The Coronavirus Chronicles: Marc Montoya

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The effects from strategies to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the United States have been felt across every part of the mixed martial arts industry, even at a major training facility like Factory X in Englewood, Colorado. The camp has had to close its doors temporarily by order of the state. Marc Montoya, the gym’s owner and head coach, deals with the issue firsthand.

“The whole coronavirus thing is really uncharted territory,” Montoya told Sherdog.com. “It’s water that we haven’t navigated ever, and I think all of us are in the same boat, sitting here going, ‘With lemons, we’ve got to make lemonade.’ It is a flu, and I understand how rapid it passes on, but the flu is the flu. Being sick is being sick. I think it’s all the other stuff. It’s not the flu per se; it’s the widespread panic [and] what it’s doing to everyone personally [and] also what it’s doing to businesses just like mine. We run a gym that houses almost 500 students, and that’s a lot of people to be affected. Obviously, as a small-business owner, it’s an interesting spot to be in.”

In this exclusive interview with Sherdog, Montoya discusses the monetary toll the shutdown has taken on his business, offering online classes to members of the facility and seeing fighters deal with the financial setbacks from the COVID-19 pandemic.

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