Durham NC’s TK King: One Of The Only Black Female MMA Gym Owners In The Country

DURHAM, NC – Upon entering the gym doors, immediately there is a sense of discipline and community with signs on the walls, trophies won by members on full display to the community that calls it their home gym.  As the owner of United Thai Boxing and MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), Tawanna “TK” King has created a gym that evolves around a lifelong mindset to do things the correct way.  

TK cultivated this mindset as a teenager, growing up in Winston-Salem, where she excelled in multiple sports throughout her high school career.  She found herself competing in everything from cross-country to basketball, earning all-state honors in basketball and soccer.  She even earned the honor of being inducted into the Winston-Salem-Forsyth Hall of Fame and the Bishop McGuinness HS Sports Hall of Fame as a high school basketball player.  Anyone that knows athletes understands that everyone that earned awards such as these has a commitment to hard work and doing the necessary things to become great.  In other words, you cannot fake greatness; it has to be earned through hard work.

Attending The Catholic University of America on an athletic scholarship for basketball, her diligence for hard work continued to manifest in areas on and off the basketball court.  After graduating with her degree in computer science, she taught for a short time before finding the glowing embers of passion that would grow into the fire fueling her life.

One summer, TK decided she would help a friend run the Muay Thai gym in Durham during the summer.  As soon as she entered the gym, TK had the kind of moment that caused the world to stand still, her breath to slow in her lungs, her jaw involuntarily loosen as she watched Muay Thai fighters train inside the walls of that gym.  It was love at first sight and throughout that summer, she realized she had found a passion that could last a lifetime.  At the end of that summer, TK discovered her friend wanted to pass on the gym which she opened in 2013 to her.  Having already obtained her MBA from Winston-Salem State University, she graciously accepted the offer and became one of the only Black female MMA gym owners in the country. United Thai Boxing and MMA opened under ownership in 2015.

In the world of MMA and Muay Thai, athletes compete in full contact matches described as fights.  Opponents will either quit or get knocked unconscious to determine the winner.  The vision of these participants brings to mind images of blood, sweat, and an extreme dedication to violence as a way of life.  In the sport that is characterized by the opponent with the least bodily harm usually the victor, it is easy to assume that the places they train are simply filled with blood and a “win at all cost” mentality.  While there are many gyms across the country that follow this ideology, TK King, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated for over 25 years, maintained her commitment to “do things right” and build the gym in a manner that would foster success for anyone that enters its doors.

TK traveled to Thailand to train and learn Muay Thai in its birthplace.  She decided she wanted her staff to be full of people that had a passion for their sport and the desire to pass on their knowledge.  She wanted to build a place where everyone in the gym was welcome regardless of his or her background or lifestyle.  She also wanted to provide a place for kids to get off the streets and obtain a sense of confidence through the discipline required to learn their techniques.  

Today, the United Thai Boxing and MMA incorporates all the elements TK wanted. This means everyone entering the gym understands they are in a community of people dedicated to improvement.  

TK expresses her desire to instill a sense of discipline in everyone that comes into the gym.  She prides herself in knowing that she has helped kids, as well as families, feel safe from the confidence her gym gives them to protect themselves and their families.

It is very clear that the values inherent to TK King are planted in the members of her gym.  As someone that has chosen to let her passions guide her in life, graduates of HBCUs everywhere should take notice of her efforts and follow her in doing things “the right way.”

For more information about United Thai Boxing and MMA, visit www.unitedthaiboxing.com/