John Wayne Parr opened up about his entertaining feud with a fellow Muay Thai star on The Contender: Asia.
In his incredible career, the Australian has made so many memories, from fighting at Lumpinee Stadium to winning ten world titles. Parr even sparred Joe Rogan during a trip to the US.
However, one of his wildest experiences was starring on a reality TV show, in which he became embroiled in a rivalry with a fellow contestant.
From the word go, the pair didn’t see eye-to-eye, with the warriors eventually having to settle their differences inside the ring.
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John Wayne Parr tells crazy behind-the-scenes story from The Contender: Asia
Blessed with charisma, powerful hands, and an unshakable fighting spirit, John Wayne Parr captured the hearts of Muay Thai fans around the globe, making him an obvious choice to captain The Tiger Kings.
Upon flying out to film the show, ‘The Gunslinger’ crossed paths with the leader of The Wild Boars, Rafik Bakkouri, and from the word go, the athletes did not get on, with the Aussie taking issue with the Frenchman’s behavior.
In an exclusive interview with Bloody Elbow, the legend reminisced: “We had the reality TV show, we shot 15 episodes. We had to arrive a week early to introduce ourselves to the cameras and get accustomed to each other.
“From the very first day, Rafik was this superstar. There was one occasion where we had to catch a van together to go to a photoshoot, and he just rudely empties the CD player, puts his own CD on, turns the music up so nobody can hear anything — just very obnoxious.
“I knew straight away I wanted to fight that bloke. The day that we won the challenge, in the morning, Dzhabar [Askerov] and Rafik got into a bit of a disagreement and got into a bit of a fight, so Dzhabar wanted to fight him so bad.
“But I took it as my responsibility to hopefully kick him out of the house and move forward from there. Luckily, I was able to.
“The only thing was I fought him too angrily, if I was more calm, I think I could’ve done a lot more damage and could’ve possibly stopped him, but because I fought out of pure anger, I was making silly mistakes, just too rushed. It was a very important lesson learned.”
While Parr didn’t win the competition, he made it all the way to the final, in what was yet another massive achievement in his career.
John Wayne Parr calls out one of the greatest fighters of all time for a spar
Having cemented his status as one of the best Muay Thai practitioners to have ever lived, Parr has retired from the sport with nothing left to prove.
However, his love for the art of eight limbs is as prevalent as ever, with the 48-year-old training the stars of the future at the Boonchu Gym in Queensland, Australia.
Wanting to deliver something truly special for his students, the gifted striker has a massive plan up his sleeve.
With a love of Muay Thai coursing through his veins, Parr called out a combat sports icon for a spar.