The Aotearoa Muay Thai Association (AMTA) is a relatively new sanctioning body in New Zealand, set up and run by Timaru’s Scott Tweedie.

Tweedie, 42, is a former Muay Thai fighter whose roots are in Tae Kwon Do. He competed in 18 Muay Thai fights himself, as well as being the 1995 South Island Tae Kwon Do Champion.

After a car accident left him with a back injury which prevented him from training, Tweedie did not let his love of Muay Thai wane, but rather adopted the role of full-time trainer.

Scott opened Lucky Nine Gym in Timaru in January 2014, which has developed into a South Island powerhouse full of skilled fighters, such as Kaitlyn ‘Tornado’ Tucker, who has won multiple New Zealand titles, including being the current AMTA Light Welterweight A Class New Zealand Champion.

Fight News’ Harry Greenfield caught up with Scott to ask him a few questions about his gym and the AMTA.

Hi Scott. I love what you’re doing with AMTA. What led you to create this?

“There were several reasons I created AMTA; the main one was the extreme frustration of seeing Muay Thai in NZ being at its knees and with little growth due to internal power struggles and bullying tactics. The authenticity of real Muay Thai had been stripped away into 3 round fights, with some top officials who don’t understand the basic rules of simple techniques, modified rules, and the lack of judges with the ability to judge a technical fight.

For years Muay Thai in New Zealand has been monopolised by a handful of people, charging extremely high sanctioning fees. AMTA charges $30 a year per gym with no sanctioning fees. The money generated moving into 2020 is going to be used for a yearly scholarship donation to a deserving nominated youth fighter to assist with travel and training costs. I am happiest seeing others succeed, so the AMTA is more a fundraiser to help others; I take nothing from it.

After a very public personal drama, I felt let down by a lack of professional support from those I worked with in the New Zealand Muay Thai community. I wanted to keep promoting the growth of Muay Thai in New Zealand, so stepped down and became a one-man band by starting the AMTA, giving others the choice to jump on board. I had already created a rankings system and worked really hard to promote everyone in the sport, so I just continued this with AMTA. In the last year, we have 24 gyms join the AMTA database.”

What is the function of the AMTA database?

“The database was created so that gyms could be found easily, along with being a place to find medics and other fight-related businesses.

"We now have a functioning points-based class system of nearly 300 fighters; from kids to professionals. The best thing is that with this comes our hydrated AMTA titles.

"I was sick of seeing titles being thrown around for fighters with 3-5 fights’ experience, or a fighter with a poor record getting a title fight, based on who was known rather than actual performance.

"I wanted to have titles that were representing hard work and actually required having to fight Thai rules with elbows a few times rather than fighters only fighting Thai at title time.”

What is your mission with the AMTA?

“I feel like fighters’ options have been limited in NZ; there are a lot of talkers and not a lot of doers. My mission is to get the ones together who want to do stuff for the right reasons and grow the sport...not just talk.

"There are a number of sanctioning bodies such as Siam Cup, ISKA, and WKA in New Zealand who are also doing amazing things for Kiwi fighters. I feel that nobody is better than anybody else when it comes to sanctions in NZ, and there are many people doing great things.

"Unfortunately, until mindsets change, progress will remain slower than it should be. More needs to be done to create pathways for our fighters into Oceania, which is what I’m slowly trying to head towards. There is huge opportunity there, but years of sitting on our hands and our top officials not even knowing who our top fighters are has meant our top amateurs are missing out. I intend to change this.”

I understand you are advocating for fighters’ mental health as well

“The thing I am most proud of is creating ‘The Fight Within’, which is a support network full of volunteers: fighters, coaches, and ex-fighters ready to help those who are struggling mentally or just need an ear.

"The Fight Within is part of the AMTA database.”

With the sanctioning of junior fights under AMTA, what provisions are in place to protect the safety of young fighters from potential brain injury?

“Our youth range is split in two; 4-14 and 14-18 years old. We don’t allow head contact at all in the wee ones, although it is optional in a title fight, with mandatory headgear in the youngest group and with optional knees and elbows in the older range.

"Fighters are matched on hydrated weights and within age limits of 3 years. I think taking head attacks out of it is actually good for the sport, as it means having to use proper kicking and clinch technique rather than just trying to punch the other kid’s head off.

"I’d love to go one step further and take head strikes out of novice fights, for this reason, I think this is due to a lack of Muay Thai knowledge. I don’t buy the whole ‘we aren’t in Thailand’ line. No, we are not; however, this is a traditional sport, not just something extra to write on the gym flyer. We don’t change the rules to rugby when in Japan, so why take away from the beauty of Muay Thai?”

Is the AMTA focused on the next generation of Muay Thai fighters in New Zealand?

“Yes, I wanted to create proper opportunity for kids who have not had title opportunities in a very long time, instead being told by IFMA (International Federation of Muay Thai Associations) that the world games were the pinnacle of Muay Thai in NZ.

"The problem with this, in my view, is that we have had amazing fighters spend thousands of dollars to go overseas to IFMA events where some have done very well, but come home to no recognition, no money, and very few title opportunities, despite being a world championship medalist.”

What is the pinnacle of New Zealand Muay Thai if not competing at the IFMA?

“I have huge respect to those who have sacrificed money, family time, and work to represent NZ at IFMA events; I admire these athletes. However, to me this is not the pinnacle of Muay Thai. To me, seeing NZ fighters get to Lumpinee (prominent Thai stadium) or a legitimate world title is the pinnacle.

"Other examples would be winning King in the Ring or fighting on awesome promotions like Knees of Fury, Rebellion, Top King World Series, Yokkao shows etc, or going and fighting professionally on TV in front of 100,000 people: that is the top.

"Analogues to this are found in other professional sports, for instance, winning gold in basketball at the Olympics is nothing compared to winning the NBA; there is no comparison, I don’t think.”

Will all AMTA fights have anti-weight cutting regulations in place?

“Yes. AMTA is the only sanctioning body that I’m aware of that has fully hydrated matches. To me, this has to be the future. At Lucky 9 we had fighters who were weighing food portions and water cutting, kids who were obsessed with the scales, and females who were constantly comparing themselves to the really fit girls in the gym.

"To me this was a huge sign that we needed to do something. There have been too many deaths and fighters killing themselves to make weight. And for what, a 5-10 kg weight advantage? Why not fight someone the same size? The fight is about technique and ability, not who can risk the most weight-wise.

"Through doing this, we have proven that weight cutting is unnecessary. We have now stopped cutting even for non-AMTA fights and our team are way stronger and easier to travel with. Most of our opponents are coming in 3-8 kg heavier and its seriously making no difference. They are bigger with more power, but this is met by speed and accuracy and we have no fatigue from cutting. We have one more fight booked in that (our fighter) will need to cut for, but this will be the last of the ones booked in since making the move to not cut weight.”

Lucky Nine Gym seems to be predominantly female fighters. Is this organic or did you market it towards females?

“Lucky Nine is predominantly made of people who will give 100% at all times, not just when they feel like it, or what gender they are. In our gym it is the girls who have always worked the hardest of both the sexes. The fellas seem to come and go, seldom give back to others and normally blame others for their own weaknesses; the girls always take responsibility.

"With the likes of Kaitlyn and Jess who were the first female fighters laying the foundation for the others to follow, Asher, Leysa, and Ashlee backed this up and created a sisterhood of hard-working, supportive ladies in and out of the gym. No matter the background or age, they are all extremely loyal and we’ve found as this grows it attracts other females to the gym and gives them the confidence to reach whatever goal they set.

"I think this is a huge part of the success we are finding with the girls and the high percentage of knockouts the Witchpack are finishing with. They believe they can take the decision away from the judges and that’s how they set out to win. Every now and then, someone will get the better of one of the girls and this is treated as a reflection on the whole group, rather than the individual, which means that they will train harder for whoever decides to enter the ring next.”

Tell us the story behind the name Lucky Nine

“We rebranded about 3 years ago. I wanted a name that was catchy and had always loved the name of the gym 13 Coins in Thailand. 13 Coins is where some of the Sitmonchai fighters were in the early days.

"Nine is an important lucky number in Thailand so we put the two together and added the Muhammad Ali quote: ‘Impossible Is Nothing’. This also gives us a name that is broad enough to make our other classes marketable rather than the sometimes-intimidating traditional martial arts name which we found often scared people off.”

Your Vendetta fight series is very successful. Any plans to increase the frequency?

“Vendetta ages me by several years at a time; comprising hydrated fights under Muay Thai rules. It is hard to find fighters in the South Island, especially females; a lot train but fail to fight which is something I don’t understand.

"So no, my focus outside this is working in with the other South Island gyms and supporting their shows. Wayne Vaega’s King of Kings is going off the hook, Robert Dean in Balclutha nailed it with his first show, Matt and Blake in Dunedin are putting on sell-out shows featuring Muay Thai and K1, and with the Grassroots series kicking off I think there are more than enough fight shows currently.

"For this reason, we are looking at Vendetta hosting an eight-girl Full Thai tournament with a $5,000 prize each year, just in different weight ranges. The girls in NZ are not getting these chances to win some serious coin and at least this way they have a chance. We have mainly girls fighting at L9G and Vendetta is their only chance to fight at home, so we build the show around them. We will fill the gaps with some solid male fights as we’ve come to expect on the show.”

Thanks for taking the time, Scott. I look forward to Vendetta 2020!

You can follow Lucky Nine Gym and the Aotearoa Muay Thai Association on the links below:

Lucky Nine Gym: Facebook, Website, Instagram

Aotearoa Muay Thai Association: Facebook, Website, Instagram

Stay tuned to Fight News for updates on Lucky Nine and Vendetta events.