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This is an edited and corrected edition. Points of interest have been researched and aligned with proper context.

On October 11, 2025, inside a ballroom at a Holiday Inn near the Des Moines airport, over a thousand people gathered for the premiere of something unusual: a documentary about their own community. "A Fighting Legacy" screened that afternoon during the Tournament of Champions. Fighters who had spent the week competing in one of the most grueling Muay Thai tournaments in the world now sat to watch their sport's American story unfold on screen for 74 minutes. The filmmaker behind it was Adam Wagner, an artist and Muay Thai referee from Los Angeles who had bet $5,000 and three months of his life on a simple premise: that the story of how Thai boxing came to America's heartland was worth telling.

The bet paid off. "A Fighting Legacy" now holds a 98.0 rating on IMDb and has won documentary awards at film festivals. But more importantly, Wagner has preserved something that was in danger of being lost —the origin story of a sport that has quietly taken root in American soil.

Wagner didn't grow up dreaming of making documentaries. In 2011, at an age when many martial artists are already veterans, he walked into his first Muay Thai gym. Something clicked. "I trained in Muay Thai, Jiu-Jitsu, Krav Maga," Wagner explains. "But Muay Thai was different. It wasn't just about fighting. It was about discipline, respect, tradition." Four years later, in 2015, he had his first competitive fight. By 2022, he had done what few Western fighters dare: he stepped into a ring in Thailand, where Muay Thai isn't a hobby but a national obsession, where fighters begin training before they can read. Fighting in Thailand is considered the ultimate test.

Thai fighters grow up in the sport, training twice daily from childhood. For an American who started in his twenties to compete there professionally speaks to a level of dedication that borders on obsession. But Wagner's journey was just beginning. He became a nationally certified referee and judge, officiating over 600 fights across organizations including the World Boxing Council and USA Muaythai. He coached at Undisputed Fight Academy in Manhattan Beach. He created Muay Thai art under the brand "Out Of Step"—a name that captured his philosophy: art "made for those who are out of step with the world." All of it was preparation, though he didn't know it yet, for his most important contribution to the sport.

To understand Wagner's film, you need to understand the TBA Classic—and to understand the TBA Classic, you need to understand Pete Peterson. In 1993, Peterson, a former Marine turned martial artist, started promoting fights in Illinois. He quickly ran into a problem: American martial arts tournaments didn't know what to do with Muay Thai. They'd allow kicks but not elbows. Or knees but not clinching. The sport was being diluted, compromised, Americanized in all the wrong ways. At a seminar with Ajarn Chai Sirisute—the Thai master who single-handedly brought Muay Thai to America in 1968—Peterson asked a simple question: "Why doesn't the Thai Boxing Association have its own tournament?" Ajarn Chai's response was even simpler: "Timing's right. Suppose you do it."

In 2007, Peterson and his wife Pam held the first TBA Classic in Des Moines. It was, by Ajarn Chai's own admission, "terrible." But 122 fighters showed up in 2008. Then 323 in 2012. Then 460 in 2016. This year, over 1,000 fighters from around the world descended on Des Moines for five days of competition. Des Moines. Not Los Angeles or New York or Miami. Des Moines, Iowa. "That's the beauty of it," says Wagner. "Muay Thai in America didn't grow in the places you'd expect. It grew where people cared enough to build it."

Every story needs a beginning, and American Muay Thai's beginning is Surachai Sirisute. Born in Bangkok on October 16, 1948, Chai Sirisute started kicking his father's heavy bag at age four. By six, he was formally training in both Muay Thai and karate. At twelve, he earned a black belt in Shorin-ryu karate and fought his first Muay Thai match. In 1968, at twenty years old, he made a decision that would change American martial arts: he moved to the United States. Picture it: 1968 America. Vietnam War protests. Woodstock on the horizon. Bruce Lee just beginning to introduce kung fu to mainstream audiences. And here comes a young Thai fighter with long hair down to his mid-back, ready to teach a martial art virtually no one had heard of.

"Man, I thought Americans were completely crazy," Ajarn Chai later recalled of his Woodstock experience. But he stayed. He taught out of his home and at Southern California colleges—Chaffey College, Claremont Men's College, Cal State San Bernardino. His early students became legends in their own right. In 1978, one of those students changed everything: Dan Inosanto, Bruce Lee's famous training partner, invited Ajarn Chai to teach at his Jeet Kune Do seminars. Suddenly, Muay Thai had access to a much wider audience of martial artists. Then came the Dallas Cowboys. In 1983, through Inosanto's connections, Ajarn Chai met Tom Landry, the legendary Cowboys coach. Landry watched Ajarn Chai demonstrate a kick on a Thai pad. Running back Tony Dorsett, holding the pad, took the impact and exclaimed: "This guy isn't human!" The Cowboys incorporated Muay Thai into their pre-season conditioning. From 1983 to 1990, America's Team was throwing Thai kicks and skip knees. The art of eight limbs had arrived.

Look at the credits of the John Wick films and you'll find Ajarn Chai's fingerprints everywhere. David Leitch and Chad Stahelski, who co-directed and directed the franchise respectively, both trained under him. So did Diana Lee Inosanto, Burton Richardson, Erik Paulson, Ron Balicki, and Brandon Lee. Ajarn Chai didn't just teach fighting. He taught stunt performers, action choreographers, and directors. His students brought authentic Muay Thai to Hollywood, changing how action films portrayed combat. The brutal efficiency you see in modern fight choreography? Much of it traces back to a Thai master teaching in his California backyard.

Now 77, Ajarn Chai still travels the world teaching seminars. Every year he runs a camp in Oregon that draws over 200 students. He founded what became the World Thai Boxing Association, now spanning 18 countries. Without him, there is no Pete Peterson. Without Pete Peterson, there is no TBA Classic. Without the TBA Classic, there is no "A Fighting Legacy."

In early 2025, Wagner decided to make a documentary. He had no filmmaking experience. No crew. No major funding. Just a camera, a vision, and access to the largest Muay Thai tournament in the Western Hemisphere. "I wanted to capture something real," Wagner says. "Not just the violence of the sport—that's easy—but the heart of it. The discipline. The community. The respect." He spent three months filming, editing, and obsessing. The budget: $5,000. For context, a typical documentary costs anywhere from $100,000 to several million dollars. Wagner made do with passion, technical skill, and the goodwill of a community that trusted him.

The film avoids the trap of many combat sports documentaries: it doesn't glorify violence. Instead, it contextualizes it. "Muay Thai is a violent chess game," Wagner explains. The film shows fighters strategizing, coaches mentoring, families forming around a shared love of the art. It works. On IMDb, "A Fighting Legacy" holds a rare perfect 10.0 rating from 73 reviewers. At the Asian Independent Film Festival, it won both the Documentary Award and the Debut Filmmaker Award. The Old Towne Film Festival selected it for screening. "This documentary captures where Muay Thai is at in America very well," wrote one reviewer. "Breaking down the stories of each coach as well as the formation of the tournament is well done." Another: "A Fighting Legacy is powerful and beautifully crafted... It manages to capture both the grit of competition and the deep sense of community that surrounds the sport."

The TBA Classic happens over five days. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday each feature over 150 fights. Sunday brings 170+ championship bouts. Fighters compete in divisions—Novice, Class B, Class A—carefully structured by age and experience. Fighters from California, New York, Texas, Michigan—and increasingly from around the world—converge on Des Moines. "It's like one big Muay Thai family reunion," Pete Peterson told a local news station. "Coaches say they look forward to it all year long. They're in there throwing down, fighting for knockouts, going for that belt. But they're friends afterward."

The entertainment is the fights themselves. Just rings, officials, medical staff, and an equipment pit where vendors sell gloves, shorts, and gear. The focus is pure: Muay Thai, done right. This purity of purpose—authentic rules, skilled officials, traditional respect—is what Peterson and his wife Pam have built over 18 years. It's what Wagner's film captures.

Wagner lives what he documents. On weekends, you might find him officiating fights, his trained eye catching illegal strikes in split-seconds. During the week, he coaches students at Undisputed Fight Academy, teaching not just technique but the mental discipline Muay Thai demands. At night, he creates art. His "Out Of Step" brand produces Muay Thai-inspired prints and designs available through his Etsy shop @outofsteptattooflash. The aesthetic mirrors his philosophy: "Made for those who are out of step with the world."

"Martial artists, especially in traditional arts, often march to their own beat," Wagner explains. "We pursue discipline and excellence in a world that doesn't always understand it." This dual identity—fighter and artist, referee and filmmaker—makes Wagner uniquely qualified to tell Muay Thai's story. He has the insider knowledge to spot what matters and the artistic vision to make it compelling. The Thai Boxing Institute featured him in their April 2024 newsletter, recognizing his contributions to both communities. Now, with "A Fighting Legacy," he's bridged them completely.

"A Fighting Legacy" is available on Plex streaming and continues its festival circuit. But its real impact extends beyond viewership numbers. The film is now a historical document. Future generations of Muay Thai practitioners will watch it to understand how their sport came to America, who the pioneers were, what values guided its growth. Wagner has preserved stories that might otherwise have been lost. Pete Peterson has his life's work documented. Ajarn Chai, at 77, has his American legacy captured on film. The fighters who make the pilgrimage to Des Moines each year have proof that what they do matters.

"This is the type of art that can change lives," Peterson says in the film. "The discipline you learn here translates into all aspects of a person's life. That's what I've seen happen time and time again. That's really what this tournament is all about." Combat sports are often sensationalized, reduced to violence and machismo. Wagner's film cuts through that noise to reveal something deeper: Muay Thai as a path to personal growth, community, and self-discovery.

There's something quintessentially American about all of this. A Thai martial art, brought to the U.S. by a young immigrant in 1968, taught in backyards and community colleges, slowly building a following. A former Marine organizing tournaments in Iowa. Fighters driving hundreds of miles to compete in a Holiday Inn ballroom. A self-taught filmmaker with $5,000 capturing it all. Muay Thai in America didn't grow through corporate investment or mainstream media attention. It grew through dedication, one gym, one fighter, one tournament at a time. The sport flourished not in coastal cities but in the heartland, not through compromise but through insistence on authenticity.

Wagner's film documents this unlikely growth, this stubborn refusal to dilute tradition for convenience. In doing so, it tells a larger story about how immigrant traditions take root and flourish in American soil.

Wagner continues coaching at Undisputed Fight Academy. He still officiates fights across the country. His art business grows. And now, he's a filmmaker whose first documentary achieved something rare: critical success and audience adoration. "I poured my heart and soul into this," Wagner said in his director's statement. "I aimed to capture not just the physicality of the sport, but the emotional and cultural narratives that surround it." He succeeded. "A Fighting Legacy" stands as both a tribute to Muay Thai's American pioneers and an invitation to newcomers. It's for people who've never heard of Ajarn Chai and for fighters who've competed at the TBA Classic for years. It works on both levels because Wagner never forgets the human story beneath the sport.

Ajarn Chai continues teaching, his impact now spanning three generations. The TBA Classic keeps growing, drawing fighters from ever-farther corners of the globe. American Muay Thai has moved beyond its pioneering phase into something sustainable, something lasting. And somewhere in Los Angeles, Adam Wagner is probably working on his next project, still out of step with the world, still documenting the beauty in discipline and the art in combat.