Wait?! You’re arresting me for teaching Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?!

Arrested?!…I’m under arrest?!…seriously…?!

LOL…those where my exact thoughts March 24th 2011 when the Thai police ”apprehended me” in front of my beginner BJJ class at Tiger Muay Thai. Having spent 5 years in the country pioneering the sports of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Submission Grappling, and Mixed Martial Arts, I helped create hundreds of jobs for the local community, as Tiger Muay Thai began to grow in popularity (and size)– which directly increased the amount of tourist vacationing in Phuket and the small Soi-Tad-Ied road that the gym was located on.  Tattoo shops, restaurants, hotels, literally dozens of shops opened on the street during my time there.

Rarely do I allow anyone to video tape my classes—>however the  day prior to my arrest, Tiger Muay Thai was playing host to an employee appreciation activity for members of the shipping company DHL.  Assuming the people who were recording my class where part of that group, I allowed them to film the rolling portion at the end of the training session.

Imagine the surprise I had when the following day, the same people who where filming my class…showed up and asked me to come with them to the immigration police office…as I was under arrest for illegally working in Thailand! Sitting in the Immigration office, the police showed me a ”package” that they had received in the mail.  The package showed several Youtube interviews that I had given, and screen captures of websites that explicitly listed me as an ”instructor” and ”head of the MMA program” for TMT Phuket.

The facts were true…I had been illegally employed in Thailand since 2007—although to my credit I had requested a work permit for several years.  Delays in ”how the company was registered”–and ”getting a work permit to teach BJJ in a country that didn’t know what Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was”–where usually the reasons why my work permit requests were dismissed. Since teaching is only one form of my annual income, I was lead to believe that I would be able to tell anyone investigating me for illegal employment, that I was working abroad as a fighter, spokesperson, and receiving money annually from various sponsors which allowed me to stay in Thailand–as the cost of living in Asia is considerably cheaper than that of Orange County California.

Essentially our plan was to tell immigration that I was a ”sponsored fighter”, and that in exchange for sharing the gentle art of BJJ, I was able to learn the art of the eight limbs (muay thai)…with no ”salary” being exchanged….truth be told, after a bit of research—even volunteering in the country in exchange for housing or food is considered ”working” and constitutes the need for a work permit. That gimmick of an answer lasted about 15 minutes…lol.  Before I knew it, Thai immigration had seized my passport, and an impending trial date was looming.  The penalty of working without a work permit in Thailand included amongst other things–being blackballed from entering the country, financial fines, and the possibility of imprisonment…the thought of which nearly lead me to have a mental breakdown.

As with everything in Thailand, there are ”back channel” ways of dealing with legal problems, and TMT was able to network with the right people to have my case ”dismissed” for ”lack of evidence”—which basically meant that the right people received the right gifts, and were going to look the other way. Through the course of communication with officials in the Immigration department it was revealed that immigration was ”tipped” of my employment, and more then likely received some sort of an ”incentive” to act upon the package they received in the mail.

unjustly—I immediately accused the rival gym–Phuket Top Team.  It only seemed logical, as we were fierce business rivals at the time, and I was the only BJJ Black Belt teaching on the island, which gave TMT a strong competitive advantage over any of the other facilities teaching Mixed Martial Arts training at the time. Publicly I’d like to apologize to PTT for the bad blood—>again…the whole experience was a learning opportunity for me.  Truth be told, while I was at PTT helping Adam Kayoom prepare for his win over Gregor Gracie—Boyd and I became friends, and I hope his gym continues to succeed as his drive and motivation really impressed me.

As time went on however, it was later revealed to me, that an ”American who was planning on opening a gym” was the likely candidate for turning me in.—>to this day, I have never been able to find out exactly who that person was…although I have my suspicions.  :)

As with everything in life…this was a valuable learning experience.  Letting the company I worked for to take short cuts, I allowed them to maximize their profits, while putting me at risk both legally and financially in the process.  Moving forward I’ve learned the importance of being on the legal side of the law—especially in a country like Thailand, where you’re only as safe as your highest ranking friend…lol.  From what I’ve heard TMT used my experience as a learning opportunity as well, sorting all the foreigners working their with the proper documents so they don’t have to go through all the stress I had to deal with.

Yesterday, when I returned to Malaysia…it felt good going through immigration and showing them the work permit proudly displayed in my passport