Shawn Tompkins (March 16, 1974 – August 14, 2011) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

kickboxer and

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorpo ...

, and later trainer. At the time of his death, he was an instructor at the Tapout Training Center. He formerly coached the Los Angeles Anacondas of the

International Fight League The International Fight League was an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion billed as the world's first MMA league. It was founded on January 7, 2006, and closed on July 31, 2008.

Biography and career

Tompkins began studying

Shotokan is a style of karate, developed from various martial arts by Gichin Funakoshi (1868–1957) and his son Gigo (Yoshitaka) Funakoshi (1906–1945). Gichin Funakoshi was born in Okinawa and is widely credited with popularizing "karate do" throu ...

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

at the age of six, and went to be a two-time Canadian National Karate Champion and a third degree black belt in the discipline. He began kickboxing at sixteen years old and competed in 47 matches, holding Canadian, North American and South American titles. At the age of eighteen, he opened his first training facility in Ontario, Canada. He later relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada in the United States in August 2007 and worked as the head striking coach at

Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts is an American mixed martial arts training organization headed by former UFC Champion and former co-founder of Team Quest, Randy Couture. Xtreme Couture was founded with the flagship gym in Las Vegas. Since th ...

before joining the Tapout Training Center in October 2009. He was also the coach for the Los Angeles Anacondas of the

, officially taking the reins from

Bas Rutten Sebastiaan "Bas" Rutten (; born 24 February 1965) is a Dutch-American actor, former mixed martial artist, kickboxer and professional wrestler. He was a UFC Heavyweight Champion, a three-time King of Pancrase world champion, and finished his ca ...

as the head coach on March 17, 2007, just before their matchup against the San Jose Razorclaws. Tompkins taught such notable fighters as

Vitor Belfort Vítor Vieira Belfort (; born 1 April 1977) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who competes in the Heavyweight and Middleweight divisions. Belfort previously competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he fought in the Heavywe ...

Mark Hominick Mark Jeffrey Hominick (born July 22, 1982) is a Canadian retired mixed martial artist who competed in the Featherweight division for the Ultimate Fighting Championship where he was the inaugural Featherweight title challenger, the WEC, and Affl ...

Chris Horodecki Christopher Horodecki (born September 24, 1987) is a Polish-Canadian mixed martial artist. He has competed for the WEC, the IFL, Bellator, TKO Major League MMA, and Palace Fighting Championship. Background Horodecki was born in London, Ontari ...

Wanderlei Silva Wanderlei César da Silva ( , , ; born 3 July 1976) is a Brazilian-American former mixed martial artist who competed in Japan's Pride Fighting Championships and the American-based Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He holds the record for the ...

and

Sam Stout Samuel James Stout (born April 23, 1984) is a retired Canadian professional mixed martial artist. A professional from 2003 until 2015, Stout is best known for his 20-fight stint with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), winning ''Fight of the ...

. On November 30, 2011, at the Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas during the 2011 World MMA Awards Results, Tompkins was posthumously awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Personal life

Tompkins was married to Emilie Stout, the sister of fellow fighter,

. On Sunday, August 14, 2011, Tompkins died unexpectedly, of a sudden heart attack, in his sleep at the age of 37.

Gym history

The gym's predecessor Team Tompkins MMA System was founded in 2001 by MMA trainer Shawn Tompkins coach of the Los Angeles Anacondas of the

. During his time as head coach he trained the future of Adrenaline's talent as well as being involved with

and the Tapout Training Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The gym saw great success during this time with Team Tompkins holding two belts in TKO/UCC at Lightweight and Featherweight, with a combined total of 11 title defenses between

(7) and

(4). During this period

made it to the finals of the IFL World Grand Prix to challenge for the IFL Lightweight title. "The Coach" corned Mark Hominick in the gyms first UFC title challenge against

Jose Aldo Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods. *Jose ben Abin *Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galilean ...

UFC 129 ''UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday, April 30, 2011 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Background The event was the sixth that the UFC has hosted in ...

on April 30, 2011, for the inaugural UFC Featherweight Championship. Tompkins tragically passed away on August 14, 2011. He remains as an influential figure and an inspiration to members of the gym. From December 6, 2011, onward members of the gym were consistently involved in a

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

based Anti-bullying campaign.

Adrenaline MMA Training & Fitness

The gym in its current form emerged in 2012, founded by three of Tompkins star pupils Mark Hominick, Sam Stout and Chris Horodecki. Who went about training the next generation of mixed martial artist's out of the newly rebranded Adrenaline MMA Training & Fitness. During this period Adrenaline-talent

Chad Laprise Chad Laprise (born July 23, 1986) is a retired Canadian professional mixed martial artist who competed for the UFC in the Welterweight division. A professional competitor since 2010, Laprise won '' The Ultimate Fighter Nations: Canada vs. Austra ...

embarked on an 7 fight win-streak to earn himself a spot on the

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

's reality TV show

The Ultimate Fighter ''The Ultimate Fighter'' is an American reality television series and mixed martial arts (MMA) competition produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Pilgrim Media Group currently airing on ESPN+. It previously aired for fourteen s ...

. He would go on to win the season's Tournament and received bonus awards for ''Fight of the Season'' and ''Performance of the Season''. In 2013

Jesse Ronson Jesse Ronson (born December 24, 1985) is a Canadian mixed martial artist who competed the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in the Lightweight division. A professional fighter since 2009, he has previously competed in promotions such as UFC, ...

won the Aggression FC Lightweight Championship, Malcolm Gordon won the HFC Flyweight Championship in 2014, They also moved locations to a new training center. The facility expands over two floors and 11,000 square feet. In 2015 Chris Horodecki challenged

Lance Palmer Lance Palmer (born February 7, 1987) is an American professional mixed martial artist and former collegiate wrestler. He currently competes in the featherweight division of Professional Fighters League, where he is the 2019's tournament champi ...

for the World Series of Fighting Featherweight Championship and the gym would begin offering female only jujitsu lessons which became popular. In 2016 Malcolm Gordon won the WXC Flyweight Championship and defended it once. 2017-2018 saw the gym hold 3 Championships in TKO Major League MMA with Jesse Ronson winning both the TKO Lightweight and Welterweight Championships, Malcolm Gordon won the TKO Flyweight Championship defending it twice. Both Ronson and Gordan were invited to join the

in 2020.

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Loss , align=center, 0–4 , Joel Leblanc , TKO (punches) , UCC 6 - Redemption , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:38 ,

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, Quebec, Canada , , - , Loss , align=center, 0–3 ,

David Loiseau David Loiseau (; born December 17, 1979) is a Canadian former mixed martial artist from Montreal, Quebec. He has fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, EliteXC, and TKO Major League MMA veteran. He is the former TKO World Middleweight Ch ...

, TKO (punches) , UCC 4 - Return Of The Super Strikers , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:26 ,

Sherbrooke Sherbrooke ( ; ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François and Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territory equivalent to a regional cou ...

, Quebec, Canada , , - , Loss , align=center, 0–2 , Steve Vigneault , TKO (punches) , UCC 2 - The Moment of Truth , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:43 , Montreal, Quebec, Canada , , - , Loss , align=center, 0–1 , Matt Rocca , TKO (punches) , UCC 1 - The New Beginning , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 8:50 , Montreal, Quebec, Canada ,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tompkins, Shawn 1974 births 2011 deaths Canadian male kickboxers Canadian male mixed martial artists Middleweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing Shotokan Mixed martial artists utilizing Muay Thai Canadian male karateka Canadian Muay Thai practitioners Kickboxing trainers Mixed martial arts trainers Sportspeople from Tillsonburg