In the above picture: Brandon Melendez (The Ultimate Fighter), Brandon Kiser (Host of Damage Control MMA), Kyacey Uscola (The Ulimate Figher and Bodog), Jake Paul (Gladiator Challenge World Champ), Brian Yamasaki (Host of Damage Control MMA).

2010 – The biggest year in Fight Core history. We stepped up our game by opening a new training facility in North Salt Lake, bringing in world class fighters, signing a licensing agreement with Full Contact Fighter and reaching a million views on the Damage Control MMA website.  

Utah’s best coaches were assembled for the grand opening of the New Mushin Gym in North Salt Lake. The gym is twice the size of the former location and features all brand new Dollamur Grappling Mats, fully stocked pro shop, bag rack, boxing ring and world class coaching. Classes are available 5 days a week and are open to everyone from the general public, to first time MMA enthusiasts and on to world class pro fighters.

Fight Core and Damage Control join forces with Full Contact Fighter to bring together the best fight shorts with the best online training program in the industry.

Highlight of Fight Core in 2009

JANUARY

Kyacey Uscola heads to Salt Lake City to get acclimated to the higher elevation before his fight with Hank Weiss on Febuary 20th at the Energy Solutions Arena.

Brian Yamasaki and Brandon Kiser start working on the Ultimate Combat Experience as guest commentators for the long time friend Mike Stidham.  Tune in on Channel 30 every Sunday at 3:00 pm

Fight Core meets a Catch Wrestling legend Billy Robinson and the founder of Scientific Wrestling Mr. Jake Shannon. These guys taught some moves on our show Damage Control and forever changed my game by teaching some of the coolest moves I have ever seen from Catch Wrestling! Meeting these guys is absolutely one of the best memories of 2009 and my entire Martial Arts Journey.

FEBUARY

Jake Paul defeats Cole Rose and Kyacey Uscola defeats Hank Weiss at the Energy Solutions Arena.

Konrad Jones goes the distance in his first fight against one of Utahs toughest, Kofe Azitzu.

MARCH

Record breaking attendance at the 2009 Erik Paulson seminar as we covered everything from STX (Savate Thai Cross Training) Kickboxing, to Judo Throws, to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. 

 Johnny Miller wins at Throwdown Fighting Event.

 APRIL

Konrad Jones and Kensei Sato make their MMA Debut at the UCE in Vernal Utah.

MAY

Brian Yamasaki and Brandon Kiser take our team to CSW Camp 2009.

Mushin Fight Team ranked in top 10 on one of the biggest internet fight sites in the world Sherdog.com

Me and Yamasaki travelled to Idaho to participate in a 10th planet JJ seminar and filmed some more segments for our show Damage Control.

JUNE

 Fight Core clothing line prepares to launch.

Aaron Okura and Paul Roberts both represented the Bernales Institute in the Ultimate Combat Experience bringing home two more wins.

Jake Paul defeats Lee Doss after much negative talk from the Jeremy Horn camp. This win made Jake the new Gladiator Challenge Champion.

Team Eilte demands a do-over and the rivalry builds. Jake gets an immediate rematch scheduled with Lee Doss after Jeremy Horn and company complain about the stoppage of the first fight.

Former Kickboxing Coach of Randy Couture and long time friend Cade Janjira joins the Fight Core team completing the coaching Trifecta.

JULY

Brandon Melendez joins Jake Paul on our fight team and rumors of a possible future fight agains Josh Burkman start buzzing.

AUGUST

Mushin to participate in Mike Stidhams new reality TV vison.

And still the Gladiator Challenge Champion… JAKE PAUL defeats Lee Doss with an 8 second K.O. in the immediate rematch that was demanded by Jeremy Horn and Lee Doss.

SEPTEMBER

Brian Yamasaki and Brandon Kiser featured on Hapkido TV.

Kiser travels to Puerto Rico joining Babalu and Eric Bad Apple to corner their friend Kyacey Uscola against one of Greg Jacksons fighters.

OCTOBER 

 Kiser travels to Boise to corner Kyacey Uscola with Urijah Faber and Jake Paul

NOVEMBER

Kiser and Yamasaki corner Brandon Melendez against Josh Burkman in one of Utahs biggest fights to date.

DECEMBER

Fight Core Soldiers show their loyalty. Chris “Super Grappler” Lanham and Trevor Warner get Fight Core ink.

Mushin Self Defense barely has 1,000 square feet of training space but that hasn’t stopped the Mushin Crew from makin big things happen.

The gym has a hard core yet cozy vibe with an old school feel to it. Long before the big chain gyms and MMA Super Centers like Throwdown came to town, Yamasaki and I were putting in work on the MMA Frontline and 10 years later we are still on the hustle.

We currently have two pro fighters training for title fights. Jake Paul and Brandon Melendez have their fight camps in full effect at Mushin right now. In addition to that we also have Mike Stidhams new reality TV show filming out of our gym as we try and get a female fighter with no experience ready for her first MMA fight in 5 short weeks. Mushin attendance for the regular scheduled Muay Thai and CSW classes is at an all time high and we have also added a new class to the line up… Girls Kickboxing. Yamasaki and Pete getting ready to leave for the Annual TBA camp in Oregon. On top of all that we are also filming for our new TV Show DAMAGE CONTROL.

With all of this going on we have had to rely heavily on our most senior student Shane “potato bug” Taylor and Fighter Corps graduate Konrad “Rebar” Jones. These guys have been warming up the classes everyday and keeping our students sharp.

We have also called in reinforcements in the form of one World Class Muay Thai Coach Cade Janjira. Cade has been running the sparring sessions and keeping the fighters in line.

Stay tuned for updates. We will keep you posted on the results of the Title Fights, Jakes rematch, and Rachels debut. 2009 has been one of our best years ever and we are only half way through.

It was well worth driving 7 hours to Wendover to see Jake Paul defeat Lee Doss in the 2nd round of the Gladiator Challenge Championship.

Due to a crash on I-80 West, the drive from Salt Lake to Wendover ended up taking us about seven hours instead of two. We tried 3 different routes. The 1st two were closed by the Highway Patrol and the last one (Lehi) was too backed up. After three hours of driving, three different attempts and one monsoon, we ended up back at my house, right where we started.

Amazingly after everything we’d been through, all four of the passengers were still willing to try and get to Wendover to support our team! So we loaded back up into the car and headed back down I-80 West. Me and my trusty partner Yamasaki in the front seat and my friends Cade and Britt in the back seat. We were off and runnin for about 20 minutes before we hit the backed up traffic from the truck crash and then it was hours of sitting.

To pass the time we discussed black jack strategies and our most tramatic childhood movies. At one point Yamasaki and I decided to shut the car off and push it down the highway in neutral, “not because we have to, because we want to” as Yamasaki said. When traffic would come to a complete stop we would all get out and socialize with the rest of the stranded travelers.

Once we got through Tooele the freeway opened up and we were pushing the Honda Civic to the max. We arrived at the fights with just enough time to hit the bathroom, warm up Jake and go on.

The fight was the shortest part of the trip. Jake went out, pressed Lee to the cage, took him down and landed punches and elbows. Lee had a couple of submission attempts which Jake fought off as he continued to strike on the ground. Round two – Jake went out, had a couple of stand up exchanges and scored a nice low takedown. He then passed the guard, mounted and hammered away. Dave Seljested put a stop to the fight and raised the hand of the new Welter Weight Champion!

After the fight we celebrated with all of our friends and teammates and then Yamasaki snuck away to play some 21. After making a little scratch at the tables we headed up to our room and crashed at about 4am. This was one of the top 5 best weekends of my life!