I am currently on the road for the next few months to visit and train at martial arts academies around Asia and Europe. During my recent stop in Singapore, I had the opportunity to sit down with Chatri Sityodtong, the owner and founder of Evolve MMA in Singapore, which is considered the top MMA gym in Asia and one of the top camps and facilities in the world. He is also the founder and Chairman of One Championship, the premier MMA promotion in Asia. Chatri is a lifelong martial artist who trained at the famed Sidoytong Muay Thai Gym in Thailand and has fought in over 30 professional Muay Thai fights and also trained in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Renzo Gracie while he lived in New York. In addition to being a great martial artist, he is also a successful entrepreneur, who holds a bachelors degree from Tufts University as well as a MBA from Harvard University. He has built numerous ventures ranging from start ups in Silicon Valley to billion dollar hedge funds on Wall Street. He is a true renaissance man who truly wants to improve people’s lives through martial arts. During our conversation, which took place at a crowded tea room in Singapore, Chatri and I discussed numerous topics including
-How he got started training in Muay Thai at the famed Sityodtong Gym in Pattaya, Thailand.
-How his martial arts training helped shaped his life and get him through tough times including financial hardships and surviving the Harvard MBA program.
-Despite starting many successful ventures that made him a multi-millionaire, Chatri was unhappy until he found his true calling of using martial arts to improve the lives of others.
-How he started Evolve MMA and grew it into one of the top MMA teams and gyms in the world with three locations around Singapore.
-Building One Championship into the top MMA promotion in Asia.
I really enjoyed picking Chatri’s brain over tea. Sorry in advance for the background noise in the tea room. The Jiu-Jitsu Times podcast is available on both SoundCloud and iTunes.
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