Reign Training Center, the California MMA gym that cultivated standouts like Jake Ellenberger and Uriah Hall, is no more.
That’s according to Mark Munoz, the UFC middleweight who owns the center and shuttered the facility on Friday. The move comes as Munoz prepares to fight Luke Barnatt on May 16 at UFC Fight Night 66, a fight Munoz has said will be his last in pro MMA.
“It was tough. It was really tough,” Munoz told broadcaster Ariel Helwani Monday on The MMA Hour (h/t MMAFighting.com). “I actually got emotional. I really got emotional. There was a three-day period of mourning. I helped a lot of people through that gym.”
It seems like a pretty definitive break for Munoz, who announced in March that his fight with Barnatt would mark the end of his MMA career, regardless of the outcome.
Munoz said Monday that the decision to close Reign Training Center was, like his decision to retire, motivated by a desire to spend more time with his family.
Mark Munoz has officially closed the doors of Reign Training Center in order to focus on his family.
— UFC Tonight (@UFCTonight) April 28, 2015
“For me, my son is going into high school, and my daughter has got two more years of college, and I want to be a dad that leaves a legacy with his children,” Munoz said on Monday. “I want to be able to spend time with them. These past six years have gone by so fast, and I haven’t really gotten to spend time with them. I’ve been spending 12, 13 hours a day at the gym, teaching, coaching.”
Munoz, a national champion and two-time All-American wrestler while at Oklahoma State University, was a hot commodity as an MMA fighter and coach a short time ago.
The 37-year-old has compiled a 13-6 pro record, including an 8-6 mark in the UFC. At one point, after winning four straight in 2010 and 2011, he was considered a title contender. But a 2012 knockout loss to Chris Weidman gave rise to injuries and struggles with weight, which caused him to miss a year of action. He was never the same after his return, dropping three of four, including his last three contests.
The Filipino-American will face Barnatt in Manila, marking a homecoming of sorts and a fitting point of closure for Munoz.
Middleweight Michael Bisping, women’s strawweight Jessica Penne and retired light heavyweight Krzysztof Soszynski have all spent some amount of time training at Reign.
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