Episode 13 Recap

With the ecstasy from his win finally settling down, Dzhabar said, “I win. I'm in the semifinals. Just one more step and I’m in the finals. Whatever I ask from god I get it. I believe in him so much and when it happens you start to believe him more. We are fighters, we choose our lives and we choose this job. We choose this job so any fighter can get knocked out but today was my day. It is maybe one of the best days of my life. I wanna win the tournament so I’m gonna train hard and I’m gonna fight hard and then it's gonna be up to God.”

Back in the loft, the remaining fighters discussed the fight. Sean felt that it would have been a rather long, hard fight had Dzhabar not connected with that one punch which sent Soren packing. John Wayne said, "I didn’t think it'd be that quick though." As Sean agreed, “I've not seen a knock out like that in a while, actually. Like a proper lights out.”

John Wayne really wanted his fellow Aussie, Soren to come through and join him in the semifinals and he felt really sad as he saw Soren’s dreams getting squashed in just the first round. At this juncture, John Wayne shared a story about a fight he had in Italy where he gave his opponent a really hard kick which immediately knocked his opponent out. He added that there were at least five thousand people among the audience who all went silent with everyone including himself thinking that the guy was dead. He said, “Woah, I just saw my mate getting killed but three minutes later he woke up. I thought Dzhabar fought really smart. He's into the next round injury free and for a little guy he's got a lot of power.

Dzhabar then entered the room as the men cheered him on before they asked him how his right hand was after he had punched so hard. John Wayne added that he saw Soren’s feet lift of the ring floor due to the impact of the punch. Sean casually mentioned, “I'd rather not fight Dzhabar. Out of all the guys left in the house, he's a friend and he also punches really hard." Sean went on to ask Dzhabar how he felt and Dzhabar replied, “feeling good and feel upset." Sean responded, "You should be proud. You were good." Dzhabar, in his interview said, "I'm still here so guys are happy but they're a little bit upset just the same as me. I'm worried about Soren. I hope he’s gonna be well."

Stephen then entered their room and asked them why they were not in bed yet. They were all obviously still distraught about Soren until Stephen put their minds at ease by giving them some reassuring information. He said, "I talked to Soren. He's still in and out a little so I'm worried a little. He couldn't remember who he fought five minutes ago but then he remembered again. I said “how could you forget such an ugly face?” but seriously boys don't worry about it. He's gonna be ok. We'll take care of him. "

Dzhabar felt a little better after hearing those words from Stephen and he said, “He lose one fight, but he didn't lose war. I wish all the best in the future of Soren. God likes nice people so he will be well." Stephen congratulated Dzhabar and told the boys that they needed to keep focus as another hard fight was coming up real soon. Sean mentioned that it was now very quiet in the loft. John Wayne said in his interview, “Four fighters, from different countries. It's just like the Muay Thai force. One fight away from the grand finals. We don't know who we're going to face. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens and who I get matched with."

Training

Stephen pushed the aspiring contenders as hard as he could, "Come on people go o, it’s for $150,000 so punch harder. Step it up people. Find your rhythm." These boys are very smart. In the training sessions they watch their opponent, they study their opponent’s and they see their weak points and they're going to go for it. You live so close together for such a long time that you can learn from each other and also take advantage from each other. In confirming Stephen’s sentiments, Dzhabar said, "When I stay with somebody and I have to fight them its not easy for me because they see my mistakes. I ask the trainer to be like the same. Just straight punching, straight punching so I will train for this. People always remember a champion. Yodsaenklai was not famous until he beat John Wayne, he become famous. So I want to be the champion. I don’t want to stop here. "

John Wayne said, "When I fought Zidov, it really did some damage to my heel. The last thing I want is to get in there and to lose from something silly and not get to the final cause I'll be devastated." With regard to Dzhabar, the dark horse of the competition, he said, “I've seen him fight numerous amounts of times and I've watched him in training and he makes mistakes but he's very powerful." With regard to Sean he said, "Sean's a great fighter he's very fast” and finally with regard to the favourite he said, ”Yodsaenklai’s a south boy and he's very strong. If it's a Yodsaenklai vs John Wayne Parr final it's going to be a hard fight. Yodsaenklai has beaten me once before in Australia. But now I think I can beat him with the right game plan."

Sean said, "I'd rather not fight Dzhabar and John Wayne. I think, our styles are pretty similar and I think it would be a hard fight. At the end of the fight, what makes fighters good is a strong performance. Muay Thai is from Thailand and obviously the Thais are still the best at it so you really have to work hard and prove yourself. I'd rather fight Yodsaenklai Fairtex out of anyone of them. If I fight Yodsaenklai, it'll do wonders for fighting opportunities in the future. It would be an absolute dream come through. " Yodsaenklai said, “For me I really want that $150000 so that I can build a house for my family and my parents. I want it badly. If possible, I don't want to fight John Wayne now. I want to fight him in the final because we are evenly matched. It's uncertain who will stay and who will go. For Sean, I think he's very hardworking and determined. He trains well and when he's in the ring, he's confident. For my net fight, I don’t know who I’m gonna fight."

Who fights next?

All four men were summoned to the drawing room and Jaymee started of by saying, "You've all made it this far to the semi finals and you're all just once fight away from the big one." Stephen said, “So the first quarter final fight had been won by Sean Wright and the second was won by Yodsaenklai so this will be our first semi-final.” Sean said, "Stephen told us that I was going to be fighting Yodsaenklai. We were the first two to fight in the second round so it makes sense to let the rest of the guys have a little bit of rest. The next fight is definitely going to be the hardest fight for me and the best fight for me."

Yodsaenklai said, "For this fight, I'll have to rely on my good timing and skills. I'll knock him out for sure." Jaymee said that this meant that the second semifinal would see John Wayne slugging in out against Dzhabar who pretended to gasp in mock horror before they shook hands and hugged. Stephen felt that he had no doubt that it was going to be a great semifinal. In his interview, Dzhabar said "I see John Wayne; he's not like the same as before. He is getting old. He's not like two three years ago so I think I can beat him. John Wayne said, "I just hope i can do my business against Dzhabar and be prepared for a war cause that belt's beautiful and I want it around my waist."

Suited Up

Stephen called the boys down and told them that they were going to be rewarded for making the semifinals. He said that it was going to be a tall order to get them all prettied up at the tailor’s. He added that they were very deserving. Sean said that it was amazing to get a custom made tailored suit because it was something they could keep all their life.

They went to the “Coloc Tailor” at the Raffles Hotel where Stephen told the manager that he had to ensure they all looked good before the tailor quipped in and said that they already looked very good. Dzhabar was up first and the tailor took his measurements and as he squeezed his biceps, he said, “Muscle Man.” Next up was Yodsaenklai who said, “We got to the tailor and the tailor measures us up. I think it'll be very exciting to get to wear a suit. I’m a bit shy because I’ve never had anything like this before.” The tailor then told John Wayne, “You walk out of the shop and you're a model. Beautiful.” Finally it was Sean’s turn and the tailor told him that he had the body frame of a model and this clearly got him chuffed as he shouted out to the rest of them, “Apparently I’m a standard model size." Stephen then responded and said that they ought to send him to Italy and Sean replied saying, “Yeah, maybe you should.” Sean then went on to say, “Stephen was sort of our leader in the whole thing. We spent a lot of time laughing. Dzhabar tried on his suit first and the men told him he looked great. Stephen jokingly said, “If my name was Stephanie you would be the one.”

The tailor then put on a suit with a yellow shirt for John Wayne who said, "It was nice to walk in there with confidence and not having to look through my wallet to see if I had enough change to get something that fit amazingly. I’m surprised to see David Bechkam looking back at me. I was feeling pretty hot. If I were a female and I'd seen me I think I would do myself.” The tailor told him that he ought to go out for a date tonight and John Wayne wrapped his arm around Sean and said, “I’ve got my date right here.” It was then Yodsaenklai’s turn to strut his stuff and Stephen told him, “You’re really looking good.” Yodsaenklai replied, “I don’t know. It isn’t me who's looking good but the suit is good looking, but the person isn't. When I put the suit on it made me feel more powerful. It looked good too, and I felt like a big boss. When I was young, I never dreamed id ever have an expensive suit. I'm happy and excited." It was then Sean’s turn to get all suited up and the tailor tried on a tie for Sean who did not know how to tie a tie and hence the tailor put it on for him to a laughing audience. He said, “It was a really fun day getting a suit perfectly fitted for myself.”



Stephen himself clad in a sharp suit presented them all with Contender Asia semifinalist necklace. Yodsaenklai being the first qualifier put on his chain first. He secured his spot thanks to his win over his good friend, Naruepol. Next up was the second semifinalist, Sean Wright who beat Yukay with his great combination moves, followed by John Wayne Parr who subdued Zidov’s firm resilience in the third semifinal. The final semifinalist was Dubai’s finest right hand who’s been credited with the knock out of the competition after he left Soren out cold. The men were all very proud of their achievements and Stephen said that since they were looking so good and sharp, they had to go out into town. He told them they would be heading to the beautiful Intercontinental Hotel for ‘One last supper.’

The Last Supper

Yodsaenklai said, “The limousine took us to have dinner at the Hotel Intercontinental. It was painted all white, and it was very beautiful and very lush." John Wayne said, “We had a six course beautiful dinner. Sitting there in our suits, eating high society food was very nice from the everyday living." As they plowed their way through their lobster, John Wayne asked, "Anyone have a suggestion of how we can break off the prawn shell?”. Sean said that he managed to break of one side of the prawn with the skill of a surgeon. Dzhabar finally gave up and started breaking the prawns with his fingers. He defended his actions by saying that there were three things in the world that you had to take with your hands and they were fish, chicken and women.



This brought about uproarious laughter from his counterparts who felt that he never failed to bring his caveman ways to everything he did. John Wayne said to the men, "It sorta sucks that tonight we're all happy and cheers and then we gotta fight each other soon." Sean said, "Yeah but then the next day we're gonna be laughing about it." John Wayne reckoned that it was only going to take a minute after the fight before they forgot their rivalry and went back to being good friends. Dzhabar said, "It was nice to spend time, last four. The last time we stayed together. It was a big party. It makes you friendly, but it makes you hungrier to be in the final. I hope I’m gonna have dinner being among the last two. All my life I was waiting for this so I'm really happy to be here."



John Wayne said to the men, “Final four, absolutely amazing experience. I can't believe we've come this far and it's a life long memory that I'm gonna take with me forever." Sean said, “We've talked bout a lot over dinner and we're good friends but I’ve got a fight coming up with Yodsaenklai. When I'm out of the loft all I need to do is to focus on my next fight. I'm going to win. I have to."

Day of the Fight

Sean started early with his trainers. He said, “I started Muay Thai when I was about 14 years old. I’ve been doing it for about 12 years now. I have learnt a hell lot during that time however what you do with your career is more important than how long you've been at it. When you train like this, being good is good enough. There’s a huge element of chance in there. I knew I have the skills to be here and things have kind of gone my way. “The trainer then told him to box it out while he was still sweating. He continued to say that, “The first time when we entered the gym and picked teams I wasn’t picked at al. One by one the Wild Boars pretty much died off. It's an advantage for me when people underestimate me at the start and here I am in the final four. It would have been even better if I was actually the last one standing. In the final, winning the $150 grand would be great."



Wayne wished Yodsaenklai a good morning when he woke up and asked if he was going to train that morning to which Yodsaenklai declined and John Wayne wished him the best of luck for his fight against Sean. John Wayne then went on to ask Yodsaenklai if he had a game plan against Sean. Yodsaenklai replied in Thai, "Just have to be careful of his leg kicks, its okay it won’t be hard." Yodsaenklai said in his interview, “When I fight against foreigners, I know I have better skills but they have good punches so I have to be careful of those. All my focus has been on defending those punches. I'm just not going to take any risks.” John Wayne told him, “Sean likes to throw body punches too.” Yodsaenklai replied, “Body punches aren't easy to land. They aren't easy to pull off. I'm not James or Yukay. Let's see how Sean goes up against the real deal." Yodsaenklai said in his interview, “We're only one fight before the final. I have to go full on because if I hold back, I may make a mistake and lose."





John Wayne told Yodsaenklai that he felt that it will be a very fun fight to watch while Yodsaenklai squashed his hopes immediately as he said it might be exciting before they got into the ring but once they did, it won’t be much of a fight. John Wayne said, “Yodsaenklai is currently pound for pound one of the strongest fighters in the world but Sean’s hands, might cause a lot of problems for him. If Sean wins, it'll be the greatest upset the world has ever seen.”

One hour to the fight

Sean said, “In the world of Muay Thai, I don’t really have a claim for fame or anything. I have quite a few good fights, good fights in Thailand and a couple of British titles. At the end of the day, it's not just who's the best. Anything can happen, anyone can lose and anyone can win. Yodsaenklai is one of the strongest guys here, and it's a huge scalp to take. At this stage in my life, the most important person is myself. I don’t really have time for a lot of other stuff at the moment. I’m kind of putting all my energies into fighting and into myself. From the fight perspective I’ve got a lot of belts on myself. What scared me is maybe not showing everything I can do. Hopefully, I do myself proud. For any hard fight, you gotta be careful. You gotta keep your hands up and you gotta stay sharp and switched on. So this is kinda make or break time I think to see whether you really deserve to be here. I've been fighting a whole lot more Thai’s than Westerners. They're not quite as aggressive. The thing with Yodsaenklai is that he starts off a bit quicker than most other Thais and he knows he's got power so I don’t think I’m gonna be knocking him out in the first round. Fighting Yodsaenklai is great for me. He's an amazing fighter but if I can beat the guy and it will be tremendous."



In Yodsaenklai’s locker room, he said, “I'm a world famous Muay Thai fighter. I'm the WBC champion so I was chosen to be here. I started Muay Thai because my mother likes the sport. This is a huge sport with a lot of prize money at stake and I want to give that prize money to mom. My mother raises three children on her own so why can't I support my mother in return? "This is the last fight before the final. I’m very confident. Tonight I just have to take no risks and that's all. I've seen Sean fight twice now, so I won't take any risk with his punches and kicks. For this fight I feel excited. If there's a chance for a KO, I'll knock him out for sure.



They performed the Wai Khru as Dzhabar shouted “Braveheart!” in the hopes of spurring Sean on. Sean then shot his now trademark fireball at Yodsaenklai who caught it.

Round 1

They got into action without wasting anytime as Sean punched out at Yodsaenklai who retaliated with a kick to Sean’s head. Their early efforts counted for nothing as they both defended and blocked really well. Both of them were very evenly matched even as Yodsaenklai threw very calculative punches as opposed to Sean’s maverick styled punches. Yodsaenklai then burst into life as he started off with a hard kick at Sean’s side leaving Sean before a flurry of punches left Sean scrambling to defend himself. We could hear John Wayne shouting from the sidelines, “Don’t just cover up, you gotta fight back!” Yodsaenklai’s punches pushed Sean deep into the corner before a tremendous uppercut punch sent Sean crashing to the ring floor. It took Sean 8 counts to get up and he seemed daze but thankfully the bell saved him. The first round was all Yodsaenklai as expected.





In Sean’s corner, his trainer told him to box and step back quickly to ensure he was out of Yodsaenklai’s reach. Sean still looked like he was in a daze as his trainer tried to spur him by saying, “Make your heart strong.” John Wayne commented from the sidelines that he was not even responding to the trainers who tried slapping him to snap him back to reality but to no avail. John Wayne tried his best to keep Sean’s head in the fight as he said, “You gotta be strong, you can’t let him dictate you like this. You gotta fight. Pick it up man use your speed. Don’t just stand there use your speed. Move use your legs. Together you step in and you punch.”



In Yodsaenklai’s corner his trainer told him, “You're boxing beautifully; just keep your guard up. Take no risks, keep your guard up. No need to rush and keep your timing tight. When he blocks low, kick high and when he blocks high, kick low and keep your hands up.”

Round 2

Yodsaenklai allowed Sean to take the initiative as the round started. He invited Sean to attack him and Sean did so with a punch and a high kick which were expertly blocked of by Yodsaenklai who was one step ahead every single time. Sean gave it his all and tried his best to hit Yodsaenklai who just evaded his advances. Yodsaenklai then managed to corner Sean again with his barrage of punches, which Sean desperately tried to block. Yodsaenklai finally unleashed an identical upper cut punch that knocked Sean out. Yodsaenklai came to Sean’s aid immediately as did Stephen to check if he was stable.



A victorious Yodsaenklai said, "It was as if I had planned it that I would knock him out when the chance came. I wanna say sorry to Sean. We're friends and I didn’t want to fight him but what can you do? I'm proud and happy to say I've made it to the finals. If my mom was here I would tell her “thank you mom for cheering me on and supporting me." I will make my mother's dream come true.”

With Sean

A devastated Sean said, “I don’t know if I let the occasion get to me or something. I just got caught with a couple of hard shots. You're on the ground groaning and then you realize you're on the ground and you're wondering when did that happen and suddenly you hear the counting 1... 2... 3... And you're like slow down man and then when he reaches 6 you realize ok I should get up about now and by the time its 10 you know you're out. I lost. The trainer asked if he was hurt and Sean said he wasn’t hurt but he was very pissed off. He said, “I just kind clambered up a wee bit and it pisses me off cause I’m not even hurt at all. I wish I had done better against Yodsaenklai. I know I could have done better but I’m not going to sit here and bitch and moan. At the end of the day, I fought a good fighter and he fought fair and square."



At that juncture, Yodsaenklai came in and apologized as they hugged it out. Yodsaenklai looked genuinely concerned as he asked if Sean was hurt and Sean reassured him that he was alright apart from a little bit of a swelling on his ankle. Sean quipped, “If I was going to lose anyone, I don’t mind losing to Yodsaenklai. It was a great learning curve for me. He's one of the best Thais in the world. Honestly, it’s been one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had. I’ve made some amazing friends and experiences that I’ll hold on to forever. It’s been so good as a fighter to be in the house training with these guys. I realize that I can compete with them. I leave with no regrets. I wanted to win. I wish I had won and it pisses me off.” He wrote on his Scottish flag, “Lots of love to all you guys in a totally heterosexual platonic fashion and of course best of luck to all of you. See you soon. Sean :)”



He hung his flag on the ring as he said, “Looking back now, I did well. I got what I wanted. I would love fighting Yodsaenklai again when I’m at my best so it’s not the end of the world. I’m gonna go back to Scotland and heal a bit and take a month off. Then I will come back to Thailand and get to train again. I’m only 26 now and I can easily train and be in peak condition so I only see good things ahead.”