Muay Thai in Northern California

What Happened to Muay Thai in Northern California?
by Kru Edge Brown
Published in Vincit Magazine Oct/Nov 2009 issue

When I first came to America from England I was shocked at how few Muay Thai events were taking place in the country. Coming from Europe, where you could fight every week at events pulling in crowds of 10-15 thousand people, it was a surprise to me to see so few events in the U.S., and to add to my surprise these U.S. events only drew in crowds of one to three thousand people.

MUAY THAI is a great spectator sport that is very exciting to watch live, people in Europe and Asia love the sport so why isn’t it popular in America? People in America love MMA as is evident by the crowds seen at MMA events and the PPV numbers that MMA puts up, so why not Muay Thai? Stand up is a big part of MMA so you would think the fan base that loves MMA would also like Muay Thai? I think that they do but they do not attend Muay Thai events and unfortunately I can understand why.

BEFORE AN MMA event the talk around the water cooler is “who do you think will win the upcoming fight”? Everyone has their point of view and reason for picking the fighter they think will win. The reason that these conversations take place is because these fights are competitive and both fighters have an equal chance of winning. This is not the case in Muay Thai fights I have been to in Northern California, most of the fights are mismatched, one sided and in fact a lot of coaches won’t event put their fighter in unless he is sure that his fighter will win. The fight is more about the coaches and their reputations, than it is about the fighters or the sport.

ALSO IN MMA there is one champion per weight division and the contenders work their way up the ranks until they get the chance to fight for a title, everyone knows who the champion is and the title belt has true meaning. This is the same for Muay Thai in Europe where there are two major organizations and if you win one of the title belts it has true meaning.

I laugh when I see Muay Thai fight posters and you have 20 people most of them amateurs and they all have title belts and then you go to the event and then find out some of these so called “champions” have had only 3 fights! When I go to see a “champion” fight I expect to see a seasoned veteran fighter that is experienced in the art of Muay Thai and not a novice fighter still learning the sport. A championship should be earned by hard work, dedication and wins over the best athletes in the sport and not given out as a promotional tool as has been the case in Northern California. MMA has learned this lesson well and all the contenders have to work their way up the ranks in order to fight the champion and if they do win the title they have are well respected by the public as an experienced champion and even if they lose they are still respected and so is the sport. This is also the case for Muay Thai in Europe and Asia where like MMA you are even held in high regard even if you are only a contender for Championship!

THE FAIRTEX (USMF's WAR OF THE HEROES) promoted event which I went to recently was a breath of fresh air for events in Northern California and hopefully we can see more events like this. On the east coast they are now promoting very good Muay Thai events that you see well matched fights with the coaches and fighters taking risks and having difficult fights, this makes the fighters improve and they get to the point that they can compete with the best, including the European and Asian Muay Thai fighters.

I personally will be taking some fighters the USA amateur championships in Richmond, Virginia in June, my fighter will be facing some of the top amateurs in the country we may or may not win, but the fighters will gain valuable experience that will help them in future events. I suggest other gyms in Northern California to do the same so that we can improve Muay Thai and who knows, one day we may even compete with MMA as the top martial arts sports.