Team Effort Personifies Team Quest

Between rounds, Follis will be in the Octagon offering Couture advice. The nervousness that at one time accompanied him to the ring isn’t there anymore.

“It definitely took some adjusting,” he said. “I’d like to think as a coach I’ve grown a lot over the last few years. To me, as much pressure as those guys feel getting in the ring, it was a lot of pressure on the outside. I wanted to do right and be there for them.

“Being able to have that composure, I think, has been a huge piece in my continued success as a coach, especially with the younger guys.

“To me, it’s a huge privilege to have an athlete in a sport with a lot riding on it — I mean, there’s an ass beating waiting for you if you’re not executing well. So I take a lot of pride in the fact that these guys trust me enough to have me in their corner, to develop a game plan for them. So it’s a big deal. And when they go out and execute that game plan well, I kinda feel like I’m a piece of that.”

To hear Couture and other Team Quest fighters talk, Follis is more than a “piece.” “He’s phenomenal,” Couture said.

And so to are the others, like the sparring partners who put themselves at risk each time they train.

“Having guys that push me — Nate Quarry, Chris Leben, Chael Sonnen, Eddie Herman, Josh Burkman — they’re in there every day putting their body on the line and trying their best to push,” the 205-pound champion said. “They’d put knots on my head or choke me out of the can. And that’s what you need. If you’re going to continue to progress you gotta have guys that challenge you on a regular basis, and those guys certainly do that.”

For Follis, whose fighting days are long over, it’s not about winning or losing. Sure that’s important, but it’s not what keeps him coming to the gym, working with kids and champs alike.

“If I could help my fighter make the most out of what he has and get that extra little bit,” said the man who trains Randy Couture, “that’s what’s important.”