Interview with Evolve MMA Founder Chatri Sityodtong

Evolve MMA in Singapore is home to some top talent such as Shinya Aoki and Rafael Dos Anjos and is also developing an entire crop of up and coming fighters like Bryan Choi, Eddie Ng and Zorobabel Moreira. The Evolve fight team's 2011 MMA record stand at  12-1 with wins at the UFC, Dream, One Fighting Championship and Dare Championship.

That equates to a 92% win rate which very few teams consistently competing at such an elite level of MMA would be able to rival. The last wins came a couple of weekends ago when Alex Silva and Rodrigo Ribeiro both won by first round submission at Dare Championship 2/11 while Aoki defended his Dream lightweight title by defeating Rob McCullough.

Next up is Dos Anjos who will be looking to move up the lightweight ladder when he takes on Gleison Tibau  at UFC 139.

Thai businessman Chatri Sityodtong is the founder and chairman of Evolve MMA and takes a very hands on approach, he can normally be found in his fighter's corner giving them advice and instructions. He spoke exclusively to MMAmania.com about how he founded Evolve MMA and has taken it to the point where it is widely recognized as being the top MMA academy in Asia.

What is your martial arts background?

I'm from Thailand and I've been doing Muay Thai for almost 25 years as a student, a fighter, a teacher, and a coach.  Kru Yodtong Senanan (the Grandmaster of Sityodtong Camp in Thailand) has been my teacher since I was a kid growing up in Thailand.  I've grappled for about three years. I'm not very good at it, but I love it and I have a Blue Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Renzo Gracie. As an MMA coach, I have taught and cornered fighters such as DREAM FC Champion Shinya Aoki (pictured below), UFC fighter Rafael dos Anjos, WBA Boxing World Champion Yodsanan Sityodtong, BJJ World Champion Zorobabel Moreira, MCFC Champion Mitch Chilson, BJJ World Champion Leandro Issa, ONE FC fighter Eddie Ng, and many others.

The Evolve Fight Team has had a very successful year.  Why do you think that is?

In fighting, you are only as good as your team.  For me, I believe that the best attract the best and the best produce the best.  At Evolve MMA, we have a great family of world-class teachers...51 full-time instructors to be exact...17 of whom are World Champions in their discipline.  Evolve MMA is the only MMA academy in Asia with current or former world champions in Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Mixed Martial Arts, Boxing, and No Gi Grappling. As the leader of Evolve MMA, I try my best to foster a strong cross-learning environment.  I don't believe in MMA as a stand alone art.  I believe that you have to learn each discipline deeply before applying it to MMA.

Where do you find fighters and trainers and what is the selection process?

In the early days of Evolve MMA it was much harder to recruit and I had to travel a lot to find talent. We've been lucky in that our win streak has given us a good reputation and today I get about 100 emails a week from fighters and coaches asking to join the Evolve Fight Team. It's mostly around Asia, but we've even gotten inquiries from the US, Australia, and Europe too. 

Every day I spend a couple hours a day scouring the globe for new talent. and when I spot someone we usually invite them to train with us for a tryout process. Other times, professional fighters just show up without any advance warning to try out for the team. In a nutshell, I am looking for fighters that Evolve MMA can turn into World Champions so I look at natural athleticism, gameness, coachability, humility, work ethic, body type, etc. 

Luckily, our retention rate has been 100%.  We've never had a fighter or instructor leave us voluntarily.  I try my best to invest my time in people that I truly believe in for the long run.  Right now, I am still looking to recruit two to three wrestling champions for the Evolve Fight Team...NCAA D1 champion caliber.

Who devises the Evolve MMA fighter training program? Is one person in overall charge?

I am the leader of the Evolve Fight Team and I am ultimately responsible for everything. That being said, our day-to-day training is taught by our 51 instructors. When we have fights, I am the one who comes up with the game plan and strategy for each of our fighters. I've had some great input from friends who visited Singapore to train with us such as Renzo Gracie, Matt Hume, Rich Franklin (pictured below), etc, we regularly share knowledge with each other. 

And of course, all of our World Champions at Evolve MMA are walking encyclopedias on fighting. The wealth of knowledge at Evolve MMA is incredible, there is really so much cross-learning here. The Fighters Program at Evolve MMA is a constant work-in-progress; we are constantly trying to incorporate new methodologies into the training.  I believe in continuous improvement.  If you don't evolve, you wither away.

Your send your MMA fighters to compete in Muay Thai fights, boxing matches and BJJ competitions, why is that?

I don't believe in MMA as a discipline in itself. I believe that, to be truly great at MMA, you need to learn each individual discipline in depth. So I strongly encourage all of our fighters to compete in every discipline. The results have been quite good. For example, BJJ World Champion Zorobabel Moreira has fought a few times in professional Muay Thai in Thailand and his confidence in his standup game has skyrocketed. I mean if Zoro can hang in Muay Thai with a Thai fighter in Thailand, what can an MMA striker do to Zoro that he hasn't seen before?  Those invaluable minutes in actual striking combat, coupled with his training under our Muay Thai World Champions, has translated into his excellent performances in MMA.

Are you looking to recruit any more fighters or trainers at the moment?

Yes, of course.  I am constantly looking for new fighters and instructors every day, it's one of my top priorities. Evolve MMA has been growing rapidly and I am constantly looking for world-class talent. I can't say his name yet, but I just recruited a 21 year old Lumpinee Muay Thai World Champion to come train full-time in MMA. As a full-time employee at Evolve MMA, his only job will be to train and to fight for us. He will be training every day in BJJ, Muay Thai, Boxing, and Wrestling. He will be arriving at Evolve in late October.

How exciting an opportunity is One FC for the Evolve MMA fighters?

ONE FC is an excellent opportunity for our fighters. I hope the show succeeds because Asia is missing a world-class organization like ONE FC right now. I love DREAM FC and I hope it does well too.

How much difference has Shinya Aoki made to the fight team since he joined earlier this year?

I always look for win-win situations. Clearly, Shinya (pictured below) is one of the top lightweight MMA fighters in the world but if he wants to take his game to the next level, he needs a team like Evolve MMA. Here at Evolve MMA, Shinya is exposed to the best of the best in the world in each discipline and as a result, every aspect of his game has really improved dramatically - his striking, his takedowns, his ground game, etc. 

Shinya and I get along very well...we both share the exact same philosophies in martial arts. We are both martial artists, not fighters. A fighter only trains when he has a fights but a martial artist trains every day with the purpose of perfecting his craft.  We both believe strongly in continuous improvement.  

On the flip side, Evolve MMA is also lucky to have Shinya; he has shared his wealth of MMA experience with the rest of the Evolve Fight Team and he's a very unselfish teammate. He's always trying to help everyone on the team. This incredible cross-learning environment is the heart of what the Evolve Fight Team is about. As the saying goes, iron forges iron.

How many months a year does Rafael Dos Anjos spend in Singapore?

Rafael spends a few months a year in Singapore.  His Muay Thai game has really skyrocketed.  I truly believe that he has what it takes to become a UFC World Champion. 

For more information about Evolve MMA visit www.evolve-mma.com 

If any NCAA Division One level wrestlers are interested in being offered a very competitive salary to join the Evolve MMA fight team they can contact me here.