Over a thousand years ago, when the Thai warriors had settled in the land where there was fish in the water and rice in the fields, when the clans were unified into a proud nation, a manual of warfare, the Chupasart, was written. All of the ways of fighting that the clans had developed from centuries of battle were put into it. The Chupasart showed how to fight with knives, swords, spears, battle-axes, pikes and crossbows. It became the bible of the warrior and the school book of fighting skills to teach the young. Warriors taught the young men but they trained from this remarkable manual of armed combat without weapons.

 
The shinbone became the staff of the pike to block and strike. The arms became the raised twin swords of defence, the fist the jabbing tip of the spear. The elbow, the battle axes to smash and crush; the knee too axed its way through the defences. The flashing foot, a pike, arrow and knife. Each part of the body became a weapon and a new close combat fighting skill emerged. A new martial art... Muaythai.

Like all martial arts, the heart of Muaythai wasn't just to use the body as a weapon, but the self too. For the Thai people, gentle Buddhists, no weapon could be used unless the spirit of the weapon was used with it. Again, true to a martial art, the use of the spirit of the weapon was taught by the teacher. He became and still is today, the father and mother of the fighter. The one to whom he shows respect and gratitude. The one he fights for. From the teacher, the modern trainer, the fighter learns not just his craft but also about himself, his heart, his limits, tactics, strategies and the spiritual expression of his art and skill. Every time a fighter enters the ring, he does so not just to prove his skills, but the superiority of his trainer and his camp. If he loses, the camp loses.

Much has changed from early days. Muaythai is no longer a close combat battlefield skill. Now it has become a sport. But at its heart are the old traditions, and the original spirit fights on.

 

Muaythai as the Thai people call it, is a traditional art of self defence of the Thai people. It is different from international boxing, in that the Thai style of unarmed fighting, feet (also known as "TAO"), elbows (also known as "SORK") and knees (also known as "KOW") are used as well as fists (also known as "MUD"), which therefore considered superior to international boxing as an art of self defence, as it is more taxing. A Thai boxing match lasts only five rounds of three minutes each, with two minute rests between rounds. Before the fighter begins his fight, he pays respect to his teacher (KRU) by performing the Wai Kru which is a ritual dance, he wears a Mongkon on his head which is almost like a head band but is however worn to protect the wearer from danger and to bring charm and prosperity.  A traditional band of mostly red and white is worn around the fighters arm, this is called Prajied. There are terminologies for each action such as the front kick it is known as Teep.

Since ancient times the Thai rulers have attached great importance to the training of their soldiers and ordinary people in the skills of "hand-to-hand" fighting, both with and without weapons. While the latter is known as Muay-Boran (traditional art of Muaythai), the former is called Krabi-Krabong (the use of weapons), literally sword and baton, though the weapons used are limited to these two. Very often, the rulers themselves were great fighters; strong, valiant and skilled at heart. That is one of the reasons why the Thais' emerged a victor in the rivalry with other races and became dominant in this part of the world.

When the first Thai kingdom was set up in the late 13th century with Sukhothai as capital, a piece of ground in front of the palace was used by the king himself for practising shadow boxing and also as a stadium where boxing contests were held to select good boxers as palace guards.

When the power of Sukhothai declined, another Thai kingdom rose in the lower reaches of the Chao Phraya River in 1350 with Ayutthaya as capital. Thirty five kings of five dynasties ruled the kingdom successively until 1767, when Burmese invaders occupied Ayutthaya. During this long period of four centuries several outstanding Thai boxers were produced. The first was King Naresuan the great (1590-1605).

When Naresuan was a boy of nine, he was taken to Burma as a hostage following the first fall of Ayutthaya to the Burmese, which resulted in the conqueror's installation of Naresuan's father, Maha Thammaraja, as the new king of Siam. Six years later, the Siamese prince was allowed to come back home, but only after he had won a boxing match with a well known Burmese pugilist, which was a precondition set by the Burmese ruler for his release. Later Naresuan declared Siam's independence from Burma and killed the crown prince of the enemy in the decisive battle.

Another Ayutthayan king known for his fondness of and expertise in boxing was Sanpet VIII. He once fought two boxers consecutively in a village not far from the capital. He beat both of them and won a prize from the ringmaster without revealing his identity. But he did not use the special ability to bring glory to his country, but indulged himself in sensual pleasure. He soon acquired the bad reputation of being a cruel sexual pervert and the infamous name of King Tiger.

Another very well known boxer was a commoner named Khanmtom. He was among 30000 Thais' taken to Burma as a prisoner after the second fall of Ayuttya in 1967. The next year a grand festival was held at a Buddhist temple in Rangoon where a holy relic of the Buddha was enshrined. Boxing contests were organized at the temple and the Khanomtom was sent as a representative of the Thai prisoners of war. Having been well trained in the use of fists, feet, elbows and knees in fighting. Khanomtom incredibly defeated 10 Burmese boxers in succession and was highly recommended by the Burmese King. His extraordinary exploit is recorded in school text books and is known to every Thai school child today.

After expelling the Burmese aggressors in the late 1767 Phraya Tksin ascended the throne at Thom Buri. He himself a great warrior and keen boxer, the King spared no efforts in promoting the art of "hand-to-hand" fighting. He held boxing matches in his palace ground. Among these the best known was Phraya Phichai the broken sword. He got his nickname because he once broke a sword in a fierce fight with the enemy and killed the enemy with the broken sword. He was later made governor of Phichai with the title of Phraya.

Rama I, who founded the Chakri dynasty in Bangkok in 1782, also used the grounds in front of his palace as an arena where boxing matches were held to select his guardsmen. Once during his reign there were two French brothers coming to Bangkok looking for rivals in free style boxing contests with stakes. They had toured several cities in Indochina for the same purpose and won a lot of money. To meet the challenge, the King assigned his foremost boxer Muen Phlan to fight one of the brothers. It was an uphill task for the Thai boxer who was inferior in size and weight; however he was also able to use his superior skills in kicking, punching and attacking with elbows and knees to his advantage and defeated the brother's one after the other.

Rama V (1868-1910) was another king who was a great patron of boxing. He promoted the martial art by setting up his own bowing camp and encouraged the princes and other members of nobility to do the same in all major cities of the country. He arranged boxing contests regularly and awarded the winners rank and money.

Rama VI (1910-1925) took a step further by allowing commoners to run the boxing camps, boxing rings and competitions.  The first modern ring was erected to the football ground of Wang Suan Kulap or Rose Garden Palace in Bangkok.  It was a raised square space enclosed by ropes with two referees to control the matches, one at the blue corner and the other at the red corner.  Referees control the fight by three statement "chok" (fight), "yoot" (stop) and "yak" (break or separate boxers).  In a contest, the boxer's hands were bound with cord (known as KAAD CHUEK) instead of wearing padded gloves as in universal practice today.  Thus Thai boxers of former times could do much greater damage to each other in a match.  What is most strange is the timing device, which was a hollowed coconut shell.  It was placed in a tub filled with water at the beginning of a round.  The round ended as soon as the coconut shell was completely immersed in water.  If a fight is evenly matched and the judges are a bit undecided and the winner the deciding factor would be the fighter with the best technique.

The best Thai boxer of the time was a Korat man named Yang Hanthale.  He became internationally known after beating a Shaolin-school boxer from China, Chin Chang in a free style match at a palace stadium.  Chin was defeated because he failed to find an effective was to fend off the quick and powerful high kicking of the Thai boxer.  Consequently, he was hit at the neck into unconsciousness and had to be carried off the ring.

The boxing ring was successively moved to the Tha Chang, Suan Sanuk and Lak Muang, all inside the former walled city of Bangkok.  It was in 1919 when boxing matches were held at Tha Chang that rules of Thai boxing were changed to require all boxers to wear boxing gloves in contests.

All the above rings were temporary structures.  The first permanent boxing stadium in Bangkok was built on Rachadamnoen and was opened in December 1945.  Half a century later, Rachadamnoen Boxing Stadium is still one of the two major stadiums in the capital, where both Thai and International boxing matches are held regularly, the other being Lumphini Stadium near Lumphini Park.  Major matches are often televised live.


Since then Muaythai has thrived as a sport and the Thai government has sanctioned the W.M.C (World Muaythai Council) as the professional association with General Chetta Thanajaro as the president he is also the Defence minister of Thailand.  I.F.M.A was also sanctioned by the Thai government as the amateur body, there was one person in particular that devoted his time and life to the Muaythai making certain that the purity of the form be kept world wide his name was General Vorayudh Mesommonta.  The current president of this association is Dr Sackchye Tapsuwan.  All these people gave more structure to Muaythai world wide enabling all of us to be a part of this institution.

 Muaythai is the most rapid growing sport in South Africa and the M.A.A.S.A (Martial Arts Association South Africa) is the amateur body that has been elected to represent Muaythai.  The S.A.M.A (South African Muaythai Association) has devoted it's time to help promote Muaythai in South Africa using the promotional Muaythai campaign (Muaythai VS Drugs), General Pichitr Kullavaijaya is in charge of this campaign and also holds the title of privy council to his majesty the King.

Even though Muaythai has come a long way since it was formed, all Muaythai representatives around the world are working hard to achieve the goal for Muaythai to be an Olympic sport.

Quentin Chong began his prolific Martial Arts career studying Kung Fu. He was schooled by the top instructors in Hong Kong China. However, Chong did not only want a theoretical understanding of Martial Arts. He yearned to test his skills in a full contact, uninhibited form of combat. This desire led him to Thailand. It's a national Sport of Muaythai which allows for full contact strikes with all weapons of the body including knees and elbows. Chong sought a career as a professional Muaythai fighter and quickly rose up the competitive rankings. At the pinnacle of his carrer, he attained the prestigious Intercontinetal World Muaythai Championship. This success brought Chong a considerable amount attention from the Martial Arts world. More significantly, his achievement was the catalyst to an historic meeting with the W.M.C.

The World Muaythai Council (W.M.C) is the largest Muaythai sanctioning body in the World. It regulates all aspects of Muaythai in Thailand and abroad. The WMC contains over 100 member countries and is the global authority on Muaythai. The World Muaythai Council is affiliated with the International Federation of Muaythai Amatuers (IFMA). These organisations are responsible for the participation and promotion of Muaythai at a professional and amateur level. Only these organizations are recognised by the government of Thailand as the legitimate authorities on Muaythai.

The WMC and IFMA serves as more than a mere sports body. It also promotes various initiatives and charities that affect Thailand. In particular, the WMC vehemently opposes drug abuse and has developed an international campaign "World Muaythai Against Drugs". This endeavour has been sanctioned by the King of Thailand and the Thai Government. It aims at offering relief to Thailands destitute and impoverished. The WMC and IFMA entered into negotiation with Chong. After much deliberation, Quentin agreed to represent the WMC and IFMA and its interests in South Africa.

Quentin Chong returned to South Africa as the official representative of the WMC and IFMA. He had the onerous task of promoting Muaythai and its interests across the country. In doing so, Chong initiated a campaign to promote the art of Muaythai and distinguish it from "thaiboxing" and "kickboxing". Muaythai is the 2000 year old art of ring fighting, which allows punching, kicking, kneeing, grappling and elbow strikes. In contrast, "thaiboxing" and "kickboxing" are the western derivitives of Muaythai. Both Kickboxing and Thaiboxing have no cultural links to Thailand. Therefore it was imperitive For Quentin to distinguish such sports from Muaythai. Another directive of the WMC and IFMA was to establish a united federation of Muaythai. In doing so, Quentin travelled to various provinces throughout South Africa and gave workshops and seminars on Muaythai. He worked closely with Muaythai instructors in other provinces and gradually raised the standard of Muaythai across the country. This directive has been an enormous success. Today, there are established Muaythai schools in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, East London, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth and many other locations. Each location has a number of keen Muaythai participants and memberships increase daily. More significantly, the various Mauythai schools across the South Africa have united to form the South African Muaythai Association (SAMA) the SAMA acts under the Sports authority of M.A.A.S.A (Martial Arts Authority South Africa). Master Eddie Jacobson is the president of M.A.A.S.A, and Quentin Chong is the president of SAMA (like the WMC) also has an affiliate body which deals with amateur Muaythai in South Africa. This body (the SAAMF) has organised amateur competitions and aids in promoting the sport across South Africa.

What is most significant about SAMA and SAAMF is that both bodies are affiliated with the WMC and IFMA the government of Thailand has recognised SAMA and SAAMF as the exclusive representatives of Muaythai in South Africa. Consequently, these South African organisations have direct relations with Thailand. Thus muaytha is not only a fast growing sport in South Africa. It serves as a cultural link between Thailand and SEA, which propagates goodwill between these two countries.

Quentin Chong is constantly fostering relations between the WMC and IFMA in Thailand and M.A.A.S.A in South Africa. In an effort to consolidate Muaythai, Chong sends an annual team to reopresent South Africa at the IFMA World Muaythai Championships in Bangkok, The South African team has been considerably successful in recent years and has captured the attention of the South African Government.

A Mile stone was attained in 2004, when the SA Team were awarded their full Protea colours for their efforts at that years World Championships in Thailand. Since then, the team has been bringing back medals from the championships on a consistent basis. Noteably, Ryan Faull winning Gold in 2006 and Ismaeel Grant winning Gold in 2008 in their respective weight catergories.

In recent years, a "development team" has gone with to compete in the Championships and has had astounding success, bringing back multiple bronze and silver medals. This development team train here at Dragon Power on Saturday mornings and continue to compete in tournaments. Dragon Power is the head camp of SAMA and SAAMF, where all the projects and foundations operate from.

Dragon power is the head camp of SAMA/SAAMF. Its founders Sifu Kru Quentin "Dragon" Chong (2X WMC World Muaythai Champion) and Brother Sibak Kru Winston "Tiger" Chong (International Super Fight Champion) are the founders of Muaythai in South Africa. Dragon Power has been leading the way in building the sport and Martial Art of Muaythai. Established in 1993, Dragon Power's Muaythai fighting team has continuously been a dominant force in the Muaythai World. Having produced many National and International champions, as well as always being the majority if not the entire team representing South Africa at IFMA Sanctioned events.

Dragon Power always strives for world class excellence in everything it does and results show this. Whether you're looking to compete, lose weight, tone down or learn self defence, Dragon Power Muaythai is for you. Dragon Power Muaythai is for all ages and sexes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Muaythai Classes

Muaythai classes work in "Combination Days." Each "Combination Day" consists of various time slots and each time slot consists of a beginner, intermediate and advanced class. Members may choose either "Combination Day 1" (Monday and Wednesday) or "Combination Day 2" (Tuesday and Thursday). It is important to stick to the Combination and time slot chosen. If prior commitments preclude you from choosing one of the existing Combinations please speak to us and we will gladly provide you with an alternative arrangement. Please note that the Friday Open Class is available to all members; members are encouraged to attend this class. On off days members are welcome to come to the kwoon and practice the techniques they have learned in class. Personal Training is available; please enquire for further details. The combinations are set up to help students to learn how to create routines for themselves to help them get better results. If you have any questions you must ask to learn the answer. Sifu Kru Quentin "Dragon" Chong recommends students to attend the Friday open class, to practice their newly learnt techniques and enhance their training.

 

TIME TABLE

.	Combo 1	Combo 2	Combo 1	Combo 2	Open Class/ Combo 1 & 2	Juniors & Fighters
Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
6:30 - 7:30	.	Combo 2: Beginners Intermediate Advanced	.	Combo 2: Beginners Intermediate Advanced	.	.
9:00 - 10:00	.	Combo 2: Beginners Intermediate Advanced	.	Combo 2: Beginners Intermediate Advanced	.	.
9:30 - 10:15	.	.	.	.	.	Juniors Under 12
11:00 - 12:00	.	.	.	.	.	Development Kids Class
12:00 - 13:30	.	.	.	.	.	Fighters Class
17:00 - 18:00	Combo 1: Beginners Intermediate Advanced	Combo 2: Beginners Intermediate Advanced	Combo 1: Beginners Intermediate Advanced	Combo 2: Beginners Intermediate Advanced	*Open Class: Beginners Intermediate Advanced Fighters	closed
18:00 - 19:00	Combo 1: Beginners Intermediate Advanced Fighters	Combo 2: Beginners Intermediate Advanced Fighters	Combo 1: Beginners Intermediate Advanced Fighters	Combo 2: Beginners Intermediate Advanced Fighters	*Open Class: Beginners Intermediate Advanced Fighters	closed
19:00 - 20:00	Combo 1: Beginners Intermediate Advanced Fighters	Combo 2: Beginners Intermediate Advanced Fighters	Combo 1: Beginners Intermediate Advanced Fighters	Combo 2: Beginners Intermediate Advanced Fighters	closed

*Open Class: Available every Friday from 17:00 - 19:00. Full Pad-work and sparring sessions are available for the duration of the class; a Muaythai class runs from 18:00 - 19:00. Instructors are available to members to ask questions. Members are encouraged to attend in order to improve overall technique and fitness levels.

* Please note: Do not arrive to early for presentation as you will not be allowed to enter the reception area till 17:20.

 

Registration Forms