ABOVE: Muay Thai legend Jomhod Kiatadisak celebrates his victory over Vorn Viva on Saturday at Full Metal Dojo 4. Photo: David Ash
Former Lumpinee and Rajdamnern champion Jomhod Kiatadisak made his successful MMA debut at Full Metal Dojo 4 at Live House in Bangkok, where crowds were treated to some serious violence with most fights ending in a TKO or submission.
Anyone who wondered whether Jomhod, 44, had what it takes to transition from Muay Thai to MMA so late in life got an emphatic answer as he picked apart Cambodia’s Vorn Viva with three rounds of technical striking at an event featuring fighters from Iran, France, Sweden, Chile, Puerto Rico and Cambodia.
“It is different from Muay Thai because the rounds are longer, and the gloves are smaller, but I can still kick and punch and knee and elbow,” said Jomhod, who even scored a couple of takedowns. “It was fun!”
MMA’s popularity is growing in Thailand, and there were fighters in action from camps all over the country including AKA and Tiger Muay Thai in Phuket, Legacy Gym in Ubon Ratchatani and 301 Muay Thai & MMA in Hua Hin.
The fight of the night was an action-packed affair between France’s Michael Dubois and Sweden’s Dmitrijs Homjakovs with the pendulum swinging from one fighter to the other during the course of just under five minutes of frenetic action.
Dubois looked to have Homjakovs in a leglock, but the Swedish fighter was able to escape and then punish the Frenchman with some brutal soccer kicks for a TKO finish at the 4:07 mark.
The biggest fighter on the card was Iranian heavyweight Masoud Ranjbar, who tipped the scales at an impressive 109 kilograms and used all his strength and size to repeatedly take down France’s Yoann Gouaida and score a unanimous-decision win on his MMA debut.
Earlier in the night Muay Chaiya exponent Detchadin Srosirisuphathin showed huge heart to survive a first-round battering at the hands of Kun Khmer champion Chan Heng and come back to win the second round strongly.
Unfortunately for the Thai he couldn’t maintain his momentum as the pace dropped dramatically in the last five minutes allowing the more experienced Heng to claim a decision victory.
Full Metal Dojo’s promoter is the charismatic expat Jon Nutt who treated the audience to a rendition of the royal anthem before the show and was extremely happy with how the eight fights on the card went down.
“Tonight the Full Metal Dojo fighters got it done and we saw some serious violence go down inside the cage. It was awesome to see so many people here, this was our biggest crowd ever and we will be back in Bangkok soon for FMD 5.”
