A reader asked me about the MMA programme and the trainers. Now I didn’t know a lot apart from the trainers having some Brazilian Jiu Jitsu background, as my friend had mentioned this.
So another trip to Legacy Gym was needed and my friend had given the MMA trainer the heads up I was coming.
At Legacy Gym I met Vaughn “Blud” Anderson; before I had this guy's name I didn’t know anything about him. I spent a few hours on the internet reading about him and watching fights of his. I was impressed with his fearlessness in some of his bouts but more on this later.
Vaughn is a guest MMA trainer as the regular trainer has taken leave and headed home for a while. Vaughn brings with him a wealth of experience to the MMA programme. In 2002 Vaughn travelled to Taiwan, met and started training with Warren Wang, training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) and MMA. Vaughn credits so much to Warren for helping shape his life into what is now a professional fighter.
Below in the video is early footage of his first 4 MMA fights when he was breaking into MMA. He won all the fights. The third fight is against a huge sumo wrestler guy, Vaughn gives the guy a heap of weight but punishes him well. Warning the video does contain the fu#k word a few times in the sound clip.
This then went onto training with black belt Andy Wang and continued getting a wealth of experience. Vaughn trained hard and fought in anything he could and eventually a break came in 2007 to fight in Art of War, Fighting Championship.
The experience of fighting in this professional arena made him realise that this is what he wanted to do. He wanted to live like the Art of War contracted fighters.
In 2008, Vaughn moved to Thailand, Bangkok and trained Muay Thai fulltime. Later that year on short notice Vaughn was asked by the hugely popular Japan’s K-1 to fight in its Asian Heavy Weight Grand Prix in Taiwan. Vaughn accepted on four days notice and started eating to bring his weight up as he is around an 80kg fighter.
Vaughn won his first fight by KO in the first round and you can watch that fight here.
In his next fight I was sitting at my computer with my mouth agape, as his opponent dwarfed him.
Vaughn isn’t a small guy, at 180cms and 80kgs. The guy he was fighting Aleksandr Pitchkounov a Russian heavy weight was 194cms and 105kgs. Vaughn joked with me when I watched the video with him, he said “I was winning the fight…. The first 20 seconds.” If you watch the video of the fight you will see Vaughn goes after the Russian giant most of the time, before being stopped just before the end of the first round.
(sorry this video is coming tomorrow as I am too tired to finish editing now and upload to Youtube)
Vaughn said he loved the challenge of this fight as no one really thought he could win. These challenges motivate him to be a better fighter, and he has gone on leaps and bounds since then. He said the more you win the more pressure you have on yourself and this keeps you honest. There is no better feeling than having 10,000 people going nuts after you have just KO’d a person or won a fight. It is unbelievable.
Late in 2008 Vaughn took a chance as he wanted to be like the Art of War fighters, do it professionally for a living. He moved to Beijing hoping to get into a MMA team. And fate seemed to smile on Vaughn as he was sponsored and moved into the Art of War camp and trained under a legend, Arnold Urquidez, who Vaughn said made huge improvements under him plus other excellent coaches.
Vaughn said, ‘Training in China was amazing. Being a professional athlete and having nothing else to do but train was a dream come true. Some things in China were a little hard to get used to, like lights out at 9pm, no exceptions. Not having a day off if you felt a little worn out.’
He said, the only way for a day off was going to the hospital for an x-ray, and he remembers one Chinese fighter who had been for many head scans and trying to explain this wasn’t good for his health.
There is a two part series you can watch called, More Than Tourists 1 and More Than Tourists 2. It follows Vaughn and another guy called James on their road studying martial arts in China.
In Art of War, he has fought four more times after his first initial loss, for three wins and a draw and also gone onto win other MMA bouts as well. He has even ventured into the local Muay Thai scene here in Thailand for a win and a loss.
So Vaughn “Blud” Anderson brings a wealth of experience to Legacy Gym’s MMA programme, with striking and takedown, wrestling, BJJ and Ground and Pound sessions in the MMA ring.
If you are a MMA or Muay Thai fighter or thinking of trying it out, Legacy Gym is definitely the place to go, they have expert coaches to steer you along the way.
Vaughn if fighting in Martial Combat in Singapore on the 19th of August 2010, alongside his friend Ole “Iron Fist” Laursen, who he met when they were both fighting in Art of War.
On the 18th of August at Martial Combat, two more Legacy Gym fighters are in action. Nick “Hooligan” Mellor, who I watched train the other night in a punishing session alongside Vaughn. If I was going by the session, Nick and Vaughn are in excellent shape for their bouts, likewise the gym owner Ole.
The other fighter, Victor Wang I don’t know much about but I was told he also is a big chance of taking the win.
So from Isaan Style, I wish all the guys from Legacy Gym best of luck in their fights and hope that they come away with four wins.
Brunty
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