When I think of Muay Thai and Oakland I think of Ra Karma. To me the owner and trainer of CMT Athletics personifies everything that is awesome about the East Bay. He’s smart, savvy, sassy, and tough as nails. I sat down with Ra and talked about training with Jongsanaan, what makes for a good trainer, and IFMA (International Federation of Muay Thai Amateurs) back in the day.
How did you get into Muay Thai?
I’d been doing Martial Arts off and on since I was five, mostly off during puberty because I found something better than Muay Thai – Women! In my young adult years I had a girlfriend and she was stressing me out. At the time I was a lifeguard for the city of Oakland, I’d taken the job just for some hours, at the YMCA. They had a cardio kickboxing class and I figured I’d try it out. It was actually a thinly veiled Muay Thai class. The instructor had us do some Tae Bo style stuff but at the end of class we would hit pads. One day the original trainer of the class, Cheetah, was there and he needed a little help. My mom was a dance teacher and so I knew the ropes of how to teach group classes and so I helped him out.
Cheetah was like “You think you wanna train for real?” I was like “whatever.” My girlfriend was stressing me out still and so I ended up going to King’s Boxing gym in East Oakland. I started training Muay Thai with him and boxing with the Excitement Crew. I just got into it. It was a good stress reliever. I’d wanted to get back into martial arts and one day, ironically, I said “It’d be cool if I found an Asian dude to take me under his wing.” It actually happened.
I got real enamored. It was like the 80s all over again. I was always watching fights and training. People around were confused, they didn’t know what I was doing. They all thought I was doing Tae Bo. Someone asked me if I wanted to fight and I said sure why not. I totally scraped the dude, I don’t remember his name just that he was some Latino dude. After I fought I was like, “This shit is cool, I get to do all this stuff and put it on someone else? Yeah!”
How did you end up with CMT?
I have been here since it started in 1996. In the beginning it was Team Bushido Kickboxing. I don’t know why it was called Bushido kickboxing. The name changed to Amsterdam Kickboxing because no one running the gym was Japanese. Then it was Cheetah Muay Thai and now it’s CMT Athletics. It’s been a work in progress. The gym has changed several times.
How did you get involved with Fairtex?
It was when Fairtex San Francisco was over on Clementina street. It was a little hole in wall. I went there for a few regular nighttime classes. Jongsanaan told me that he wanted to train me. So I got invited to the fighter class. The first day was uber ultra cool. When I left though my car was towed! I was like, “what the fuck?” I went back to Fairtex and they was like, “oh they probably towed it.” I went to the tow place and there were 10 other people that had just got their car towed.
Anyways it snowballed. I started doing every smoker that I could. There weren’t many at the time, mainly at Fairtex.
What was Jongsanaan like as a trainer?
I appreciate the way I was trained because it was old school. No coddling. They used to beat our ass. Which either makes or breaks it. I liked that Jongsanaan wasn’t all just theory too. He’d actually been through it. In that sense he was perfect. It was cool to say that I was trained by a living legend.
How did you make the decision to go professional?
The Thai guys all the time were like, “Why you fight for no money!? Makes no sense!”
“I don’t know,” I told them.
“You fight for no money you stupid.”
“Oh what you talking about? They gonna kill me. You think I am good enough to go pro?”
“Fuck it. Do it. Fight for no money now you stupid.”
What was your experience in Thailand like? I know you fought at IFMA with Bryan Popejoy.
I was asked me if I wanted to fight at IFMA in Thailand. I said yes. It wasn’t very organized. We raised the money ourselves. My mom didn’t know why we weren’t on the news. I had to ask people for money and they’d always wonder why.
We went. We were like the bad news bears. We went to Fairtex Bangplee. I’d never been to Thailand, I’d traveled before but never to Bangkok. I got up in the morning and was looking around. Everyone else got their stuff together to train.
“What are you doing!? We just touched down,” I said. I didn’t wanna look like a lazy American though so I put on my shoes. We went running with a bunch of Thai kids that were running like it was for their rice! I ran and of course it was stereotypical, I’m black so I can run.
“Oh you really fast,” everyone said. I didn’t know that I wasn’t supposed to go fast.
I was thinking cool. We gonna do some sight seeing. Then everyone started to get they gear on.
Later that day we went to the actual event. All the other countries had coordinated outfits with their colors, a massage therapist, and a manager. Waa waa waaahh. We had nothing. I asked that a trainer go with us to the fights –NO!
“Can we get a mongkol and some Vaseline?”
“Go to the store and buy it.”
“Seriously?”
We bought the Fairtex shirt with the American flag on it then we bought pants at the FBT mall. We had uniforms but it was hella whack. HELLA WHACK!
We had to make weight every day and we were put up in five star hotel! I got sick of the food after a while though. I wanted pancakes, grits and eggs. We were in downtown Bangkok across the street from some gigantic brothel.
“What’s that?”
“Oh that for puk puk,” one Thai guy told me.
How was the tournament structured?
The tournament was set up into two classes, A and B Class. Stefan Fox he dismissed the U.S. saying, “Oh they in the B class.” I was mad but then later I was in the sauna with some guys from the middle east and they talking about how many fights they had – fifty or sixty. I’m not saying I’m a bitch, but logic dictates that I don’t need to fight someone with fifty or sixty fights. Come tournament time I fought a dude from the Filipinos. I blew him out of the water. It was the second time I’d been able to elbow so I went elbow crazy.
Then I’ll never forget they dragged me up in front of some General, Stefan Fox and a bunch of people and they wanted me in A class. It was an honor but I didn’t come halfway around the world to get my ass beat. I wasn’t getting paid. I just wanted to get some experience.
What did you like and dislike about fighting?
It was a miniscule amount of glory but I liked the work and the end result. For a fight you can get real world feedback. If you didn’t train properly you was gonna see. It was tangible. Win or lose you you accomplished something. At least I don’t it.
What are some of the differences between when you started Muay Thai and now?
Accessibility. Now you can look at the Internet and get fights. A person who’d watch “Kickboxer” a couple times could say they did Muay Thai. Shit when I started you couldn’t see no good fights.
I think the advent of MMA has helped Muay Thai because you get to see some Muay Thai technique so it’s more exposed.
What do you think makes for a good trainer?
Just like for fights different styles make for good trainers. One person that says this person is a good trainer another would say isn’t a good trainer. Across the board is someone that is able to adapt to each different situation. You gotta stay pliable cuz each each person is different. Also the things in the past you might have been able to do as a trainer aren’t as “PC” now. At one point you’d just be able to beat yo students ass and they’d come back “Yaaaayyy!!” Now you can’t really beat people up anymore. Now you gotta be nice to people. The Thai guys that I trained with only told me I did good once. It was my most boring fight. They said, “You win, you lose, it doesn’t matter. You do what I say.”
What are some of the biggest stumbling blocks in the learning process for fighters?
Them. The journey is the destination. The biggest stumbling block for anyone learning anything is the lack of openness. Just to be able to inundate yourself.. I always use myself as an example and when I tried to get better at Muay Thai I did two things; I looked at a lot of videos, I listened, I inundated myself and I showed other people stuff. Teaching other people stuff helps you realize your own mistakes. I think a lot of people have problems because they being pig headed.
When you work a corner what do you say to your fighter? How do you go about working a corner?
Working a corner is interesting. I’ve worked a lot of corners for Muay Thai, boxing, and MMA. Like training it’s all-unique. You can be in a corner with someone and they are totally zen like. They are there. You say something and they do it. Or you can be in the corner with someone and it’s a total cluster fuck. They don’t know what’s going on. They just on auto pilot. In that situation I’m just trying to bring them back to the moment. A fight is culminations of minutes put together to make each round and all you’re trying to do is make it through each round. You also trying to win but sometimes you just trying to get someone to survive. One time I had a fighter that couldn’t calm down he just kept saying “Get me through this, get me through this.”
A good corner helps you out and sees things that you can’t see in the ring. A corner is an integral part of the fight although you can be experienced enough that your corner is just there to put Vaseline on your face and water in your mouth. I’ve seen that. I’ve had fights that are just that easy.
When you train people what do you like to do?
I like to have regular drills. The thing about fighting is that you need repetition til it becomes second nature. You do something so much that when you actual fight it happens without thinking. But also each person is unique. Everyone has a different body. A tall guy I’m gonna have him using his length. A short guy I’m gonna have him try to get in. Both I’ll have taught fundamentals though- how to jab, how to kick, knee, elbow. Each one of them should each have their own special move like a superhero. I always say to people you need to have a go to move that will yield the highest dividends. It may not be pretty. At the end of the day if you can’t knock out your opponent the next thing you gotta do is win. If that’s by points so be it.
What are some of the unseen difficulties of running a gym?
It’s always something. You have to wear a lot of hats. Being a trainer you’re like a drill sergeant, parent, and a therapist at once. As a manager you’re a fix it man, janitor and a book keeper. You gotta have on the right hat for each situation. You might have your fix it hat on when you actually need to have your nurturing hat on.
Who are some of your favorite fighters?
I watch fights sometimes now. I like people’s styles, win or lose. So Connor McGreggor for the UFC. The dude is dope. His whole demeanor is comical. Rob Kaman. I liked him because he was totally intelligent. He had a lot of styles. He could do the slow Muay Thai methodical plot forward or he could get on the ball of his feet and do boxing. I liked Danny Bill. What can you not say Danny Bill? For Thai guys Jongsanaan. Even though his style was plod forward, typical Thai style. As he got older he baited people in. Coban. For boxing, Joe Frasier. He didn’t have the prettiest style but his left hook. Also Floyd Mayweather. Everyone hates Floyd but look at who he fought and on the flip side he a true business man.
The post Straight out of Oakland – An interview with Ra Karma Young appeared first on My Muay Thai.