(It’s not the marine recruiting station, that’s like three strip malls down.)

By AJ CAMACHO

TEAM KCMMA

Photos by AJ CAMACHO (Unless noted otherwise)

Sunday, August 3rd, 2014 1:00PM

Nestled within a business strip mall, jammed between obscure nebulous white collar businesses like Lara Bown Counseling and PRIDE Payment Networks, is a world class training facility where elite athletes train in the beautifully brutal sport of Mixed Martial Arts. Grounded by it’s affiliation with one of the world’s best fight teams, American Top Team H.D. seeks to cull together some of the regions best instructional talent all under one roof.

On it’s surface American Top Team H.D. is a fighter’s gym. World class jiu-jitsu, muy thai, and wrestling instructors all convene to guide you as you grow and develop from a “9 to 5” ham and egg chump, to a cage fighting bad ass. But underneath the surface is a comprehensive martial arts program deeply anchored one of the oldest martial arts known to man. Unlike many gyms who root themselves in Taekwondo, Karate, or other traditional striking arts, American Top Team H.D. weighs itself heavily in a martial art that is essential for both modern day Mixed Martial arts and self defense… wrestling.

I sat down on a purple balance ball with Jason High and L.C. Davis, the Co-Owners of American Top Team H.D., to discuss their gym, the sacrifice it takes to own a gym, how do you grapple with a man who refuses to wear underwear, how do you tell a man to wear underwear, and why their youth wrestling program is essential to their gym.

(The following interviews were edited together for brevity and clarity.)

(I showed up too early for the interviews. It’s usually packed full of dudes so it was either take these photos of empty heavy bags or take a nap. You’re welcome.)

The name, American Top Team HD, what does the HD stand for?

L.C. DAVIS: The H.D. Stands for High, Davis. That’s Jason High, his last name and my last name L.C. Davis. We are partners and co-owners of the business. We’ve partnered up with American Top Team to become an American Top Team affiliate school so we felt it was natural to try and keep our identity with the H.D. And blend [the two names together].

When did you and Jason High start training together?

DAVIS: I’ve known Jason since I was in High school. We wrestled in the same area, Metro area K.C. Then we both started fighting around the same time. At the time actually I was living in Iowa and he was living in California but we always ended up in Kansas City training over the holidays and stuff.

JASON HIGH: We really didn’t start training together until we both moved to Kansas City. He was training out of Militech for awhile and I was in California and we both moved back to K.C. I’d say it was about 4 or 5 years ago.

So with the previous location you guys were still running as H.D. But what is the formal connection, what is the change with the affiliation or is that connection stronger now?

HIGH: Yeah, It’s always been a pretty strong affiliation but we’re just making it official now basically.

(I should have taken the nap. Instead I was the creepy guy with a camera waiting for the kids to show up… SMH)

What was the reason for the new facility?

HIGH: Just more space, better facilities… you know basics like mens and womens bathrooms, changing rooms, stuff like that.

DAVIS: The previous gym we were at in Leewood, Kansas, it was just a smaller facility. Now with the American Top Team name behind us we’re going to be able to bring in Ricardo Liborio (Head Instructor and founder of American Top Team) like we did and we’ll be able to rank all of our guys through black belt, through the American Top Team affiliate.

(Photo courtesy of American Top Team H.D.)

And how did the Ricardo Libario seminar go?

HIGH: Oh it went really well, it was amazing. We had a pretty good turnout, good numbers. Everybody was really enthusiastic, it was a great seminar, and he’s a great host. It went really well and we’re going to have him out, hopefully before the end of the year. But regular belt promotions, if we don’t do one before the end of the year, will start next year. We would like to have him out twice a year for belt promotions and his seminar.

That’s cool, it makes the whole belt promotion process less vague.

DAVIS: So that’s going to be our affiliation and also on top of that we’re welcomed to send any of our fighters to [A.T.T. Headquarters]. So we can send any pro fighter that has a big fight coming up we can send them off to Florida for a month or weeks at a time and let them go train with some of the best fighters in the world, some of the best coaches in the world. And with us being the only American Top Team affiliate here in Kansas City I think it’ll be a good niche that will kind of single us out and make us more in demand.

Now here at this location what resources does your facility offer for people that want to join?

DAVIS: Oh man, we have everything you need. We have treadmills, the aerodyne [bicycle], we have personal training rooms so if you’re not into the class setting and don’t want to have a lot of people looking at you or you don’t like working out in front of a group setting, we have a one on one private training room. We have free weights, kettlebells, and we also do classes for everyone.

We have our fit line of classes. So if you’re not looking to do any of the martial arts and you just want to come here for the fitness membership only we have classes for you. We have a jiu-jitsu only membership. So if you only want to do Gi and No Gi classes we have a membership for you. We have a wrestling only membership. We have something for everyone. Like I said, all of our basic martial art classes; wrestling, muy thai, jiu-jitsu, boxing, kickboxing, we have all of those classes and then as well we have your basic fitness classes. So we got a little bit of something for everybody.

Of the resources that your facility provides which ones are you most proud of here?

HIGH: I’d say the instructors: myself (Wrestling), L.C. Davis (Wrestling), Wes Wasmer (Muy Thai), Travis Conley (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu)… we got a good crew here. I think they are the main resource that we have.

(Don’t worry, Wes Wasmer went like… 12 .5% with the little guy?)

I know that both you and Jason High have your foundation in wrestling, does that wrestling culture kind of run through the ethos of the gym here?

DAVIS: Absolutely, every gym has to have some type of niche and I would say that our niche is wrestling. Both owners, we were college wrestlers. I was a college wrestling coach and we both come from strong wrestling backgrounds. And that’s going to be the biggest thing that we’re going to try and push here is our youth wrestling club. This will be our fourth year of having a youth wrestling club. We’re chartered in Missouri and Kansas under U.S.A. Wrestling, so that’s very unique. You have kids from both states wrestling with us and something else that’s really unique for this gym, we have wrestling all year round where a lot of wrestling clubs only wrestle for those 3 or 4 months during the season. We can wrestle your kids all year long.

That’s kind of unique for an MMA gym.

HIGH: I think as people start to realize… as you start to see the importance of wrestling in MMA it will start to be more common. Kids wrestling is something that both L.C. and I did as kids so we definitely owe a lot to those kids programs so we thought we’d have one for ourselves.

I’m assuming you guys are getting a pretty big turnout for the off season wrestling?

DAVIS: Yeah, so far so good. You know we’ve only been open for about two months here so we’ve had good numbers in our high school wrestling class, then we have a youth wrestling class that’s been going on as well.

HIGH: We have guys out there getting in tournaments. We wrestle hard, those kids are getting better every year they’re working hard for sure.

In terms of your fighters, what does an HD fighter bring to the cage that is unlike other gyms in the area?

DAVIS: Well I know that an HD fighter is going to come to the cage well prepared. That’s one thing I can vouch for. We don’t let our fighters get in the cage unless they’ve been prepared. If they’re not in here everyday training, working hard, and representing the gym, the right way, then we don’t allow them to fight.

How many hours a week does the MMA dream take?

HIGH: Between the gym and fighting? I don’t even really know, I’ve never counted it. Easily 40 [per week] at least.

DAVIS: It takes a lot of hours, a lot of time but it’s something I love doing. I wouldn’t want to do something else, this is my passion, this has been my dream to own a gym. I’ve always been into fitness and working out. I was an exercise science and fitness major in college so being in athletics and sports and working out, that’s always been my dream. When I was five [years old] and didn’t even know I was going to be a professional fighter I knew that I was going to do something in athletics. To be able to own a gym, train people, make people better, and share the knowledge that I’ve obtained… it’s just a blessing and a dream come true.

L.C., How hard is it to balance your family life, your career, as well as being a gym owner?

DAVIS: It’s tough man, it’s tough. The hardest thing is trying to balance the time between being a coach and a trainer [versus] being a fighter. There’s only so many hours in a day that I can train people but that takes a lot of energy and time to train people. So when I have a fight coming up I kind of got to tell myself, “Okay you can only do so many classes this week, you can only teach so many private [classes] this week because you have to have your energy saved up for your own training. So I kind of got to balance to make sure I can focus on myself as much as I focus on others.

Is that tough though, knowing the boundary of how selfish to get leading up to a fight? Because I mean some guys just totally cut off from everything.

DAVIS: Yeah, It’s very tough because I can’t be selfish like that because I… own a gym. So as much as I would like to be like, “I’m going in seclusion, don’t talk to me for two months.” I can’t do that. I just have to find that nice balance.

What is the craziest drop-in story you’ve had at your gym? Take a moment and think about it.

DAVIS: At the old gym we had a radio ad. We got lucky with Hot 103 and they did a radio ad for the gym and they’re telling everybody, “Come check out the gym!” So we got a hit. A guy came to the gym and said he had heard us on 103. So he comes into jiu-jitsu class and he has his big baggy basketball shorts on and I’m pretty sure he didn’t have underwear on. Everything he did, he’s just swinging around everywhere.

Then he has to partner up with everyone, no one wants to be his partner and I don’t know how to tell the guy, “Bro, your stuff is swinging everywhere no one’s gonna grapple with you.” So it was really awkward man. A couple of people had to partner with him and I told them afterward, it was pretty funny…

HIGH: … I ended up doing throwdowns [with him] and I didn’t know I was hooking up with his balls but L.C. Was just laughing at me.

Haa… so you’re the one that got stuck actually training with him?

HIGH: L.C. Was laughing at me and I was like, “How come you didn’t tell me dude?” And he’s like, “Ah man, I didn’t want to put him off in the middle of class… blah blah blah… ”

Yeah. That guy was kind of weird actually.

DAVIS: We all laughed about that for months. He only came one time and never came back. I think he just came to expose [himself to] everybody, to show his man goods off and leave us alone.

(Photo courtesy of L.C. Davis)

L.C., I know you’re probably working out the details on your next fight, do you have any idea on when that’s probably going to be?

DAVIS: I’m hoping for September, they’re telling me September twelth, September nineteenth, they told me a couple of opponents names. I’m hoping to have something hammered out at the end of the week. I’m getting married September 27th.

Congratulations, that’s some weird timing.

DAVIS: Yeah, so I’m going to be fighting a week or two weeks before the wedding. And I know they’re doing another show in Wichita October 24th. So I’m hoping I can get two back to back fights.

That would be awesome.

DAVIS: Yeah, so hopefully I can get on the September card and I’m pretty sure they’ll put me on the Kansas card with me being a local guy and hopefully I can finish the year off with two more fights and go undefeated in Bellator this year.

With the exit of Bjorn Rebney from Bellator, have you noticed any change in the operation of Bellator?

DAVIS: I haven’t noticed any changes yet but I know a lot of the contracts are going to get redone because they’re doing away with a lot of the tournaments. I know they have to change everyone’s contract now so I think that’s going to be a little bit of a process. That’s pretty much the only thing I’ve noticed. I know they’re going to try an bring in some more big name fighters and do bigger shows. Doing away with the tournaments I think they can showcase guys a little better than just randomly throwing a tournament every week.

(Photo courtesy of A.T.T.H.D. Congratulations with the promotion to brown belt Jason.)

Jason, do you know what your plans are, in terms of your next fight coming up?

HIGH: I don’t have anything lined up yet.

Are you still keeping weight?

HIGH: Yeah, I’m not super close… but I’m within somewhere close.. haha. You know, I’m not too far out of control.

You’re not hogging out?

HIGH: Nah, no I’m not. I eat pretty healthy all the time so I’m staying decently lean. I eat a couple cheat meals or whatever here and there but nothing crazy.

Anything else you want to add maybe something coming up with your gym?

DAVIS: Yeah, we’re gonna have Shawn Bunchin next week doing a wrestling clinic on Monday and Tuesday. That’s August 4th and August 5th and then August 23rd we’re doing an A.T.T.H.D. Wrestling seminar featuring our coaching staff. It’s right when school starts back up, just basically trying to kick off the season and let everybody know that we’re here at this new gym and we offer wrestling and we’d love to have you come on board and wrestle for us. So this month we’re really showcasing wrestling. Our special this month is $30 for 30 days, so that’s another deal we’re doing in the month of august.

So come out, check out the gym we’re in Lenexa, Kansas, AmericanTopTeamHD.com is our website. We got something for everybody so come check us out.