By RICHIE HALL
Casual fans of mixed martial arts may not be familiar with Muay Thai, but if they watch an MMA fight, Muay Thai is what they’re watching.
If those fans are curious about the sport, there is a place nearby that specializes in Muay Thai. KruFit is located in Fishers at 9824 North by Northeast Blvd., near the intersection of 96th Street and Interstate 69. KruFit has something for everyone, whether they are just starting out, or are international-level competitors.
Jamie Bradley is the founder, owner and head Muay Thai coach at KruFit. She began training in the sport in 2005 when she found herself at 230 pounds, “and I was actually a physical education and wellness teacher at the time,” she said.
Bradley
Bradley had the desire to change, and found that after being life-long athlete, she missed the community and team spirit. She discovered Muay Thai and “fell in love with it. It totally transformed my body.”
Two years later, Bradley won the International Kickboxing Federation World Classic, in the Lightweight Division – “I actually fought at 130 pounds,” she said.
In 2013, Bradley began training under Ajarn Buck Grant, a former MMA champion and founder of Muay Thai University in Norfolk, Va. Grant awarded the title of “Kru” to Bradley; “Kru” is Thai for “teacher.”
“He’s one of the pioneers for American Muay Thai,” said Bradley. “We are teaching an art that is from Thailand, and sometimes people will call it American Muay Thai.”
“I’ve learned from, just incredible martial artists from the UFC to Muay Thai to all of it,” said Bradley. That includes fighters like Henry Cejudo, an Olympic gold medalist in wrestling who is now a successful MMA fighter.
“It was pretty cool to learn from Henry and his science of striking,” said Bradley.
Bradley continued to learn and train under world-renowned Muay Thai masters and opened KruFit in 2018. KruFit’s website (LINK: www.krufit.com) mentions three things those who join the gym can focus on: fitness, fighting and self-defense.
“Once they get on the mat and they start punching and kicking things, they love it,” said Bradley. “It’s super empowering, it makes people feel strong.”
Bradley herself has become a mentor to the young generation of Muay Thai fighters. That includes Jayden Stafford, the only fighter in Indiana to be named to Team USA for kickboxing.
“He was one of our trailblazers, first fighters in the gym,” said Bradley. Stafford is a national champion, has competed internationally and is a gold medalist for WBC Muay Thai.
“We have a very active fight team, 25, 30 fighters,” said Bradley. “We brought home three regional champions.”
But even people that don’t compete internationally can still learn the same skills and get the same training as those that do. Bradley points out that they “are learning the exact same things” as the competitive fighters.
“You can watch our fighters fight and think ‘Man, I learned that in class,’” said Bradley.
While the workout is fun and challenging, Bradley pointed out that athletes are “actually learning practical skills that could save your life. I’m happy to do a seminar. I think learning and knowing something is better than nothing. Muay Thai is easy to understand.”
Bradley said that whenever people are under stress, “our brain goes back to what it knows.” So, people who have been participating in Muay Thai will be able to access their training and use it to their advantage.
“When an emergency situation happens and my body is filled with adrenaline, my brain will know what to do,” said Bradley.
Bradley is a rarity in that she is the owner of KruFit. She said she knows of “less than five gyms in the country that are solely female-owned.” While there are husband-and-wife duos that own gyms, the husband is usually the face of the gym.
Bradley said that if anyone has a problem with going to a female-owned gym, it’s their problem.
“We have a phenomenal culture in our gym,” said Bradley. She noted that if anyone looks at KruFit’s Google reviews, “it talks about the people, the community, the culture.” The current Google review gives KruFit a perfect 5-star rating with 106 reviews.
“The type of people who don’t want to learn from a woman, they are the type of people we don’t want in our gym anyway,” said Bradley. “It’s a natural selector, in my opinion.”
Muay Thai is becoming more popular across the country and KruFit is seeing that in real time. Bradley said the gym set quarterly goals for membership numbers, and KruFit is, already in March, “almost to the number that I set for my third quarter goal.”
“I think people are looking for connection,” said Bradley. “I think people are looking for communities. Ours is an excellent one. It’s centered around being the strongest, healthiest version of ourselves that we can be.”
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