New England Cartel leader Tyson Chartier explains how less-traveled road resulted in widespread success

EVERETT, Mass. – Tyson Chartier didn’t always plan to be a coach. It really was a transitional byproduct of being a good friend.

Originally a professional fighter himself, Chartier jokes MMA served more as a hobby where he could pretend he knew what he was doing. While that may or may not be true, the fact of the matter is, Chartier has established himself as one of MMA’s top-rising minds.

In 2009, Chartier began working with Rob Font. Six years later in 2015, Calvin Kattar entered the fold. The rest was history. Chartier branded the trio the New England Cartel, a team with national notoriety but only a few members. Font and Kattar have become two of his best friends, as they’ve established themselves as headlining acts in the UFC. What’s the key to his success? His position as coach came after their relationship was already established, not vice versa.

“I was a few years older than these guys and I saw what they weren’t getting,” Chartier recently told MMA Junkie at Kattar-promoted Combat Zone 75. “I was like, ‘Oh, let me fill that hole. Let me do this. Let me help out.’ I was just trying to help my friends. Then, the next thing you know, I’m the one watching video. I’m the one cornering them in fights. I’m the one driving them to the weigh-ins. You build trust over that. They look around. It’s easy to see after a loss, who is in the room with you. It’s easy to see who also is there after a win. Then, you see who is there on the wins and not on the losses and put it all together. You see who your real circle is. Figuring that out over time.

“It’s tough, man. There are so many different ways to do this. This is how we do it, but the amount of trust we’ve built over time wasn’t an accident. But I can’t say 10 years ago, I said, ‘Oh, here’s our plan.’ I could say five years ago or four-and-a-half years ago after we broke off, this was the plan. That was only allowed to happen because of the work I put in for the five years before that when I wasn’t called a coach and I wasn’t anything. I was just the teammate trying to help.”

In a day and age where big mega-teams house dozens of UFC stars, Chartier keeps his circle small. There’s Font and Kattar, striking coach Jake Manini, wrestling coach John Deupree, rising prospects Tommy Pagliarulo and Nick Fiore. That’s it, but all that’s needed for the close-knit squad.

“To reach that highest point, and we haven’t even reached that, you have to have that extra relationship,” Chartier said. “You have to be there for the lows. You have to really, really appreciate the highs. You can’t go through these fight camps having no personal and emotional (relationships). My kids call these guys ‘Uncle.’ That doesn’t happen in a big camp, for the most part. The way we decided to start the Cartel and execute and what we train, a lot of coaches from big camps now are asking me how to run camps and this and that. A few years ago, I’d be like, ‘What do you do in this?’ Now, I feel like I finally get to that level where they’re like, ‘Let’s ask Tyson.’ They respect what we’re doing. Success doesn’t lie.”

A “family atmosphere” in the gym leads to trust in the corner on fight night, an honor and responsibility Chartier doesn’t take for granted. While 99.9 percent of the time he puts his fighter into the spotlight, when asked, Chartier admits he feels proud of his accomplishments as a coach – even if he doesn’t flaunt it.

“My goal was just to help the fighters one decision and action at a time,” Chartier said. “Cumulatively over time, that turned into me living my dream here. I travel around the world with fighters and get to walk out on ESPN. The 12-year-old in me that used to watch the ESPN Top 10 every day, now we’re headlining cards on ESPN – and I’m doing it with my best friends. I’m going against some of the best coaches in the world and best fighters in the world.

“We’re executing and we’re where we belong. We earned this position through the vision that we had and the trust we had in each other and bringing in Jake and our wrestling coach, guys like that. I don’t feel like I work a day ever. I definitely feel blessed. My in-laws won’t agree. They’ll think I don’t have a job because I love it so much. I love what I do and it freaking beats sitting at a desk looking at tech sales all day.”