Mark owned and operated eleven martial arts schools. In 1987, he opened one of the first martial arts schools in Temecula, California. Mark’s desire was to become a positive role model and mentor to the youth in his community and to enrich the lives of his students. In 1993, Mark opened the first Jujitsu class in the valley where he lives; now there are approximately forty Jujitsu schools in his area.
In 1994, Mark also owned and operated the first MMA Training School in the Valley. The MMA Training School was very big, a multi-martial art training facility, and fully equipped. Mark called it the “Ultimate Fighting Training Center.” Hundreds of people regularly attended the school. Many students and trainers commuted from San Diego, Los Angeles, desert cities, and the Inland Empire to use the facility. Needless to say, Mark had no shortage of sparring partners. The “Ultimate Fighting Training Center” was a seven thousand square-foot multi martial art live in facility. The rented rooms were approximately ten feet by fifteen feet. Even some tenants and fighters from Mark’s own Fighting Stable lived in the facility. Mark had no shortage of tenants; if one moved out, someone else was waiting to move in. Over time, Mark’s room rentals expanded to two more local buildings. Eventually, Mark had fifteen to twenty tenants at any given time. He used that income along with his tuition from teaching to sustain himself during most of his MMA Fighting career.
Along with the rented rooms, the “Ultimate Fighting Training Center” had three huge rooms designed to make the training center stand out from others. One of the huge rooms contained training matts from wall to wall for grappling, wrestling, Jiu Jitsu, and S.C.A.T. The second huge room was used to teach Mark’s family martial art classes. This room was also used for the student’s mother’s Step Reebok classes and fencing classes. >An interesting fact is Chuck Norris’s step brother was enrolled in Mark’s Moo Yen Do class and attended often – unless he was on the set of his TV Series “Walker Texas Ranger”. Another interesting fact is Pauly Shore’s sister was also enrolled in Mark’s fencing classes. The third huge room was a three thousand square foot kickboxing and boxing gym. Mark’s kickboxing classes were taught by Mr. Doug Dicky, a champion kickboxer from San Diego. The boxing classes were taught by Mr. George “The First” Machaluso and Mr. Mike Ziddio, Mexico’s heavyweight boxing champion.
After six years, and many events - five UFC’s, Japan, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, S.C.A.T., West World Sports, and the Cobra Fighting Federation – Mark was informed by the property owner that the “Ultimate Fighting Training Center” was going to be used to satisfy a debt and he needed to evacuate. After the training center shut down, Mark began dividing his time between his two other school locations – Fallbrook, CA and Lake Elsinore, CA.
When asked about the closing of the training center, Mark stated, “Everybody was real sad. It was the end of a great era in all our lives. But I guess nothing lasts forever and just like the dinosaurs, the Ultimate Fighting Training Center moved into history.”
Although the “Ultimate Fighting Training Center” is most talked about here, you can read about the rest of his schools and his vast teaching career in his new book, Mark Hall "The Cobra" The Fine Art of Fighting.