Leeana Bade Todd Atkins interview on coaching and ONE Muay Thai

In the Leeana Bade Todd Atkins interview, the California Muay Thai champion explained why she is focusing on a new coaching business instead of competing, how Conor McGregor influenced her southpaw stance, and why she prefers traditional Muay Thai to the small-glove fights in ONE Championship. Bade also discussed her clinical research career, the growth of Muay Thai in the United States and competing for the Philippines national team.

How did Leeana Bade start Muay Thai?

Leeana Bade first encountered martial arts through karate after her family moved from the Philippines, but she did not take up Muay Thai until 2018, while attending San Jose State University. A class at a San Jose gym held her interest in a way karate had not when she was six.

Karate, basketball and a return to martial arts

Her father enrolled Bade and her younger sister in karate when the family arrived in the United States. They trained for a little over a year before turning to basketball, which Bade said they played throughout their childhood. She attributed her difficulty with karate partly to severe ADHD: sitting still, paying attention and staying quiet in class were especially hard for her at that age.

As a young adult, Bade wanted to learn a martial art and initially looked toward boxing. She joined a boxing club at San Jose State University but did not connect with the instruction there. Instead, she joined a San Jose gym called Glow Glow, which taught kickboxing and Muay Thai.

Finding Muay Thai in San Jose

Bade took a Muay Thai class at Glow Glow in 2018 and continued training. She said her years as an athlete helped her pick up the footwork quickly. College limited how much time she could devote to fighting at first, but she was interested in competition almost immediately.

When did Leeana Bade begin competing in Muay Thai?

Leeana Bade entered her first smoker about two months after starting Muay Thai in 2018, then made her amateur debut in July 2021. She sought out opportunities to fight rather than waiting for a coach to propose them, and she said she has had around 17 fights in total.

Early smokers and the wait for an amateur fight

At Glow Glow, coaches asked which students wanted to compete, and Bade was among the first to volunteer. She did several smokers while training there. Those early appearances were not amateur fights, but they confirmed that she wanted to pursue competition at a higher level.

After joining Smash Gyms and training under Rudy Ott, she committed more seriously to amateur competition. Bade said the team asked her to train consistently for another three to four months before she would be ready. The gap between her first smoker and her amateur debut was longer than she expected because pandemic restrictions reduced both training access and competition opportunities.

Training with Rudy Ott

Bade said preparing for her first amateur fight was when she became serious about pursuing Muay Thai as a fighter. Her ambition did not depend on winning her first tournament. She particularly enjoyed Ott’s teaching style and the training process that came with competing.

What did Leeana Bade say about Conor McGregor and ONE Championship Muay Thai?

Leeana Bade said Conor McGregor helped inspire her to compete and to adopt a southpaw stance, despite being right-handed. She also credits ONE Championship with drawing attention to Muay Thai, but prefers the technical exchanges of traditional fights to small-glove bouts built around quick knockouts.

Conor McGregor and the southpaw switch

When she began training, Bade watched more Ultimate Fighting Championship than Muay Thai. She initially trained as an orthodox fighter, then became interested in McGregor’s movements and tricks. Because he fought southpaw, she began working from that stance too; she said she can now fight from either stance.

Her interest in Muay Thai broadcasts and practitioners grew later. She followed ONE Championship and Muay Thai fighters in the Ultimate Fighting Championship after UFC viewing had already helped spark her competitive ambition.

Technical Muay Thai versus small-glove knockouts

Bade finds ONE Championship’s small-glove fights entertaining and said their knockout highlights have helped attract an audience. She believes, however, that the emphasis on knockouts can obscure the technical work she values most in Muay Thai. As she put it:

It's so it's so much more fun to watch than having these these 30-second knockouts in the fights

In Bade’s view, the wider interest generated by those highlights gives ONE Championship room to show audiences more traditional Muay Thai. She would rather watch skilled fighters work through extended technical exchanges than see a fight end almost immediately.

How does Leeana Bade describe Muay Thai in the United States?

Leeana Bade said Muay Thai has become more popular in the United States over the past five to ten years, with more gyms, tournaments and promotional cards available to fighters. She identified California’s Bay Area and Southern California as particularly active, while also pointing to Las Vegas and the East Coast.

In California, Bade sees opportunities in both Northern California and Southern California. She said the number of gyms and the consistency of competitions have improved, especially over the past five years, giving people more ways to train and compete locally.

She also singled out Warriors Cup for promoting Muay Thai and kickboxing fighters. Its live streams, she said, allow people elsewhere in the country to watch its cards, extending the reach of events beyond the local audience.

Why did Leeana Bade stop competing and start a Muay Thai coaching business?

Leeana Bade is not currently competing because she is putting her energy into a new Muay Thai and kickboxing coaching business. She still trains consistently, but not at the intensity she maintained for competition. Coaching became a larger focus after Rudy Ott invited her to teach classes and she paused her clinical research career.

Coaching at Smash Gyms and training private clients

Ott, the owner of her gym, asked Bade to start coaching classes. She enjoyed the work, although she had expected coaching to come much later in her life. She now teaches classes and offers one-on-one sessions to people interested in self-defense, a martial art or a new hobby.

Bade said she primarily trains private clients at her fight team’s gym in Sunnyvale, California, and can also train them at home if they prefer. She has made a separate Instagram account and a Google business profile for her coaching work, and hopes clients will refer friends and peers.

Pausing clinical research

Before shifting her focus, Bade worked as a clinical researcher. She said she had spent two and a half years building, managing and coordinating a program for patients with Parkinson’s disease and had expected to continue that career alongside competitive fighting.

Bade said she disagreed with decisions being made about the program and chose to leave the role. She has paused her clinical research career for now and is concentrating on coaching, rather than presenting her break from competition as an end to training.

What did Leeana Bade say about the Philippines and training in Thailand?

Leeana Bade said she competed for the Philippines Muay Thai national team at the 2022 World Games in Alabama. She has not returned to the Philippines since leaving at age six, but hopes to visit family there and train in Thailand on a future trip.

Representing the Philippines in Alabama

Bade said her connection to the national team includes the 2022 World Games. She also discussed a Philippines teammate who competes in Muay Thai, although Bade said they had not met in person. Their shared teammates gave them a connection through the team.

Plans to visit family and train in Thailand

School and work have kept Bade from returning to the Philippines. At the time of the conversation, she said her parents had retired and her sister was there playing professional basketball. Bade hoped to visit with her boyfriend within roughly the next year because she missed her family there.

She has not trained in Thailand, but wants to include it in that trip. Friends and teammates have spoken highly of training there, she said, and one teammate moved to Thailand after developing a strong attachment to its culture and Muay Thai.