Mike Swick steps up and tells his side of the Tiger Muay Thai Gym Rivalary

Mike Swick: UFC Fighter


"As some of you know Roger Huerta and myself have started working on
our gym in Phuket, Thailand and are really excited about it. Though
its been a dream of mine for a long time and a passion for both of us,
there has also been an attack from Tiger Muay Thai about our venture.
Not a violent attack, calm down people. A verbal attack which in
todays social networking friendly world can be rough to sleep on.
Instead of stating facts and debating us, they are choosing the
alternative(basically the opposite of stating facts and debating us).
I feel after getting trashed by them for the last month or so, it is
time to state our side of the story."

Full story here: http://michaelswick.blogspot.com/2011/10/new-gym-in-thailand.html

From Johnny: Author of My Fight Camp

Personally, I've trained at both Tiger Muay Thai as well as the other gyms in mention such as Phuket Top Team and had a good experience at all of them.  From a customer's standpoint they are all good gyms and each have their own pros and cons.  

However, for Mike Swick and Roger Huerta there has been a lot of drama between Ray Elbe, the head MMA trainer and spokesperson for Tiger Muay Thai and all of the other gyms that Swick and Huerta are affiliating themselves with.

I personally feel a little bad for Ray Elbe and Tiger Muay Thai, as they were definitely the first and original gym in Thailand to bring MMA and offer training.  It's almost a bit unfair that others see their success and want a piece of the action, building up competing gyms in the same town.  However, that's the way business works, if there is a market for it, competitors will come.  Now it's up to Ray Elbe and the owners of Tiger Muay Thai to decide how they want to deal with the competition.

Tiger Muay Thai and Ray Elbe have two choices, they can either continue to improve their gym and training, set a fair competitive price and make their gym so good that people will pick TMT as their first choice, not just their only choice as it was in the past, or they can try to hold back and put down the new gyms such as Phuket Top Team and Huerta and Swick's upcoming gym.  

I won't involved with the drama but as far as business is concerned, competition is coming.  Right now Tiger Muay Thai has old facilities that need a remodel or at least a fresh coat of paint.  Their classes are often too big for people to get personal attention without spending extra money on private lessons, and there have been too many cases of skin infections.  Their prices are also on par with training in the U.S. and could be more competitive considering this is Thailand.

 

My advice to Ray Elbe and the rest of the staff at Tiger Muay Thai.  If Mike Swick, Roger Huerta, Boyd Clarke, or anyone else did anything to take advantage of your kindness, or tried to screw you over in any way, karma will sort them out.  Your best bet right now is to accept the fact that competition is coming and step up your game.  Cut out the drama and remodel your facilities, accommodations, add more value and personal attention to your classes, and make Tiger Muay Thai the number one choice for people to go to.  

Warm Regards,

Johnny at My Fight Camp