Aloha everyone, I'm originally from the Bay area in Cali which is pretty much the capital of Muay Thai on the west coast. I visit family on the islands regularly, but my job moved me here to Hawaii temporarily which led me to looking for a new gym to train at. Yes i'm a Haole boy, well i'm pake too.

The good news is i found a couple legit gyms here after going to 3 or 4 bullshit fake Muay Thai gyms, so i'm happy. I pretty much toured the whole damn island over the period of 3 months just to find good Muay Thai here. Honestly, can't wait to get back to Cali, you guys have great Boxing, MMA and BJJ, but the Muay Thai level here is lacking....

Alot of people have never been exposed to real Muay Thai here so i thought i'd give an outside perspective.

A guide for anyone who's looking for Muay Thai in hawaii:

Shitty gyms:

Tiger Muay Thai Hawaii
(the instructor is a tough guy, former karate/kickboxer turned "MOO TAI" Expert with a 1-1 amateur record, but claims he's gonna be a WBC champ and doesn't even know real Muay Thai, but is REALLY REALLY good at intimidating people with his moves and how hard his shins are and making them think he knows what he's doing, he doesn't teach technique, he just beats up on his students to feed his ego.)

They SEEM the most legit to someone who hasn't trained or fought Muay Thai before, but in reality they are just good at marketing. All the students there have really, really bad technique and are constantly sore or injured from the instructor's unnecessarily harsh conditioning. It's a huge cash operation, they charge 140 a month for fees, then they hold smoker fights and charge 30 bucks at the door, one day they'll get in trouble for such shady dealings.
Muay Thai Training, Self-Defense | Aiea, HI

Team island Thunder Muay Thai
Another hybrid karate/american kickboxing deal (kind of like the above gym). At least they are nice and mean well, but not authentic Muay Thai, far from it. It seems like everyone feels like they can use the name Muay Thai nowadays, but at least they try i guess....
Team Island Thunder Muay Thai, Honolulu, HI


Laupahoehoe school of Muay Thai
Another Mcdojo cult that claims to teach ancient Muay Thai, and denounces "ring style" Muay Thai as they call it, there's alot of meditation and life discussions, moreso than there is training. It's a very self-contained gym, they do their own thing and believe in their own legend, they don't allow you to spar with them until you've reached a certain "level", also their dues are ridiculous. It's all mysticism and legend, it's strange to say the least.
Laupahoehoe School of Muay Thai

Ringsports hawaii
See my write-up on the Master Toddy system Here


Solid gyms:

M-1 martial arts and fitness
What's Ironic about this is that Muay Thai isn't even in the name of this gym, but it's one of the best ones on the island. They aren't local, they are from San francisco. They are a Fairtex affiliate and have trained in Thailand and have a good amount of ring experience. Good pad holding, solid technical work and clinching.

M-1 Martial Arts & Fitness

HMC kickboxing
It's more of a Dutch style kickboxing & MMA gym, but it's better than any of the above "shitty" gyms if you want to learn good boxing & put hands together with kicks. The coach is funny, has trained some great K-1 & MMA fighters like Maurice smith, matt hume, josh barnett etc. and knows alot of things about striking, especially boxing. These guys are serious, they have a solid stable of serious MMA fighters and kickboxers that win far more than they lose, no one likes to fight these guys.

www.facebook.com/pages/TEAM-HMC-Hawaii-M...-Center/392934667576

Mad tiger Muay Thai
A new start up gym. They run out of a BJJ school, the instructor has been to Thailand twice, trained at a real camp, fought there as well. Lots of young up and coming talent. The school runs really free-form like a Thai gym with lots of padwork and clinching. Trained with them a couple times very friendly guys.

Mad Tiger Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Let me know about any other Muay Thai gyms on this island and i'll visit and review it!

Thanks guys.

hey waikru101, in much of your past posts you sure do talk alot about HMC....... haha !!!! then u come on this thread to highlight there gym but in a humble way!! seems to me that gym of the year sure does mean a lot to you guyz..................................

AND MUAI THAI IS BORING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Waikru101,

Wow! Much hating from you so that you can pump up your friends at the other Muay Thai Gyms. Good one...hahaha! lol

To each his own. Muay Thai is fun for me to watch, especially the kind straight from Thailand. Gotta understand the clinch.

They're not my close friends, i don't gain anything from writing this thing, most of these gyms only seen me come once or twice cause i'm busy with work, i'm just stating my opinion and comparing these gyms to the best gyms in the Mainland and Thailand.

I'm not a regular at any of these gyms except maybe HMC, i've visited them several times on my vacations here to hawaii to train MMA. Now i'm into Muay Thai so that's why i made this thread to help people make an informed decision.

Just curious, whats your background? Have you trained in Thailand, do you train for competition, or rec? Do you train at the Fairtex in Frisco where Alex Gong was (RIP)?
I've checked out 3 of those places, but I'll keep my opinion to myself. Every place was friendly. Every place has different mentalities on training (Sparring, conditioning, technique, etc). I do like to hear other people's input.
I've been curious to check out a MT place that has day classes that is not affiliated with an MMA team. Never heard of M-1?
I got a friend that trains at HMC, very technical, and his clinch is "NASTY!"

Wow everything you said
is pretty much exzactly what i tell people all the time
i am also from the bay area as well

mahalo

I normally lurk around these forums, but this thread has caused me to come out of "hiding" and make 1 account.

All i can say is WOW...strong opinions from the thread-starter, u talking like u wanna scrap brah, like throw down? we can go!(LOL just kidding), but serious tho, i wouldn't use a nasty word like shitty to describe a gym, at least not in public haha.

I've trained at Tiger for a several months and i can confirm a few of the things you said...but i believe they have their own style and it's whatever....some people seem to like it cause theres lots of conditioning....KRU Doug is an interesting character and rubs some people the wrong way, but I think (i hope) he means well...

I moved on from that gym because i felt like i wasn't learning enough and it was getting boring....I can't comment on the WBC thing or the gym smokers...i don't have any idea how all that works. Oh and for the sake of accuracy KRU Doug is 2-1 in amateur Muay Thai fights and was planning on going pro last time i asked.

I disagree with some stuff they do, but i hope they're doing ok & I wish them well....

By the way, how's the fight gyms up there in Cali???? I've always wanted to go hahahaha

Oh and, WHO ARE YOU??? Did you really visit Mad Tiger? & When???

Brah u sure you came by Mad tiger??? If u came i'm pretty sure i'd remember. Or did u just watch? Or did you just read the website? cause you basically just repeated what the instructor bio said on the website lol.

Either way, Whoever u are, good reviews.

Rjpowell808 wrote:
Brah u sure you came by Mad tiger??? If u came i'm pretty sure i'd remember. Or did u just watch? Or did you just read the website? cause you basically just repeated what the instructor bio said on the website lol.

Either way, Whoever u are, good reviews.

Haterade or what? hahahahahaha! LOL

Lol @Rj Powell I know who this is he came by once or twice at least he said some Positive stuff about MTA