Good bye Phuket Thailand…and @tigermuaythai

*BOOM*…the news has finally broke about my departure from Tiger Muay Thai…

Who-What-Where-When-Why-How?!?!….inquiring minds wanna know…lol :)

I have been at Tiger Muay Thai since May of 2007….I came out here from Orange County California and was just looking for an adventure.  Fast forward five years…and I found more then my share of adventures…lol.

Tiger Muay Thai and Phuket Thailand will always have a special place in my heart…they have to.

I’ve grown so much as a person from the experiences, friends, and challenges we’ve shared.

I can still remember walking into the gym the first day and finding a homemade cage that looked comparable to the ones MTV used to showcase on its animated Celebrity Death Match show…I thought to myself…I just showed up to the set of the next SAW suspense thriller…lol

Through hard work, dedication, and vision–the gym–the students–and the programs have grown from a small 40 student facility in Southeast Asia–with a celebrity deathmatch cage, and sock wearing BJJ students…into a world renowned internationally respected combat fitness facility with UFC level fighters and close to 300 guests calling it training camp.

The ”gym” has become more of a ”compound”– with restaurants, bungalows, multitraining complexes, and entertainments areas…while the street TMT is built on went from ”country” to the ‘burb’s lol.

My own career had a fare share of ups and downs–Spectacular KO in Russia–Disappointment on TUF–Championship success in Martial Combat—in addition to earning my black belt and grooming one of the regions most respected competition teams.

While Thailand has been an important part of my life…I’ve realized over the past year that I don’t want it to be the final chapter of my book.

I love the culture of Thailand and appreciate all of the learning opportunities that this experience has passed my way.  Looking towards the future I’m excited for a fresh start and another opportunity to prove myself in a developing market with a new group of supporters sharing a common vision.

Tomorrow morning I am off to the Philippines to compete in the Nogi Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt division at the Pan Asian tournament–following the competition I will be heading down to Boracay Philippines to visit my good friend Ole Laursen of the Legacy Gym at his newest training facility.

I’m looking forward to spending the next few weeks on one of the world’s most beautiful beaches as I entertain a few offers and decide on my next opportunity.—again…I want to thank everyone for their love and continued support…I’ve been in this fight game over 10 years now…and am gonna keep hustling my way to success…those of you that have been loyal supporters will be able to share in the journey. As the old saying goes— Players Gonna Play–Coaches Gonna Coach—Cheerleaders gonna Cheer–and haters are gonna Hate.

I’ve signed a 3 year seminar agreement with TMT Phuket—so it’s more of a ”see you later”–than a ”bye forever”–which means some of you need to start planning your trip to Phuket…tentatively I’ll be back coaching during  SONGKRAN 2013—>…if you can’t wait till then…hit me up and we can discuss other seminar/coaching options :)