Mike Swick
Founder, Co-Owner & CEO
AKA Thailand Head Coach & Program Director
Retired 15x UFC Veteran
- 15 career UFC fights
- Featured on season 1 of the Ultimate Fighter TV Show
- Featured In Esquire Magazine as a Rising Fitness CEO In Asia
- Nicknamed Quick after finishing 4 UFC fights in a combined 5:10
- One of the original members of Team AKA
- Has trained in Thailand since ’00
- Official trainer on The UFC’s Ultimate Trainer video game
When most people hear the name ‘Mike Swick’ they think, 15-fight UFC veteran. However, his fight career was used as just a platform to further his entrepreneurship outside of the cage.
During his time as a top ranked UFC athlete, Swick successfully built one of the largest print factories in the California Bay Area that grew to manufacturing over 11,000 printed shirts per day. In 2018 Mike successfully sold the business to continue bigger endeavors abroad.
Before starting one of the most successful and highest rated destination gyms in the world, AKA Thailand, Swick grew and sold 3 successful businesses. It was these businesses and his UFC career that helped jumpstart his dream that was conceptualized as some scribble on a piece of paper.
Swick came to Thailand with that piece of paper, a business plan, and some money, looking to create a destination gym that was one-of-a-kind. What resulted was the highest rated destination gym in the World that became a home for both professional champions and day-1 tourists.
Not one to rest on his laurels, Swick also branched out into fight promotion. He promoted 2 successful MMA shows in Thailand, one of which gained worldwide notoriety for being held outdoors on the beautiful sandy beach of Phuket amongst the waves and tropical settings.
Swick’s marketing prowess and attention to detail in his business ventures have gained him renown notoriety for his body of work. Esquire Magazine featured Mike as one of the rising foreign entrepreneurs in Asia.
Currently, Mike is running AKA Thailand (with plans of a huge expansion soon), growing his rapidly rising podcast, ‘Real Quick With Mike Swick’ (With guests like UFC President, Dana White and Pound for Pound #1 fighter in the world, Khabib Nurmagomedov), working on a new local fight promotion, building his ‘Savage Life Media Firm’ as well as starting the groundwork for his next passion project, ‘Swick Savage’. With all these projects going on and no matter how busy he is, Swick can usually be found onsite at AKA Thailand during most of the classes.
“Building a Dream is one thing, but watching it grow and seeing first-hand the impact that it has on our guests first is where it’s really at. I love meeting all of our new guests that fly in to train with us and showcasing their successes on our social media accounts.” -Mike Swick
If there is one thing that sets Mike apart from other fighters, gym and business owners it is his social media presence and well-spoken, humorous and humble demeanor in interviews and on camera. Mike got his start on “Real Quick With Mike Swick”, a web series Dana White gave him the opportunity to run with in 2005. This gave Mike the ability to hone his camera presence while visiting interesting places and interviewing celebrities such as 50 Cent, Samuel L. Jackson, Snoop Dogg, Nick Cannon, Jamie Presley, Magic Johnson and more.
In 2006, Mike became the official host of all the UFC PPV’s for AMP’d Mobile. Being the first mobile phone on the market to show live fighting events, Mike hosted all UFC broadcasts through 2006 and 2007. Today, Mike uses the media skills he acquired throughout his UFC career to push the AKA Thailand brand via live feeds on his Facebook, by doing gym video series, and a variety of other videos with an array of narratives coming out of AKA Thailand.
In 2017, Mike rebuilt and revamped Real Quick With Mike Swick by turning it into a Podcast. With his mikeswick.com website being a living breathing machine of information and entertainment, it only made sense to get a podcast going as well. Mike custom built a studio dedicated to the show, in his home in Thailand, and it is now one of the fast growing MMA Podcasts on Youtube.
In its short existence, Mike has had a range of guests that include fighters, actors and football players. Mickey Rourke, Dana White, Cody Garbrandt, Daniel Cormier, Dan Hardy, Mark Hunt, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and AFL player, Nic Naitanui, are just some of the guests that he’s had on already.
Mike has taken the podcast and made it a more laid-back lifestyle show. With each passing episode, the numbers of viewers grow and the guests continue to be more outstanding. In January of 2018, he made a short docu-cast with Dana White meeting a Thai girl, whose life he previously saved, and the video went viral. This along with many other behind the scenes and mini-casts, make the show unique and always entertaining.