Thai Boxing Association of the U.S.A. 

Frequently Asked Questions

This is perhaps the most common inquiry.  We are working on a list of schools.  The task of documenting every Muay Thai school in the world or even just the U.S.A. is a daunting task, so please bear with us.

Yes, there are several sites on the Internet that feature Thai Boxing equipment.  The following site is run by two of Ajarn Chai's sisters, Tic & Tac Sirisute, who also run Boxing Works: http://tt-thaiboxing.com/

Why don't you send us some?  We'll put it up and give you all the credit.  8^)  

Yes, the Thai Boxing Association of the U.S.A. was founded by Ajarn Surachai "Chai" Sirisute, who has made it his life's mission for more than 30 years to spread Muay Thai around the world.  Ajarn Chai first established a strong presence in the United States, where he lives with his family.  Ajarn Chai also travels around the world teaching seminars to thousands of dedicated students and has established Thai Boxing Assocations in more than 13 countries:  [Draft pending Ajarn's return to the U.S.]

    Country                                            President                    How to contact them
    Australia                                          Brad Casey                blcasey@optusnet.com.au

    Canada                                            Bob Carver                  carverb@on.aibn.com
    Germany                                          Ralf                            webmaster@kenpokan.de
    Mexico                                             Julio Gamboa              thaichampjg@hotmail.com
    New Zealand                                     Barry Page                 xtr592706@xtra.co.nz
    Spain                                               Jose Fragu                  josefraguas@verizon.net
    United Kingdom                                Ewen Campbell           ewen@compuserve.com
    United States of America                   Surachai Sirisute
    Argentina
    Belgium
    India
    Italy
    Switzerland

Contact David Rogers:  E-mail address is kalimuay@fgi.net .  

The TBA Newsletter is the journal of the Thai Boxing Association.  It is a publication distributed to members of the Thai Boxing Association on a non-profit basis.  It features in-depth coverage of Muay Thai technique, profiles of Muay Thai fighters, students and teachers, information on upcoming fights/seminars/camps and advice on training and/or teaching Muay Thai.  David Rogers (kalimuay@fgi.net) is the Editor-in-Chief.  There is also a web page on the TBA Newsletter that gives interested people a flavor of what appears in print.  However, the TBA Newsletter web page does not have as much detail as the version that appears in print.  So, join the Association and get the whole thing!

• Newsletter, called the TBA Newsletter
• Passport, which maintains a record of your training, rank and fighting experience in Muay Thai
• Discounts on equipment, seminars and events
• Coming soon will be a members only section to the TBA web page.  In the members only section we are going to document the structure of the art, combinations and training methods in both text and motion video.  

Nope.  Founded in 1968 the Thai Boxing Association of the U.S.A. was established by Ajarn Surachai Sirisute to promote Muay Thai.  The TBA-USA is the oldest Muay Thai organization within the U.S., but there are other Muay Thai instructors and groups.  The TBA-USA makes no attempt to speak for, regulate, govern or standardize the acts of these individuals and groups, nor does it advocate that any governmental organization or proxy should do the same.  Previous attempts at establishing governing commissions to regulate the content or curriculum of a martial art in the United States have proven to be counterproductive.  Problems that have ocurred in this area include:

• One Muay Thai organization attempting to dictate that all other Muay Thai instructors be certified and tested under their organization.  
• Large (usually Korean and Japanese) school owners establishing certification criteria that specifically favor--guess what--large school owners.  (Several U.S. states)

However, the TBA USA strongly supports the regulation of boxing and Muay Thai competitions in order to provide for the safety of its fighters and fairness in competitive bouts and ranking systems.  Within the TBA we have endeavored to establish a rigorous set of standards that ensure that any certified TBA instructor will be of the highest quality.

Yes, definitely, but they can be a challenge to obtain.  The belts are usually large and brightly colored, and Thai fighters are very proud of them and display them for pictures.  International boxing belts include ISKA, USMTA, IMTA championship belts.  In Thailand a stadium champion is considered similar to a title belt with the most coveted belts being those of the large Bangkok stadia of Rajdamnern and Lumpinee.

Bunkerd Faphimai, one of Thailand's most 
humble champions with over 350 professional fights
displays one of his title belts.

Nope.  Jeet Kune Do is a conceptual process conceived by Bruce Lee in 1967 that grew out of his personal fighting method of Jun Fan Gung Fu.  Muay Thai pre-dates the art of Jeet Kune Do by hundreds of years.  The precise dates of the origin of Muay Thai are shrouded in history (due to the destruction of records when the Burmese sacked and burned the ancient Siamese capital of Ayuttaya in 1767) but probably date from the first millennium AD.  Bruce Lee was influenced by Thai Boxing as well as western fencing, Savate, Chinese boxing and filipino boxing.  Dan Inosanto has encouraged students of Jeet Kune Do to cross train in Muay Thai, and some of these students are excellent Muay Thai fighters in their own right.

Dan Inosanto explains this well in his article posted on this site.  Interview with Dan Inosanto.  During that interview Dan Inosanto dug out some hand-written notes by Bruce Lee from the 1960s in which Lee was analyzing Muay Thai.  Inosanto pointed out that Lee's analysis, while ahead of its time, was limited because of Lee's brief exposure to Muay Thai.  

Dan Inosanto doing a Wu Sao

To be sure, Dan Inosanto and Ajarn Chai Sirisute are the best of friends and help each other personally as well as professionally.  Both men work together and encourage their students to cross-train both--as well as other--martial arts.  But to say that either art is subsumed by or incorporated into the other--that is incorrect.  

In a word, no.  Not without quite a bit of information on your goals, fitness level, injuries/health issues, abilities and current skill level.  We can, however, give interested students examples of Muay Thai workouts that work for other people.  Bear in mind, however, that training routines need to change--perhaps every two weeks--as you adapt to higher skill and fitness levels.  As it turns out your body is quite stingy with respect to the amount of fitness that it provides to adapt to a given workout.  Thus if you stick with one specific workout for a long time you will eventually experience diminishing returns.  So, a good Muay Thai teacher to kick you in the butt and take you to the next level, even if getting there may be painful, is what you occasionally need.  We suggest that you look up a qualified trainer and can give you some help there.  Please see our list of schools.

[Laugh]  No, but there are a few beginners out there who confuse the two because of their similar sounding names.  Tae Bo is a method of aerobics-type fitness training that incorporates motions from Karate, Boxing and perhaps a few other arts devised in the 1990s by American Karate instructor/actor Billy Banks.  Most Muay Thai teachers see kickboxercise and/or Tae Bo as a source of fitness-oriented beginners but not, at any rate, trained fighters.

[eyeroll]  If you want to start a fight why not just challenge the instructors from each school and leave us out of it?  We are not rating or evaluating Muay Thai schools, whether in the TBA or another organization.  We can say that we have made the instructor certification test in the TBA quite challenging, both in terms of technical and fighting skill required.  More than 1/2 of the students who take the instructor test for the first time fail--generally by a knockout or a TKO.  

Yes.  Take elbows and knees out and you are left with something less than Muay Thai.  Refer to the technique page for more info. about elbows & knees.  Boxing Commission rules, however, are a different matter.  Nearly all U.S. states forbid the use of elbows in Muay Thai competitions (in all 50 states unless you are on an Indian reservation).  Knees are forbidden in some US States but not all.  Yet, both of these are allowed in no-holds-barred competitions.  Not surprisingly, we are lobbying to change that.

These rules can make it difficult for an American fighter to gain experience using elbows.  Some fighters seek fights abroad as a result.  At any rate, the rules of engagement are subject to negotiation before a fight.  The promoters of a fight will try to negotiate the rules that most favor their own fighter.  

Probably.  There are some schools that focus exclusively on training fighters, but many schools outside of Thailand (and a few inside) cater to non-ring-bound students.  It is quite common at a Muay Thai school in the United States or Europe to see a school with a percentage of non-ring-bound students (whose support help keep the doors open) and a smaller group of fighters who represent the school.  But be advised that it helps to be both polite and humble when walking to any Muay Thai school. 

 An Official Thai Boxing Association Web Site