Roger Huerta and Mike "Quick" Swick are Opening a new MMA Gym here in Phuket Thailand!

It seems that Phuket, Thailand is the new MMA Farm, or as guys in Orange County like to call it, the "Pharm."  Guys come here to train and do three month MMA and Muay Thai camps all the time and it's the perfect place in the world to do it, and an even better place to open a gym for it.

I wonder how the guys at Tiger Muay Thai, especially Ray Elbe are going to feel about Roger Huerta and Mike Swick opening a new MMA Gym in their home turf, Phuket.  Especially since both trained at TMT.

Roger Huerta

Mike "Quick" Swick

But aside from that, you still save money on rent, accommodation, and food.  So including training, your entire monthly budget including sports massages, eating out 4 times a day, and training can still be under $1,000US.  Which is normally just the cost of rent back home.

Relaxing on the beach with Roger Huerta in Phuket

"So just getting the word out there for those that all ready don't know. Mike Swick and I have teamed up and are going to be opening a gym here in Phuket Thailand. more news to come. thx guys for the support." - Roger Huerta via Facebook Wall Post

Some people ask, why go to Thailand to learn MMA?  Well, it's definetely not because it's cheaper.  American Kickboxing Academy where Mike Swick trains in San Jose is $129US (3,870THB) a month for MMA.  Here in Phuket, Places like Tiger Muay Thai and Phuket Top Team all charge the same price which is around $316US (9,500thb) per month.  That's crazy isn't it!?

So why are training prices DOUBLE the prices in America?  Well, first competition, there are only a few MMA gyms out here, so hopefully when more pop up, prices will go down.

Plus since you'll be living at the camp, you'll be training twice a day, up to 12 times per week, where at home, you probably would have just trained a few nights a week after work.  When it comes down to it, here's the secret on how gyms make money.  They want to you sign up, pay in advance and then stop coming.  Which is why Phuket is the perfect place for MMA and Muay Thai Gyms to make money.


Currently Tiger Muay Thai has around 200 paying guests, and during high season they can go up to 400 per month.  Even though TMT is a huge gym, if everyone who paid monthly actually showed up to each class, it would be a madhouse and there wouldn't be enough trainers, bags to kick, or even room to stand.  So luckily for TMT there is Patong, where training goes to die.  Although I'm sure the owners of Tiger didn't plan it, Patong makes them money.  Guys who paid for 3 months of training will go drinking over the weekend, hook up with some local Thai Bar girls and end up missing half of their classes the next week.  Some will just stop coming to train all together, while others will crash their motorbikes and not be able to train even if they wanted to.  Guys who saved up to stay out here for 6 months often blow their money in two and have to go home to work just to come back and do it all over again.

So that's the secret behind why Phuket, Thailand is going to be the next MMA Gym Farm.  If you're one of the mature, focused smart ones, you can enjoy great weather, nice beaches, good cheap food, and a great place to train.  For the 80% of the rest of the people who come, you can help support the local bar girls, alcohol and tobacco industry and the gyms who will happily keep your money even though you stopped training weeks ago.


Update:  Mike Swick decides to open the gym on his own without Roger Huerta.  I'm not sure the details on why but it was a dick move on Swick's part for telling Huerta 4 days before his fight.  Fighter's will often unplug their cell phones and internet for a week leading up to the fight so they can focus, but for whatever reason Mike Swick decided to ruin Roger Huerta's week with the news right before his fight.




Warm Regards,

My Fight Camp