Phuket Prospect: Kevin Church on fighting in Asia, military roots, 10th Planet & Phuket Fight Club

Summary

Kevin Church is a mixed martial artist hailing out of Florida USA repping Phuket Fight Club.

Transcript (youtube_captions)

download the allstar app make your picks for UFC fights challenge your friends level up and win prizes Link in description get it now hey guys my name is Kevin Church uh from USA Florida Fighting out of puket Fight Club I'm a professional fighter with a record of 2 and two um I'm from Central South Florida born in Sarasota Florida CS the key area grew up mostly in Jacksonville went to high school there um ran the streets there uh I had a short s in the military got a uh a medical injury so after a life of of playing football always being an athlete then going into the military I really needed something else to put my energy uh towards so 2010 I found chameleon MMA and Jacksonville Florida and that was my my first uh introduction to to Combat Sports kickboxing and and bit of wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu and uh kind of took off from there never never thought I'd find myself here in you know years later but here we are yeah I've played uh football I man since I popped out the womb just about uh my my father played football my brother played football so it was kind of in our blood um like I said I played uh Pop Warner Elementary Middle School High School um and was was decent at it but when I got around College uh I realized I wasn't quite good enough to to keep going in to pro so I kind of changed directions decided I wanted to go into the military um went in Airborne infantry messed up my shoulder pretty bad actually both of them uh and unfortunately had an early release from that and honestly uh I I think the biggest thing that I learned in football is um if you want to be successful at a high level it takes an extreme amount of discipline the motivation is not there every day I talk about that all the time now to uh to the younger guys you know 5 days a week six days a week I wake up and and I don't want to you know come into the gym but I think back to my football career and how much further I I would have gone if I had the discipline that I have now so I've been blessed to to keep a bit of Youth in my body even though my my age doesn't show I'm 36 years old but uh this is this is my second shot at being able to perform and compete at a high level in a sport so one of the things I reflect on often is my lack of discipline and dedication and football and just kind of riding on talent and and when I felt motiv moated or when I was pushed by my father or or my teammates or my coach then then I'd you know go all out but now I'm all in a I want it uh B I have too many people depending on me too many people have invested in me you know their time their sweat their tears uh monetarily and so I'm I'm I'm in it I'm all the way in I treat it like a full-time job it's my passion I love it I wake up for it every day I think that's probably my honestly my biggest takeaway from from football to to uh MMA uh yeah when I was in the military I actually loved it I thought I was going to be a lifer so again just like football my brother did it and my father did it my my father spent uh I believe 28 years in in the military my brother spent six I didn't even get to finish my first four-year contract before I was injured but life in the military really helped me to find structure and discipline that I I still carry over to to today uh as much as I I hated at times growing up with my father and that that military structure that he had and then finding myself in the military um man I the stuff that I do today that I took from that is is wild to me um but honestly it gets me through a lot of the tough trainers that we have at Fight Club just staying rigid and um and fighting a Cadence in everything that we do um it was cool though I really did enjoy my time in the military and honestly if it wasn't for the injury i' I'd probably still be there now it just brought a lot of structure all I had to do was show up so in that sense it was easy um obviously as Airborne infantry nothing about it was physically easy but you didn't have to put any thought into it so yeah it was a rigid household so um you know I always say uh as a professional my father was A1 uh as a businessman my father was a a day one um you know as a father and a husband just like all of us in in all parts of our Lives you know he dropped the ball a lot to to to be honest um so I I grew up in a very up and down and um and often times would seem like a broken household but I believe my parents especially my mother did the best that they could at all all all times all parts of their life I really do believe they brought what their best was to the table but uh one thing that I I I got from my father is the way that I carry myself um he wouldn't have had it any other way so when we leave the house we leave the house presentable and when we speak to to anyone it's yes sir no sir yes ma'am no ma'am you know we did small things from you know opening the car door and the door for our mother or or any woman that we were around all the way to no one had to ask us to do the dishes or to cut the grass or take the trash out that was just part of the schedule uh it's just the way that it went it was expected there was never debates I don't remember arguing about it it's just the way that it was so yeah again it helps in here uh yeah so actually that was back 2010 my boy Pete called me up one day he was still active in the Navy um I was Army and he said hey man um I'm thinking about going over here to this new gym that opened up and I want to do some some striking classes and stuff I don't want to go by myself I was like bet say less let's go do it cuz again um I really needed somewhere to put my energy so it started as as a hobby actually not even it was just something to do outside of just lifting weights I've always you know been in the gym doing my cardio lifting weights but it was something that kind of put that energy towards uh and then it grew grew into a hobby and then it you know little by little it got more and more serious but those first few times it was Just A Whole New World you know um I didn't even really take it as part of being a part of a team cuz I know a lot of these guys in hear their story is you know they needed it or they had to have it or you know they were working their way out of some sort of life or lifestyle um they wanted to be UFC Champions none of that was my story I I honestly just you know it was a another workout for me and little by little as I saw was talented and in different areas of that um it got more and more serious to me so it wasn't until honestly 2017 about 7 years later um that uh I I decided to lock in and I said I was going to take this thing all the way to the top um I started working with a whole new team kind kind of people I had worked with throughout the years but uh Preston Parson shout out Duvall County Duvall um he really took me under his wing and we kind of started forming a team from a from a broken gym um in Elevate MMA became my new home uh 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu Jacksonville is where my my my what I consider my Foundation my grappling comes from I certainly would not be here I wouldn't have the support the sponsors I wouldn't be at Fight Club it wouldn't even consider me if it wasn't without for you know uh my grappling my Jiu-Jitsu and I have to credit that all to to Brian Brown and my team there so between Elevate and 10th planet that was really my first introduction to a professional level team people that took it serious this was their livelihood it was not a joke it was no longer just a workout it wasn't um an option it was do or die and I was just kind of thrown into the deep end um I I thought you know my kickboxing experience and my experience with chameleon and all that would carry over quite well when I decided to to start actual MMA in 2017 I thought it I thought it would carry all the way over to the cage I quickly learned that it was kind of like starting from ground zero and uh you know in hindsight I'm okay with that been a lot of life life lessons and lessons inside and outside the cage I love the the people that I'm surrounded by now the People Back Home Florida that continue to support me help me develop my skills I still reach out to my my coaches there and my teammates and send them my videos after my fight we still chop it up we break it down I take it back to my team here they help me develop new game plans so I've made connection that I will never be broken till the grave so I'm grateful for them grateful for the team Yeah man so I have uh about a dozen um amateur MMA fights I believe 10 of those are with uh combat Knight which is an organization out of originally out of Tallahassee Florida now they're just in the Southeast Florida and Georgia and they're they're they're definitely the best on the east coast and on their way to being the best Regional in the US so shout out to to Mitch and the the whole squad over there at combat night um man me and Mitch actually just chopped it up the other not too long ago about my first amateur fight with them that was down in Tampa Florida uh the ultimately decision didn't go my way but I y'all jump on YouTube go watch that fight uh it it was interesting I'mma take that as a w it was a a hell of a first um outing uh and it was just it was kind of up from there up and down as far as my record goes but as far as my skill set and um what I continue to bring to the cage just been an upward trajectory which has been pretty cool to see combat Knight really took care of me throughout my amateur career uh although I didn't make my Pro debut with them because I've been out here in in Thailand I I will be uh making my my us Pro debut with combat night because they've they've always taken care of me the show was love they've help us guide us not just throughout our career but anything we need they they got me you know my first sponsors and um first real high quality professional production videos and photos and and really got it started so many UFC fighters belor fighters pfl fighters come out of the organization so it's been it's been cool been a blessing to kind of be a part of that crew that that OG Squad that's coming out of Florida yeah so honestly that story starts all back uh late 20177 2018 as well I actually took a break from not just martial arts training but even just physical training and I went to Africa for like 10 months and uh basically during that whole you know find myself experience I ended that trip with a quick trip to here to Thailand for the first time absolutely fell in love with it realized um that I wanted to be I needed to be surrounded by like minded people if I was going to take this seriously so ultimately I made a plan to come back here U at some point uh and so I slowly started chipping away at that this would be technically my my third trip here um I've been here for a little over a year now I think I have a total about 3 years on the island um but yeah I I guess to answer the question it was a quick visit that quickly turned into hey this is going to be my new home um it took me a f while to find uh puket Fight Club and this this squad uh you know I wish I could have found him earlier but I you know my my path my journey has been the way that it is I think for a reason so I wouldn't change much about it but I'm home now I love the gym I love the squad um I think puket it's uh very unique the quality of life is extremely high here the cost of living is extremely low and the balance that you find as a not just a fighter you know specifically a fighter but as an athlete in general so we have a lot of CrossFit athletes here bodybuilders here Runners biking if you are a highlevel professional athlete it's you'll be hard pressed to find a better place on the planet to find um a balance that kind of brings your Two Worlds together so that's how I ended up here in puket Pro debut was in balet yeah my last uh Amy fight that you you mentioned was uh in Tallahassee Florida uh which is one of still one of my favorite places to fight um that was a dominant performance and uh I believe a second round finish with a straight arm lock I then left or you know indefinitely knowing that I I was I was coming here long term um less than a week later I think like 4 days later I was on the plane I was headed here I had already sold all my stuff packed all my stuff and made arrangements said my goodbye eyes so I hopped right on the plane I landed here I was not initially with Fight Club um I I trained at another camp for a while long story short ended up here at Fight Club and shortly after coming here I was offered my my Pro debut fight um it didn't didn't go my way no excuses there if I had found this home and done a proper camp and prepared the way that I do now for my fight I believe I would have definitely walked away with the w but all in all wild experience and I I loved every minute of it it was cool being able to make my Pro debut in in Bali Indonesia like who's doing that on uh a card and a promotion um that you know I was really proud to to be a part of the production level was incredible um the team at changu Fight Night really took care of me they continue to take care of me hopefully I'll fight for them again in the future um and I had a game opponent um that's you know consider him a friend now you know a brother and he is he's well on his way to to Greatness as well and I I have a feeling it won't be the last time that we're locked in the cage together so I'm looking forward to that as well yeah not a whole lot of guys in Asia that walk around in our weight so we tend to bump in each other you know multiple occasions either we end up training together or fighting each other or sometimes both um so it's been cool too to be at this weight here and then obviously let's take the obvious you know big black American uh I draw a crowd here so I I get phone calls it's it's nice it's nice being um sought after in that fashion I can either you know I guess be offended or take advantage of it and I've chosen to take advantage of it and my team just make sure I'm ready for you know whenever the phone call comes so now I fought in Bali I fought in in in India um uh Malaysia was my last fight uh you know what wherever they want me to fly line them up I'll knock them down so as I mentioned before I'm 36 years old um I when I started the MMA Journey specifically 2017 I said I was going to run this thing all the way to the top I know I only have a few years left in my Prime and my Peak and I plan on doing exactly that uh whereever I can get uh the best offers the toughest fights and Chase gold and Chase belts that's what I'm going to do I'm a prize fighter I'm good at what I do and I I want to see how high I can take this thing um ultimately it's all for the resume luckily I found in these last couple of years that I almost get the same joy and excitement out of teaching and seeing these things click with uh the Next Generation come that comes I love cornering I love coaching I love everything about it um I've taken some time here this last week or so to kind of rest and recover but I'm still in here every single day helping corner on sparring days I'm helping coach helping uh my my partner trainers stay ready for their fights and I've fallen in love with it so I know that's what's going to be the the next part of my journey after I'm done fighting is going to be you know in a a highle gym like this if not a gym of my own doing the same thing so that's my plan this next two or three years is to run it to the Top If You're light heavyweight uh not just in Asia anywhere on the planet just be prepared you're likely to face me and it's going to be a war cuz I have a lot to fight for and um and when it's time to hang up the gloves um I'm excited to be able to help guys on the same Journey um take it much higher than than I ever will first of all um I gotta always give a shout out uh to my Lord and Savior uh God he has uh continuously put people in my path that I wouldn't be where I'm at now without them so um I'm a firm believer and put in the work so I don't think that he's done anything for me but he's given me the tools and put the people in place that I know if I grind I I have discipline I put in the work I'll get to exactly where I want to be so thank you Lord for that then I have to give a shout out to my mother and my family and those closest to me there nonstop support um whether it's you know emotionally or just to vent or after a loss um or monetarily I I appreciate you all for keeping my dream alive that means more than you ever know huge shout out to my team to my puket fight club team man we're going to the top I train with absolute s saes it is it's it's it like blows my mind sometimes we get new guys that come in here right and they're like you dude you train with UFC fighters yeah you but he's at one yeah Bellator yeah it's and I take it for granted but every day I'm in here with Champions and people that are on their way to being Champion so I really appreciate that and then lastly my shout out to my team back in Florida 10 Planet Jacksonville and the whole 10 Planet Network Brian Brown Eddie Bravo thank you for instilling um you know foundations and skills you know what on the mats and off the mats that have got me extremely far Preston and the whole Squad Elevate MMA I appreciate y'all boys also Gracie Baja Jacksonville um I appreciate y'all I love you guys uh I promise I'm going to continue to make you proud we're going to run this thing to the [Music] top [Music]