My two most influential teachers are Tom Weissmuller and Frank Shamrock.
One of Tom’s teachers was Matt Hume. Hume founded United Full Contact Federation in order to sanction amateur pankration events that Tom competed in.
Hume is the co-founder and head trainer at AMC Pankration in Kirkland and he’s trained several champions and world-class fighters.
One of Frank’s teachers was Javier Mendez who founded the MMA Gym American Kickboxing Academy.
Mendez became the only trainer to have three concurrent UFC Champions; Cain Velasquez at heavyweight, Daniel Cormier at light heavyweight and Luke Rockhold at middleweight. In January 2023, MMAjunkie.com awarded Mendez and Khabib Nurmagomedov as 2022 Coaches of the Year.
