Muay Thai lures champions

A small gym in Phuket has become a hub of successful MMA fighters

Hong Kong: Lightweight contender Rafael Fiziev steps into the cage in Las Vegas this weekend hoping to be the latest fighter to begin a journey to UFC glory from a production line of MMA champions on an island in Thailand.

Tiger Muay Thai gym on the southern resort island of Phuket was, before the coronavirus pandemic, attracting fighters from all over the globe lured by world-class training, an idyllic tropical beach lifestyle and a growing reputation.

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It has produced a string of fighters progressing into the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the globe’s biggest mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion, with several going on to become world champions.

“Before lockdown we were seeing many fighters from Tiger Muay Thai sign with the UFC. It was like a wave,” said Fiziev, who is from Kyrgyzstan and has an MMA record of eight wins with just one defeat.

MMA was one of the first sports to restart after the pandemic shutdown, with UFC staging events in bio-secure bubbles since May and Asia’s One Championship welcoming back limited crowds in Singapore since the end of October.

Though quarantine and travel restrictions have hit international fighters hard, the success of UFC champions who use Tiger Muay Thai for pre-fight camps, such as bantamweight Petr Yan of Russia and Kyrgyzstan’s fearsome flyweight Valentina Shevchenko, is continuing to inspire the next generation.

“The fighters we have coming through help to breed success. Seeing them train inspires everyone,” said George Hickman, MMA coach at Tiger Muay Thai.”You can watch someone like Petr work on his clinch game with the Muay Thai fighters, then you can see that play out in his fights.

Thailand’s first UFC star, strawweight Loma Lookboonmee, has also caused an explosion of interest in MMA in her home country, encouraging fighters to make the move from traditional forms of combat such as kickboxing or Muay Thai.