Carlsbad's Jeff Clark and his buddies were mixed martial arts fighters back when MMA wasn't cool -- or legal.

Clark remembers the days when most fights were held on Indian reservations or in Tijuana, the only places where, legally, fights could be held.

Or, Clark said, the place and time of a fight would be posted on the Internet an hour or so before it was to begin so authorities wouldn't have time to break it up.

Clark said he remembers one of those late-night fights being held in a Compton saloon.

"There were no rules back then," Clark, 37, said. "No gloves, no time limits, nothing."

Clark has been teaching martial arts for 15 years, long enough to remember the days when having a chain link fence inside a training facility was sure to not only drive away business but attract unwanted attention from the authorities.

Clark said longtime friend and current business partner Matt Stansell agreed to have a cage built in his Oceanside garage. And so the North County Fight Club was born.

"We would go there every Sunday to work out," Clark said. "We called it the 'Grapple Chapel.' "

These days some of the best mixed martial arts fighters in the world seek out Clark and Stansell for guidance and instruction. Signed on with the management company they started 2 1/2 years ago are some of the sport's biggest names, including Brandon Vera, Roger Huerta and Eddie Sanchez.

"We negotiate the bout agreements for all the guys, we negotiate all the purses, we handle all their marketing and promotions," said Clark, who said his ownership group has turned down a $50 million offer to buy 51 percent of their company. "We're basically doing what we had been informally for our friends for years, looking after fighters and making sure they don't get taken advantage of by the promoters."