Muay Thai & MMA · Barking, East London
In 2000 Darius Skliaudys became the first Lithuanian to win a European Muay Thai title. In 2005 he fought at K-1 World MAX in Japan. Today he holds the pads in Barking — and your first class is half price.
Who is actually holding the pads
On 20 July 2005 Darius Skliaudys fought at the K-1 World MAX Championship Final in Yokohama Arena, Japan. The same card featured Masato, Buakaw Por.Pramuk, Andy Souwer and Ramon Dekkers — the best strikers alive at the time.
A year earlier he had beaten Hideo Tokoro, the Japanese star who went on to fight in PRIDE, DREAM, Bellator and RIZIN — and who is still competing today. He drew twice with UFC and PRIDE veteran Naoyuki Kotani. He shared a ring with Jomhod Kiatadisak, a Thai legend with 276 wins and four world titles.
Most people never get to train with someone who has been at that level. In Barking, you can — on a Tuesday evening, for the price of a takeaway.
The receipts
| Result | Opponent | Method |
|---|---|---|
| W | Lorant Grof | KO (punch), R3 |
| D | Naoyuki Kotani | Draw |
| W | Andrejs Zozulja | KO |
| D | Naoyuki Kotani | Draw |
| W | Hideo TokoroPRIDE · DREAM · RIZIN veteran, still fighting today | Decision, R2 |
| W | Nikolajs Haustovs | KO, R1 1:20 |
| W | Norimichi Isozaki | KO (punch), R1 0:49 |
| W | Takahiro Miyano | KO (flying knee), R1 1:24 |
| L | Takahiro Uchiyama | Submission, R1 |
| D | Takayuki Okochi | Draw |
| W | Antanas Jazbutis | Decision |
No mystery, no surprises
Most people who walk through that door have never thrown a punch in their life. That is the normal starting point here, not the exception. Here is exactly what happens, minute by minute, so you can stop worrying about it.
Come in shorts or joggers and a t-shirt. Bring water. That is genuinely all you need — gloves and shin pads are here to borrow for your first sessions.
Skipping, footwork, mobility. You go at your own pace. Nobody is timing you and nobody is watching you.
One or two things only. Jab. Teep. How to stand so you don't get pushed over. Darius corrects you personally — that is the whole point of training here.
Where it starts to feel good. You hit things properly, with someone telling you how to hit them better.
Short, hard, finished. Scaled to whatever shape you turned up in.
Sparring is your choice. Some nights people spar, some nights they sit and watch it. Both are completely normal here, and nobody is ever put in who has not asked to be.
Real sessions, real gym
It is not just his record
A coach's real record is what his students do. These are his — at WKO championship shows, at Cyclone Fight Night, at KBX. Same man, same pads, same Tuesday evenings in Barking.
Who this is actually for
Almost nobody who walks in here is planning to get in a ring. They come because something in their week is not working. See if one of these is you.
Ninety minutes where you have to watch someone else’s hands is ninety minutes you cannot think about work, money or the news. People do not come here to punch things. They come here because it is the only part of the week their head goes quiet.
The tiredness that comes from sitting still all day does not go away by sitting still some more. Two sessions a week and people start sleeping properly again. It is the most common thing anyone says after the first month.
Not a bigger chest. Strength that holds up when you are out of breath and someone is in front of you. That is a different thing, and it is built differently — the way fighters build it.
Walking home. A stranger who will not leave it. You never want to use any of it — but knowing you could changes how you carry yourself, and people notice that before anything ever happens.
Nobody counts reps here and nobody is bored. You lose weight because you worked for an hour and a half without noticing, and you keep going back because it is the opposite of a treadmill.
Someone who watches what you are doing and corrects it. Who knows your name and notices when you are off. Most adults have not had that since school — and it turns out that is the part people were missing.
Kids from four upwards train here too, and women train in every session. If you do want to compete, he has taken people to WKO and Cyclone shows and brought them home with belts — but that is a choice, not the point.
Membership
Every price is on this page. No joining fee, no auto-renewal, no card details taken without you asking for it. If you get injured, lose your job or move away, you get the unused part of your membership back, pro-rata.
Buy by the week, the month or the year. The longer you commit, the less each session costs — and whatever you pay for a week comes off your first month if you stay.
Your first class is with Darius himself. Gloves and pads lent to you, sparring entirely up to you, nothing to cancel afterwards.
That is £7.50 each if you bring someone — and it is a lot easier to walk through the door the first time when you are not walking through it alone.
Try a full week before you commit to anything.
every session that week
Credited against your first month
Rolling. Walk away whenever you like.
£26 a week
No minimum term
Long enough to actually get good.
£95 a month · £22 a week
£690 save £120 · 17% off
Most people pick this one
Twelve months will pass either way.
or £89 a month × 12
£1,380 save £360 · 26% off
A single class is £20, or £15 for two of you on a first visit. A week is £35. Train twice a week and the 6-month membership already costs you less per session — and on the year it is £6.50 a session at three a week.
Train eight sessions in your first month. If you are not sharper, fitter and more confident than when you started, Darius refunds the block. No argument, no forms. He can make that offer because almost nobody who trains eight times in a month ever asks for it.
Timetable
Can't make those times? Message him — 1-to-1 sessions run through the week.
The things people actually worry about
No, because most of the room started exactly where you are. Beginners are the majority here, not a minority being tolerated. Nobody watches you. Everyone is too busy trying to get their own technique right.
You get fit by training, not before it. Waiting until you are in shape to start means waiting forever. Everything is scaled — you work at the level you turn up at, and it moves as you do.
Sparring is entirely your choice, every session. You can get in and spar, or you can stand at the ropes and watch the others do it — watching is how a lot of people learn the timing anyway. Some want it, some never do, and both are normal. When you do decide to, it is controlled, it is light, and you are never put in with someone you are not ready for.
Darius is 45 himself and still holds a full mid-air split. Muay Thai scales better with age than almost any other sport, because technique beats athleticism. Adults in their forties and fifties train in these sessions every week.
Yes. Women train in every session. Muay Thai is one of the best disciplines there is for confidence, fitness and genuine self-defence — and this is a coached class, not a room full of people throwing hands at each other.
Shorts or joggers, a t-shirt, water. Gloves and shin guards are lent to you for the first few sessions so you don't spend money on kit before you know you like it.
You get the unused portion of your membership back, pro-rata. That is written into how this works and it is not something you have to argue for.
No. There is no auto-renewal and no rolling contract you cannot get out of. Nothing is charged that you have not explicitly agreed to, and you can cancel by message. When your term ends, it ends — you decide whether to start another.
227 Gascoigne Road, Barking, IG11 7LN. It is about a fifteen-minute walk from Barking station, or a few minutes on the bus, and there is street parking right outside. People travel in from Dagenham, Ilford, East Ham, Romford and Stratford.
Book your first class
Fill this in and we will write back to confirm which session to come to. As soon as we can — usually the same day.
Prefer to talk? Call 07301 079766.
Where to find it
Inside Thai Fighters, on Gascoigne Road. About fifteen minutes’ walk from Barking station, or a few minutes on the bus — and there is street parking right outside the unit.
