Andrew

Totally agree with your points. It seems that Western MT gyms having to compete with other Martial Arts that provided belts to show seniority/experience level (not to mention to make money and massage the ego) had to follow the "Martial Arts School" model. What's also interesting is that the guy who introduced the MT band grading system was a Thai immigrant to California Chai Sirisute, the founder of the World Thai Boxing Association. Sirisute claims to be the first to actively teach MT in the US in 1968. I'm guessing he surveyed the landscape and realized every other martial art awarded a belt or other symbol to signify rank and decided to copy them to be competitive.

Thanks Kevin. Off the network for a bit working, so just saw this when I returned. I'll check it out. Cheers.

Exactly Kevin! Very well said. I think you captured the essence of what I'm trying to prove in my thesis. I really thought about it in the context of Karate, Kung Fu and other Martial Arts that have come to, and been modified by, the practitioners in the US. There were many Americans who only knew about Japan through Karate, China through Kung Fu/Bruce Lee, and so on. California, as with a lot of things, is the epicenter of many trends. As far as I know, Fairtex gym was one of the first MT gyms in the US. It started in Arizona and then moved to California. There is a lot to explore here. I'm also very interested in the history of Muay Thai and where it may have ultimately originated from. Most of the historical records were lost when the Burmese sacked Ayutthya in 1767. Much of what is known prior to that time is based more on legend than fact. Some of the records were taken to Myanmar, and as far as I know have not been examined for historical information on Muay Thai.

Very helpful, thank you so much Sylvie. I spent some more time exploring your website and videos. Your work is excellent, and important in documenting the masters of and legends of Muay Thai. Some would assume that someone has already done this, or is doing this, but that is not the case. There are some materials in the Thai language, but they are not extensive. It's analogous to Boxing in the US. Except by a niche audience, it's not always considered culturally significant. I can tell you that in the Thai academic environment, not too many people are interested, except as Muay Thai may relate to cinema, gender studies, or other "hot" academic topics. This may be changing now that Muay Thai for fitness is becoming popular with regular Thais, and more people are participating in the sport.

Hi all, My name is Andrew Sorrells, I live in Bangkok where I attend a Master's program at Chulalongkorn University. I'm from California and previously trained MT and BJJ there. Now training Muay Thai in Bangkok. For my thesis I am conducting research on Muay Thai in general and in particular how Muay Thai has been popularized and localized in California. If you are a MT practitioner who has trained or fought in California, especially those who have also trained or fought in Thailand, I would be very interested in your opinions on training methodologies, techniques, competition rules, cultural differences etc., between California/US and Thailand. I encourage anyone from the US to participate also, not just California. The spread of Muay Thai throughout the world and the US is a very interesting phenomenon however, I am obligated to narrow my focus on California for the time being. However, I am working to advance the scholarly research and discourse on Muay Thai and Martial Arts in general, which is severely lacking in academic literature. I have created a questionnaire/survey in Google docs to gather data. I would really appreciate it if you all could take some time and fill it out. Thanks much, and I look forward to your answers, ideas, and comments. Thank you! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf2cGKo5P1hoz9tKR6xyvqBpn7q616kvTDCn4v04xWz-aW_lg/viewform?usp=sf_link