Students at a Muay Thai seminar hosted by Eight Days Martial Arts in Whitehorse got a “Bang” for their buck recently. 

MMA fighter Jesse Boldt ran the seminar, which featured the Bang Muay Thai fighting style and took place last weekend. 

In Bang, a blend of elbows and knees is used.

Boldt, from Saskatoon, started with Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu and eventually got into amateur and professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). He is listed as having a 4-2 won-loss record in pro MMA. 

“I did one day of karate. I did the splits and my back end ripped and I ran and never came back. It was traumatizing.”

“I had a little bit of wrestling, Jiu Jitsu, but mostly Muay Thai. The last 10 years I really did a deep dive into Bang Muay Thai, specifically.” 

Boldt ended up with a black belt. 

“I was training religiously six times a week, two times a day.” 

The term ‘Bang’ comes from Sensei Duane Ludwig, whose nickname is Bang.

“He’s kind of like the commander-in-chief; Master Splinter we sometimes call him,” related Boldt. 

Ludwig lives in Colorado. 

“I’ve travelled to him a few times,” said Boldt. “He’s the one that gave me my black belt and most of my other belts.” 

Ludwig has also traveled to Saskatoon to train Boldt and other fighters. 

Bang is like a fusion of Mauy Thai and K-1 Kickboxing. 

“He kind of blended them together,” explained Boldt. 

Boldt has been teaching full time for about six years. 

Regarding the seminar, Boldt said he was trying to teach the students, “as much as I could in a short amount of time.

“The students, it’s their job to grasp some of it and to apply it.” 

Boldt said he attended one of kickboxer Liam “The Hitman” Harrison’s seminars. 

“He taught probably 30 techniques. I remember two of them. Because my style is different from his. And he’s one of the best in the world.”

Harrison is short and compact, whereas Boldt stands 6’1″. 

“But it was my job as a student to try to take the good, leave the bad, and apply what was useful to me.”

“That’s what I was hoping I could do today (Saturday) with these guys,” he added. 

Boldt pointed out that there are all kinds of different body types and everyone has their own style. 

“If they can grab one thing that I’m teaching and apply it, my job is done.” 

Boldt added he was hoping to bring a different perspective to the Eight Days athletes. 

“It’s kind of nice to have a different mind in the gym teaching, and it can be inspiring for the students to see a different style.” 

Eight Days head instructor Robert (Bobby) Woodman said the Muay Thai session was the first one he’s had in his gym. 

“He (Boldt) came highly recommended from one of my students here. I’ve always liked the Bang system and I’ve studied it myself, so why not have a black belt come up?” 

Woodman said he was “blown away” by the seminar. 

“More than I was expecting, which is great. I greatly appreciate everybody that showed up.” 

Woodman said the group of more than 20 people included athletes from other Whitehorse gyms.

“It was nice to have new blood, new energy in the gym.” 

As for what was accomplished, Woodman said, “Lots of learning … even I took something away from this.” 

Woodman echoed Boldt’s thoughts about adding “one thing to your game” at the Muay Thai session. 

He said he was planning on revisiting what they’d learned in the sessions. 

Basic techniques were taught Saturday, with more advanced ones Sunday. 

Woodman added he was grateful to Boldt for coming to the Yukon and to Aparna Verma of Muay Thai Yukon. 

“She’s (Verma) the one that really put this all together.” 

Verma said they were able to get funding from the City of Whitehorse to hold the seminar. 

“It’s fun to participate in the seminar and learn a different style of Muay Thai. I just love it. It’s awesome to be able to bring in someone from Outside that can bring a different perspective to what we do here.” 

Verma mentioned that some of the athletes attending the seminar came in from the communities. 

“A lot of people who aren’t doing classes regularly but have done it in the past were able to come out for the seminars, so it was a lot of fun.

“We’re really grateful that the city decided to give us funding so we could host this seminar.” 

Verma said she thought everybody was having a good time at the seminar. 

“Everybody was learning a lot and I’m excited to see everyone come back tomorrow.” 

Verma said she learned a lot at Saturday’s session. 

“It’s always good to have somebody who sees your technique. When you’re training regularly, you get a little complacent. You know the moves that you like to do and the things that work for you and you maybe don’t always embrace something different.”

“I really liked Sensei Jesse’s idea of ‘pick something that works for you’ and I had a couple of moves today that I thought, ‘these work for me’ and I’ll maybe focus on them.” 

“I may not get everything, but the couple I did get, I really enjoy, so I’m going to work on those.”