Warriors of Muay Thai

Warriors Thai Boxing Gym in Monkstown, Dublin is home to some of the country’s best Muay Thai fighters and coaches and won the Irish Muay Thai gym of the year in 2023. 

Muay Thai otherwise referred to as Thai boxing is an ancient form of martial arts that originated in Thailand. It is also known as ‘The Art of Eight Limbs’ because the fighters use kicks, punches, knees and elbows. 

Cian Cowley (32) is the head coach of Warriors Gym and is a professional MMA fighter having been formerly a professional Thai boxer. Cian has always been involved in martial arts since childhood as his dad was a kickboxer and boxer. He found Warriors Gym at aged 12 and fell in love with Thai boxing. Cian had over 30 amateur fights and 54 professional fights and became a 4-time Thai boxing champion and also a K1 kickboxing champion. He has also spent a lot of time training in Thailand to elevate his game. 

He had his last Muay Thai fight at 22 and decided to switch to become a Mixed Martial Arts fighter (MMA) after well renowned MMA coach John Kavanagh convinced him to join John’s gym, SBG Ireland. Cian is currently an active MMA fighter with aspirations to fight in the UFC. 

He took over Warriors Gym at 19. After hearing that his coach was going to have close the gym, Cian got the opportunity to try running the gym himself for a few months before the lease was up and has been the head coach ever since. 

Muay Thai has given Cian stability and discipline in his life that has carried into other areas of his life like running the gym and having a family. He has also seen it completely change other people that have come into his gym lives for the better. 

Warriors gym is also home to other elite level fighters like Tom Keogh (24). Tom started Muay Thai when he was 11. His dad used to work with Cian in a bakery and the two of them got chatting about Muay Thai. Cian was thinking about starting kid's classes at the time and it resulted in Tom and his sister being the first two people training in the kids' class. Tom had a rough run in amateur Muay Thai but quickly found his stride after he turned professional. He has won an Irish title, Intercontinental title and two 4-man tournaments so far in his pro career.  

Like Cian, he has also spent a lot of time in Thailand to train with Thai fighters to improve. The training in Thailand was very tough, training twice a day every day, getting beat up daily but when he came back, he realised he had really elevated his game. 

Tom started Muay Thai originally to get respect from his fellow peers but now the reason he does it is to be the best, win world titles and see how far he can go in the sport. He has sacrificed having a normal life, missing parties and spending time with his family and girlfriend in order to reach his goals. Tom has been coaching in Warriors gym since he was 17 and has felt it really benefitted his fighting career due to having to have a better understanding of why they do certain techniques to explain to others.  

Sohail Afshar (24) also fights out of and coaches in Warriors Gym. He started after his brother took him to a local gym and like Cian and Tom instantly fell in love with Thai Boxing. Similarly to Cian, Sohail feels Thai Boxing has given his life structure and discipline that he can carry into other areas of his life. He also found Thai Boxing gave him more confidence and a better attitude towards life. He won an Irish title in 2023 which he felt was 10 years of being involved in martial arts finally vindicated. He also feels like he sacrificed having a social life in order to get to where he is.    
He describes the feeling of going into fights as a weird mix of feelings, the most alive and energetic but also dead and petrified he’s ever felt but when the bell rings he’s the most focused he has ever been. 

When Sohail’s fighting career is over all he wants is to know he has given his all to the sport and he’ll be happy.