Contender Asia Qualifying dates (22 Fighters)

November

Hong Kong 06

Cape Town 12

Madrid 14

Zurich 23

London 30

December

Bangkok 05

Germany 13

Moscow 19

January

Qatar 04

Malaysia 10

Singapore 17

Dates for US and Middle east countries coming soon. Official press conference for season two will be in Kuala Lumpur Mid of November. Filming: February 4th, 2009 to March 9th 2009. Location : On an island in the state of Trengganu.

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Markus Oberg from Sweden = first fighter to qualify beating Dzhabar at Sweden qualifiers.

Any Muay Thai TFers or possible contenders know where Thai fighters stand on this... would love to see Yodsaenklai defending his title and throw in Buakaw from K1 (for a great fight with Yod) and Malaipet (now his gyms gone bust in CA)... Naruepol should get in again he deserves another chance after his **** luck last season... anymore Fairtex fighters looking a chance???

From last season would love to see Dzhabar back aswell as JWP. Rafik would be good for another beating but i'm sure he's wiser after JWP, Dzhabar and Yod beat him since last season.

Would love to see Andy Sawyer in to fight Yod under Muay Thai rules (and get beat, really don't like him) Masato and a few others...

Sorry we are all beer drinkers here,lol

The contender was great...

My personal favourites were Dzhabar for his sheer grit and determination and Yodsaenklai for his mild-mannered, graceful Muay-Thai style.

I enjoyed contender Muay-Thai immensely and I am really looking forward to season 2.

I love the Contender !! Probably the only thing /TV show besides drinking that my old pa and I can sit together without yelling !!!

BJ - Beer and Muay Thai is great.. normally by the end of it tho I have my gloves on and am going dig for dig with my mate... drunken banter

dannyboy - Same Dzhabar and Yodsaenklai by a mile, i throw in John Wayne Parr for the farang speaking Thai

Nave - No chance with my dad, we have FC Barcelona instead

I'm missing Mr.Stephan fox ..... lol glad will see him on tv soon555

It was a fun show except for a few small things:

- some of the fighters were high-level pro's (Yodsenkrai) at the best of their lives, while others were just upcoming talents with several years to go before they could really make a difference. So why put them in the ring together? it was clear from the beginning who would win the show. So just make it for upcoming fighters to give them a chance, dont make it easy money for a professional.

- who invited the d*ckhead trainer who acted like he knew everything but never trained a world champion or was one (for a normal organisation, not the bogus American ones).

- who ever came with the clever idea to put 2 figthers of the same camp in the competition so when they had to fight eachother the fight was so fake it made me crack up?

- what were the silly small competitions all about? It was just a cheap nockoff of the Ultimate figther and other show with the boxers.

- who came up with the idea of putting a sound-tape under the fight so it was like the audience was really enthusiast until heard a loud "yeaaaaah" from the audience while every face visible in the background spelled "bored"?

half_life - does he do it for the ladies?? Think he was world champ many years back (b4 my time)... I'm more of a Jaymee Ong fan

Eric468 -

1. Heard they were talking about going for just up and coming talents. Also heard that there could be Yod vs JWP teams i.e. they both pick fighters to put against each other. Another JWP Yod fight would bore me tho..

Personally I am happy with the big players in and want to see more.. would love them to be able to pry into the K-1 Max talents, I could see any 1 of Buakaw, Masato or Andy Sawyer beating Yod (Andy already beat him under K1 scoring but can he take the elbows). Think it would need more money to get K-1 interested tho.. Because there is qualifying etc this time (not sure about last time) it means the best talent will come through, I think Dhzabar was an example of "up and coming" going near all the way. In the end though its hard seeing Yod losing...

2. Rumours of trying to get Jean Claude Van Damme for season 2 (like Stallone in the original).. I would love it if they got Steven Seagal for it though haha would be soo f'ing funny

3. Yeah did ruin it a bit but thats down to **** luck really...

4. More of a reality TV show.. shows personalities and team work etc.. without it it would just be Muay Thai but again it can effect the fights i.e. Rafik vs JWP and Zick Zack with his injury.. it all adds to the final outcome / competition

5. Never noticed that b4 will keep an eye out next time....

Making it more a reality show could make it better. But then they would have to follow the people more up close also, not just the small competetion and nothing about what they do during normal days.

I always like "The Ultimate Fighter" a lot because of that. After a season you knew the fighters a lot better; their caracters and how they react to situations like harsh training and irritating people living with them. So you started to like some of them, and hoped others would loose. Therefore the fights became more interesting.

But not sure of it would be smart to put Yodsenkrai in there again. The poor guy didnt speak a word of English and he just smiled when people talked to him thinking it was the right thing to do and hoping he had the right facial expression when he will hear the translation later on.

And if they really want a bad-ass host, they should ask Chuck Norris!

Haha howed I not think of Chuck Norris.... perfect

He's the reason I supported Huckabee for US president:

Never thought of the language barrier before... you can't have a muay thai show without Thai fighters and the only farang fighter I know that can speak decent Thai is JWP.. he may have to make another appearance and Yod should show to defend his title (praying... i just love watching him fight)

I know Yod fights this Tuesday in Hong Kong against Vuyisile Colossa no idea how to watch it tho

alvish - i have been worked for World Muaythai Council also in Contender Asia season1. So i can said Mr.Fox was my boss. Jaymee Ong is ok but she so crazy.