Tyson Chartier & The Progression of New England MMA
New England -- the northeastern states of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island -- has started to make noise in the mixed martial arts scene in recent years. Regional organizations like Classic Entertainment & Sports MMA and have progressed, as they became the proving ground for future Ultimate Fighting Championship talent Rob Font and Calvin Kattar. Tyson Chartier serves as the head coach, manager and agent for those aforementioned fighters, as well as many others. He takes great pride in being a part of the new push of MMA talent coming out of New England.
“I guess you could say it’s a little bit of vindication finally, because five [or] six years ago all of these local promoters wanted Calvin and Rob to fight each other, and the Calvins and Robs of every weight-class. They wanted them to fight each other,” Chartier told Sherdog. “I came at it from, hey listen; they don’t need to fight each other. Let’s let them both get to the UFC. We weren’t getting any guys to the UFC. It was a very stagnant time for New England MMA. I felt like we had all this great talent, but we were vastly under represented on the national level, and my [belief] was it was just egos. Whether it was fighter egos, coaches egos, managers egos [or] promoters egos. Everybody was not looking at the big picture, [and instead] looking at it like ‘my guy is better than his,’ or ‘my promotion is better than theirs.’ My theory was, No. 1 and No. 2 [state ranked fighters] should be training with each other, and avoid fighting. If we need to fight a No. 2 guy, let’s fight a No. 2 guy from outside the region.”
The notion has proven beneficial, as the “New England Cartel” has rapidly grown in status throughout the sport. New Englanders like Randy Costa, Mike Rodriguez and Manny Bermudez are now on the UFC roster. During Season 3 of Dana White’s Contender Series, Yorgan De Castro earned a contract in week one, William Knight secured a developmental deal during week eight and several more New England competitors are set to compete later in the season. In addition, Rhode Island native Nate Andrews recently earned a place in the season two Professional Fighters League playoffs.
Along with discussing his part in trying to help fighters push the region to the forefront of the sport, Chartier also talked about his own path to MMA and eventually into the coaching ranks. He talked about his reasons for forming his management agency Tog Game Management.
