Chris page

Chris was born in Compton California at the Compton Community Hospital. Shortly after that his family settled in Orange County for a few years and then ended up in Huntington Beach where he would spend the next 10 years growing up. Huntington Beach was a great but fairly tough place to grow up. The demographic layout taught you to keep your mouth shut or most likely someone would shut it for you… It was the kind of place that if you had something against someone it was going to be dealt with now not later. Chris was one of 6 boys (second to the top) and they were all very close to each other growing up.

At age 15 the Brennan household was once again on the move, but this time to South Orange County. They moved in to a nice neighborhood in the city of Laguna Hills. Chris attended Laguna Hills High School for a short time, but at age 15 Chris’ mom had a better chance winning the Lottery than keeping him in school. She would drop him off at school and before she would get home his books were on the porch and his surfboard was gone. This was short lived though. He was given an ultimatum, to either go to school or go to work. Chris chose to work and so he did. He went to work in construction with his dad 5-6 days a week. Although making a better living than most 15 and 16 year olds, things weren’t all fun and games. Off to work at 5:30-6:00am and off at 3:30-4:00pm everyday at that age can be taxing. This lasted for about 5 or 6 years on and off until he was old enough for a bouncing job at a local club. Chris had been bodybuilding for a couple years so he had the exact look they were after.

Working security at a club was the perfect job for a bodybuilder because he could lift, eat, and sleep all day long, and work a few hours at night. In this time Chris won the Teen Orange County, Teen Mr. California, and Teen Nationals. Bouncing was also a pretty good job to prepare him for what would be in store for him next. For one reason or another Chris acquired about 60-100 street fights that were extended to more than just throwing someone out of the bar. He was fortunate enough to work with a few guys that would later fight in the UFC. In November of 1993 Chris was at work and the owner had gotten a Pay Per View event that changed his life forever. It was the Ultimate Fighting Championship and it couldn’t have looked any more exciting. Chris vowed right then that one way or another he would get in to this event. Royce Gracie was a 6 foot 1 inch 175 pound guy that was just running through the competition. Because there were no weight classes, two of Chris’ fellow co workers would end up in the UFC before him. One would be in UFC III and one in UFC V.

Chris began training right away, making the drive to Torrance California to train at the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy everyday. Being the adventurous person that he is, Chris packed his bags after only a couple years training and was off to Brazil to learn this stuff from the source. For 11 months he would sleep on the mat inside the Master Jiu-Jitsu Academy, where some of the world’s greatest Jiu-Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts fighters would come from. Quickly learning that Brazil was a dangerous place to be for a local let alone a white kid from California. He quickly made friends with some of the toughest guys in the

country. Again Chris was lucky enough to be training and hanging out everyday with Roger Brooking, Leo and Ricardo Vieira, Rodrigo “Comprido” Medeiros, and many others. While in Brazil Chris got a chance to fight in an MMA event being the first ever American to represent Brazilian/Gracie Jiu-Jitsu in a Mixed Martial Arts fight in Brazil. With a star-studded corner of Romero “Jacare” Cavelcante, Royler and Rolker Gracie, Roger Brooking, and Leo Vieira there was no chance of a loss. Chris would win by Guillotine Choke in less than 2 minutes.
Upon his return to the US he would again attend the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy for a couple more years. Chris had made up his mind that he wanted to fight professionally for a living and teach Jiu-Jitsu as well. There were many things that went on at the Gracie Academy politically causing him to want to leave but at this time there weren’t many options so he basically just sat in class studying how the art of Jiu-Jitsu was taught. Learning the techniques to teach this style and getting to train with Royce on a daily basis made it a bit easier to stick around.

Finally one day Chris’ friends Marc Laimon, Lowel Anderson, Ethan Milius, and Richard Bressler would all be venturing off to open Beverly Hills Jiu-Jitsu because of ridiculous political reasons. This was another great move as the training and training partners just kept getting better and better. Chris was getting fairly active in Mixed Martial Arts now and with a record of 4-0 Chris was offered a fight with 16-1 Pat Miletich. Pat was at the time referred to as one of the world’s best. The fight went fairly well and after 20 minutes it was declared a draw.

Unsatisfied with the results both fighters agreed to do it again just two months later. Again stepping in to the ring in Pat’s home town Chris would better prepare for this fight and really go after him. After one long and grueling 30 minute round the judges were torn and it was declared a split decision win for Pat. Chris continued to train after this fight but after a while the daily commute to LA was getting old so as a 2 strip Blue Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Chris decided to open his own school. There was however one problem. He needed money to do this and training everyday made it pretty hard to make any money.

SO…once again blessed from above, Chris got the call to fight in the UFC’s first ever Lightweight Tournament. After his performances against Pat his skills were hard to ignore so John Peretti called Chris and told him it was time for the UFC to see the smaller guys in action. Chris was pitted against Brazilian Luta Livre fighter Courtney Turner in his first match and he would dispose of him quickly by arm bar only 1:20 into the first round. As fait would have it though Chris would end up in the cage later that evening against non other than Pat Miletich for the third time in 6 months. After only 9 minutes Pat had Chris trapped against the cage where he would use the leverage from the fence to choke Chris causing him to tap out. Pat became the UFC’s first lightweight Champion and went on to defend the title 5 times, but Chris got exactly what he needed…$10,000.

Just one month after returning back to Mission Viejo where he now resided Chris took that money and opened the first Next Generation Fighting Academy. Now teaching, training, and fighting, life was getting a bit more interesting. Chris fought and won in some good shows and grew his school over the next few years to large proportions. During this time Chris also met what would shortly after become his wife. Jennifer was a waitress in a restaurant across the parking lot where the food was no good but the service was great.

On February 6^th 2000 Chris and Jennifer were married on a cruising Yacht through Newport Harbor in front of a couple hundred of their closest friends and family. Now more than 8 years later they share 3 boys Lucas (8), Tyler (6) and Chris’ boy Adam (15). Chris continued to grow the Next Generation Fighting Academy by fighting and teaching. Chris’ school would be the largest most prestigious school to train at in California in 2001 considered to be “The Mecca of Mixed Martial Arts” by many. He got the opportunity to fight in the first King of the Cage in southern California. Chris took on a young Joe Stevenson (later to win The Ultimate Fighter Reality show) and submitted him and put him to sleep in just over 2 minutes into the first round by triangle choke becoming the first King of the Cage Middleweight World Champion. He came back a few months later to take on Olympic caliber wrestler Antonio McKee. The first round was McKee controlling the fight with his wrestling but only 9 seconds in to the second round Chris would end the fight with one of the most brutal Knock Outs in Mixed Martial Arts history with a high kick to the head. Antonio was out for almost 5 minutes and that sort of put a little scare in to Chris. Now the 2 time KOTC World Champion everyone was out for Chris’ title. A younger, smaller, Joe Hurley was next in line, and without any fear came in to the fight with nothing to lose. After being dominated for the first 4 minutes of the fight Joe turned it around in the last 30 seconds landing an elbow followed by 2 more that sent Chris back to the locker room scratching his head.
This was a turning point for Chris because he lost something that he considered his. The King of the Cage World Title. Back to the drawing board and training hard Chris came back to take apart a game Kevin Hogan in search of getting his title back. Joe Hurley had lost it and then it was vacated so Chris was next in line for the shot. On September 29^th 2001 Chris would face UFC veteran Steve Berger. Going in to this fight Chris was the 3-1 underdog on all the betting lines.

He had really turned up his training by going to Big Bear to train in the high altitude to get properly prepared. Chris came down the mountain in the middle of one night to watch his son Tyler be born and then drove right back up to finish getting ready for this fight. Nothing was going to stop him from getting this belt back…Not even 3-1 odds.

The fight began and from the opening bell to the final bell Chris dominated the fight in brutal fashion. 15 minutes later having his belt strapped back around his waist. Chris was now the 3 time King of the Cage Middleweight World Champion and again his school was soaring. Chris then went back to the UFC and fought once again and then in October 2003 Chris got the best call of all. He got the call to fight in Pride Fighting Championships first Lightweight division dubbed Bushido! The call came on a Monday night and the fight was just 6 days later on a Sunday night. So it was off to Japan and Chris would be the first fight of the night in the first Lightweight fight for Pride. He would learn quickly though that tapping someone one time is not always enough as his opponent tapped out and then denied it even after screaming and the ref stopping the fight. After a short discussion the fighters returned to their corners and low and behold Chris would get a hold of the same arm but this time breaking his opponents shoulder and leaving a great impression with the Japanese fans.

He has now also fought in the first Gracie Fighting Championships and will continue fighting for them as well. It is a new organization that is growing by leaps and bounds and Chris is proud to be part of it. After fulfilling his Pride contract by March of 2007 Chris will be open to many other options and events to fight in.

Chris expanded the Next Generation name and now has affiliate schools in Dublin Ireland, Liverpool England, Vancouver BC Canada, Lake Havasu Arizona, and Dallas Texas sometime in 2007 or 2008. Chris is also the owner and operator of NOGI, an action sports clothing company. The company has grown a bit faster than they expected. Nogi sponsors some of the top names in Mixed Martial Arts, and in July of 2006 they finally debuted their shorts on PPV in the Ultimate Fighting Championships.

Chris has been fortunate enough to travel the world teaching seminars and or fighting. Seeing places like Italy, England, Ireland, Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Guam, Hawaii and all over the US. So as you can see Chris has had a very good career in Mixed Martial Arts, fighting, Teaching, traveling, and now making and selling gear for the Action Sports enthusiasts. He now resides with his wife Jennifer and their children in Dallas, Texas. Please check out the sponsor page to see the company’s that make all this possible.