasn't afraid of the clinch. He just doesn't like to work in it, more of a snuffing kind of fighter. But he's amazing at it. Everything starts from building a frame inside the arms as the opponent is trying to grab, then using pressure points of the shoulders or the insides of the elbows to shove, pull, turn, and dump.

4) The Burklerk Signature Kickout: This is so signature to Burklerk that we have Rambaa in the Muay Thai Library teaching Burklerk's leg kickout as Burklerk's technique. It, like everything else, isn't an "all the time, every time" kind of move. You set it up with more common blocks, get the opponent to commit, and then just take that whole leg out.

5) Parries: We spend some good time on this as Arjan Burklerk just has be throw a jab and he shows me everything you can do to annihilate someone off a jab. Then he's like, "do the cross." It's important to note how subtle his parries are. He doesn't slap anything out of the way with strength, he just moves it off-line and interrupts the trajectory of the strike and the balance of the opponent. 

6) Keeping Pace Retreat: This is a fairly straight-forward thing in its simplicity, but simple doesn't mean "easy." The pace on the "walk back" is very important and is dictated by the individual context of who you're facing. You want to time your counter strike with the natural footfall of the back foot, as you're landing back on it. 

7) Counters: Just like the parries, Arjan works through the many different counters you can throw once you've altered the balance of your opponent. If you were to over-simplify the absolutely complex and beautiful Femeu of Arjan Burklerk it would be this: stay balanced, off-balance the opponent, strike. On repeat.

Other sessions referenced:

#90 Arjan Surat 2 - His Old School Tough & Defensive Style (94 min) watch it here

A legend of Bangkok and coach of the Thai National Team, Arjan Surat has a toughened, defense oriented, forward style. In this session he builds it from the ground up, starting with his old school arm swing on the kick (no swing, instead using it to simultaneously block), emphasizing balance and solid framing. Watch and learn!

#21 Rambaa Somdet 1 - Clinch Trips & Throws (34 min) watch it here

Thailand's first MMA World Champion, and one of the most aggressive, stinging fighters to grace the ring shows his philosophy on how to handle the clinch, using quick attacks, lifts, body-weight shifts to upend an opponent often before they are set. Some of my favorite trips are in this.

#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.

#8 Sangtiennoi Sor Rungroj - Advanced Clinch (52 min) watch it here

The Golden Age Lumpinee and Rajadamnern Champion, a legendary Muay Khao fighter who fought all the greats instructs on the finer points of clinch technique. Small differences that make big differences. Advanced tips on the swim-in and turn, and the importance of going from long distance techniques to short distance grab and lock.

#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.

#85 Kru Manop Yuangyai 2 - The Art of the Sweep (57 min) watch it here 

Manop is renowned as Saenchai's padman, but he also was a stablemate to Karuhat back in the day and has incredibly clean, legible, beautiful technique that he's very, very good at teaching. He spends a great deal of time working on the teep in his first entry into the Library, and this session is on the sweep, which has similarities to Arjan Burklerk's signature kickout.

#117 Kru Kin Por Promin - Muay Boran Precision, Balance & Flow (93 min) watch it here 

I mentioned finally understanding what Karuhat had been teaching me about switching stance when catching a kick on your open side when Kru Kin showed me on the grid, so here's that session. It helped my understanding a great deal. Kru Kin also shares a lot of the symmetry, balance, and performance of Arjan Burklerk's style, so these sessions go together nicely.

Watch our Slow Motion capture of Arjan Burklerk's cut kick, which was taught in this session: watch it here 

watch it here 

Photographs of History

The 3 photos above are Arjan Burklerk with "Aswindam" Sewok Pinsinchai, the head of Pinsinchai Gym and a father figure to Arjan Burklerk, who fought out of his gym from age 11-33.

Above 2 photos, Burklerk Pinsinchai vs Lakhin Wasantasit (watch his session here) for the 3rd Isuzu Tournament finale. This is a very important tournament in Thailand, now hosted at Omnoi.

From Left: Saencherng, Pon, and Burklerk. In front, Aswindam.

Muay Thai Library sessions on a similar theme:

#83 Thailand Pinsinchai 2 - The Beauty of Clinch (57 min) watch it here

In Kru Thailand's first session in the Library he taught all the principles of his femeu style, in this session, his second in the Library, he breaks down all the things necessary for his dominant clinch attack. Spend an hour learning the techniques that make clinch turns and damaging knees possible. All of it is balance and rhythm at close range.

#81 Chamuakpet Hapalang 2 - Muay Khao Internal Attacks (65 min) watch it here

One of the all time greats gives his 2nd session of the Library. 9x Lumpinee and Rajadamnern champion, 1985 Fighter of the Year, a man who took belts from both Samart and his brother Kongtoranee, his Muay Thai has been lauded as one of the best that have ever been. In this session he teaches his rising KO out knee, straight up the center, his philosophy of grips, pulls and elbows in the clinch, and just in punching range. Not to be missed.

#69 Sagat Petchyindee 4 - Muay Maat Tigers & Snakes (67 min) watch it here

Sagat details his ferocious, hands-heavy style in this session, teaching perfect balance and very aggressive spacing. The secrets to his power, how everything flows out of his core and his organized stance are on full display. Nobody like him.

#60 Sagat Petchindee 3 - All the Strikes Tuned and Dangerous (101 min) watch it here

One of the great, legendary names of Thailand, Sagat Petchyindee the inspiration for the Street Fighter character, goes through his entire striking philosophy with lots of technical correction and fine tuning. See the secret to his creation of smooth, efficient, explosive power, and witness the amazing man himself.

#34 Samart Payakaroon - Balance, Balance, Balance! (81 min) watch it here

Atop the tower of Muay Thai legends probably stands Samart. 3x Fighter of the Year, 4x Lumpinee Champion and WBC World Boxing Champion, no fighter more brilliantly showed what femeu fighting could do. In this session he shows the foundations of how to build true balance, the ultimate key to his fighting style.

#33 Kru San Sitmonchai - Control of Pace & Distance when Advancing  (56 min) watch it here

Kru San is a big man but has incredible muay, a lightness to his movement that he transforms into a jai yen advancing Muay Thai style. In this session it's all about. Creating pressure without rushing, using the teep to set up combinations to the body and head, raising ring awareness, and using weapons at the appropriate time in your opponent's fatigue.