Quickly established as arguably the top facility and fight team in Europe, Wolfslair MMA Academy is now gaining a strong reputation as one of the leading gyms in the MMA world today.

Michael Bisping training at Wolfslair

Wolfslair Academy is a gym located in Widnes, United Kingdom, which has both produced and recently signed several UFC stars and other elite level fighters.

Co-owners and managers Anthony McGann and Lee Gwynn established the fight team as MMA fans with the goal of creating the top MMA facility in the U.K. They quickly achieved their goal and the facility continues to grow.

The gym gained notoriety primarily due to its signing of U.K. based UFC star Michael Bisping. Bisping’s appearance as a coach on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) created recognition for the gym, because several of its staff members were featured as trainers on the show.

With the recent signings of former UFC light-heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and heavyweight Cheick Kongo, the gym added two huge names and talented fighters to its roster. These signings have attracted new fighters to the gym for training purposes, as well as more publicity, and sponsorship and endorsement opportunities.

Rampage and Dave Jackson

The trainers at Wolfslair Academy are not internationally recognized MMA figures like the staff of many top-level gyms in the U.S. However, the team’s trainers are extremely experienced and have many achievements within their fields, making them very effective coaches and gaining them praise from fighters.

Wolfslair’s talented training staff, access to the public, and its appeal to traveling fighters and prospective fighters in Europe are its main strengths. These factors contribute greatly to the gym’s rapid growth and success as a business.

The head coach at Wolfslair is Brazilian jiu-jitsu and judo black belt Mario “Sukata” Neto. Neto, the gym’s jiu-jitsu coach, is a one-fight UFC veteran and holds a 10-5 professional MMA record against top-level opponents. Neto has many accomplishments in the world of martial arts, including winning the grand masters in BJJ, winning a Vale Tudo championship in Russia and earning a third-degree black belt in BJJ. He was featured as one of Bisping’s coaches on TUF.

Boxing coach Tony Quigley and his son Tony Quigley Jr. are an integral part of the gym’s coaching staff. Rampage was impressed by the instruction of Quigley and his son upon coming to train at Wolfslair, and now spends a substantial amount of his time working with them. Junior Olympic gold medalist Tony Quigley Jr. is a professional boxer with a record of 13-2.

Rampage and Kongo with Tapout members in Wolfslair apparel

Thai boxing coach Dave Jackson is renowned within the muay thai community for his expertise as a coach and his uniquely effective style of muay thai. Jackson has worked extensively with Rampage and Kongo. Kongo was very impressed with Jackson’s style of muay thai and instruction while initially training at Wolfslair, and he has now refined his skills training under him. Jackson was featured as one of Bisping’s coaches on TUF.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and 3-1 professional MMA fighter Kazeka Muniz is Wolfslair’s wrestling coach. Gwynn is the gym’s strength and conditioning coach in addition to being a co-owner.

The gym currently holds a roster with several UFC veterans, including Michael Bisping, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Cheick Kongo, Paul Kelly, and Mario “Sukata” Neto. Other notable fighters include Alex Cook, Tom Blackledge, Lukasz Les, Henrique Nogueira, Curt Warburton and Abdul Mohamed. Many top-level fighters travel to Wolfslair for training purposes, including Andre Arlovski, Ian Freeman, Dean Lister, Tiki Ghosn and Ricco Rodriguez.

Rampage recently took a leave from the UFC to star in the upcoming film, “The A Team.” A dispute with UFC President Dana White also contributed to his decision. Rampage coached the most recent season of TUF along with Rashad Evans. The two light-heavyweights are scheduled to fight on May 29 at UFC 114 in Las Vegas, Nev.

Paul Kelly is 1-1 since making the move to the UFC lightweight division. Kelly looks to improve his record when he faces Matt Veach on April 10 at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi.

After going 9-2 since his UFC debut, Cheick Kongo has lost his last two fights to top heavyweights Cain Velasquez and Frank Mir. Kongo hopes to avenge his losses and get back in the title picture with a win over Paul Buentello in the upcoming UFC Live: Vera vs. Jones on Mar. 23 in Broomfield, Colorado.

Cheick Kongo Training with Michael Bisping & Teammates @ Wolfslair (2008)

Kevin Chan, a member of Titan Fitness, recently had the opportunity to travel to Phuket, Thailand to spend a month training at a Thai Boxing camp. Chan is from Queens, NY. and is a recent graduate of Penn State University and majored in accounting.

Thai boxing, or Muay Thai, is a form of martial arts commonly practiced in Southeast Asia and is Thailand’s national sport. Muay Thai is different compared to other forms of martial arts and boxing because more points of contact are permitted. Use of the hands, elbows, knees and shins are allowed, making eight points of contact for fighters to try to take advantage of.

Titan Fitness recently asked Chan, 21, to share his experiences with readers. In this excerpt, he talks about his time training in Thailand.

Titan Fitness: How you got involved with Thai boxing?
Kevin: Since I had been boxing for a while, I wanted to try something different and decided to learn Muay Thai in the country where it originated from.

TF: What is your experience with martial arts?
K: I have been boxing at Titan for a little over a year. I have never fought, but I would like to in the near future.

TF: What has your experience been like belonging to Titan Fitness?
K: I decided to join Titan in the summer of 2008 and instantly discovered that it is a great gym. The gym atmosphere is vibrant and friendly. The instructors have a lot of experience and are very helpful. I also met a lot of other Penn State students and became friends with many of them. It’s the best gym I have been to and I would still be training there if I was at State College.

TF: How did you get the opportunity to go to Thailand?  Did you have any hesitations about going?
K: I had just graduated and wanted to travel during the summer before I started working. Even though I didn’t travel alone, I definitely still had some hesitations as to traveling to Thailand because of the political climate, and because I never had gone to a Muay Thai camp before. All my hesitations went away when I arrived, and I had a great experience.

Kevin Chan, right, with trainer Namsaknoi, who was considered as one of the best Muay Thai fighters in Thailand.

TF: Where did you stay while in Thailand?
K: I stayed at a resort that was close to the Muay Thai camp, which was extremely comfortable and convenient.

TF: What did you do on a typical day in Thailand?
K: We trained twice a day from Monday to Saturday. The first session was in the morning and the other was in the afternoon. Each session lasted for about two hours. I also had plenty of time to explore and visit many different beaches and tourist sites within the island.

TF: How important is Thai boxing to their culture?
K: Thai boxing is the national sport of Thailand and plays a big part in Thai culture from what I observed. The Wai Khru is a great example of it. It is a traditional dance that the fighters must perform before they fight to show respect.

TF: Overall, how would you rate the experience?  Do you plan to continue to train here in the U.S.?
K: It was a really great experience for me, as I met a lot of nice people and had a great time. I definitely plan to return to the same camp in the future. I will also continue to train in boxing and Muay Thai here in the U.S.

Allison Glenny trains Muay Thai under coach, Bruce Lombard, out of Titan Fitness and MMA in State College, PA.  On April 18, 2009 she had her first amateur Muay Thai fight in Hamburg, PA.  Glenny won a unanimous three round decision in a fast paced battle over a determined opponent from Allentown, PA.

As displayed in the video above, Allison showed amazing poise in her first Muay Thai fight displaying accurate punch to kick combinations and powerful knees in the clinch.  Knocking her opponent down twice with her straight rear cross, plus her relentless high to low attack and dominance with the plumm position, the judges rewarded her the decision with scores of: 30-25, 30-25, 30-26.

Allison Glenny will return to the ring this July.