2 Shots of Namsaknoi, total BAMF! 
Championship Souvenirs . . . . .
Hovick, one of our fighters (and a fan) & Namsaknoi
The King of the Wai Kru . . . . 
Namsaknoi & his old trainer Ronee, 
Namsaknoi, hands down one of the greatest Muay Thai fighters to have ever lived, has been training at our gym last week and this week, and is even doing VIP (one-on-one) sessions. At first, we were like, "Who is this guy going around correcting us?" And then we would do what he would suggest and you'd just feel the improvement immediately, like "Whoooah!" Then Tuk announced who he was, and it made total sense.
Apparently a French photographer, Sophie Martin, who I WISH had her website up and running because she's the bomb, wanted to feature Muay Thai as her next topic of exploration, so she was in touch with Namsaknoi, and they traveled to our gym because it's such a nice facility, and full of muay thai students and fighters. What a TREAT for us!
Namsaknoi is like so many of the Muay Thai fighters I've met: totally funny and kind outside of the ring, utterly lethal inside of it. After a chat about progress and change, and learning I was American, he simply started referring to me as "Obama!" and would just yell that to me and wave when he saw me. Hilarious. Everybody's pretty happy Bush is gone, needless to say, no?
Namsak's known as the "King" of the wai kru, the ceremonial dance fighters do to honor their trainers, and what he has achieved in his Muay Thai career is unprecedented: he held the prestigious Lumpinee world title (for his division) for 6 years. Nobody could beat him, nobody at all.......
This is like Michael Jordan showing up at your basketball camp, man. We're honored! AND having a blast.
The following information is borrowed with permission from the Namsaknoi (NSN) Club MuayThai, a blog where you can keep up on his life and career.
Fighting Name: Namsaknoi Yudthagarngamtorn
Namsuk= the most mighty, Noi = Junior or little
Birth Date: October 13, 1979
Birth place: Surat Thani, Thailand
Style: Muay Thai
Height: 1,77 m
Weight: 61.5kg (135Ibs)
Titles:
Lumpinee Champion 115 lbs
Lumpinee Champion 122 lbs
Lumpinee Champion 135 lbs ( 2000-2006 )
WMC World Champion 115 lbs
PABA Boxing Champion 135 lbs
Ford Ranger Tournament winner
Champion of South of Thailand 95 lbs
Champion of South of Thailand et 126 lbs
Voted Best Fighter of the year 1996 by the Sportswriters Association of Thailand
Voted Best Fighther of the year 1999 by the Sports Authority of Thailand
Best Wai Kru/Ram Muay of the year 2001
Best Wai Kru/Ram Muay of the year 2006
Records: About 300 Fights , 280 Wins, 15 Loses , 5 Draws* (record was until 2004.)
His Story, written by Rob Cox at axkickboxing in 2004 and is shown as featured on NSN Club Muay Thai.
Born in Surat Thani province in the south of Thailand, Namsaknoi started MuayThai like a lot of his fellow countrymen at a very young age. Born to Muslim parents and given the name Mohammud Chaiyama, Namsaknoi started fighting at the age of 9 and soon started to make a name for himself in the MuayThai ring.
After making steady progress his trainer in the South took him to Kiatsingnoi camp in Bangkok where Namsaknoi also started to impress. After a short while though his trainer took him outside Bangkok, to the newly formed Kiatpramuk or Por Pramuk camp. This was around 1994 and Namsaknoi fast established a reputation as a future big name star.
Fighting originally on Sukonesongchai promotions, Namsaknoi won his first major titles when he beat Nungpichit Sityodthong to win the Lumpini and w.m.c world flyweight championship belts. After a very impressive year in 1996 Namsaknoi won the most prestigious award for boxers in Thailand, when he got the vote from the sportswriters association of Thailand for the fighter of the year.
Namsaknoi's next title came after he Knocked out Lamnamoon Sor Sumalee with an elbow in the 3rd round to take the Lumpini stadium Superfeatherweight title. Namsanoi then went on to win the Ford Ranger tournament and 3 years after winning the sportswriters award for fighter of the year, Namsaknoi was again voted fighter of the year this time by the sports authority of Thailand.
Next title for Namsaknoi was the Lumpini lightweight title which he won by beating Kaolan Kaowichit on points in June 2000 and still holds to this present day. After struggling to find credible opponents, Namsaknoi had a brief spell of fighting under International boxing rules, where he knocked out Shuki Rozenweig of Israel in round 5 to win the vacant P.A.B.A lightweight title.
Namsaknoi has shared the ring with many a top name with 3 wins over Samkor Kiatmonthep, 2 wins over Kaolan Kaowichit and 2 wins over Sanchai Sor Kingstar. Both Kaolan and Sanchai also having been former boxers of the year. He has also had the opportunity to fight abroad with fights in Korea and Japan where he stopped the dangerous and highly regarded Kobayashi in two rounds after his elbows opened up some nasty cuts.
In 2001 Namsaknoi also got given a special award for his exceptional Wai Kru. As well as all his stadium titles Namsaknoi was also champion of southern Thailand at 95 and 126 pounds. At the age of 25 Namsaknoi still has a lot of fight in him but the only problem is finding a credible opponent at Lightweight to give him a real test. This has seen him having to fight out of his weight class at Lightwelterweight where despite his obvious class it is sometimes a very difficult weight handicap to overcome.
He kept his Lumpinee belt from 2000 to 2006 remaining undefeated defending his championship. In 2006 he was destitute since he hadn't a promoter anymore. He retired in 2006, living one of the best records in Thailand, and considered one of the best Thai fighters ever. He was in a little island of koh pahngan and teach muay thai for couple of years. He currently moved to Chaweng Stadium in Samui and continue teaching there, till date.
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