Ray Yee Interview

Mr. Ray Yee is the Head Instructor and Owner of Albuquerque Kickboxing & MMA in Albuquerque New Mexico.

Questions for being a Gym Owner:

1. How long has ABQ Kickboxing and MMA been in business?

Albuquerque Kickboxing & MMA (A.K.A. ABQ Martial Arts Academy) has been in business for nearly seven years, we have been in our current location at 4th & Menaul Marketplace for a little over 1.5 yrs, prior to this we we’re in a small strip mall at 4200 Lomas Blvd.

2. How Long have you been studying Mixed Martial Arts?

I have been studying Mixed Martial Arts since before it was called that. My roots go back nearly 30 years in martial arts training, my earlier childhood started overseas with a Chinese Style of Gung Fu, known as Wing Chun (the 1st style that Bruce Lee studied), I had also later studied other Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, arts. In 1989 it all started to came together with the help of one of my mentors, teaches and best friends (Sifu Christopher Clarke of OR & WA) Mr. Clarke suggested since I was into training many different fighting systems already and was a Bruce Lee fan, like most guys, that I real investigate what he was teaching and studied at that time, which I later discovered was Bruce Lee’s Training Progression / Concepts (Jeet Kune Do), Muay Thai, Western Boxing, Filipino Martial Arts and Shoot Wrestling (a.k.a. Shooto). In 1994, I was honored enough to be introduced to Mr. Clarke’s legendary instructors, whom are now my teachers and which I still train under:

q Dan Inosanto (Martial Arts Pioneer, Bruce Lee’s Protégé / training partner & the only person ever to be certified by Bruce Lee in all 3 of his arts)

q Sirichai Sirisute (the father of Muay Thai / Founder of Thai Boxing in the USA)

q Erik Paulson (Certified instructor under both Mr. Inosanto & Mr. Sirisute and 2 x former Light Heavy Weight Champion of Shooto Assoc of Japan / USA)

3. What are your long term goals with your gym?

My long-term goals for our gym is to keep providing the best possible training for our members / students and of course pass down the amazing arts that I have been lucky enough to have studied. My more immediate goals are to finish my remodeling project with a new 20 feet regulation boxing ring and a functional caged area for training self defense and fight training.

4. What kind of challenges to you face as a MMA Gym Owner?

WOW! There are so many challenges as a gym owner LOL!

q To start, nothing really prepares you for that, in a multi-martial art training system (MMATS), what I mean is: a lot of traditional method, like Karate or Tae Kwon Do, you get your black belt and than if you open a school under you sensei, you get the magic Mc Dojo Book of what to do, with MMA and MMATS you have to figure it out on your own and still stay true to all the disciplines.

q The other major challenge is helping new clients and perspective clients understand that all gyms and martial arts are not the same and that price is not the most important questions to ask when you call or stop by to check out a gym. (Example: Is the gym clean? What is the focus of the gym? Is the Head Coach / Instructors actually certified and recognized by a legitimate organization or instructor to teach in what you are looking for and what they claim they teach, etc.)

5. What are your thoughts on MMA here in New Mexico?

I think New Mexico, as specially Albuquerque is an amazing place for MMA, we are a fortunate enough to have some amazing training camps here and we have in my opinion, the most conducive climate and elevation to train combat sports

6. Now that MMA is big here in New Mexico, what are your thoughts on other promotions coming into town?Do you think its good for New Mexico MMA?

I truly believe that having out of state promotions is great! Competition is health for the overall sport, conducive to the economy and recognition that New Mexico is a hub of MMA athletes and training camps.

q Let me expand on this: as an example many mom and pop stores complain when the ‘Walmarts’ and “Borders” come to town, their complaint is that it takes away jobs, money yati yati, the truth is, it may effect the places that were weak in the first place, who did not have high level service and affordable prices. Further more how many jobs does this scenario actual provide for the community? How much more money is now being reinvested in the community?

q What I believe is the true nature of those who fear change or competition, is the knowledge that they are soon going to have to actual work for what they believe they’re entitled to or lose their monopoly

q As far as for the fighters / athletes it’s the best possible scenario, more work and more exposure.

Bottom line MMA is all about evolution and progress, this will weed out the bad promoters and just help the economy; more promotions mean more jobs at the venues and more national attention on New Mexico.

7. Do you forsee any changes that need to made in MMA here in New Mexico?

I think that New Mexico is doing what it needs to do to change with the times and the future of MMA, the Athlete Commission is staying on top of it and are doing an amazing job. I’d say the area that really has to be policed is the shady nature of this business, which is: the manager, promoter and matchmakers, just like any other big cities. As a community, we need to protect our athletes from; people who “sandbag” falsify stats and unethical expectations of the athlete. We have seen this enough in the Boxing and MMA Kingpins, we don’t need it in the land of enchantment.

8. What can NewMexicoFIGHT.com or any other media outlet do to help? What are you looking for out of media or NewMexicoFIGHT.com?

What I think that fight sites in general is to do is: exactly what I have seen from our local sites like: www.NewMexicoFIGHT.com & www.NewMexicoCombatSports.com do, which is be at the events report what they see and provide the stats, unfortunately, even the best site nationally are not very well update, by the promoter or what have you, so the fighter’s record is not know to major fight organizations or coaches that want to get real stats on their fighters opponents

Coaching Questions

1. How long have you been coaching and instructing?

I started officially teaching in 1995

2. How have you seen MMA adapt or change over the years?

MMA has adapted / changed to athletes being extremely well rounded, no longer is just one art going to dominate, but many arts that flow together seamlessly. Once again, I have to remind the reader, students and audience that is, nothing new. Even Dana White, the president of the UFC has been quoted say the Bruce Lee was one of the 1st MMA pioneers. (This was as far back as 1964!) I furthermore see the need for fighters to real start learning more than just one or two moves from Muay Thai, Boxing, and Wrestling & Jiu Jitsu. Fighters are actually going to have to actual, learn each art more in-depth and this fighter and coaches who don’t won’t last.

3. How do you find time under all the presure of training and traveling with these great fighters?

Pressure is right LOL! Its like juggling knives sometimes, I am very lucky to have the staff, coaches and advisors that I do, I couldn’t do it all. One of the 1st things to go is my workout time, currently we have 15 plus coaches / asst coaches and that is really our strength as a gym, they have all be hand picked by me and have all trained directly by me our have been brought in due to there specialized skills.

4. What do you say to those casual fans who may want to train at your gym but feel intimidated by all the pro fighters?

The casual fan, soccer mom, college kid or business person never has to worry! We are 1st and foremost a place for personal and athlete growth, 80% of our clients are not training to be fighters, they just want to get in shape, learn how to defend themselves or be more confident. A very small, population of our clients are, specialist (military / law enforcement), professional, amateur or aspiring competitors. This has always been the case and always will be. There is also a no tolerance for muscle heads, bullies or unsavory character in our gym, this was one of my main goals when I started my 1st gym, I wanted a place that was conducive to personal growth, I wanted a place where a person could feel safe bring their family, spouse and parents to and know that F-bombs weren’t being dropped and that their significant other was not going to be hit on everyday.

5. What is the biggest challenge of being a national known instructor?

Just time and availability and again personal time, that’s why I have been grooming many of my staff and coaches to do want I do.

6. With the Known fighters out of your camp, is there any up and comers we should look out for?

There are a lot of talented guys and gals that are definitely up and coming: Derek Azura (Our Black Belt Jiu Jitsu Coach), Eric Wong, Lil Ray Martinez, Mike Medina, Freddy Crosby, Hannah Montano, Daniel Alderete, Big Al Green, Janaska Bigley, Chino Espinosa, Russell Wilson, Alec Hopkins, Jimmy Melek, and many more! If I forgot anyone it’s isn’t on purpose, we have such talented guys and gals that are in Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, Boxing and even Stick Fighting!

7. What do you look for in a fighter that may want to train at your gym?

Honestly, Heart, Loyalty, Respect, Honor & Courage the rest can be learned