Tiger Muay Thai is a Thai mixed martial arts and muay thai training facility located in Phuket, Thailand. It has several prominent competitors such as UFC champions Petr Yan, Alexander Volkanovski and Valentina Shevchenko.
William McNamara – an American teaching English in Darasamuth Catholic School – had previously owned a gym in Phuket consisting of only one ring to serve his muay thai training purposes.[1] The gym gained popularity, so with the help of investors, he founded Tiger Muay Thai in remarkably larger premises in 2003.[2] Subsequently, mixed martial arts program was added to the repertoire by McNamara.[3]
Since 2013, the gym has been arranging annual Fight Team tryouts where the best applicants receive scholarships to mixed martial arts and muay thai programs.[4] Among the tryout winners are Kai Kara-France, Dan Hooker, Dave Leduc, Loma Lookboonmee and Casey O'Neill.[5]
In 2015, the gym was sold to Thai businessmen and one of them – Viwat Sakulrat – became the managing director of the gym. It has continued to grow and is one of the world's most prominent muay thai gyms.
In July 2021, MMA coaches George and Frank Hickman announced they were leaving the team after an amicable split.[6] In April 2022, they opened their own gym called Bangtao Muay Thai & MMA which trained UFC champions such as Alexander Volkanovski, Jiří Procházka and Zhang Weili.[7]
While the original Tiger Muay Thai in Chalong, Phuket remains the headquarters, they opened a new facility to San Sai District, Chiang Mai in 2013.[8]
In 2019, they opened Tiger Muay Thai Beachside in Chalong.[9]
In 2023, Tiger Muay Thai is set to open a new location in Bali, Indonesia.[10]
UFC Featherweight Champion