News
South East Asian MMA Pioneer Ray Elbe
Posted on : 28 June 2010
Ray Elbe is one of the most prominent figures in the Asian mixed martial arts scene. A veteran of 34 fights in nine different countries, and a winner of 23 of them, he has been based in Phuket since 2007. Elbe is the head instructor at the MMA programme at TIger Muay Thai one of the very first ever camps to offer MMA classes in the region.
He also shot to prominence in 2009 when he was selected from a field of several thousand fighters and offered a coveted slot on the hugely popular reality TV show 'The Ultimate Fighter'.
All the contestants have to win a fight in order to secure their spot in 'The Ultimate Fighter' house and Elbe was unfortunate to find himself up against DeMarques Johnson, one of the finest fighters to appear in nine seasons of the series. Still suffering from the effects of jet lag Elbe looked a shadow of his normal self against Johnson and was unable to take the fight to the floor and impose his impressive ground skills on his opponent.
Johnson won by first round TKO and went on to establish himself as the most outstanding fighter in the house. He was a firm favourite to win the show before being surprisingly submitted by James Wilks in the final.
Elbe was left to return to Thailand, where he runs the well regarded MMA programme at Tiger Muay Thai, and reflect on what could have been. However while he may be highly experienced he is also relatively young and will feel that his best days as a fighter are still ahead of him.
Opportunity might come knocking sooner rather than later as Elbe is headlining Martial Combat 6 in Singapore next month. He will be up against India's leading MMA fighter Alan Fenandes and will be looking to register his fifth straight professional win, 'I'm only 27 years old right now and I have already had 30+ professional MMA fights. I am in no hurry to get back onto the main stage. Joe Silva has told me that if I keep winning things will take care of themselves and that is where I am currently at in my career,' he said.
Elbe has had contact from most of the major MMA promotions and earlier this year turned down the opportunity to fight Hayuto Sakurai for DREAM. He is reluctant to leave Phuket, where he has helped develop Tiger Muay Thai into one of the best known MMA camps in the region, and feels that Martial Combat offers him the perfect platform from which to develop his fighting career, 'Martial Combat is taking good care of me financially and supplying me with a good amount of exposure, so I am happy working with them and ESPN Star Sports. Martial Combat has all of the leading fighters in South East Asia and they are bringing in tons of international talent from the USA and Australia. There are lots of exciting potential matchups,' he said.
When Elbe steps into the Martial Combat cage on July 15th he will be up against something of an unknown quantity. Fenandes is a product of the Tigers Gym in Mumbai and like Elbe is vastly experienced although his actual MMA record is a little less specific. Elbe expects the Indian to be looking for a surprise knock out, 'Alan is a very tough fighter. It has been difficult finding current fight footage on him, with most of the stuff I've seen being six to seven years old. A lot can change in seven years! He looks to go for broke on the feet and seems to have exceptional strength. Alan has nothing to lose and everything to gain in this fight against me. I'm sure he is going to be aggressive,' he said.
While Elbe's stand up game has improved steadily since basing himself in Thailand he is still primarily a ground fighter and was awarded his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt earlier this year. For Elbe this was the final step on a journey which began back in 2001, 'I started training in martial arts in 2001 while in college. I had a friend who was in to BJJ and he introduced me to the sport, and got me competing in MMA as a result. I've always been athletic and saw MMA as my opportunity to keep that competitive spirit alive. The black belt was a huge personal accomplishment. Fighters are constantly setting short and long term goals and that was a long term goal that took me a little over nine years to achieve,' he said.
In that nine years Elbe has also seen the sport of mixed martial arts change beyond all recognition, 'When I first started fighting MMA it wasn't on television and it was illegal in 27 of the 50 states in the USA. We were facing guys in different weight classes, in shows that were not sanctioned, with rules that seemed to change depending on what event and in which location you were fighting. Now it is a governed sport with unified rules, and a huge fan following.'
Elbe uses the following analogy to demonstrate the extent to which MMA has impressed itself upon the consciousness of the mainstream in the intervening years, 'When I first started training if you went to the shopping mall and saw someone wearing a Tapout shirt, you could literally walk up to them and start a conversation knowing you would probably find a mutual friend within a few sentences. Now Tapout is so mainstream you see entire families wearing Tapout shirts.'
With mainstream acceptance has come greater financial reward for MMA fighters. Elbe has already faced top class opposition in Diego Sanchez and Renato Verrisimo and both men went on to firmly establish themselves in the UFC. While a contract with this prestigious organization continues to elude Elbe he is not one to dwell on what could have been, 'I had a tough fight to get into the TUF house. DeMarques has gone on to capture two UFC fight bonuses. He got $85,000 for KO of the night at UFC 112 and $65,000 for submission of the night at UFC 107 which says a lot about his ability in the UFC. Anytime you put your heart and soul into something and you don't get what you feel you earned it is disappointing but I don't spend a lot of time thinking about how I would have done on the show, at the end of the day it was just an experience in a long career,' he said.
Elbe has put in a far longer MMA shift than most and has been a real pioneer of the sport in South East Asia. At Tiger Muay Thai he is probably better known as a trainer than a fighter and has been instrumental in introducing the first ever generation of Thai fighters to MMA. One of Elbe's protegees, Ngoo Ditty, featured on Martial Combat 1 while his MMA programme has also helped develop the careers of other Martial Combat standouts Joe Ray and Wiktor Swensson.
He has also been one of the Martial Combat commentators and Victor Cui of ESPN Star Sports was quick to pay tribute to Elbe's role in helping him create the show, Ray was one of the first people to freely and openly offer his advice and assistance. He took the time in numerous exchanges to share ideas and strategic directions for the event plus personally introduced me to several people in the MMA community. He is also a founding member on the Asian MMA Federation and has led the push for safe rules and standards,' he said.
Anyone who has trained in the MMA programme at Tiger Muay Thai will know that Elbe can teach, while anyone who watches either the ESPN or Star Sports channels in Asia will know he is equally adept as a pundit. Martial Combat 6 will be his opportunity to show that, after almost a decade of MMA, he can still fight.
Ray Elbe would like to add the following message:
'I'd like to thank the sponsors who have made this fight a good payday. Thank you to Ken Waterhouse of Waterhouse Management, Daniel of Lojak Religion, the newest clothing line coming out of Australia, Full Tilt Poker, the best online poker site, and Will Mcnamara, owner of Tiger Muay Thai. Anyone looking for up to date information on my training or day to day life should check out my blog: www.magicalray.com.'
He also shot to prominence in 2009 when he was selected from a field of several thousand fighters and offered a coveted slot on the hugely popular reality TV show 'The Ultimate Fighter'.
All the contestants have to win a fight in order to secure their spot in 'The Ultimate Fighter' house and Elbe was unfortunate to find himself up against DeMarques Johnson, one of the finest fighters to appear in nine seasons of the series. Still suffering from the effects of jet lag Elbe looked a shadow of his normal self against Johnson and was unable to take the fight to the floor and impose his impressive ground skills on his opponent.
Johnson won by first round TKO and went on to establish himself as the most outstanding fighter in the house. He was a firm favourite to win the show before being surprisingly submitted by James Wilks in the final.
Elbe was left to return to Thailand, where he runs the well regarded MMA programme at Tiger Muay Thai, and reflect on what could have been. However while he may be highly experienced he is also relatively young and will feel that his best days as a fighter are still ahead of him.
Opportunity might come knocking sooner rather than later as Elbe is headlining Martial Combat 6 in Singapore next month. He will be up against India's leading MMA fighter Alan Fenandes and will be looking to register his fifth straight professional win, 'I'm only 27 years old right now and I have already had 30+ professional MMA fights. I am in no hurry to get back onto the main stage. Joe Silva has told me that if I keep winning things will take care of themselves and that is where I am currently at in my career,' he said.
Elbe has had contact from most of the major MMA promotions and earlier this year turned down the opportunity to fight Hayuto Sakurai for DREAM. He is reluctant to leave Phuket, where he has helped develop Tiger Muay Thai into one of the best known MMA camps in the region, and feels that Martial Combat offers him the perfect platform from which to develop his fighting career, 'Martial Combat is taking good care of me financially and supplying me with a good amount of exposure, so I am happy working with them and ESPN Star Sports. Martial Combat has all of the leading fighters in South East Asia and they are bringing in tons of international talent from the USA and Australia. There are lots of exciting potential matchups,' he said.
When Elbe steps into the Martial Combat cage on July 15th he will be up against something of an unknown quantity. Fenandes is a product of the Tigers Gym in Mumbai and like Elbe is vastly experienced although his actual MMA record is a little less specific. Elbe expects the Indian to be looking for a surprise knock out, 'Alan is a very tough fighter. It has been difficult finding current fight footage on him, with most of the stuff I've seen being six to seven years old. A lot can change in seven years! He looks to go for broke on the feet and seems to have exceptional strength. Alan has nothing to lose and everything to gain in this fight against me. I'm sure he is going to be aggressive,' he said.
While Elbe's stand up game has improved steadily since basing himself in Thailand he is still primarily a ground fighter and was awarded his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt earlier this year. For Elbe this was the final step on a journey which began back in 2001, 'I started training in martial arts in 2001 while in college. I had a friend who was in to BJJ and he introduced me to the sport, and got me competing in MMA as a result. I've always been athletic and saw MMA as my opportunity to keep that competitive spirit alive. The black belt was a huge personal accomplishment. Fighters are constantly setting short and long term goals and that was a long term goal that took me a little over nine years to achieve,' he said.
In that nine years Elbe has also seen the sport of mixed martial arts change beyond all recognition, 'When I first started fighting MMA it wasn't on television and it was illegal in 27 of the 50 states in the USA. We were facing guys in different weight classes, in shows that were not sanctioned, with rules that seemed to change depending on what event and in which location you were fighting. Now it is a governed sport with unified rules, and a huge fan following.'
Elbe uses the following analogy to demonstrate the extent to which MMA has impressed itself upon the consciousness of the mainstream in the intervening years, 'When I first started training if you went to the shopping mall and saw someone wearing a Tapout shirt, you could literally walk up to them and start a conversation knowing you would probably find a mutual friend within a few sentences. Now Tapout is so mainstream you see entire families wearing Tapout shirts.'
With mainstream acceptance has come greater financial reward for MMA fighters. Elbe has already faced top class opposition in Diego Sanchez and Renato Verrisimo and both men went on to firmly establish themselves in the UFC. While a contract with this prestigious organization continues to elude Elbe he is not one to dwell on what could have been, 'I had a tough fight to get into the TUF house. DeMarques has gone on to capture two UFC fight bonuses. He got $85,000 for KO of the night at UFC 112 and $65,000 for submission of the night at UFC 107 which says a lot about his ability in the UFC. Anytime you put your heart and soul into something and you don't get what you feel you earned it is disappointing but I don't spend a lot of time thinking about how I would have done on the show, at the end of the day it was just an experience in a long career,' he said.
Elbe has put in a far longer MMA shift than most and has been a real pioneer of the sport in South East Asia. At Tiger Muay Thai he is probably better known as a trainer than a fighter and has been instrumental in introducing the first ever generation of Thai fighters to MMA. One of Elbe's protegees, Ngoo Ditty, featured on Martial Combat 1 while his MMA programme has also helped develop the careers of other Martial Combat standouts Joe Ray and Wiktor Swensson.
He has also been one of the Martial Combat commentators and Victor Cui of ESPN Star Sports was quick to pay tribute to Elbe's role in helping him create the show, Ray was one of the first people to freely and openly offer his advice and assistance. He took the time in numerous exchanges to share ideas and strategic directions for the event plus personally introduced me to several people in the MMA community. He is also a founding member on the Asian MMA Federation and has led the push for safe rules and standards,' he said.
Anyone who has trained in the MMA programme at Tiger Muay Thai will know that Elbe can teach, while anyone who watches either the ESPN or Star Sports channels in Asia will know he is equally adept as a pundit. Martial Combat 6 will be his opportunity to show that, after almost a decade of MMA, he can still fight.
Ray Elbe would like to add the following message:
'I'd like to thank the sponsors who have made this fight a good payday. Thank you to Ken Waterhouse of Waterhouse Management, Daniel of Lojak Religion, the newest clothing line coming out of Australia, Full Tilt Poker, the best online poker site, and Will Mcnamara, owner of Tiger Muay Thai. Anyone looking for up to date information on my training or day to day life should check out my blog: www.magicalray.com.'
Copyright 2010 ESPN STAR Sports - All rights reserved.