Thread: top muay thai instructors?

The best concentration of Muay Thai instructors is probably in Southern California, particularly in the LA area. I understand that Melchor Meynor is also actively teaching in San Diego. The fairtex Muay thai camp is in San Francisco

Master Toddy runs a school in Las Vegas and Master Kak Koonala (My old teacher) and Kroo Vut Kamnark currently operate out of Marquette Michigan, although Vut is currently busy running a restaurant and is not actively teaching.

I'm sure that there are a lot more excellent teachers out there though. Those are the ones that I'm familiar with.

hmm.. I don't think there are any gyms in L.A besides the Insanto acemdy, but I am searching for a boxing/ mauy thai gym.

Melchor Menor is a great Fighter as well as a awesome trainer, I had the honor of training with him during my time at Master Toddy's camp, if you are going to be anywhere near his area I'd recommend training with him if you have the time!

http://teammenor.com/

Do u guys think the famous Duke Roufus would be a good teacher? He has a school in wisconsin. http://www.milwkick.com/

I think you have an awesome concentration of top Muay Thai instructors right here in the midwest, and you mentioned you would prefer to stay in the midwest:

Mick doyle is in Omaha, NE.

Dean Lessei is in Dubuque, IA...Khuen Khru in T.B.A.

Greg Nelson and rick Faye are both in Minneapolis, MN. and also under Ajarn Chai (I think Greg is one of the very few "full instructors" under Ajarn Chai).

Duke Roufus is in Milwaukee, WI, producing top notch fighters repeatedly.

Pete Peterson is in Carroll, IA...Khuen Khru in T.B.A. (promoting many Muay Thai fights within Iowa and taking teams all over the midwest to fights.

Chicago: Peter Farias, Tim Tokarz, Marius Dan, Ricardo Perez, Ron Hill.
Peoria, Bloomington, Il.: Ryan Blackorby, Dave Rogers(Associate instructor within T.B.A.)

Indiana: Jeff Wesfall, Dave Miller (Associate instructor in T.B.A.), Raul Llopis

All of the above mentioned are fantastic Muay Thai trainers, many are past champions themselves or are still fighting. I know there are a few more I am forgetting to mention. You cannot go wrong with any of them. If I had to choose just one, I probably could not do it, all of them have much to offer. I guess it depends on where you want to live, whether you want the art for competition, or simply learning the tradition. With some you will get one or the other, but with most you will get it all.

I hope this helps a bit. If you want more details, just let me know.

Take care!

I know here in the LA area there are a few, depending on what part of LA ou live in. As someone else mentioned the Inosanto academy is in LA, I believe Kroo Rex teached in Van Nuys, there's a school in Hollywood, I believe it's called the the American Muay Thai Academy. The teachers there are Kroo Puk and Kroo Pong. They're closely associated with Saekson Janjira. There is also a heavy concentration of schools in Long Beach but I couldn't give you names. You could probably do a web search

anymore opinions?

any Muay thai gyms in Torrance, santa monica, el segundo, redondo beach, hermosa beach?

"The Horror!.....The Horror!..."

-Heart of Darkness?

you gotta look at the fighters one produces to claim who is one of the best-

try Kru Scott Hicks in Gerogia. 2 national champions and 1 world champion coming out of small town, GA. Not to mention a whole stable of good fighters who win nearly every time they fight.

www.megalodongym.com

Originally Posted by TheHorror

any Muay thai gyms in Torrance, santa monica, el segundo, redondo beach, hermosa beach?

Torrance, I'm sure that there are but I'm not too familiar with that area. In Hermosa Beach there is Boxing Works. The instructor there is Bryan Popejoy. He's a very good instructor and a hell of a great guy. He's also married to Ajarn Chai's Cousin or sister... I keep forgetting.

In El Segundo, there is the R1 Academy... it's more of a Mixed Martial Arts Academy but Ed Wedding Teaches Muay Thai there several times a week.

There's the IMB under Richard Bustillio in Carson. They teach Muay Thai among other things.

It's actually all over the place out here but those are the major schools that I know of that teach it.