The fulfillment of a cherished dream almost a decade in the making.

That’s how Mark Sangiao aka Coach Mark of Team Lakay described the opening of their headquarters in Baguio City’s scenic Irisan Heights. 

“Finally, after renting space in many, many gyms in different parts of Baguio and La Trinidad over the years, Team Lakay now has a place to call home,” he said.

It was not easy getting there. The journey took a challenging seven years — a period marked by twists and turns and a dip so low that, it seemed to many people, the famed martial arts group had become a goner.

But then Sangiao has fallen many times — and invariably gotten back up. 

The 8-story building is surrounded by breathtaking 360-degree views of mountains and, every day, a unique sunset. That makes it conducive for training in that rough-and-tumble way Team Lakay has come to be known for in the Philippines and beyond. 

The sports facility includes a competition-level cage, which will soon host MMA (mixed martial arts) bouts. An entire floor is designated as a training area with various equipment including treadmills and punching bags. There are also accommodations for international athletes, and even a restaurant.

Credentials 

Coach Mark himself has noteworthy credentials. He won a gold medal in wushu for the Philippines in the 2001 Southeast Asian Games and, in 2004, won in the bantamweight category of the Universal Reality Combat Championship. He has also been instrumental in building the careers of many martial artists. Just last month he was inducted into the second Benguet CARES (Cordillera Athletics Recognition for Excellence in Sports) Hall of Fame — an award given by the provincial government for exemplary contributions as a son of Benguet. 

His signature dimpled smile belies how tough he can be on his opponents, and even tougher on his team members. He learned the virtues of patience and hard work first hand, and instills in his team the same discipline as well as lessons on building character, important values, and faith in the Creator.

Sangiao is considered a pioneer in MMA in the Philippines. At a time when it was still largely unknown to the general public, he would save money to travel by bus from Baguio to Metro Manila to compete in MMA bouts. Then he’d travel back to Baguio to train athletes in kickboxing and wushu. 

He had the benefit of training (and excelling) in several martial arts — taekwondo and kickboxing, initially — and this made him a well-rounded fighter. He became, effectively, his own MMA coach, using a multidisciplinary approach to ace his matches.

History

Sangiao established Team Lakay with like-minded Cordillerans in 2006. By 2008, he had opened his first Team Lakay gym. Through hard work amid spartan training conditions, they reaped a harvest of four One World Championships belts in a single year, in 2018. They were riding high, feted and celebrated around town and in many other places. But in 2019 they lost everything. 

Coach Mark immediately reassessed the training regimen, and made strategic changes.

That same year, he invested in a property where Team Lakay would be headquartered. It was envisioned as a one-stop center dedicated to training athletes of all levels, whether local or international fighters. By then, Team Lakay’s renown had reached beyond Philippine shores. Athletes from Australia, Canada, India, Japan, Mongolia, Spain, Italy, Vietnam, the United Kingdom, the United States, among others, found their way there.

Team Lakay athletes were treated like superstars. But in 2023, one by one, four members of the original team left the stable. There was a hubbub as unresolved issues and controversies played out in public.

Sangiao now admits that he spent many sleepless nights worrying and wondering what went wrong, and what he could have done to avoid such a public and explosive conflict. He said he thought about how victory and defeat are integral parts of the professional athletic journey, and how game results are mere fleeting moments in the long run of life and career, victory and defeat.

“We handle both with grace, resilience and a focus on future improvement rather than dwelling on a single result,” Sangiao said. He said that because he had started from practically nothing, disappointment and defeat were not new to him. 

Reset

So he started again, proving the adage that you can’t keep a good man down.

When the dust settled, he looked around at the talents he still had and worked with them. Seasoned fighter Geje Eustaquio has stepped into the role of trainer, too. The next generation of Team Lakay is led by his son, Jhanlo Mark Sangiao, along with Carlos Alvarez, Carlo Von “The Bull” Bumina-ang, and Jean Claude Saclag.

At the 2025 Southeast Asian Games, Saclag won a  bronze in MMA for the Philippines. The younger Sangiao, though only in his early 20s, is said to have surpassed his father’s fight record.

Aside from talent and determination, Coach Mark values formal education. He took a break from sports to complete a degree in criminology in 2003. Until now, he coaches the wushu team of his alma mater, the University of the Cordilleras. He said it’s a way to give back and an opportunity to spot raw talent as well.

He recounted how, while in Bangkok after a bout last year, a fellow Filipino approached him and introduced himself: “You may or may not remember me, but I trained with you when I was in college.” The man, it turned out, is now a member of the Philippine military and was in Bangkok for some training. “I want to thank you for everything you taught me,” Coach Mark quoted the man as saying.

Team Lakay also holds community events such as “Adivay Explosion,” “Lakay Martial Arts Grand Prix,” and “Grapplers Cup,” which serve not only as venue for competition and inspiration for aspiring athletes but also as a way for discovering new talent. 

Character is something Sangiao watches out for: “Character is what keeps you training. Character is what motivates you to stand up after a fall. Character is what will see you through,” he said.

Scholarships, etc.

Team Lakay now even offers scholarships to promising young athletes, some of whom have competed and won in Muay Thai, judo, wrestling, and wushu sanda at the Baguio-Benguet Educational Athletic League Games, the Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association Meet, and the Palarong Pambansa.

Aside from MMA, the gym holds classes in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, wushu, kickboxing, Muay Thai, and boxing at sites in La Trinidad, Benguet; in San Fernando, La Union; and soon, in YMCA, Baguio City. 

Sangiao said that while he relied on himself when he was a fighter, he has worked to make conditions better for his Team Lakay athletes. Elite fighters now have a team behind them: a head trainer, a boxing trainer, a strength and conditioning coach, and a nutritionist.

“We’re continuing to upgrade our skills, our services, our facilities,” he said.

It’s a crowning achievement for a movement that started with one man and a simple goal to be the best at what he does.   

This year alone, Team Lakay’s Bumina-ang has already brought home distinctions from One Championships — twice!

As Sangiao looks out at a perfectly multicolored sunset from the terrace of Team Lakay’s HQ, he is not resting on his championship belts, so to speak. Throughout his professional career, he has moved the goal posts further to achieve even more. He wants to focus now on systematizing MMA, including establishing a rule book and a belting system. 

All this to uphold Team Lakay’s enduring faith in the idea that champions are not born but made. CS