Issue 154

May 2017

Being the head coach and owner of an MMA gym is a lot like being the principal of a middle school. There’s a lot of drama.

It’s a 24-hour-a-day job. I opened the gym 14 years ago, way before the sport got popular. I followed the UFC all the way from UFC 1 and fell in love with it. I started training at 17.

By 18, I knew this was my thing.

I got into a car accident, got a little settlement and I opened my first gym. All of the gyms back then were in bad neighborhoods or industrial areas. I had a small little hole in the wall, a 1,500 square foot building.

I wanted to get it out of that to where mothers and children felt comfortable.

The name’s changed a few times as MMA was growing.

Basically, whoever I could find to give me money got the name on the building just to stay alive. But I’ve had it since day one. Syndicate is my thing and that’s never going to change. And we’ve always had high-level people and great talent.

It’s like any business, if you don’t run it like a business, you will be out of business so quick your head will spin. But you can’t be a fighter, a coach and run a business successfully. I made the decision to put all my eggs in this one basket and it’s worked.

It’s a struggle, it’s a tough business. You’re not only juggling fighters. We have 600-plus students. It’s a turn and burn business.

We try to do a lot with retention.

In terms of fighters, I’ve had them all through those doors. Matt Brown lived with me. Forrest Griffin lived with me for five or six years. Mike Whitehead lived with me. I’ve had a revolving door. There’s somebody here every week from out of town.

Amanda Nunes is one of my good friends, she was here leading up to her fight with Ronda (Rousey). I take no credit for that whatsoever. She’s been coming in now and then for the past couple of years. Her and Nina (Ansaroff) are just rad people. I love having them here. They’re welcome anytime.

I have a great relationship with Greg Jackson too. I am very open to letting people come in here and work with the team. I try to keep good relationships and a good name in the sport. I am very open to anyone that wants to come in.

Mark Dellagrotte and Joe Rogan are out there working out right now. You can come here as long as you aren’t a d**khead. If you are a d**khead you have to be a funny d**khead.

Then you’re good.

I’ve been working on building my own MMA system for the last two years.

I’d like to franchise or get affiliate schools down the road. Here, I focus on wanting to be considered one of the top 20 or even top five schools when you think of MMA. I want to really put this gym on the map.

I’d like to have 10 or 20 guys in the UFC. Eventually to get a UFC champion would be awesome. I want to put my stamp on something that’ll hopefully allow my legacy to go on forever.