Carl started training in martial arts over three decades ago under the guidance of Mick Nicholls and Ricky O'Brien in Freestyle Combat, eventually grading up to 2nd-degree black belt under their instruction. Whilst training under Mick, Carl was exposed to many great martial arts and its masters, such as Guru Dan Inosanto, Larry Hartsell, Erik Paulson, Tony Blaurer, and Nino Pillar. Carl began his Muay Thai training in the late 1980s, and in 1994, Carl fought in Thailand for the World Muay Thai Council (WMC) under its General Secretary, Mr Stephan Fox (Contender Asia).
After moving to England in 1999 and teaching at the revered Peacock Gym in Canning Town in 2002, Carl relocated to Thailand to work directly for the WMC in Bangkok, running its international office, coordinating multiple IFMA World Championships, and overseeing the WMC camp in Koh Samui. Training with such legends as Mark Hunt, Nokweed Davy, Paul ‘The Sting’ Slowinksi, Bruce ‘The Preacher’ MacFie, and Alex Dally, Carl forged strong relationships with many world-class fighters and trainers. It was in Thailand that Carl met Tim Fisher, who had moved to Thailand to run a gym in Chiang Mai, and they hit it off straight away.
After three years in Thailand (where he met his future wife, Jacqui, at a Muay Thai training camp in Koh Samui), Carl returned to Melbourne to rebuild the Hangar 4 MMA, Melbourne’s first-ever MMA gym.
Carl and Tim (who also moved back to Australia in 2005), remained firm friends, supporting each other as their set up their respective gyms in Melbourne (Hangar 4 MMA) and Sydney (Bulldog Gym). Both men also ran fight promotions across in Melbourne and Sydney (Carl ran Warriors’ Way with Mark ‘Hammer’ Castignini, and Tim ran Revolution Promotions), where they assisted and cornered each others' fighters, working together to ensure the best for their competitors.
In 2010, Tim moved back to Thailand with his family to run the world-famous Sitsongpeenong gym, and in 2015 branched out to set up his own gym, the revered Revolution Phuket. Revolution Phuket runs holiday and training camps for beginners and fighters, with many of its students going on to fight on prominent shows such as One Championship, RWS, Lion Fight, and Muay Thai Grand Prix (MT GP). At the same time, Carl and his wife Jacqui turned Hangar 4 MMA into a thriving 24-hour mixed martial arts, weights gym, and strength and conditioning centre. But Carl and Tim's friendship remained strong. Over many late-night phone conversations about Muay Thai, fighting, and martial arts in general, the idea came about to expand Revolution Phuket – the gym and its hugely popular brand of merchandise – to Australia, and could not think of a better place to set up the Australia branch than on the Sunshine Coast.
