Mark ‘ShaH’ Evans wants his new Wolf Pack Combat Academy to be a part of a continued effort to create spaces where discipline, mentorship, and opportunity are accessible for people in the greater Madison community. The martial arts coach, motivational speaker, hip-hop promoter, and community leader is opening a new 7,300-square-foot martial arts facility in South Madison.
“We have a one-stop shop here. We build complete martial artists and resilient individuals. If you just want to stop in and lift weights and get in shape, come on in. If you want to learn martial arts, we are the place for you. It’s for kids, and it’s for adults … it’s for everybody,” Evans tells Madison365 in an interview at the new headquarters space on 2909 Perry Street, just south of the Beltline Highway.
Wolf Pack Combat Academy will host its official ribbon-cutting for its new building on Tuesday, May 19, at 10 a.m., followed by an official grand opening event on Saturday, May 30, at 1 p.m., featuring music from multi-platinum producer DJ Pain 1 and offering the community an inside look at the training environment.
“Across the country, there are not a lot of people of color who run a Muay Thai gym,” Evans says. “I see them all when we have the big tournament in June, and we usually talk. There might be five or six of us who show up to the biggest North American Muay Thai tournament. There are lots of fighters [of color], but as far as gym owners, there are, for sure, fewer than 10 that show up there, and in this area, not many at all.”
Founded by Evans and his wife, Abby Lex-Evans, the Wolf Pack Combat Academy represents years of work centered on mentorship, discipline, and personal development. The gym and training facility specializes in Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, MMA, Eskrima, self-defense, and strength development.
(Photo by A. David Dahmer)
Since 2018, Evans has been the owner and head coach of The Blast Muay Thai, located at 703 Post Road in South Madison, where he has been training students in Muay Thai, boxing, and mixed martial arts. Evans has coached both amateur and professional fighters.
“The other gym was great. This is different … this is night and day different,” he says. “So my big emphasis is to focus on all the people coming in. I love my students. I love my fighters.”
Evans adds that the new gym “has been a work in progress for a couple of years.” “Once we were able to get things going after COVID [at the old gym], and I saw our numbers climb, I was like, ‘OK, I got to start again looking at new places,’ and this specific building we’ve been working on for about a year,” he says.
Evans has been doing the construction work for about a year and getting things in order. That involved emptying out his old gym.
“I kept the new place kind of on hush. Only a few people knew,” Evans remembers. “And after our fight camp night was done on April 3rd, the last night at my other spot, I asked everybody, ‘Hey, if you’re free to stick around, we could use some hands putting everything in a U-Haul right now.’
“And I’m very blessed and grateful. I got really emotional for a while there, with that being the last time we’re gonna do it in this spot. It was a very great moment. And all of them helped take those mats out, move weights around, just empty out everything. It got done in less than an hour.”
On Saturday morning, April 4, Evans began unloading everything from the U-Haul and laying down the new mats at the new place. “By that Sunday, April 6, we were already having fight camp here, and then it was just getting everything else done,” Evans says.
Including bringing in a beautiful new MMA Octagon cage. Where does somebody even get something like that?
“The cage was a Facebook marketplace purchase. So there was a former promoter in Indiana who was no longer doing events, and he wanted to get rid of his cage,” Evans says. “And so we checked it out. Everything was good. And I was like, ‘Ok, let’s go!’
“My wife and I drove to Indiana to go pick up that beautiful cage in a U-Haul. And so I got to load up an MMA cage with one other guy … that was interesting,” Evans adds, laughing.
With all the equipment moved and purchased, it was time to concentrate on the Wolf Pack programs, which are designed to improve fitness, self-defense, skill, discipline, accountability, and mental toughness at every level.
(Photo by David Dahmer)
“Now the work that we were previously doing grows into a larger space serving more than 150 members, with a focus on both youth and adult programming,” Evans says. “It was tough for us during COVID, but to be able to bounce back from that and to come back hard, and then to grow and be here at this new space and go fromgo from 2,200 square feet to 7,300 square feet. It’s just an incredible feeling.
“It’s a big jump. And we thought about, you know, starting a little bit smaller,” Evans adds. “That’s not how I operate anyway. I’ve got that true entrepreneurial spirit. I jump off the cliff and [say] let’s figure it out. Luckily, I have the right people who want to go along for the ride.”
The new gym will be bringing together The Blast Muay Thai, Enduro BJJ, and Overload Strength under one unified standard, creating a place where beginners, competitors, families, and everyday people train side by side.
“The Wolf Pack [Combat Academy) has now become the hub. And that was always my goal,” Evans says. “I want the place to be something like the Princeton Club, but with martial arts and strength training. I want a place where somebody can come in, kid or adult, and they can do it all.”
Evans, who was recently recognized as one of Wisconsin’s Most Influential Black Leaders for 2025, has spent much of his career working with youth in the Madison area. He says that the new place has “taken his mentorship to a whole new level” as he works with at-risk teens. Evans is the creator of the Wolf Pack Mentoring Program with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, where he uses martial arts to help build structure, confidence, and emotional control.
“I let the young people who come in all the time know that this big, beautiful gym is not where I started,” Evans says. “I tell them that ‘I’ve been where you are. I’ve done countless knucklehead things as a teenager.’ Every day, I have a talk with God to tell him ‘thank you for keeping me here.’ I don’t know how I avoided gunshots and being sliced up with a knife. I don’t understand, and it’s not my job to question it.
“I tell the young people that there’s nothing wrong with them. You just have to make different decisions. You have to learn how to build something different,” Evans continues. “I love watching them come here and lift weights and watching them work out and letting them know that no matter what has happened in the past, they can still do something with their lives. For me, that’s everything.”
The academy offers the Reznikoff Iron Wolf Scholarship, which helps ensure that young people can train regardless of financial circumstances.
“This isn’t just about fighting,” Evans says. “It’s about giving people control over their lives when they feel like they have none.”
Tomorrow’s ribbon-cutting will be a very satisfying event for Evans, but he is not quite ready to sit back and reflect and relax quite yet … he still has plenty of work to do.
“This is incredible, but I haven’t really had time to sit back and enjoy it yet. Maybe after the ribbon cutting and grand opening, I will have that bourbon and cigar sitting back in a chair moment,” Evans smiles. “But it’s been 12- to 14-hour days here. It’s been a grind. Every one of my students has been completely supportive and I absolutely love it. You can’t ask for anything more.
”This new place is a pretty huge deal. But this is stage two for me. Stage three is a few acres of land in Madison, and a house and a gym on it. I drive my golf cart from my house to my gym, train people all day, and go back home. That’s the ultimate dream.”
