Shawn Tompkins died in August of 2011 and it was a complete shock when it happened. Without a doubt, he was among the best coaches/trainers in the sport and had, as far as MMA trainers go, about as big a name as you could get.

Team Tompkins was composed of three guys, all from Ontario: Mark Hominick, Sam Stout, and Chris Horodecki.

Since Shawn Tompkins' death, not one of them has managed to find a win and both Hominick and Horodecki have lost...badly.

Mark Hominick was on a five fight tear through the WEC and UFC and had just dropped a highly competitive unanimous decision to champion Jose Aldo. Then Shawn Tompkins died. Hominick was given a fight against the Korean Zombie, one that heavily favoured Hominick's style and was, presumably, meant to be a pick-me-up after his competitive loss to Aldo. After all, Aldo/Hominick may very well have been the most competitive Aldo fight in, well, forever.

As such, Hominick was heavily favoured. Hominick was sitting at around -435 with Jung at +335.

Too bad he got knocked out in 7 seconds.

Then you have Chris Horodecki, who was picked up by Bellator in the expectation that he'd do great things there.

Horodecki, after Tompkins' death, has since fought to a draw with Chris Saunders and, most, recently, been brutally outclassed and knocked out cold by the completely unknown Mike Richman.

While Richman, with an 11-1 record going into the fight, looked good, it's worth noting that the combined record of the opponents he'd beaten was 55-97, most of them with records below the .500 mark. And it's not just that Richman beat Horodecki...it's the fact that he beat the ever loving piss out of him. Prior to the fight, Richman was a +385 underdog

Finally there's Sam Stout, who while not looking terrible, nonetheless dropped a unanimous decision to Thiago Tavares.

Clearly, something is going very wrong here and I think it may come down to the training. Since Tompkins' death, Stout, Hominick, and Horodecki have taken to training at home in London, Ontario at a gym they co-founded together, Adrenaline Training Centre.

There is no head trainer at this gym. Rather, Stout, Hominick, and Horodecki ARE the head trainers. Rather than attempt to fill the void left by Tompkins, they've just left it open. It seems that they've decided that if Tompkins can no longer be their head trainer/coach, they'll make do without a head trainer altogether and just train each other.

Looks like that isn't working out.

It stands to reason that they're determining their own training, setting their own schedules, and forming their own gameplans (if any). I'm not sure if that has EVER been a good idea at a high level in combat sports.

While Horodecki, losing badly on the Bellator prelims, is in dire straights, Hominick and Stout have been given easier fights. Hominick is facing Eddie Yagin with the possibility of a third straight loss hanging over his head. Stout is facing a shopworn Spencer Fisher who has lost 4 of his last 5. If either of these guys lose their fights, we'll see just how bad things really are for the Team Tompkins boys.