With Zidov

After an abrupt ending to the fight, the victorious Zidov said, "My dream was to be a professional fighter. With this win versus Zach, I go one step nearer. Now I win the first fight and every time I see my goal getting nearer and I see everything is possible. I can only do good and hopefully everything will keep going my way."

With the Tiger Kings

John Wayne came into the room and shared, "Unbelievable!” The men in the team were clearly upset over the way Zach had lost. After four consecutive wins, they had finally lost another Tiger Kings member. John Wayne explained to the team that though Zach’s right arm had popped out twice before, it was the first time his left shoulder had popped out. Dzhabar said in his interview, "After the fight I was a little bit upset cause I knew Zach for a long time in this house. He's a really nice guy and I’m real upset he's gone." John Wayne put the match into perspective, "The Zach and Zidov fight was really crazy. Zach coming out in the first round a seasoned pro. Come round 2 you could see he was in pain and you could his shoulder protruded about an inch out of his joint. I think Zidov knows he's very lucky to get to the second stage."

With the Wild Boars

After the team had lost four fights, Zidov entered the room to cheers from his teammates. However, his hand was bandaged up and Naruepol asked if he was injured. He responded, “A little.” Naruepol wondered if he could perform during the challenge the next day and to which Zidov replied, “No, it's no problem!” Sean commented that he took a couple of hard kicks to his abdomen. Zidov admitted that he was wrong not to block the kicks from Zach. He had to kick him in the arm but it was hard to do so as Zach was a friend. Sean said, "You didn't need to in the end of the day,” as Zach was forced to leave the fight due to his shoulder. Zidov in his interview said, “I was happy to come in the next round. I feel sorry for Zach. I want to show him a good fight and the better man is going to stay. Sometimes it happens that when you get injured you have to go home." Yukay said that despite this, it was still a good fight. Zidov told his team, "I’m happy to be in the next round. I’m happy to break the grudge. Yeah, that's the end of captain killers.”

In reference to being captain, Zidov said, "I really don’t care if I’m the captain or not. I try to push my team as much as I can. Of course I want to win. I want to win with my team all competition. I want to win with my team all the fights." Yukay said that he knew that there were only two guys left and Sean sarcastically asked, "Hmm... Who are we gonna pick?" although it was obvious that Yukay had to fight Pitu next. Yukay explained in his interview, "At round one, each one from each team have to fight once. I have not fought yet and neither have Pitu. We are the last ones in the team to fight. So Pitu and I are fighting next in the elimination round." He told his teammates that he felt good in the last training session and that his punches were getting sharper and faster. Zidov said, “Tomorrow you make easy, easy (in Thai). Go for easy run maybe we going to be in your corner and help you win fight.”

Before the Training

John Wayne showed Naruepol and Yukay some bacterial infection that had spread on his chest. Naruepol jokingly commented that he might have caught it from some girl. John Wayne laughed at this. Stephen entered the loft and woke the fighters up for an impromptu meeting in the training room. Stephen congratulated the Wild Boars. He said Zidov was the first blue team captain to win a challenge as well as win a fight. He reminded them that there were only 9 fighters left and soon there would be only 8. Due to this, the training would get harder and more serious. Their last challenge would be a great one and the reward was going to be the best yet. He explained that as they went into the quarterfinals, it was going to be much harder as they would not know whom they were going to fight. Naruepol said that he wished things would move faster as he was the first one to fight in round one. “I want my second fight to come soon,” he ranted.

Training Heats Up

Stephen made them put in five rounds that day. His rationale was, "Your number can be up anytime!" John Wayne commented, “With the second round drawing closer, it was getting crazier. You can feel the eyes on you now as you’re training. You know that you're being watched, at the same time I’m also doing my spying and working out game plans for each and every one of them." Soren said, "Everyone's wondering what is going to happen next. Everyone doesn’t know who's going to fight again. We’re all going to fight again. It’s kind of back at square one but at a different level." Dzhabar shared sentimentally, "I don't want to fight somebody from my team. If I have to fight, I will fight. I can’t change nothing. I don’t care who I fight from the Wild Boars. But if I had a choice, I would not fight someone from my team. And I’m really worried about it."

Anticipating his fight, Yukay said, “Me and Pitu are the only ones left so we're going to fight. Pitu is the same as me; we're both fathers and have family. He cares about his son, and misses him like I do. It’s hard to go in the ring with someone who I’m close to. We're all good friends but you know when you step into the ring that's business. Being the oldest in the house I have more thinking experience but I have to work twice as hard as the younger boys." Pitu shared, "Yukay have a lot of fights though people say he doesn’t have many fights. I know he knows how to move in the ring. He’s the ghost of the loft. But sometimes people don't say anything much but you'd be surprised."

John Wayne showed the trainers the infection spreading on his body. Stephen inspected it and speculated that it may be some sort of bacteria, which would clear up with antibiotics. John Wayne explained his infection, "About 5 days ago, I developed a few pimples on my shoulder which were not like normal pimples because they were very itchy and annoying. Every single day it gets more and more and itchy and is starting to get painful. Yesterday was one of those days when it got unbearable. I really want it to get fixed as soon as I can."

Challenge at SAFRA

Jaymee greeted them as they entered, "Welcome to the SAFRA Adventure Sports Center. This is probably the best challenge yet. I just hope that you guys are not afraid of heights." Stephen added that since it was the last elimination round, it would be Pitu and Yukay. They came forward and shook hands. Jaymee added that there would be no deliberation but they would still be entitled to a fabulous reward. For their challenge, they would have to complete a high ropes course six levels above the ground. There were four sections; each team member would complete one section. They would have to start at the beginning of the course, complete their section and tag their team member at the end who would then start his course. Stephen explained that they would be attached to a safety line and a harness. Jaymee enforced that it was a timed event, so the team that completed the course the fastest would win.

Tiger Kings having one extra member sat Yodsaenklai out. They got suited up and went first. Dzhabar exclaimed, "It's so scary! I’m so scared! If I fall down who's going to take care of me!" John Wayne went first walking on the wooden planks. He raced down and tagged Dzhabar who walked the tightrope leg of the race. John Wayne shouted, “Pick it up!” as Dzhabar tagged Soren who walked the tightrope of bigger planks. He then tagged Pitu who had to grab onto ropes as he walked the tightrope. They looked a little nervous and shaky but managed to complete it as the horn went off. The Wild Boars went next. Zidov pulled the safety line and jokingly said that he did not trust it. Jaymee blew the horn and Zidov went onto the planks first. Naruepol shouted at the men below, you want to come up? It's fun! Jaymee blew the horn.

Zidov then tagged Yukay who walked rather shakily on the tightrope before tagging Naruepol who looked very calm and collected through his leg of the course. Sean went last, grabbing the ropes. Jaymee blew the horn as soon as Sean stepped off the course giving the Wild Boars a collective time of 3 minutes and 9 seconds which turned out to be a mere 7 seconds longer than the Tiger Kings. The Tiger King’s cheered in happiness. John Wayne said that they owed it all to Dzhabar for his speed. Jaymee said that for their efforts they were going to get dressed in their hottest clubbing attire as they were going to head to Singapore’s hottest nightspots, Zouk and Velvet Underground. Jaymee went on and said that Velvet Underground had been named one of the best clubs in the world by international media for 16 years in a row. She also added that they would be accompanied by Stephen and herself. At this juncture. John Wayne asked to speak to Zidov in private and soon after John Wayne asked Jaymee and Stephen if they could share their reward with the Wild Boars. John Wayne said that they could not party without their friends and Jaymee gave them the go ahead and exclaimed, “Alright, we’re all going!”

All 9 men were ecstatic in anticipation of their night out. Stephen also announced back in the loft that there would be no training session that afternoon and this brought further joy to the fighters. Pitu said, “Stephen gave us a free afternoon to relax. It's been a long time inside the home, everyday there was training and they said they had good food for a change with pasta and good friends." The men were then seen enjoying their pasta and pizza with Stephen when Pitu said, “I looked at the pasta and he thought, oh man I love it but I try to eat a little as I’m still trying to lose a bit of weight.” I came to the contender to fight and this week is my week."

Stephen then said that it was very nice of the Tiger King’s to invite the Wild Boars along for their reward. To which Zidov, jokingly quipped, “I'm always happy to get out of this house you know” and his comment made the men laugh out loud. Zidov said in his interview, "John Wayne was the captain of the red team and they invited us, the blue team out. It also shows how close we are as friends and how much respect we have for each other."

Velvet Underground

They entered the swanky club and they were greeted by Jaymee. Dzhabar said that when he entered the club, the first thing he saw was girls and that if anyone were to ever stay with 10 ugly guys as he did, they would understand. The men started mingling and drinking amongst each other as well as with the general public who were there although Sean ranted that they did not get much freedom and could not really interact much with the public. He said, “This was the first time they got out. Yea, it was nice to bond with everyone in the loft. It was the most fun they've had yet in the competition." The men then toasted their champagne to freedom. Pitu said, "Normally when I go out I don’t drink. The last time I drank was 4 months ago. I like so much to go party but because I have to fight, I cannot enjoy. No good to drink before fight."

Seeing Yukay happily guzzling down his alcohol, Pitu got a little annoyed and vented, "Yukay think that ahhh its okay is coming here like for holidays. I started training for about a year to come to the contender. For four months I have not drank anything and to drink for one party. No man. Yukay, drink? I don't understand." The men then worked their moves on the dance floor. Yodsaenklai claimed that once he was on the dance floor, his body just wanted to move and there was no stopping it. He also said that he danced with two or three girls on the night and he enjoyed himself thoroughly claiming that it was the most relaxing and fun reward to date especially since they were all out partying together.

Hungover the next morning

We saw the men snoring away at 9.20 am refusing to wake up with the exception of Pitu who had already started training for his fight. Naruepol was sleeping with a pail next to him while Dzhabar was completely knocked out as Zidov and John Wayne, captains of their respective teams laughed at their drunk teammates. Naruepol said that he felt as though, "somebody hit me over the head till I passed out." John Wayne said, "The evening was pretty amazing considering the amount of alcohol consumed. I see some sorry heads wake up and cruise to the toilet and back to bed. Pitu was very focused on his fight. Yukay probably had 50 drinks too many. I think its going to have an effect on the competition."

Pitu said, “Long time I training hard for coming to the contender and now I see one man who doesn’t care whether to stay here, for him its ok. You know what it means to him today, it lose 2 kilos and have a late party. He broke his liver man. Tomorrow he wont have power. Its' better for me, he don’t care, I cannot believe." John Wayne said, "I've never in my whole career in Muay Thai seen someone get so wasted 2 days before his fight. All this is going to be playing mind games on Yukay for sure going into the ring and not being 100 percent. He's going to be shaking his head and thinking why did I let this happen. He's going to have his work cut out for him."

John Wayne’s Condition Worsens

The doctor then came to check on John Wayne’s worsening skin condition. John Wayne explained that it started with 2 or 3 pimples. The doctor asked, “You're not allergic to anything else are you?” to which John Wayne replied, “No, not that I know of.” John Wayne also stated that he had not changed his diet and the doctor said that his condition looked like he had contracted Shingles. John Wayne said that at night when he was sleeping, he was scratching. The doctor then said that he was going to start him on some anti viral medication and that he would treat his condition as Chicken Pox.

John Wayne went on to ask the doctor if he had any medication that would stop his itch which was now driving him crazy. The doctor responded and said that he did have such medication and that John Wayne also had to be quarantined to ensure that his condition did not spread to the other fighters. At this juncture, the men looked rather worried for their fellow contender. The doctor seemed to have high hopes that his condition would clear up within a week.

John Wayne’s face was filled with anxiety and uncertainty as he told the doctor, “But I have to fight, man. The doctor did not give a definitive answer to his question and said he will see how well his body responded to antiviral treatment before he made a decision. John Wayne then asked if he could still train and the doctor assured him that training would not be an issue.

John Wayne said, “This new development had thrown a big span into my works as I am no longer allowed to train or sleep with the rest of the boys and this was going to be a big headache for me.” Yodsaenklai asked Zidov, “Is John Wayne ok?” Zidov replied, “No, no he’s sick you know?” Pitu said that he had to go to the hospital. Pitu said in his interview that he was worried that due to his sickness John Wayne might not be able to come for his fight as he had hoped that John Wayne was going to be with him in his corner to offer him his immense experience. Soren said, “John Wayne is a tough guy. He had trained through a lot of injuries and sickness. I think it would be a terrible way to have to leave but if the doctor said he can’t then it's just his fate." John Wayne got ready and left the loft and said, "There's a very concerned factor that I might not able to continue to the 2nd round because I am contagious. I don’t want to infect the other fighters. At the same time I hope this Shingles clears up after a couple of days.

He added, “To lose this way and to have someone replace me would be absolutely devastating. I don’t want to go home, I'm having the time of my life and I want to be there till the end to the finals."

One day before the fight

Sean asked Yukay, "So how do you feel about the fight?" Yukay said, “I feel really strong. I feel good. I think it's going to go my way." Sean said "Just hit him in the head and if he tries to hit you, don’t let him. That's your plan and we're going to stick to it. You like it?" Yukay responded, "Sounds fabulous." Sean said in his interview, "I think Yukay is going to be the underdog. Pitu has been training hard for this, he really wants it. I’m not saying that Yukay doesn’t want this but he hasn’t been training as hard to the same extent as Pitu. He also had a couple of drinks the other night. It's going to be a good fight for Yukay." Yukay said that the fight between himself and Pitu was going to be a good one as it could go either way. Yukay also said that Pitu had more experience and has had a lot of fights in Thailand but he however felt he could still win it.

Yukay then shared his life story, "My family at the time is like the most precious thing that I have. I have a six year old son. He’s very calm you know he's so relaxed he makes me relaxed and he makes me complete. The love I get from my son is all I need today. All I need is my son, Muay Thai and my girlfriend. That's it. I don’t want to go home. I’m going to go all in my power to stay in the loft. I want to prove to this competition that I’m a good fighter. I’m going to do everything I can to make them happy." Pitu then went on share his side, "I am older than many people in my home. It's my last opportunity that I can be something or win something. I don’t know how long I can fight. I am training so hard to win. I try to learn a lot of from people. I put all my heart here in contender. I want to win and show to my son and to make history." Yukay is a very nice guy. We go running everyday together and he's like a good friend. Later I have to fight with him. It's a fight you know not play ping pong, fight have to hurt another guy. I have inside my mind very difficult problem with this but sorry I have to send him home. I have to win."

10 Minutes before fight

Pitu said, "So many people don’t believe that I can come here and fight here. I want to show these people that I can stay here. I coming here for win." Today I woke up and I only think of my son. My son is all for me. If I win contender my son can have good life and good school. I want to show my family that I can bring my son here, that I can guarantee take care of him. "Yukay is the underdog so many people can think that ahh, Yukay he's easy but he's older and has a lot of experience and has seen a lot of fights. He knows a lot of Muay Thai." Stephen then went to him and told him that it was going to be a very hard fight and he had to do it for the pride of Spain. His last words before the fight were, “Tonight I have to win. It’s all my life in this fight. All my future in this fight. This fight is very important to me."

Yukay said, "I'm ready. I did a lot of bad things in my life. I was a bad person. When my son was born I wanted to be a father that can be there for him all the time. Not being away or being in jail and Muay Thai has played a big part in that turn."

The trainer trained him, and gave him some tips and pointers to get the edge over Pitu. One of the pointers was to go for the elbow and the punch whenever Pitu came close within striking distance. His final words before the fight were "Tonight's fight, sure I’m going to lift some eyebrows because okay they see me train but in a fight I’m pretty much different. Being the underdog is good sometimes. It’s a big day for Sweden and I got so many phone calls from my gym, my president, everyone called me and all wished me good luck. 100 percent! Let’s go. I’m going to improve it tonight so they know who I am in the ring, so they're going to say they better look out for him.”

The Fight

During the ‘Wai khru’, they both bowed to each other in a show of mutual respect. Zidov told Yukay, "The first round, don’t go too crazy, look what he does and then second round go crazy. If he kick you, just kick back and try to make the first step, the first kick.”

Round 1

The fight started slowly with both men trying to measure their opponent’s kicks and punches. They were both very evenly matched before Pitu finally made the first offensive move and punched and kicked Yukay. They then continued trading punches and kicks before Yukay lands a hard punch squarely on Pitu’s face. Pitu was badly shaken up by that surprise punch that no one saw coming and his nose started bleeding. The referee allowed the fight to go on after Pitu recovered before the 10 count was up and Yukay took the opportunity to punish Pitu with more punches before one of his upper cut punches connected really hard against Pitu’s head and knocked Pitu out cold. Pitu who was lying on the floor, passed out and could not get up before the 10 count and Yukay was awarded a knock out win.

The men rushed into the ring and poured water on Pitu before he finally recovered and woke up. Yukay looked concerned for his opponent and the men said that they will all miss Pitu.

Yukay said, "I’m very proud. Fortunately I got a couple of good shots as soon as he went for the first count I knew I was sure. Okay Wow, Its right anyway. This means a lot to my family and of course for the Sweden people. I hope they'll be proud of me. Pitu is a really nice guy and I wish him the best of luck in the future.”

With Pitu

He took time to get to grip with himself after the defeat. He was bitterly disappointed after having trained so hard n yet lost in just less than 2 minutes. He said, “This is life you know. You want win you, put all your heart into trainings and this part you lose. I so sad that many people that believe in me that train for me help me so much here I think I make good for them. I know they hoped more for me. This makes me feel bad. I feel sad I cannot give them all what they expected from me but I look at it the positive way, I know a lot of friends now and I learnt a lot from people. I leave happy.” He then hung up his mongkok and wrote a sweet note for the guys on his Spanish flag and hung it on the ring. He shouted at the other guys, “I love you guys, see you soon.”