Advanced Obituary

Phil Nurse, stand up trainer to Welterweight UFC Champion Belt holder Georges St. Pierre, died _____________________________________ in ____­­­­­­­­_______________. He taught Muay Thai Kickboxing which is the national sport of Thailand, also known as The Science of Eight Limbs, in which two fighters strategically use their fists, knees, shins, and elbows to crush through their opponents. _______________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
At the WAT gym, WAT directly translates to temple, Mr. Nurse trained the now former welterweight UFC Champion Belt holder Georges St. Pierre, who was knocked out by the lucky and well prepared Matt Serra. Georges St. Pierre had been training with Mr. Nurse in order to broaden his horizons from the very brutal stand up martial art of Kyokoshin, to the equally brutal martial art of Muay Thai. Mr. Nurse was well known for training Champion fighters in all categories in Muay Thai to the extent of several professional Mixed Martial Art fighters including Ray Longo, Georges St. Pierre and Ali the Pride of Egypt.
But his pride is in training his professional Muay Thai Fighters including Sean Hines, Derrick Riddick, Caleb Archer, Stanley Pradel, Luke L., Joe Sampieri, Jamie Gold, and Mike McKee who all fought under the WAT, Nurse’s world-renowned gym. Caleb Archer holds the welterweight Northwestern National Belt, along with a WKA National Championship Belt. Sean Hines won the Middleweight International Professional Championship Muay Thai Belt.
“Phil was the first person to ever train me, I would not be a champion if it wasn’t for him. He taught me how to use his unorthodox techniques and brought me to my first championship belt” said Stanley Pradel, senior student and professional Thai Boxer as he reminisced the unique bond between a fighter and his trainer. “Although he no longer competes he is still a champion, his legacy lives on through us” said Caleb Archer, an actor turned Thai Boxer. He met Nurse at the age of nine, when Nurse came backstage to congratulate him on his performance as Simba in the Broadway production of “The Lion King.” Caleb soon began his training, and started competing at the age of eleven. He is now preparing for his first UFC fight, if he fights on schedule he will be the youngest competitor to ever compete in the UFC. He also stated “I’m so happy I met Phil, my life wouldn’t be what it is if it weren’t for him leaving England and teaching here.”
After breaking his arm in a championship bout, unable to work and unable to fight, Nurse came to New York City to “find himself”. The manager at Gleason’s gym in Brooklyn liked what he saw Nurse doing on a bag. It was something they had never seen before. So he allowed Phil to begin teaching classes in Muay Thai. He moved on with a small group of fighters to World Gym, and later to Crunch Gym. Soon enough he was able to open his own gym, where his fighters could compete under the name WAT. It quickly became a lucrative business that flourished from a small group of fighters that he trained intensely, later becoming his professional fighters.
Although having retired several years ago because of the broken arm, Phil Nurse is a living legend in England, having defeated every champion in several weight divisions.
Nurse won his first tournament in 1981 where he defeated a young Russian man in the second round of the finals receiving the British Thai Boxing Championship lightweight belt. He received national recognition for this having been his very first tournament style competition. He continued competing regularly in the British Thai Boxing Championships moving up in the weight classes and winning the lightweight, light welterweight, and welterweight championship belts over the course of several years. When competing in the Sitnarong International Muay Thai Association championship he came across a fighter by the name of Adam Guild, who in Nurse’s opinion gave him the best five rounds of his life. Within the first two minutes of the first round both fighters had shed blood. And by the end of the third round both fighters were limping to the center of the ring. At the end of the bout, Nurse had won on points, but had felt as if he were defeated when was in recovery for about six months. In 1991 he won the Sitnarong International Muay Thai Association Best British and European Champion and Fighter 1981-1991 belt. Which became his most prized and valuable possession.
Phil Nurse began his Muay Thai training at the age of seventeen in England. His trainer Master Sken “helped [him] to develop from a scared young boy to a championship fighter.” During the first few years of training, Nurse admired a young fighter by the name of Vinny, a young undefeated champion on his way to Muay Thai greatness. Vinny, had won his first five fights and Nurse remembers watching every one of them in awe of this young man. Master Sken had set up Nurse’s second fight to be against Vinny without telling him until he was ready in the ring. Then reassured Nurse that he wouldn’t, put him up to fight if he didn’t think he could win. Nurse now uses those same words to inspire his fighters. He ended up losing that fight on points, but about a year later fought Vinny again and won.
As a young boy, Nurse’s parents did not know what to expect from the lazy small figured young man. They knew he was intelligent but he did not do very well in school since he would leave school early every day to play soccer. His parents would have thought him to become a famous soccer player because he was very talented as a young man. At the age of sixteen he began a vocational school to become a mechanic, which he used as his profession throughout his Thai Boxing career before coming to New York. He worked at an auto repair shop directly across the street from the gym where he began his training. After a few months of Thai Boxing he fell in love with the sport and left soccer for his playtime.
Phil Nurse was born on April 22, 1961. Was unmarried and fathered no children because he wanted to live as a bachelor until the day he died, although his love interest Crystal Vagnier acted as his wife and kept his bachelor tendencies under tight wraps. Nurse’s eldest brother’s son graduated from the University of Cambridge having studied medicine and continues his graduate studies there. Nurse’s older sister died in a car accident, and he and his parents cared for the two daughters she left behind for several years.
Phil Nurse the Muay Thai champion, the trainer of champions in the Science of Eight Limbs, left a significant mark in the world of martial arts. Not only having mastered Muay Thai but being one of the first to bring it to the United States. But having the special ability to help others develop their talents and become champions.