Legacy Gym and Ole "Iron Fist" Laursen, Ubon Ratchathani Thailand

The other day I dropped over to a local muay Thai and MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) gym. I have a few friends who train there and I had mentioned dropping in and watching a training session.

Legacy Gym is Owned by Ole “Iron Fist” Laursen. Legacy Gym opened 5 years ago and caters for the beginner, right through to the most experienced martial artist. Ole is making quite a name for himself. He has been in magazines, South East Asian MMA, Bloody Elbow,The Bleacher Report and the cover of the upcoming issue of FHM Singapore Upgrade magazine.

Ole is also a top Muay Thai fighter. Winning the 1998 Danish Kickboxing Championship, The 2002 King’s Cup Champion here in Thailand, and is the current 2010 Martial Combat Superfight Champion. The King’s Cup is in honour of Thailand’s king. It is a huge Muay Thai competition with the best of the best coming together for two days.

Ole is fighting on August the 19th in Singapore against American Nicolas Leconte at a Martial Combat Fight night. Resorts World™ Sentosa Martial Combat is Asia’s Ultimate Mixed Martial Arts Fighting Championship. It is the largest and most prestigious MMA series in the region. Broadcast on STAR Sports to over 310 million viewers in 24 different countries. Now that is a big audience.

Training at Legacy Gym is bloody cheap I say. For 17,000 Thai baht a month, you get two sessions a day (morning and afternoon that will have you super fit in no time), includes a room at the gym and 2 meals a day. The same as above for MMA at a cost of 20,000 Thai baht.Or 5,000 baht a week, this includes food and accommodation.

If you want to train part time, the rates are: 300 baht per session or 500 baht per day. You can find out more at Legacy Gym’s website. Ole trains local Thai fighters for free, and he has some very good fighters in training.

The trainers at Legacy Gym are all very experienced. Here are some below or you can click on the link for a more in depth report on each one.

Head coach is Ajarn Nimnuan who has been training Ole since 2002, before Ole opened the Legacy Gym. He had 130 fights during his professional career.

Ajarn Took has had over 200 fights during his career, he also fought Sakmongkol, who was regarded as probably the best Muay Thai fighter during the 90’s. Sakmongkol fought Ramon “The Diamond” Dekkers in 1991, an 8 time Muay Thai world champion and the first foreigner to receive “The Muay Thai Fighter of the Year” award. Sokmongkol took Dekkers on after Dekker’s had won 4 in a row, three by knockout. The fight went the distance and Sakmongkol was only about 18yo.Ajarn Took has a nickname of Korat Noi, after a large city in Thailand which is pretty impressive to have bestowed upon him.


Ajarn Nuay has 170 fights under his belt, he also spent most of his younger life fighting in Bangkok before returning back to Ubon Ratchathani.

After the fighters go for a smaller run in the afternoon they warm up by bouncing on tires, give it a go if you think it is easy.

Then some shadow boxing in the mirrors, this is Nick “Hooligan” Mellor who is fighting on August 18th in Singapore in another Martial Combat fight night.

Legacy Gym's MMA ring.

And some skipping to warm up as well.

This is one of the Thai fighters warming up on a bag. The Thai boys get to train for free as Ole gives a little back to the community.




Ole then did some sparring rounds with Ajarn Kong, who is the punch man or bag man. And he is perfect for this job after watching him. He is a pest in the nicest of ways as he just keeps going and made Ole work non stop all the rounds. For all the trainers’ details go here and read about their history.

In the meantime the other fighters were sparring, these two young Thai guys were giving each other some very firm whacks. I was surprised at the smiles on their faces after wearing some solid punches and kicks. These two young guys have both fought on National TV at the National Stadium in Bangkok.

During the breaks in the sparring there isn’t any rest as you have to do push ups or sit ups, and you think most would be a little tired but some can still manage V-sit ups with ease.

Back in the Muay Thai ring a fighter named Hampus was sparring with Ole. Hampus has a fight in China on the 11th of August after a recent knockout victory presented this opportunity. Hampus had already been through a fair few rounds with a bag man before having to face Ole.

Ole was giving Hampus a hell of a time. The height difference was big but Ole kept getting inside and working Hampus onto the ropes.

But the Thai trainers and also Nick Mellor were offering plenty of advice and kept telling Hampus to use his reach.


And training still wasn’t over for the others, they still had to finish off with bag work and more sit ups as well before calling it a night. So from 3.30 – 6pm a pretty solid session.

Hampus wasn’t finished as he then had to do sit ups while the head trainer Ajarn Nimnuan whacked him in the stomach each time. It hurt just watching.

And when the other guys are winding down and going home the MMA guys are starting their training. MMA too many looks brutal, choke holds, pinning your opponent while punching or elbowing them isn’t for the faint hearted but it is very popular in Asia and also viewers.


So the MMA guys kept on training, practicing how to get out of being pinned and pinning an opponent. I was tired watching all of this.

So that is a little on Legacy Gym here in Ubon Ratchathani and the owner Ole “Iron Fist” Laursen and the trainers. If you are thinking of coming to Thailand to train in Muay Thai or MMA, and you want a gym where you train hard and have the best coaches then contact Legacy Gym for more details.

Brunty