Interviews
14/10/09 - Shawn Tompkins on leaving Xtreme Couture
FO: Hey Shawn, thanks for talking to us. We hear there are some big changes in your world recently.
Its been a pretty exciting week. A lot of people know this but if you haven’t already heard, I resigned this week from the Xtreme Couture gym as the head trainer. On good terms, there is no war or battle. The gym and the direction its going and the direction I am going are two different things. A few years back I set some goals for myself and I am at a point now where I want to follow through on some of those goals.
One of those is to bring back the Team Tompkins brand and try to put together a bit of a legacy for myself. A lot of people don’t understand that in the world of MMA there is more than just the fighters. There’s the coaches, the Joe Rogans, the Bruce Buffers. I just want to make sure that when I am done I have got something to be really proud of and something I can call my own.
FO: What is the story behind team Tompkins?
Team Tompkins’ first training center opened when I was 18 years old and today its still going strong in Ontario, Canada. Sam Stout, Chris Horodecki and Mark Hominick run the gym up there, they’ve taken it over and its now Adrenaline MMA. The team lives on and for me to go off and work with other camps was always a dream of mine, and to work with some of the top guys in the sport. I have done that and I am still doing that but I really want to bring back the Team Tompkins ideals and the way we had our systems put together.
A big part of what my training systems were based on is the Bas Rutten MMA systems and everything he guided me through as a coach. There’s a lot of options I will have with this and the Team Tompkins name allows me to really be proud of it and make it mine.
FO: You work with a number of high-profile fighters at Xtreme Couture, any of them going with you?
A lot of the fighters that I have been working with over the years and helping guide their careers are going to be coming with me. Its not a personal thing, Xtreme Couture has a great team and they are going to continue to be successful. Its just that some fighters are good with some coaches and some coaches are good with some fighters, its knowing where you fit in. I have always had an open door policy as a coach. If a fighter wants to train with somebody else that is their prerogative and their opportunity.
FO: Where exactly are you going now?
Now that I’ve left Xtreme Couture I needed a home to work out of and to house some fighters. I met some great people at the TapouT training facility and we are going to blend our ideals on training fighters and working with future prospects together and building a great team. I am very excited about it and the facility is second to none. The other thing I noticed over there is that its more than just a facility where fighters go train, its got a great atmosphere and its very family-oriented for people who just want to go there and get in shape or have fun.
FO: Finally, can you tell us where Junie Browning is up to since last week’s incident?
A lot of people know the situation that happened with Junie a week ago. He suffers from severe depression, its one of the things that he deals with all the time and it got the best of him. He slipped and he had a bad night, he tried to take his own life and I happened to find him and got him to the hospital. An incident happened there and all I can say is, he is a really great person and that was not the really Junie Browning. He is on prescription drugs and sometimes the drugs are bigger than the person and that wasn’t him that acted out at the hospital.
I will tell you that I will stand behind him and help him because he is a human being. It is more than just teaching people how to kick and punch, I take my job personally and I feel that he is my responsibility. I take a step forward every time he does and we’ll help him, make sure he becomes a better person and beats these demons.
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