Next Generation MMA Official Website

 

Chris resides in Aubrey, Texas splitting time training and teaching athletes.  Every couple of months Chris travels out to Tricenter MMA to teach classes, private lessons, conduct seminars and train.  Chris' techniques and philosophies are the cornerstone of Tricenter MMA's teaching and training methods.

 

    In November of 1993 Chris was at work and the owner had gotten a Pay Per View event that changed his life forever.  It was the Ultimate Fighting Championship and it couldn’t have looked any more exciting.  Chris vowed right then that one way or another he would get in to this event.  Royce Gracie was a 6 foot 1 inch 175 pound guy that was just running through the competition.  

    Chris began training right away, making the drive to Torrance California to train at the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy everyday.  After only a couple years training and he was off to Brazil to learn Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from the source.  For 11 months he would sleep on the mats inside the Master Jiu-Jitsu Academy (Alliance BJJ), where some of the world’s greatest Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts fighters would come from.  Chris was fortunate enough to be training and living with with Roger Brooking, Leo and Ricardo Vieira, Rodrigo “Comprido” Medeiros, and many others.  While in Brazil Chris got a chance to fight in an MMA event being the first ever U.S. Citizen to represent Brazilian/Gracie Jiu-Jitsu in a Mixed Martial Arts fight in Brazil.  With a star-studded corner of Romero “Jacare” Cavelcante, Royler and Rolker Gracie, Roger Brooking, and Leo Vieira there was no chance of a loss.  Chris would win by Guillotine Choke in less than 2 minutes.

    Upon his return to the U.S. he would again attend the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy for a couple more years.  Chris had made up his mind that he wanted to fight professionally for a living and teach Jiu-Jitsu as well.  There were many things that went on at the Gracie Academy politically causing him to want to leave but at this time there weren’t many options so he basically just sat in class studying how the art of Jiu-Jitsu was taught.  Learning the techniques to teach this style and getting to train with Royce on a daily basis made it a bit easier to stick around.

    Finally one day Chris’ friends Marc Laimon, Lowel Anderson, Ethan Milius, and Richard Bressler would all be venturing off to open Beverly Hills Jiu-Jitsu because of political reasons.  This was another great move as the training and training partners just kept getting better and better.  Chris was getting fairly active in Mixed Martial Arts now and with a record of 4-0 Chris was offered a fight with 16-1 Pat Miletich.  Pat was at the time referred to as one of the world’s best.  The fight went fairly well and after 20 minutes it was declared a draw.

    Unsatisfied with the results both fighters agreed to do it again just two months later.  Again stepping in to the ring in Pat’s home town Chris would better prepare for this fight and really go after him.  After one long and grueling 30 minute round the judges were torn and it was declared a split decision win for Pat.  Chris continued to train after this fight but after a while the daily commute to LA was getting old so as a 2 strip Blue Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Chris decided to open his own school.  There was however one problem.  He needed money to do this and training everyday made it pretty hard to make any money.

    SO…once again blessed from above, Chris got the call to fight in the UFC’s first ever Lightweight Tournament.  After his performances against Pat his skills were hard to ignore so John Peretti called Chris and told him it was time for the UFC to see the smaller guys in action.  Chris was pitted against Brazilian Luta Livre fighter Courtney Turner in his first match and he would dispose of him quickly by arm bar only 1:20 into the first round.  As fait would have it though Chris would end up in the cage later that evening against no other than Pat Miletich for the third time in 6 months.  After only 9 minutes Pat had Chris trapped against the cage where he would use the leverage from the fence to choke Chris causing him to tap out.  Pat became the UFC’s first lightweight Champion and went on to defend the title 5 times, but Chris got exactly what he needed… enough money to open up the Next Generation Fighting Academy.

    Chris continued to grow the Next Generation Fighting Academy by fighting and teaching.  Chris’ school would be the largest most prestigious school to train at in California in 2001 considered to be “The Mecca of Mixed Martial Arts” by many.  He got the opportunity to fight in the first King of the Cage in southern California.  Chris took on a young Joe Stevenson (later to win The Ultimate Fighter Reality show) and submitted him and put him to sleep in just over 2 minutes into the first round by triangle choke becoming the first King of the Cage Middleweight World Champion.  He came back a few months later to take on Olympic caliber wrestler Antonio McKee.  The first round was McKee controlling the fight with his wrestling but only 9 seconds in to the second round Chris would end the fight with one of the most brutal Knock Outs in Mixed Martial Arts history with a high kick to the head.  Now the 2 time KOTC World Champion everyone was out for Chris’ title.  A younger, smaller, Joe Hurley was next in line, and without any fear came in to the fight with nothing to lose.  After being dominated for the first 4 minutes of the fight Joe turned it around in the last 30 seconds landing an elbow followed by 2 more that sent Chris back to the locker room scratching his head.
           This was a turning point for Chris because he lost something that he considered his.  The King of the Cage World Title.  Back to the drawing board and training hard Chris came back to take apart a game Kevin Hogan in search of getting his title back.  Joe Hurley had lost it and then it was vacated so Chris was next in line for the shot.  On September 29^th 2001 Chris would face UFC veteran Steve Berger. Going in to this fight Chris was the 3-1 underdog on all the betting lines. 

    He had really turned up his training by going to Big Bear to train in the high altitude to get properly prepared.  Chris came down the mountain in the middle of one night to watch his son Tyler be born and then drove right back up to finish getting ready for this fight.  Nothing was going to stop him from getting this belt back…Not even 3-1 odds.