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Eric Haycraft, the driving force behind Real
Fighters Gym in Kentucky, began his martial arts
career as a teenager in Kung Fu. When he hit the
American Kickboxing schools, however, he was in
for a rude awakening: “I got my butt kicked,” he
frankly admits. So Eric switched to Full Contact
Kickboxing and had two fights. After that, he was
hooked, collecting fight videos. He was enthralled
by fighters such as Dekkers, with whom he got into
contact in 1994. He loved the Dutch style of
training, feeling that it was better suited to the
Western lifestyles, where fighters have only their
evenings free, with days being dedicated to school
or work.
There was a surge in the early 1990s, and Eric
became a WKA State Representative in order to make
the WKA grow. He also connected with Duke Roufus and
fought on his cards. During the lull in the mid
‘90s, Haycraft took the next step: coaching. About
midway through his own fight career, around 2000,
Eric began coaching other fighters, planting the
seeds of what is today the highly successful Team
Haycraft.
Quite the multitasker, Eric also picked up
journalism, or, as he tells it, journalism picked
him. Kickboxing Ring Depot, a contact sports
magazine, needed a European connection, and Eric had
it to offer. From then on, fighting journalism
boomed for him, with many other international
magazines and websites contacting him to write for
them. Always humble, Eric says of his journalism,
“They didn’t pick me because I’m a good writer—they
picked me because I know the sport.”
Haycraft notes that the tournaments he used to
cover were now being won by his fighters. His
fighters are known for traveling everywhere to
fight. Louisville (Kentucky in general) didn’t prove
the most fertile fighting ground for Team Haycraft,
so his fighters travel as far as Amsterdam, Spain
and Surinam to compete. At Worlds, we got a glance
at Eric’s and his fighter Lindsay Scheer’s
passports, littered with stamps. Members of Team
Haycraft were the only ones who didn’t bother
changing Euros for dollars, as they’d be heading out
again in a few weeks.
Currently, Team Haycraft has about twenty
fighters. Though there are too many to cover fully,
most notably there is Lindsay Scheer, current WKA
World Champion in K-1 at -60 kg, with a record of
14-5. She was also the IKF silver medalist in 2009,
the 2007 WKA North American Champion, the 2007 USKA
Champion, and the 2007 Southeastern Shido Muay Thai
Champion. Scott Sawade is another of Team Haycraft’s
stars. Though only just turned nineteen, Scott has
an impressive record of 10-5 and holds titles such
as WKA North American Champion for 2009, WKA USA
National Team Member and bronze medal winner in
2009, 2008 and 2007 TBA Champion, and 2007 WKA North
American Champion. Representing Team Haycraft in
professional MMA is Brent Weedman, who fights at 170
and has a record of 20-5-1. He holds a number of
titles—“almost every regional title there is,” says
coach Haycraft—and has fought UFC veterans. He also
runs the MMA side of Team Haycraft and teaches
submission grappling, takedowns, takedown defense,
and has been with Haycraft since 2006.
Eric himself holds an amateur WKA Regional title
and a professional ISKA Regional title, has trained
in Thailand and Holland (yearly since 1994), and
currently trains world champions and professional
fighters. In addition, he is a journalist and a Muay
Thai book consultant. He has been training Muay Thai
for seventeen years and had his fighting career from
1993 to 2003. He brings Dutch fighters over to help
improve his fight team and has been under Kru
Sakasem for three years.
Haycraft describes the training of his fighters
as comprehensive. In a typical week, Team Haycraft
fighters have two technical days of Dutch-style
partner drills, two sparring and clinchwork days,
two padwork days, and lots of running. Cardio
consists of three miles of running, five
three-minute rounds of ropework, and then class,
followed by calisthenics. On Sundays, Team Haycraft
really has fun, with two hours of 100 yard sprints
with parachutes. “My team has awesome cardio,” Eric
states, and Scheer and Sawade’s performance at
Worlds this year certainly showed the truth in this.
Real Fighters are known for a number of things.
The first is the heavy Dutch influence on their Muay
Thai, due to Eric’s Dutch training and his
invitation to Dutch fighters into his gym. The
second is their well-roundedness. If a fighter wants
to compete in MMA, he or she must first do a couple
of Thai fights and grappling tournaments to become
strong in each of MMA’s components before stepping
into the cage. Finally, Haycraft says of his team:
“Our fighters may not win every time, but they never
get beat up, and they never get tired.”
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