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Any and every Hall of Fame is reserved for the elites in its respective field. 

Winchester is happy to be home to one such athlete. 

Chris Hall, a member of the Martial Arts Hall of Fame, owns and operates Thoroughbred Innovations – located at 5 Cleveland Ave. Suite 202. 

“I love Winchester,” Hall said, noting that he met his wife – a Winchester native – while he was living in Lexington. “It’s got a small town vibe, and it is such a great place…I’ve met so many people here. It’s fantastic.” 

Known as “The Beast” during his fighting days, Hall was an accomplished mixed martial artist. 

Fighting all over the United States and even in Brazil from 1988-1995, he wrapped up an impressive 69-6 record. 

Over one third of his victores – 29 – were accomplished via total knockout (TKO). 

Then, as is the case now, mixed martial arts was a combat sport. 

“When I retired from fighting MMA, it was actually called no holds barred,” he said. “They started barring holds like the fish hook and gouges…so they had to change it to mixed martial arts.” 

He later taught martial arts to multiple students. 

As a veteran from the industry, Hall’s connections run deep.

Pat Millitech, the first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight Champion, saw assistance from Hall during his early days. 

“[When] he was just starting…he would follow me around,” Hall said. “I knew what it was like to be a broke fighter, so I would take him and everyone else out to dinner.” 

Yet after so many years, being inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009 still came as a humbling surprise. 

“That’s a wonderful thing, but you can never expect something like that,” he said. “Those are the people that I look up to. They mentored me as I mentored those after me.” 

Hall acknowledged that – while winning is excellent – there were also lessons to be learned from time spent in the sport. 

“Never give up no matter how bad it is,” Hall said. “A very famous guy had me in a chokehold. It was deep, and he just let go. After the fight, I said, ‘Why did you do that?’. He said, ‘Well, it wasn’t doing anything, so I had to do something else.’ I’m like, ‘yeah, it was doing something, It really was!’” 

Hall stated that – while he enjoys watching the fights today – he hopes for different treatment toward the talent. 

“The fighters are not getting what they deserve,” he said. “The fighters are the talent, and they don’t get the money. They don’t get any of the money.” 

Nowadays, Hall is more likely to be found in a square office building as opposed to a squared circle. 

He spoke briefly about Thoroughbred Innovations. 

“It’s a full web services company. We only work with small businesses,” he said. “We do branding, design, hosting, [and] social media, but our biggest is SEO [or search engine optimization…I’ve been doing that since I retired from fighting.” 

In doing so, among other advantages, Thoroughbred Innovations seeks to make each small business more recognizable during Internet searches in order to attract potential clients. 

Just as he’s made in impact on the sport he loves and for local businesses, Hall hopes to be a solid contributor to Clark County, 

“This is a labor of love. We’re not going to be millionaires,” he said. “I love working with [small businesses].”