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I believe my gym was a typical example of that. Took my a while to figure out and I still do not really understand the two business models or everything that happened while I was there. Which is part of the charm I guess :).

Thanks for elaborating. I find this very interesting and hopefully a positive development for foreign fighters, although might get a lot more complex. In the case with the guy who walked off, I did not hear it from the guy directly but was told by to other guys who trained with him. That gym owner has a lot of respect within the muay thai communit, so I guess his clout helped. Another fighter at that gym also expressed frustration with the situation, but had -instead of just walking off- tried to talk to the gym owner and get him to introduce him to other gyms where he could get training but still would fight for his old gym. But it did not really seem to work. I feel sorry for them but I guess this are the things you need to accept if you want the traditional experience.

On the post, very little comment other than "you just have to accept this", a kind of resignation of the way it is. Well, he feels disrespected by another or other gyms, to be sure. But in this relay of his thoughts he is appealing to an authority to step in and regulate these kinds of things, because the problem seems to be growing. I think so. The problem is being seen as between different gyms, but also between fighters and their gyms. Loyalty is a complex thing here in these cases. As you know, Thai culture is much more hierarchical, concepts of family and inclusion are hierarchical, and this butts up against models of commerce, the freedom of a market, and also in many cases fairness. Also, the traditional "loyalty" conditions have been read as exploitative by the West when it comes to Thai practices some times. Basically once that contract is signed, often at a young age, your entire career is governed by your relationship to your gym owner. There are so many competing values of what is fair, proper, respectful here. That is very interesting. That sounds like a case where the community of local gyms contain between themselves rules of engagement. These are often hidden customary agreements, or ways of flexing power in the community that Westerners might not at all see or notice. The appeal to a regulating authority in the above case is likely because he feels he cannot control the situation just through social, or local flex. In either case the value of a western fighter seems to be rising in the subculture. And as it does westerners may find themselves bumping into the otherwise invisible powers of control that reside in the culture. It's a very complicated thing - especially at this time of COVID - gym owners sometimes stop investing in the training or growth of a fighter who has been with them for a long while. This of course can happen with Thai fighters as well...but they are contracted and locked in.