From what I gathered, they're ALL full of white overweight tourists. That's where they make their money.
If you want to get serious and even train for an actual fight, they'll give you special treatment. Tiger attracts the MMA guys. Dragon I don't know much about, but the gym was very small when I looked at it. There were only like four people there. Patong, I have no idea, but I wouldn't want to live in Patong.
Rawai's trainers are awesome fighters. The owner (Tuk) used to fight professionally in Bangkok and won championships up there. His brother (Hem), who manages the gym was a local champion in southern Thailand for like three years in a row. Supposedly he had to retire because no other fighter in Phuket would agree to fight him anymore. There are some Youtube clips of his fights where he basically just toys with the guy and then knocks him out after 30 seconds.
The guys who were training FOR REAL in Rawai -- i.e., training for months at a time and actually planning on entering the ring -- got special treatment and were segregated from the main group. They all were also in absolutely amazing condition.
The rest was basically summer camp for people who who are masochistic and/or want to lose like 20lbs.
Honestly, if you fall into the latter category -- you just want to lose some weight, get in great shape, and have fun doing it -- pretty much any of the gyms will suffice. It comes down to atmosphere and character. Who do you want to hang out with when you're not training? Like I said, Tiger's reputation is that of hardcore MMA guys and I know some ppl at Rawai didn't like the attitude over there. Rawai's atmosphere was very casual and relaxed and some other guys didn't like that either -- they wanted to be pushed harder. So I'd just look at the personality of the gym more than the actual training... if you're only going for 1-2 months, they're all going to teach you the same shit anyway.
And let's be honest, it's fucking Phuket... just pick one and go.
If you want to get serious and even train for an actual fight, they'll give you special treatment. Tiger attracts the MMA guys. Dragon I don't know much about, but the gym was very small when I looked at it. There were only like four people there. Patong, I have no idea, but I wouldn't want to live in Patong.
Rawai's trainers are awesome fighters. The owner (Tuk) used to fight professionally in Bangkok and won championships up there. His brother (Hem), who manages the gym was a local champion in southern Thailand for like three years in a row. Supposedly he had to retire because no other fighter in Phuket would agree to fight him anymore. There are some Youtube clips of his fights where he basically just toys with the guy and then knocks him out after 30 seconds.
The guys who were training FOR REAL in Rawai -- i.e., training for months at a time and actually planning on entering the ring -- got special treatment and were segregated from the main group. They all were also in absolutely amazing condition.
The rest was basically summer camp for people who who are masochistic and/or want to lose like 20lbs.
Honestly, if you fall into the latter category -- you just want to lose some weight, get in great shape, and have fun doing it -- pretty much any of the gyms will suffice. It comes down to atmosphere and character. Who do you want to hang out with when you're not training? Like I said, Tiger's reputation is that of hardcore MMA guys and I know some ppl at Rawai didn't like the attitude over there. Rawai's atmosphere was very casual and relaxed and some other guys didn't like that either -- they wanted to be pushed harder. So I'd just look at the personality of the gym more than the actual training... if you're only going for 1-2 months, they're all going to teach you the same shit anyway.
And let's be honest, it's fucking Phuket... just pick one and go.