Who was Yodtong Senanan?

Kru Yodtong Senanan (1937-2013) was a Thai Muay Thai trainer who founded the Sityodtong camp and trained dozens of stadium champions, including Samart Payakaroon.

Sityodtong, house of Yodtong, is the Muay Thai camp Kru Yodtong founded around 1959, now near Pattaya, Thailand. Gyms run by his students in Boston, Los Angeles and Singapore carry the name.

Is Chatri Sityodtong related to Kru Yodtong?

No. Chatri Sityodtong took the camp's name, as its fighters and students traditionally do, after training under Kru Yodtong.

When did Yodtong Senanan die?

He died in February 2013 in Chonburi province, Thailand, aged 75.

Yodtong Senanan, 1937–2013: The Kru Behind Sityodtong

Kru Yodtong Senanan ended his own fighting career at 21 and spent the next half century building one of the most successful Muay Thai camps in Thailand. The Sityodtong camp produced Samart Payakaroon and dozens of stadium champions, then opened its doors to foreigners, and its name now hangs over gyms in Boston, Los Angeles and Singapore. He died in February 2013, aged 75.

Full name: Yodtong Senanan (Kru Yodtong); born Pu Tui
Born: 28 August 1937, Ban Pong District, Ratchaburi, Thailand
Died: February 2013, Chonburi Province, Thailand, aged 75 (reported as 8 or 11 February)
Art: Muay Thai
Fighting career: About 50 fights, from age 15 to 21
Founded: The Sityodtong camp, Rayong Province, about 1959; later moved to Banglamung, near Pattaya, Chonburi
Champions: Including Samart Payakaroon, Kongtoranee Payakaroon, Nuengpichit, Detpitak, Chartchai, Yoddecha and Daotong Sityodtong
Notable students: Chatri Sityodtong, founder of Evolve MMA and ONE Championship; Mark DellaGrotte, who runs Sityodtong in Boston

The fighter

Yodtong was born in Ban Pong, in Ratchaburi province west of Bangkok, and began training at 14. He had his first fight at 15, and at 17 joined the Senanan camp, taking his trainer’s surname as Thai fighters often do. By the time he stopped fighting regularly, at 21, he had had about 50 bouts. It was a short career by any standard, and it was not what made his name.

The camp

Around 1959 he opened his own camp, Sityodtong, “house of Yodtong,” in Rayong province; after some fifteen years it moved to the Banglamung district of Chonburi, near Pattaya. His first stadium champion, Daotong Sityodtong, won a Lumpinee Stadium title in 1971. Many more followed. The camp’s own count is 57 champions, which it describes as the most produced by any camp in Thailand; we have not been able to verify the figure independently, but the list of names includes Samart Payakaroon, one of the most celebrated Muay Thai fighters of all time.

Opening the doors

Sityodtong’s second achievement was to train foreigners. Kickboxers from the Netherlands and Japan trained there, and so did Americans who went on to build gyms of their own. Mark DellaGrotte runs Sityodtong in Boston, and Chatri Sityodtong, a Thai student of Kru Yodtong’s who became a businessman, founded Evolve MMA in Singapore and later ONE Championship. Kru Yodtong named both men as custodians of his Muay Thai abroad.

Death

Kru Yodtong died in February 2013, aged 75, in Chonburi province, where his camp had been for decades. Sources give the date as 8 or 11 February; we have not found a published cause of death. The Sityodtong name continues in Thailand and in gyms abroad run by his students.

What a school owner should take from Yodtong Senanan

Kru Yodtong shows that results are the best marketing a gym can have. A camp that produces champion after champion does not need to advertise; fighters and trainers come looking for it.

He also shows the value of welcoming students from outside your own world. Opening his camp to foreigners created a network of loyal former students who carried the Sityodtong name to three continents.

And he shows that a teacher’s name can become a brand that outlives him, when the students who carry it are chosen carefully and given his blessing.

Quick answers

Who was Yodtong Senanan?: Kru Yodtong Senanan (1937–2013) was a Thai Muay Thai trainer who founded the Sityodtong camp and trained dozens of stadium champions, including Samart Payakaroon.
What is Sityodtong?: Sityodtong, “house of Yodtong,” is the Muay Thai camp Kru Yodtong founded around 1959, now near Pattaya, Thailand. Gyms run by his students in Boston, Los Angeles and Singapore carry the name.
Is Chatri Sityodtong related to Kru Yodtong?: No. Chatri Sityodtong took the camp’s name, as its fighters and students traditionally do, after training under Kru Yodtong.
When did Yodtong Senanan die?: He died in February 2013 in Chonburi province, Thailand, aged 75.

Sources, and what we could not confirm

Sources: the English Wikipedia biography of Yodtong Senanan and the sources it cites, for his birth, fighting career, the founding and move of the camp, his champions, his foreign students and the roles he gave Chatri Sityodtong and Mark DellaGrotte; and The Phuket News‘s report of his death, by James Goyder, for his death, age and the camp’s international branches.

Conflicts printed rather than smoothed over. His death is dated 8 February 2013 by one source and 11 February by another, and placed in Chonburi and in Pattaya, which is in Chonburi province. The camp’s founding is dated 1959 by one source and about 1963 by another.

Not independently documented. The claimed total of 57 champions; the full list of foreign fighters said to have trained at the camp; and his cause of death.

Corrections. See our editorial policy. If you trained at Sityodtong under Kru Yodtong, we want to hear from you.