TEAM QUEST HISTORY

EARLY YEARS

Matt Lindland and Randy Couture were teammates on the U.S. World Greco Roman Wrestling Team–it was the only time that these decorated amateur wrestlers, whom collectively own a treasure chest of Olympic, World and National medals, shared spots on the same World Team. It would prove to be an important year in mixed martial arts history, as it marked the debut of each of these men in that sport.

In 2000, while training in the back of a car lot, the longtime training partners founded the Team Quest Fight Club, based in Gresham, Oregon. Since that time, Matt and Randy have been ranked among the world’s best, distinguishing themselves in organizations such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Strikeforce, RINGS, SportFight, World Fighting Alliance, Affliction, The International Fight League, Bodog Fight, KSW and more.

Lindland, an Olympic and World silver medalist, remains at the original Head Quarter site in Portland, while Couture has since left Team Quest to pursue independent business ventures.

Under the tutelage of Lindland, the Team Quest Fight Club has grown to encompass over 40 elite athletes and is considered by many to be the most successful and enduring professional mixed martial arts teams in the world.

Team Quest embodies the principles of humility, perseverance and sportsmanship, qualities that Matt Lindland has cultivated during his tenure as amateur wrestlers and professional MMA fighters.

EXPANSION & GROWTH

In 2005, Team Quest had grown from a garage of Olympic wrestlers turned professional cage fighters to one of the nations premier Mixed Martial Arts training centers, hosting over 400 members comprised of men, women and children of all ages. At this point, Lindland saw the need for more classes and more space to be able to accommodate the large membership base.

The car lot turned gym grew from 2000 square feet to 7000 square feet of usable training space. The curriculum exploded from a daily fight practice for a small fight team of less than a dozen athletes to a full time training schedule of classes ranging from Kickboxing, Boxing, Submission wrestling, Jiu-Jitsu, Fitness classes and one of the country’s first kids mixed martial arts programs.

In 2007, Team Quest launched the gym licensing branch of the business and since then has expanded the Team Quest name brand to multiple locations in California, Thailand & Australia with the Portland location remaining the head quarters for the organization under the leadership of Lindland.

COACHING DEVELOPMENT

Team Quest develops leaders and world class coaches through the Team Quest Instructor’s Course program. This invite only course is a three year program to assure the highest quality of Mixed Martial Arts instruction being taught at our facilities. All of our coaches at Team Quest undergo the in depth education that covers all facets of MMA training as well as coaching principles, conflict resolution, event management and marketing to become complete coaches.

After successfully completing the 36 month training program, the TQIC graduates enter the MMA world as elite coaches and are able to earn the honor of being a Team Quest coach.

NEXT GENERATION

As pioneers of the sport of Mixed Martial Arts and industry leaders, Team Quest is constantly developing new and innovative ways to make our organization stronger & to better our surrounding communities. In 2010, Team Quest developed the T.U.F.F program, one of the nations first Mixed Martial Arts programs for teenagers.

Training Up Future Fighters both on and off the training mats has become a large part of the training curriculum at Team Quest and over the last few years we have been able to develop strong young men and women in to leaders in their communities to take action and stand up to bullying and give these young people the confidence to defend themselves if they get in to dangerous situations.

The T.U.F.F program has also expanded to the younger age groups for ages 4-6 at the T.U.F.F TOTS & the ages of 7-10 as the T.U.F.F TYKES.

In 2014, Team Quest launched the T.U.F.F TOTS ACADEMY. This scholarship program is a dynamic way for parents and children to be working together to better learn martial arts with the support of the surrounding community as sponsors of the program so that Team Quest can help lead a movement and make a change to better our communities by allowing kids to participate in Martial Arts that would typically not have the means to do so.

As one of the founders of Team Quest in Portland, Oregon, is one of the world’s most renowned and respected coaches in wrestling and MMA.

Matt Lindland attended Clackamas Community College and won a NJCAA National title before matriculating to the University of Nebraska where he went 33-1 his senior year and won the Big 8 title. That same year Matt won a free-style National Title at the University Level.

A year after college Matt won his second National Title in Free-Style and won the Pan-Americans that same year beating Alberto Rodriguez Hernandez from Cuba. Matt had a tough decision to make, Free-Style or Greco-Roman, so he entered both styles at the US Open where he made it to the quarterfinals in Free-Style and semifinals in Greco.

Matt ultimately decided to focus on Greco-Roman and that same year Matt moved to Colorado Springs to train full-time at the Olympic Training Center and made the US National Greco-Roman Team. Matt made his first World Team in 1997 and kept his number 1 spot on the US team he retired from wrestling after he won the Olympic Silver medal and World medal in 2001.

Matt fought No Holds Barred in 1997 after seeing his teammate Randy Couture fight in the UFC, but Matt put MMA on hold so he could accomplish his wrestling goals. After winning the silver medal in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Matt jumped right into the UFC in December of that same year.
Coach Matt started his coaching career in 1993 after finishing his collegiate wrestling career.

Matt founded the North West kids wrestling program and coached at two of the top wrestling clubs in the U.S.; Cobra Wrestling and Peninsula. That same year, Matt also started working with Chael Sonnen at West Linn High School. In 1996, Matt moved back to Lincoln, NE to take a job as an assistant wrestling coach at the University of Nebraska where he coached until 2000. During his tenure at Nebraska, Coach Matt coached NCAA champions and multiple All-Americans. Matt continues to work with USA Wrestling to this day.

In 2000, Matt started coaching wrestling and MMA at his Team Quest gym in Portland, Oregon. Coach Matt is coaches wrestling, kickboxing, MMA, and the professional and amateur fight teams at Team Quest.

In July of 2014 Matt Lindland was appointed the Head Coach & CEO of Greco-Roman Wrestling for USA Wrestling, overseeing the entire program for the US national wrestling team for two Olympic Games.

Coach Matt is now Head Coach of Team Quest MMA and Fitness and resides in Oregon.