MMA Business April 2012

Your Gym:Renzo Gracie Brooklyn

On The Mat:Wrestling for MMA

Business Plan: Market Research

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APRIL 2012 • $5.99

CENTER RING: MARk MuNoz

Selling the Experience

Give prospects what they want and need!

W W W. M M A B U S I N E S S . C O M I APRIL 2012 3

CONTENTS

FEATURES

A P R I L 2 0 1 2 • V O LU M E 3 N o . 2

32IHere’s what you need to know to build a website that can supercharge you business for success.

BUILDING A WEBSITE

28IMMA INSPIRED Selling: Are you growing the sport, selling products and services, or both? We talk to experts about selling the MMA experience.

DEPARTMENTS4 I MIXED THOUGHTS

“Fight With the Hansens”

6 I BUSINESS PLANMarket Research

8 I ON THE MATWrestling for MMA

12 I THE BEATScience of Judo, Bellator Gets Game, World Jiu Jitsu Expo in California, Oklahoma Stops MMA

14 I EVENT REPORTMember Solutions Business Bootcamp

16 I THE FIGHT BUSINESSBOLT Wrestling, Alvarez Documentary

20 IPROFILEGameness

24 ICENTER RINGMark Munoz

40 IWIDE WORLD OF MMAThailand Bans MMA, Canadian Promotions Merge

22 I BUSINESS SOLUTIONSSocial Media Policies

44 IYOUR GYMRenzo Gracie Fight Academy, Brooklyn, New York

46 IPRO SHOPNew Products and Services for your Gym

48 IOUTSIDE THE OCTAGONDefining Who You Are

FIGHT PROMOTION& LOCATION36I

Academy by day and fight venue by night. Can your gym host a fight? Some say yes, and some say no.

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4 APRIL 2012 I W W W. M M A B U S I N E S S . C O M

“Fight With The Hansens”

MIXED THOUGHTS from the Editor

www.MMABusiness.comVol. 3, No. 2, April 2012

MAGAZINE STAFF

PublisherRichard Hendricks

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EditorGlenn Hansen

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Editorial ContributorsTed Czech,

Dale Shirley (Photographer)

Art DirectorBrett Link, [email protected]

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Advertising Sales RepresentativeWhite Chocolate Management

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Advertising Sales RepresentativeHeidi Collins

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MMA ADVISORY BOARDJohn Bostick, Amber Galvanosi,

Jamie Gudell, Jeff and Barry Meyer, Hans Molenkamp, Greg Nelson,

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MMA BUSINESS LLC800-989-8085

PresidentChuck Blanski

Vice President/Sales & MarketingJimmy Pedro

Subscription Information: Free to qualified members of the mixed martial arts industry. To subscribe or renew your free subscription, go to: MMABusiness.com, Customer Service: contact MMA Business, 9444 Deerwood Lane North, Maple Grove, MN 55369. Call 800-869-6882, Fax 866-658-6156, or e-mail [email protected]

Editorial Submissions: return postage must accompany all manuscripts and photographs submitted to MMA Business if they are to bereturned. MMA Business is not responsible for unsolicited materials. MMA Business makes no endorsements, representations, guaran-tees or warranties regarding products and services presented or advertised within the publication. © 2012 by MMA Business LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. Printed in U.S.A.Glenn

GLENN [email protected]

My friend Rod introduced me to Mixed Martial Arts about eight years ago. We worked together in marketing for a well-known worldwide brand. Rod trained in Jiu Jitsu, and was a huge fan of the UFC – or really any televised fight event. He not only made me aware of the sport, his passionate advocacy made me a more knowledgeable fan. We even talked our company executives into sponsoring UFC – and it was pretty cool to see the company logo on The Octagon for several events. Fast forward a few years, and now I’m an advocate for MMA. But I need your help. And let me start with a question. Let’s say that you are friends with my wife and me. As a group, we planned to attend an MMA fight on a Saturday night. And you write on your fridge-mounted calendar “Fight with the Hansens.” Then a friend or child sees that cal-endar entry. What would they say? My wife and I made plans to take our friends Mark and Monica to their first live MMA fight recently, and they wrote that on the calendar. Someone else noticed it and asked: “Why are you fighting with the Han-sens, and why would you schedule it for Saturday night?” True story. Replace “fight” with almost any other word – football, lacrosse, hiking, su-shi, water polo – and there would be little if any confusion. Of course, “fight” has other implications. But as popular as we think MMA fighting has become, many people might not consider it a sport or entertainment event just yet. One By OneMark and Monica think differently now. We’re working one by one, or two by two in this case, to build new fans of the sport. Of course, I don’t expect them to sign up for a monthly training program right away (although Monica was intrigued by “The Submission Factory,” ha ha). Still, we opened their eyes and minds to “fight” as an incredibly enter-taining evening. And we’ll do it again soon. It works with televised pay-per-view fights, but it works best with live action. And don’t wait for the UFC to come to town. Find a fight in your neighborhood and buy two or more tickets. Take someone who has never seen an MMA fight before. Go have dinner first and make a night of it. It’s a business expense. Do this at a local event and the rewards are big. A fun night out with friends. Teaching newbies about the sport you love. Supporting local business and amateur fighters. Expanding the base of business available to all in Mixed Martial Arts. This only works if it keeps happening. I only have so many friends I can introduce to MMA. It’s your turn.

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Why Carry Gameness


Market Research: You’re only as good as your information

BUSINESS PLAN

In the February issue, I discussed the importance of Business Planning in the entrepreneurial process. I detailed the four primary reasons to develop a business plan: accountability, vetting of your idea, saving time and money, and creating a tangible means of communicating your idea. In this issue, I’ll focus on market research, an integral part of the entrepreneurial process. Market research is the or-ganized manner by which information is gathered about consumers and markets. I often start conversations with martial arts professionals and prospective clients with the fol-lowing question: “What can you tell me about your market?” I ask this question to find out who they think their customers are, and if they’re off target I can help them discover their actual customers. Very often, the answers I receive revolve around the general demographics of the MMA industry, which is a good starting place. However, no single product or service is per-ceived valuable to every consumer in the entire MMA space. General industry demographics are not precise enough for your business (or your in-vestors) to rely upon. Remember, there is a direct correlation between perceived value and actual value. If your customers think your product or service is worth a lot of money, they’ll pay a lot of money for it. Performed well, market research will help you narrow your focus to identify a core audience who will perceive the highest value in your product or service and pay the highest dollar for it.

Good SearchingMarket research isn’t difficult if you know what information you’re looking for and how to find it. In fact, it’s quite easy nowadays to be a relatively efficient market researcher thanks to the Inter-net. Spend a few minutes on Google and you can quickly find the bulk of the information you seek if your search queries are appropriately worded.

Use Facebook to create polls to gather information from your friends. On some occasions, you need to dig a little deeper and get a bit more creative in your quest for information, especially if you’re developing a concept for a new niche. More of-ten than not, the information you seek has been published somewhere and is available online, at a library, or via phone call. All that’s truly required of you to be an effective market researcher is to invest the time needed to find the right data and apply it properly. Here are a couple examples. Example 1 – You want to launch an MMA ap-parel business selling tribal T-shirts. Rather than relying on how much money ABG paid for Tapout to determine your company’s potential, you need to evaluate your brand’s true opportunity based on realistic (not aspirational) data. You need to know the number of direct competitors you have who are also selling tribal T-shirts in the MMA space. You need to know how many tribal T-shirts were sold over the last 2 or 3 years. You need to deter-mine an average retail and wholesale price for a tribal T-shirt and you need to know how much it costs to design and produce a tribal T-shirt. The answers to these questions are among the most fundamental pieces of information a tribal T-shirt company owner should possess if they’re going to be successful. It’s not just about what you think is a better brand name or shirt design – be realistic. Example 2 – You want to open an MMA gym. The interesting thing about gyms is that your customer base is geographically limited. Unlike our tribal T-shirt company, which can sell its products all over the world, a gym is only going to serve its local geographic market. You need to know how many MMA gyms provide similar service within a 30-minute drive of your desired gym location. And you need to know how many students attend each of those competing gyms. You need to know what the competing gyms in that area charge for membership, and what kind


[email protected]

DanDAN GREENE

of programs they offer their members. You also need census information on the population of that area to determine if there are enough people of athletic age with a high enough income to support the operation of your new MMA gym. And you need to know how many competing services exist in your desired neighborhood (such as traditional martial arts schools, dance schools, fitness gyms, sports facilities and programs, and anything else that competes for time and money from an athletic demographic). If you do a good job gathering the above information, you’ll have a great head start toward determining if you have an opportunity to be successful and how to price and sell your service in your competitive market. If you own an MMA gym and are struggling to grow your student base, go back and answer all of the above questions. Be realistic. It’s not just about your black belt or your fight record. What I hope you’ve taken from this article is a better understanding of what type of information

you need to gather and how to find it in order to be successful in business. When I was earning my undergraduate degree in Marketing I was fortu-nate to have an amazing professor who is an ac-complished market researcher. She taught me the value of “knowing my audience” because “every-thing I needed to know about my audience could be learned through solid research.” Fortunately, she continues to mentor me to this day. In the spirit of paying it forward I’d like to share with you, my friends and fellow MMA entrepreneurs, a mantra I recite to myself daily: “You’re only as good as your information.” Dan Greene is a lifelong martial artist, instructor, and a combat sports industry business expert. He’s the Co-founder and CEO of Combat Sports Consulting, LLC, and works with martial arts business owners across the globe. He can be reached at [email protected]


Wrestling for MMA: With Kenny Johnson

ON THE MAT

Muay Thai kicks and Jiu Jitsu submissions may be more dramatic, but wrestling provides an essential base of strength and skill that every MMA athlete needs. Some of the sport’s best fighters came from wrestling: Randy Couture, Brock Lesnar, Dan Henderson, Chael Sonnen, Rashad Evans, Matt Hughes, Josh Koscheck and others. These fighters have all proven – in more than one fight – the pow-er of the ground game. Randy Couture’s famous takedown of boxer James Toney is stereotypical of a stand-up fighter unable to counter solid wrestling skills. (Okay, Toney just shouldn’t have been there, but that’s beside the point.) We recently connected with wrestling great Kenny Johnson for his advice on building wrestling skills in MMA fighters. Johnson wrestled at the University of Iowa in the early ‘90s under legend-ary coach and Olympic Gold medalist Dan Gable. A coach and trainer for wrestlers of all ages and abilities, Johnson trains amateurs as well as some of the nation’s best MMA fighters out of Southern California’s Blackhouse Gym, including Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida, BJ Penn, Jose Aldo, and the Nogueira brothers. A lot of MMA fighters come to Johnson looking for help with their ground game. “Wrestling is an explosive sport,” said Johnson, “and when a fighter gets on the ground, wrestling techniques are also artistic. You can’t learn either of those in one training session.” Johnson built his “Wrestling for MMA” curriculum and training techniques through this type of experience with MMA fighters.

It’s Not Defense“Everyone wants to know how to defend the take-down,” said Johnson. “I don’t like to call it ‘defense.’ Instead, I call it ‘counter offense.’” Johnson’s wordplay aside, he makes a compel-ling point about both physical and mental training and technique. A fighter can’t be on top of his own strategy if he (or she) is always conscious of “defend-ing” an opponent’s superior skill. Instead, according to Johnson, a fighter should counter the opponent’s offense with tactical offensive moves of his own.

It all starts with a good stance. A wrestler’s stance is low and wide. And that position enables a fighter to control the action. “Look at Photo 1. This is me doing an ankle pick toward a takedown, and it’s my offensive score. This is what happens when your op-ponent is in a bad stance. I was able to take a lower level stance than my opponent. With a better and lower stance, they could have prevented this. Now the opponent is bent over at the waist, and that’s not a good position. Wrestling is a cat and mouse game. By moving my feet and adjusting my stance, I was able to catch her in a bad position. Now look at Photo 2. You see here that both of us want to use the “Third Man in the Fight” – that’s the cage or the wall here. My opponent is taller than me, and he’s trying to

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use the cage to assist with his takedown. I’m backed against the wall, trying to use it for my sprawl technique in counter-ing. This would not happen in a regular wrestling match, but is common in MMA. He’s attempting a regular single-leg takedown. I’m blocking his outside leg so he can’t step over me. I press my head into his. I will move my hips up and down with his movement. He’s going to try and lift me to then take me down, so I keep my hips low, utilizing all my tools, like good hips and head position. I feel comfortable here, but he’s in a good posi-tion, too. So it will come down to who can implement their strategy better and faster. It’s the will to win here. It’s not like in striking where you can step back for a minute. Neither of us can give up for a millisec-ond here. A momentary lapse here, and you lose.”

Clinch It“Strikers don’t like to be tied up,” said Johnson. “The ‘Clinch’ is a strong move for a wrestler to take against a striker to prevent him from throwing those potential knockout blows.” Do this well, and you can change a striker’s fight strategy, ac-cording to Johnson.

“ You can see in both photos 3 and 4, I’m in green taking on different opponents. In each ex-ample, I don’t want them to get in an underhook that would en-able the clinch. In Photo 3, I’m stopping the underhook. You can see my right hand on his back, and I have my right leg in tight and forward

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where it’s supposed to be. I have a nice rigid and strong back; I’m not leaning into him. My hips are lower than his. I have taken the perfect clinch position. In Photo 5, I turn this clinch into a double leg takedown. In Photo 4, we’re at a slightly different stage than Photo 3. I’m just about to step into him and get his arm close to his body. He’s going to have to reposition himself, perhaps abandon his attempt at this under-hook and clinch. His bent-over stance and squared feet is a bad position. He should transition out of this. This shows how wres-tling is not just linear steps, but it’s the ability to go through a variety of counters, and counters to those counters. You need to train all these moves and work

through all these different positions so you can counter what your opponent might do any time. My goal – and yours, too – is to always be in a superior position or be moving to a superior position. And I want to put my oppo-nent in an inferior position. Your job then, as a coach and trainer, is to test your athletes with as many wrestling moves and positions as possible.”

One More, Says JohnsonFinally, look at Photo 6. Here, my opponent has me in a collar tie. This is a very common move

in wrestling. He’s grabbing my head, and it may appear here that he has position. But what you can’t see is that I have control of his elbow on the left side, and I’m going to grab his wrist; we’ll be hand fighting for wrist control. We’ll each change angles a few times, and through these moves, one of us will find an advantage. It’s common for someone in my position to want to grab their head, too, but nothing will happen from that move. This is a main error that people make. I always say, ‘Save that for the school dance.’ We don’t want to get in the situation where all we can do is tell secrets to each other.”

KENNY JOHNSON Kenny

ON THE MAT

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TheBEATF I G H T S + N E W S + H A P P E N I N G S + E V E N T S + L E A D E R S

Greg Jackson and Century Martial Arts announced a partnership in which the product manufacturer will utilize Jackson’s talent, knowledge and his Pro Gym training facility for the testing and development of Century Martial Arts’ training equipment. Under this new partnership, Century will be the exclusive equipment provider for Greg Jackson’s facility allowing Jackson and his trainers to use existing Century products while testing and contributing to the development of new products. For Jackson and his team, this gener-ates an unprecedented opportunity to influence the design and functionality of professional training gear, with the industry’s leading manufacturer. In return, Century gets to benefit from expert advice and feedback from some of the best MMA athletes and trainers in the world. “This partnership with Greg allows us intimate access to MMA trainers and athletes, providing us the information, knowledge and feedback we need to create the best training equipment possible. We couldn’t ask for a better partner and are excited to get started,” said Sarah Fields, President of Century Martial Arts, pictured with Jackson above. “Partnering up with such an innovative company as Century assures that we will stay on the cutting edge of safety and performance. Having their knowledge and sup-port will ultimately lead to stronger, more effective competitors,” said Greg Jackson, owner and operator of Pro Gym. Greg Jackson also opened the new Jackson’s Martial Arts & Fitness Academy in February, calling it “a move that’s long overdue.” The new gym in Albuquerque is focused on training non-fighters, or young people who may someday become fight-ers, or just people who want to get fit. It’s clearly a step away from his existing and award-winning gym that is focused on training the elite MMA fighters in the sport.

> More active Americans plan to increase spending on fitness, including on gym memberships, than de-crease spending in 2012.

> In 2011, for those who spent money on a club mem-bership, 20.8 percent spent more than in 2010, 18.1 percent spent less and 60.8 spent the same as in 2010.

> Sixty-nine percent of Americans still do not spend money on gym member-ships.

> The number of inactive Americans (defined as those who did not participate in any high-calorie burning activities) increased in 2011 to 68.2 million compared to 67.2 million in 2010.

> Despite these numbers, 217 million Americans are considered active, meaning they participated in at least one of the 119 sports and activities measured.

Data is from the Physical Activity Council’s (PAC) 2012 Participation Report. PAC is a partnership of six trade associations in the sports, fitness and leisure industries, and it releases an activity report each year, tracking sports, fitness and recreation participa-tion in the United States.

Opportunity by the Numbers

Greg Jackson’sNEwESt tEAmmAtE & NEw Gym

Judo in the LabResearchers at the University of Sao Paolo in Brazil were studying energy requirements and use through differ-ent sports and activities, and made surprising discoveries about the art of Judo. They sought to measure metabo-lism rates of Judo athletes, and had to devise unique testing methods due to Judo’s complex movements. Metabo-lism is generally measured when an athlete is in one place, like running on

a treadmill. In the report, published recently in The Journal of Complex Movements, physiologist Emerson Franchini showed that Judo – considered mostly a “lactic” sport requiring short bursts of en-ergy for throws – is much more a mix of aerobic and anaerobic sports, with much higher aerobic metabolism than expected. Franchini said the study should help Judo teams train better by knowing how they burn energy and designing better diets.


TheBEAT

BELLATOR gets Game RecognitionBellator has stepped up its TV presence recently, and will soon be able to compete with the UFC in one more area: video games. In association with Viacom Entertain-ment Group’s 345 Games, Spike TV and Bellator announced the pending release of “Bellator: MMA Onslaught,” an arcade-style MMA title. “It was imperative that we create a mixed martial arts game accessible to all types of players, not just the hardcore MMA fan,” said 345 Games exec Dan Yang in a prepared release. “Fortunately, with ‘Bellator: MMA Onslaught,’ the player doesn’t need a doctor-ate in gaming or MMA to enjoy the non-stop action and excitement of the game.” Bellator and game makers plan a summer 2012 release through the PlayStation Network and the Xbox Live Arcade. Fighters in the game include Pat Curran, winner of Bellator’s Season 2 Light-weight Tournament and recently crowned Featherweight World Champ; Joe Warren, Season 2 Featherweight Champion; and Daniel Straus, Season 4 Featherweight Tour-nament finalist. Other fighters will be announced soon.

International Cast of Jiu-Jitsu Legends Unite for Inaugural Expo The inaugural World Jiu-Jitsu Expo, which will be held on Saturday, May 12, 2012, at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, Calif., will set the new standard for promoting the sport of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The WJJE will feature an extensive slate of BJJ seminars taught by Roger Gracie, Braulio Estima, André Galvão, Robert Drysdale, Ro-drigo Comprido, Caio Terra, and many more. The event will also include the inaugural BJJ Awards, panel discussions, a tradeshow floor with exhibitors, and the Long Beach Spring International Open IBJJF Championship. Renzo Gracie, President of the World Jiu-Jitsu Expo, will be in attendance. Super-fights are scheduled to take place between BJJ talents including UFC welterweight Nick Diaz. The one-day event will conclude with a BJJ Hall of Fame induction ceremony honoring some of the biggest names in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. “This is the first of many World Jiu-Jitsu Expos in the United States,” said Renzo Gracie. “Americans have embraced Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to a degree rarely seen outside of Brazil, and it is a privilege for us to be involved in this first event.” For more information about the tournament, visit ibjjf.com.

Oklahoma Stops MMAIn a letter addressed “To Whom it May Concern,” Jim Miller, Executive Director of the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission announced that the commission “will not be accepting applications for event permits for events scheduled after March 31, 2012.” The letter goes on, “The Commission is faced with an out-of-state threat that, if suc-cessful, could greatly affect the Commission’s ability to provide for the public safety and for the health and safety of the athletes for future events throughout the state of OK. The Com-mission is currently trying to address legal and legislative efforts which have given us serious concern about how we move forward with adequate oversight of Oklahoma’s box-ing, mixed martial arts, and professional wres-tling events.” That “threat”? The Ultimate Fighting Championships, which has threatened OK with a lawsuit for its pay-per-view law which taxes resident viewers 4% for each PPV pur-chased. Miller has been quoted as saying UFC PPVs generate $80,000 of the commission’s $360,000 annual budget. UFC President Dana White seems determined to fight this tax, which has been in place since 2004.

SI VISITS PEDRO’S JUDO CENTERSports Illustrated is not known for its coverage of martial arts. It is, however, known for quality sports reporting read by more than 20 million sports fans ev-ery week. So it’s a big deal when “one of our own” gets ink in SI. Jimmy Pedro, MMA Business colum-nist and coach of the 2012 U.S. Olympic Judo team, was profiled in the March 5 issue along with Kayla Harrison, U.S. Judo’s best chance for an Olympic medal since Pedro himself earned two in his Olympic career.

+ Sports Illustrated, March 5, 2012

MMA BuSINeSS MAgAzINe attended the third annual Member Solutions Business Bootcamp recently, and again saw firsthand the power of group training for helping businesses grow. If you thought group training was only for your MMA class members and not for you, think again. This two-day session – held just north of Philadel-phia – included two-dozen seminars designed to deliver business-building tools and information to MMA and martial arts business owners. The speakers included industry experts – many of whom own their own suc-cessful gyms or schools. Morning sessions even in-cluded hands-on training in martial arts and MMA tech-niques that training professionals could apply at their own facilities. Jay Abraham, a well-known author and marketing consultant to companies such as AT&T, Microsoft, New York Life and more, made the event’s keynote address. Abraham addressed the packed meeting room and spoke about “being preeminent” in your market. The Bootcamp included networking time, too, with breaks between sessions giving attendees the op-portunity to meet other professionals, and learn about products and services from vendors on hand. If you’ve hesitated to attend an event like the Member Solutions Bootcamp for fear that it’s simply a weekend-long sales pitch, you should know that little if any selling happened during this event. Far more prevalent was information sharing and networking that leads to improved business opportunities for all involved.


BOOTCAMP+ Member Solutions President Joe Galea welcomed the standing-room-only crowd to the third annual Business Bootcamp, held at the ACE Conference Center in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania

+ Attendees got to spend quality time with exhibitors such as Century Martial Arts and Zebra Mats.

third annual MeMber SolutionS buSineSS bootCaMP

+ Member Solutions staff and attendees mix to enjoye Saturday evening’s happy hour. (Left to right) Chris DeSherlia, Chuck Crone, Geraldine Martin, Allie Alberigo, Dina Engel, Rob Colasanti, Tommy Lee, Joe Galea


+ (Top Left) Live training sessions, like this one with Matt Hughes, gave coaches and trainers some hands-on education to use directly with students and members.

+ (Above) Jay Abraham, a business growth strategist, gave the keynote speech at the Bootcamp, and is here with Member Solutions President Joe Galea.

+ (Left) Networking time took a variety of forms!

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THEFIGHTB U S I N E S S

BOLT WRESTLINGWalk into almost any MMA training center, and you’re sure to meet a coach, trainer or business owner who is passionate about his or her craft. This enthusiasm leads many in this business to develop a creativity that is central to the past and future success of Mixed Martial Arts as a sport, a fitness opportunity and a business. Kenny Johnson is one of these people. But instead of talking about Mixed Martial Arts or a traditional Asian martial art, Johnson’s passion is good old American wrestling. “I’m still an athlete,” said Johnson, the former NCAA champ from University of Iowa, “but I’m a coach

just as much, and that’s the transition for me.” Now living in California, Johnson has made a career out of wrestling – a rare occupation these days outside of high-school wrestling coaches. But Johnson has bigger goals than simply improving the wrestling skills of Jose Aldo, Fabricio Verdum, Lyoto Machida, and other top MMA fighters. His larger mission is to create a wrestling environment nationwide that makes the sport the next Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, a popular amateur activity and a viable business enterprise. He’s developed the BOLT Wrestling curriculum to serve that mission. “I learned wrestling from great athlete wrestlers who

were also amazing coaches,” said Johnson, “including Dan Gable at Iowa and Dave Schulz of the U.S. Olympic Team, and others. I always took time to absorb all the information they shared.” Through his own coaching of recreational wrestlers as well as amateurs and pro fighters, a lot of people asked him how they ranked as wrestlers. “A lot of people would ask me about belts and rankings,” he said, “and I knew I needed to develop a ranking system.” “I took every wrestling move I could think of and wrote them all on 3x5 cards. Then I spread those cards all over my house – they were everywhere – so I could categorize them.” This project became a complete system of teaching, coaching and ranking wrestlers – the BOLT system,

for Basics Of Learning and Teaching. Johnson’s BOLT Wrestling is designed to do two things. First, grow the sport of wrestling. “There are thousands of wrestlers out there who graduated high school or college and now have nothing to do, and no place to wrestle,” said Johnson. Second, create revenue opportunities for wrestling coaches and gym owners who can attract a potential new client base. Five colored “bolts” make up the BOLT ranking system: white for beginners, then blue, purple, brown and black. Athletes can also earn a silver bolt for proving wrestling skills specific to MMA use. Johnson has created the

curriculum for coaches and business owners to implement, including training seminars, certification packages, and additional revenue ideas like wrestling clubs. The BOLT ranking system can put athletes on a track to keep wrestling and learning for several years – just as many now do with Jiu Jitsu and other martial arts. But it’s not just about physical accomplishments. Johnson has built life-skill training into the system. “I want all my athletes to be champions on and off the mat,” he said. “I want them to earn a Black BOLT in life.” To pass at these higher levels, wrestlers need to commit time to community service, and give back by helping new wrestlers


THEFIGHTwith their training. Not every wrestler has to start at the white bolt. Johnson has created opportunities for high school and college wrestlers to take a “BOLT Challenge” test that get them right to a Blue or Purple BOLT. This idea is designed to recognize the hard work student wrestlers have already put in through years in school. And it can also help jump start a gym owner’s wrestling business, by giving that business eager athletes who can train at a variety of levels. To learn more about BOLT wrestling, visit www.boltwrestling.com. ~Glenn Hansen

COMBINING FASHION, FIGHTING & FILMPhiladelphia native Dave Klayman hatched the idea for a documentary about then-Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez several years ago; he then realized he needed a company name to operate under. It was then he decided the company would also serve as his fashion house, and that the film, “No Plan B,” could be a vehicle to market the clothes he designed for his company Palm Tree Status. “I just have such a passion for fashion and making movies, especially documentaries,” he said. “I’m just trying to blend both of them together.” Filming began about a month before Alvarez fought Roger Huerta at Bellator 33 in Philadelphia on Oct. 21, 2010, and the film ends just after the fight. If the movie’s trailer is any indication, the camera crew was allowed exclusive access to Alvarez, as moments with family, friends and training are all captured on celluloid. “That’s a big part of Eddie; he’s not one of these guys with a lot of bravado,” said the 33-year-old former Marine and training partner of Alvarez’s. “This is a kid, he has to deal with his own inner demons and insecurities.” Klayman said that prior to filming, he had no experience making movies, but put himself through a crash-course in moviemaking. “I just read every book I could find; I didn’t sleep for two weeks,” he said. “I just put all this

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information in my brain. I really had to familiarize myself and I had to take a leap of faith – it’s now or never.” He has financed No Plan B entirely on his own. “When it’s all said and done, it’s going to be in the tens of thousands of dollars,” he said. The film is in its final editing stages right now, trimming down more than 65 hours of footage to a 90-minute film. He’s hoping for a May release and will “try to premiere it at some festivals and at the very minimum, a DVD release,” he said. What he hopes viewers take away is that, “You can 100 percent relate it to your life and you can use it to succeeding in your industry … If you want to be the best at something, you have to work absolutely harder than anyone else in the game,” he said. “It’s going to make you look at yourself and say, ‘Damn, what am I doing for the rest of my day?’” ~Ted Czech

NEW WEBSITE FOR PROMOTERS, MANAGERS AND FIGHTERS When an MMA promoter or match-maker is trying to put a fight card together, there is a great deal of desperate communication, with texts or emails flying back and forth between negotiating parties. Texas businessman Stephen Andrews and his partners think this is an area of the industry ripe for an upgrade, and so they have placed a great deal of time, energy and money behind their product, MMAXM.com. Launched earlier this year, the website seeks to streamline the sometimes confusing wheeling-and-dealing that goes on when promoters are looking for fill spots on a card, especially at the last minute. Here’s how MMAXM.com works: Promoters, managers and fighters fill out profiles on the site, and when a promoter has a fight he needs to fill, the website filters the fighter profiles to find all eligible fighters, then sends text alerts on the prospective contract to them or their managers. “Promoters can put in a budget with price, travel … and fighters and managers can bid on it,” Andrews said. “Then they (promoters) can say, ‘I accept this one,’ or the promoters can decline and say why they decline, or they can counter back and forth with the fighter or their manager.” Once a fight contract is awarded, the fighter or manager

are then added to the fight workroom, where the involved parties can exchange files and messages and the promoter can manage the event’s fight calendar. In addition, third-party records of all fight negotiations and the final agreed-upon terms are created, to alleviate any squabbling over a fighter’s pay. “It’s a really great way for a promoter to be a lot more efficient by managing their entire fight card in one place and spending less time following up with people,” Andrews said. For the foreseeable future, all of the site’s services are free. Launched in February, MMAXM.com has 12 promotions and more than 150 fighters signed up, some of whom have fought in the UFC, Strikeforce and King of the Cage, Andrews said. He estimates that he and his partners have invested nearly $80,000 in the business so far. In hopes of one day signing up 1,000 fighters, Andrews says there’s a lot more they can do with the website, including establishing an escrow system, where promoters pay in, and then when a fighter’s work is done, they are paid through the account, so that they are protected against non-payment of their money. “We have the guts of the e-commerce system (already in place), it wouldn’t be too hard to implement an escrow system,” he said. ~Ted Czech

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As sports and fitness enthusiasts who have trained in martial arts, the hus-band and wife team of Kris and Me-lissa Horner were looking for a busi-ness opportunity that could get them closer professionally to the lifestyle they love. They bought an established manufacturer of Jiu Jitsu gis, and have plans and vision to turn the company into an even bigger name in Mixed Martial Arts gear and apparel. MMA Business spoke with Melissa Horner, President of Gameness, to learn more about the company and its plans.

MMA Business: You acquired Game-ness just a couple years ago? What’s the history of the company? And what made you want to get into this business?

Melissa Horner: Gameness was started in 2000, so it was one of the first Jiu Jitsu brands in the US. We are proud of this history, and we really enjoy watching the sport grow. I had been working in the corporate world for al-most 20 years and was ready for a new challenge. I am a sports enthusiast, have trained in martial arts as well as other sports for years so when this opportu-nity came up it was a perfect fit. We looked at a lot of different op-portunities. But we wanted to work in an industry we were passionate about. And that’s martial arts. The people in this business are just fantastic. And it’s a very exciting time in both the Jiu Jitsu and MMA industries. Be-ing a part of that with a brand that contributes to the sport is a great op-portunity. I like to be a part of this, and be near people who are so dedi-cated and so passionate.

MMA: With the growth of Jiu Jitsu in the United States, there is increas-ing competition in the gi market, but increased opportunity, too. How has

Gameness stepped up to meet the competition, and made the most of the opportunity?

Horner: We have some of the best customers in the world. We work closely with them and our profession-al designers to create products that fill the needs of our customers. Each of our products was created to fill a specific need in the industry, such as our ultra-light Air gi or our top-of-the-line Elite gi. With the recent launch of our line of highly technical and well-designed fight shorts and rash guards, Game-ness is quickly becoming much more than a “gi Company.”

MMA: What can your company do to

stand out, and to innovate, in this tra-ditional product category?

Horner: As an industry, our goals should be to help athletes perform better, keep them looking and feeling good with well-appointed and com-fortable products that enhance their enjoyment of the sport. One of the things we’re passionate about is world-class customer service. We really want to be the market leader in customer service. We send orders out the same day, every day. We’re very responsive to all customer needs, with liberal return policies. We could be called the Nordstrom of gis. Second, there is room for innovative design here, and we’ll introduce that innovation. This is a traditional sport,

GamenessPROFILE:


but we can create products that make customers more comfortable, and help them perform better. We will introduce products that are different than any-thing on the market right now.

MMA: How do you develop prod-ucts? The Gameness website says, “Born on the Mat,” and “tested around the globe.”

Horner: First, we work closely with athletes and coaches to determine what the market needs. Then, we ask our designers to create something that fits a specific purpose. From there it becomes an interactive process. We get test products on our athletes and have them roll, sweat and train in them. Their feedback is used to make product

adjustments. Some products are tested for many months or even years before they ever go into production.

MMA: Is “gear” an area of growth for Gameness? Does “MMA,” as opposed to individually BJJ, or Boxing, or Muay Thai, offer increased opportunities currently?

Horner: Our current customer base is asking us to expand our “gear” offer-ings. We have been working for the last year to introduce two new lines of “gloves and gear” that will be great additions to our product offering. The products will launch this summer.

MMA: Do you sell Gameness over-seas/internationally?

Horner: Gameness is clearly an inter-national brand. We are getting more and more inquiries around the globe from businesses wanting to carry Gameness products.

MMA: Tell me about Team Gameness and athlete sponsorship. How many athletes do you support and how do you do that?

Horner: We do sponsor athletes, and the focus is not on big-name athletes, but those who are heavily involved and active in their local community and competition. We support those athletes with discounts, or free prod-uct, or even sponsorship money. It’s a grass-roots program. And we lever-age this sponsorship effort by calling on those athletes to test product for feedback, and to provide input to develop new products. We have roughly 25 athletes in this select group currently.

MMA: You sell online, as well as in MMA and martial arts training centers, and through “affiliates.” At the risk of over-simplifying, which of those works best for Gameness as both a revenue center and as a brand builder?

Horner: The right mix of sales chan-nels is important for any business. We approach each of these markets a little differently and all are important. We use our website more as an online cata-log and focus our attention on provid-ing great products with world-class service to our wholesale customers around the globe. Our view of our customers is different than most businesses. We spend a lot of time talking to school owners and gym owners to find out what’s missing from the market. Then we work to fill that need – in terms of performance, retail pric-ing, margins to boost their business, etc. How can we develop products to support your business? We’re lo-cated centrally in the U.S., and we deliver products quickly to most of the nation. We want to be partners, not just wholesalers. Our customers know they can call us on a Monday and have that belt in store for a Wednesday night test.

Gameness

+ Gameness is working to be known as more than just a “gi company” by offering fight shorts, apparel and a line of training gear coming soon.


Be a Social Savvy Employer

BUSINESS SOLUTIONS

The explosion of social media – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networking sites – has created unique issues for employers like you. How can you address employees’ use of social media at the workplace? More importantly, how do you deal with it outside of the workplace? What are employ-ers’ rights and employees’ rights with respect to the use of social media tools?

What Is The Current State of the Law?Social media law is a quickly growing area of employ-ment law, but it’s still in its infancy. As the law devel-ops, a number of questions are emerging, including whether an employer can prohibit its employees from posting work issues and concerns on Facebook, Twit-ter and other social networking sites. As with most of the issues in this area of the law, the not-so-simple answer to that question is yes … sometimes. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the U.S. agency that handles issues involving labor unions, has been setting the rules regarding social media and the workplace. Calling social media communication “protected concerted activity,” the NLRB has held that even non-union employers cannot prohibit a single employee from trying to induce group action via social media, in seeking to bring employee complaints to the employer’s attention. Formerly water cooler gossip, this com-munication could go viral today, thanks to social media. What were once private discussions with an employer can become public relations nightmares. As part of a recently issued report of its vari-ous findings, the NLRB provided some guidance to employers. The guidance allows a proper social media policy to be enforced but may limit what an employer is allowed to do to discipline an em-ployee who takes his complaints online. And it may restrict employers’ attempts to prohibit employees from discussing the employer, its employees or competitors on social networking sites.

What Is An Employer To Do?First, establish a social media policy. If you already have a policy, review it and ensure it addresses social media issues. Your social media policy must

be specific (use examples) and narrowly tailored so that it meets your company’s legitimate policy objectives (e.g., preventing disclosure of trade se-crets), without infringing on “protected concerted activity.” Also, the policy must be clear and un-derstandable to the average employee. Ambiguity and/or lack of specificity in a social media policy are unacceptable. Second, communicate the standards set in your social media policy through the introduction of the policy, as well as training on these issues. Any social networking policy must clearly describe acceptable use of social media both inside and outside the office. So, what can I put in my company social media policy? Based on the NLRB’s guidelines, a compa-ny’s social media policy should specifically address items such as:• Acceptable levels of use of social media while at work, either while on company computers or on personal devices• Acceptable and unacceptable references which may appear online, including references to the em-ployer, other employees, clients, and competitors• Transparency and disclaimers – that is, explain-ing how the policy will be implemented and ad-dressing the policy’s limitations.• Monitoring practices and enforcement of the policy• Reference to existing company anti-bullying and harassment policies – How does the policy corre-spond with existing company policies on these issues?• Sanctions for the breach of the policy, linked to disciplinary procedures – as with any policy, what are the possible disciplinary measures that will be taken? Because social media law is new and rapidly evolving, much of what you try to do may be ob-solete within a very short time. To avoid situations that may haunt your business, stay up to speed on developments in this area of the law and how it impacts your business.

Andrew S. Kasmen, Esq. is General Counsel and HR Direc-tor for Member Solutions, a leading provider and innovator for membership-based businesses. Member Solutions is not an attorney and does not provide legal advice. The information in this article is not being offered as legal advice. Consult an attorney for specific advice regarding your situation.

Sp o n S o r e d b y M e M b e r So l u t i o n S

ANDREW S. KASMEN Andrew


MMA Business: First, let me ask about your elbow. Is the recovery proceeding well? How might an injury and surgery like this affect your fighting future?

Mark Munoz: My elbow is coming along great. I do rehab every day and they really crank on it. But it feels good, and I like where I’m at now. This injury and the repair – it’s actually go-ing to improve my fighting. I’ve fought eight times in the last two years – it would have been nine times – without any break. So it’s good to take a break, and it’s good to get this repaired now.

MMA: Are you primarily a fighter, or a business owner? And how do you man-age the other?

Munoz: I’m both. And I make time to do both. The most successful people know how to prioritize their time. I give time to the important things, like building relationships inside and out-side the business, and time with my family, and with training partners. The most important thing is investing in the lives of others, and their lives will improve, your life does, too. Yes, I’m a fighter. But I’m also a businessman.

MMA: You lost your UFC debut to Matt Hamill at UFC 96 in 2009. How did that loss affect your strategy?

Munoz: I always told my managers,

that if I go to the UFC I want to fight at 185. UFC approached me to fight Hamill at 205. I wasn’t even remotely close to being mentally ready for that fight. I didn’t see a kick coming and I got knocked out. I truly learned from my mistakes in that fight, and I told my managers I’m going to do things a

lot different now. I got a strength and conditioning coach, worked on my striking. And I became a much better fighter because of that fight. And I can apply this to the business side. I’ve made mistakes in the octagon, just like in business. You have to learn how to embrace those mistakes and

CENTERRINGFIGHTER. GYM OWNER. COACH. BUSINESSMAN. FATHER & HUSBAND. MARK MUNOz IS ALL THAT, BUT MIGHT BE BETTER DESCRIBED AS THE NICEST GUY IN MMA FIGHTING. WE VISITED TEAM REIGN (LAKE FOREST, CALIFORNIA) RECENTLY TO WATCH MUNOz TRAIN WITH HIS FIGHT TEAM. BY GLENN HANSEN

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those failures. That’s what I tell all the guys in here. People tend to be com-fortable in their shell and not branch out. It takes failure to know what true success is. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve failed.

MMA: Does the UFC’s match-up method work for you? Or would you be more interested in a tournament style like Bellator’s?

Munoz: I like to be in control. To have the UFC pick my fights, I could worry that I don’t have control. But I take that worry and anxiety and turn it into ini-tiative. And I talk to Joe (Silva, UFC Matchmaker), and he tells me how he does selection. You can’t control everything in your life. So this teaches me to be comfort-able with the uncomfortable. You need to put yourself in uncomfortable situa-tions in training, and in business.

MMA: You’ve spoken publicly about performance-enhancing drugs. Do you think PEDs are a bigger problem in MMA competition than people real-ize? And is UFC handling it well?

Munoz: Bigger problem? Yes. Is UFC handling it well? Yes. They are doing random testing, and when you know this, it keeps you more accountable. A lot of guys are in a psychological state where they need it. And guys can get addicted to the way it makes them feel. But they don’t realize it shortens their lives. There is no substitute for hard work. I come from a different perspective, because fighting is not my entire life. My family is my life. My relationship with God is my life. If I’m only thinking about fighting, if it consumes me, I’m doing it wrong.

MMA: On the Team Reign website, it says the mission of the gym is to “in-spire and motivate health and wellness … and to educate individuals to acquire the discipline …” This it doesn’t sound like a fight gym. Who trains here now, and how varied is the training?

Munoz: This gym has a lot of aspects. Some women come in for fitness, some for self-defense. Some members are advancing for belts in Jiu Jitsu. Kids are learning about wres-tling and even competing. At the same time, we all get to-gether and have fun. We have more than 300 members.

I’m trying to build a community through MMA and this gym. We are starting dodgeball, and we do bounce-house birthday parties as well as UFC viewing parties. When you walk in, you definitely feel the community. It’s not just about being the best at what we do, but it’s how we present it. What you just watched is the top level of performance of our members. But we still play around and have fun and talk a little trash. It’s great to be able to do that. We’re still challenging each other and make each other better. There are other gyms where they try to knock each other’s heads off. We’re not like that. We spar hard, but we’re not here to knock anybody out. Take care of each other. “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” That’s ba-sically what we’re doing in here. We’re beating the blades to sharpen them, but not so hard to break them.

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People love to say it’s MMA, and if you’re talking about the growth of sporting spectators, than MMA could well be the fastest-growing sport. Based on the rise in numbers of viewers – mostly viewers of uFC pay-per-view events – MMA is likely growing at a faster rate than any other recreational activity. That’s fine for the uFC, and perhaps for sales of Jon Jones walkout t-shirts. But that alone is not going to sustain the participation-based businesses we consider the heart of the Mixed Martial Arts industry. And when you ask, “What’s the fastest-growing participatory sport in Ameri-ca?” the answer is lacrosse. A boom in leagues for youth grew this sport by more than 200 percent over the last 10 years. That means huge increases in sales of lacrosse equipment and apparel, plus a growing need for coaches, and increasing interest from advertisers and sponsors. Also growing? Rugby, volleyball and cheerleading. Closer to home, wrestling is the biggest loser, with participation declining 44 percent over a 10-year period. It also records what this study calls the highest “churn rate,” with more than half the people who said they wrestled in 2009 stopping their participation in 2010 (data from the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association). What does all this mean? It means numbers and statistics are misleading. It means you’re in competition with lacrosse. It means we need to work harder to build participation in Mixed Martial Arts, to encourage more people to train more regularly and to buy more gloves, gis, and handwraps. We spoke with companies selling a variety of products and services within and outside of the Mixed Martial Arts industry to learn about their success as well as their challenges with selling MMA.

What Are You Selling? Looking at that question literally, the companies we spoke with are selling energy drinks, MMA gear, conditioning services, and more. But the real question is, “Are you selling the intense punches, kicks and armbars of MMA? or are you selling the fitness benefits, the dynamic lifestyle, and the martial arts traditions?” Those are different things. “I think it’s a little of both,” said Reuben Rios, Vice President of Sales for Xyience. “Ev-ery region of the country is different. In north Florida, for example, people are very excited about uFC and MMA, and Xyience is using that imagery to promote products. The MMA connection does not hurt us. We’re a unique brand, no doubt. And our connections to MMA and to healthy lifestyles is a plus for us.” We spoke with Xyience because it so plainly uses MMA imagery to promote its brand and products. Perhaps more than any other non-endemic company, Xyience is seemingly selling the MMA experience as much as its energy drinks and supplements. We visited the Xyience website while working on this feature, and MMA training was more prominent than the company’s drinks. Might that turn off general-interest retailers who are not fans of MMA or the uFC? “I think maybe three or four years ago we saw this,” said Rios. “We don’t run into that [resistance to MMA] today. Buyers go strictly on numbers, and Xyience is selling very well. We recently presented Xyience products at Target headquarters, and they don’t care about uFC per se. But they had to listen to our presentation because of our recent sales success.”

+ Top: Including a Pro Shop in your gym can be a good profit center and a valuable service for your members. But to grow Mixed Martial Arts, we need to see more of this gear for sale outside of the gym.

+ Above: The Cage Fitness workout has introduced MMA action to these women, and has them more interested in martial arts than some ever imagined. (Left to Right) Karen Schrampf, Jenn Wetmore, Gretchen Angelucci, and Michelle Hen-riquez.

+ Right: With an ever-increasing distribu-tion network, Xyience energy drinks are taking their unique marketing edge and MMA lifestyle imagery into convenience stores and grocery stores nationwide.

Fastest-growing sport in America?


So energy drinks are hot and Xyience is using MMA as part of its unique brand messag-ing – along with words like healthy lifestyle, nutrition company and more. But how about for companies making and marketing combat-specific training products; how do they sell outside of the MMA niche to grow a customer base and build this sport? Do these compa-nies sell products because of MMA imagery, or in spite of it? “We are trying both methods,” said Ben Bass, RevGear Sales Manager. “The general interest retailers are not interested in Mixed Martial Arts.” Bass said the RevGear brand – and MMA products in general – need to be expanded outside of MMA; they need to go “mainstream.” And general sporting goods retailers, according to Bass, are not helping expand Mixed Martial Arts products to a larger audience. Combat products like boxing gloves and hanging bags are commonly seen in national sporting goods chains like Dick’s and Sports Authority. “The average person sees Ever-last branding in these stores,” said Bass, “but they’re not going to see Everlast in the cage.” As a sponsor of Bellator events, Everlast logos are apparent during fights. But with roughly one-tenth of the viewership of an episode of uFC’s “The ultimate Fighter,” Everlast is not attracting large numbers of eye-balls via Bellator events.

Not Their Job?Everlast – a company with a 100-year history in combat sports products – is less interested in growing Mixed Martial Arts and more interested in continuing its strong brand tradition. “That’s part of the challenge,” said Bass. “Everlast as a brand has made the most of leveraging its history and expanding it into fitness and MMA.” These retail chain product displays will expand Everlast’s brand image more than promoting MMA. Most often, these displays also include products with the uFC, Tapout, or Century logos on them. We’ve seen this consistently in na-tional sporting goods chains and in regional stores like Sport Chalet and Big 5 serving western states. This stronger MMA imagery must help expand the participation levels and build the sport. But the displays are often blended in with general fitness equipment, and they are not likely to showcase the training intensity that helps make MMA so popular. You often see boxing gloves next to small pink kettlebells and roll-up yoga mats.

“We’re trying to get some retailers to let us test better-positioned free-standing dis-plays,” said RevGear’s Bass, “but brick-and-mortar retailers are generally not willing to take a risk, especially when the economy is still struggling.” Bass admits it’s not a bad thing to display a line of MMA products with fitness-related gear; it simply needs more prominent exposure in these heavy-traffic stores.

GROWING THE SPORT, SELLING GOODS OR BOTH? S t o r y B y G l e n n H a n s e n


What Is Working to Help Grow MMA Participation? Americans are fascinated with fitness. They love it, and love to hate it at the same time. But they spend money pursuing it, they share it with friends, and they always will. Selling the fitness aspects of MMA is nothing new, though purists often look at such sporting exten-sions as treason. Take the new Tapout XT workout program, for example. Just launched this year, Tapout XT is a DVD fitness program for home use, and it’s marketed as an MMA-based weight-loss and fitness solution. Will it sell? Most likely. Will it help grow MMA, increase gym mem-berships and sell MMA gear? Time will tell, but with the marketers promoting this product as a “no gym membership” solution, it’s not likely to convert people. Plus, we saw MMA business owners responding to this – through social networks – as a brand extension that goes against Tapout’s core MMA audience. opinions vary, of course. A similar workout was created in 2009 with the help of MMA fighter Matt Hughes. His Cage Fitness workouts differ, however, in that they started as a martial arts gym-based fit-ness program. The sell? Come to the gym, punch and kick like a fighter without the fear of getting hit yourself. Does it work? We visited Leading Edge Martial Arts, an MMA gym in Allentown, Penn., and watched a Cage Fitness class recently. Gretchen Angelucci has been participating in Cage Fitness classes for a few months. It meets her needs – “it’s 30 minutes and a great workout that I can do at my own pace,” said the busy mother of three. And it has taught her about MMA. “I never considered any martial arts before this,” she said, “but now I’m here and I actually enjoy wearing the gloves and hitting the dummy.” That’s sales; selling the experience works. “Cage Fitness is designed to capitalize on the popularity of MMA without having to do MMA,” said Mike Metzger, martial arts school owner and Cage Fitness co-founder. “The

program capitalizes on the fitness niche while letting people feel like they are doing MMA without getting hit or hurt.”

Sell the Experience They Want, Not the One You WantNo matter what you’re selling, “sell the ex-perience” works. But it only works if you focus your efforts on the needs of potential customers, and not on your own needs to sell. Recognize the difference. Leading Edge Martial Arts got Ange-lucci – time-crunched mom – to buy into its core product of punching and kicking by giving her the experience she wanted. This gym didn’t attract her business by martial arts traditions or tough MMA fighters. In the same way, Xyience got the atten-tion of Target headquarters and other giant retailers by selling the experience they needed – energy drinks that will move at retail and boost a store’s bottom line. Now customers will go home with Xyience energy drinks fea-turing Jon Jones and a uFC logo.

wILL NIKE JUSt DO It?Selling a great customer experience is the perfect way to grow a customer base. It helps when you can promote that experience to a huge audience. That’s the thought behind the desire – by some industry pros – for a company like Nike to enter the MMA industry. “Anything that will make more people aware and will legitimize the sport even further is great for business,” said Jamie Gudell, divi-sion sales manager for Century Martial Arts. “Let them come in; it would be great.” With its “Pro Combat” product line, you might think Nike is al-ready in the MMA game. Combat means something else to Nike, however. This line of compression shorts and rash guards is mar-keted to stick-and-ball athletes. You have to think that Nike under-stands the meaning of such a word on its clothing line, and that they are going for the attention of combat-sports athletes. With a larger international presence, Adidas’ broader mix of product offerings includes boxing gloves, Jiu Jitsu gis, MMA fight gloves and hand wraps. It’s not easy to find them, however, at least when browsing the adidas.com website. Adidas leaves North American distribution and marketing of its martial arts products to a third-party named BudoMart America.

UnderArmour is perhaps the big-name sporting goods company closest to MMA, mainly through its support of Georges St-Pierre. Still, the growing manufacturer seems to be keeping a safe dis-tance from MMA, like a wrestler cautious in the cage with a striker. When UnderArmour began sponsoring GSP a few years back, many in the industry assumed the company would introduce prod-ucts and marketing that could give Mixed Martial Arts a main-stream boost – while also giving the upstart UA a unique advantage over its rival Nike. Nothing of the sort has happened yet. In fact, UA’s own promotion of GSP seems to have backed off. The com-pany merely puts “MMA Champion” in small type under photos of the fighter. It never otherwise mentions “Mixed Martial Arts” in its product marketing. Mixed Martial Arts is not even listed as a sport on the Under-Armour website. You’ll find GSP in the Wrestling category of men’s sports (where you’ll also find Hunting and Fishing). All this is good news and bad news. Bad news first: These gi-ant sporting goods company’s are clearly not using their vast mar-keting resources to promote Mixed Martial Arts. Good news? That leaves all sorts of customers for your products and services. Sell to them the experiences they want.

32 FEBRUARY 2012 I W W W. M M A B U S I N E S S . C O M

ore than 80 percent of people go online first to find information about a business. What do they

find when they get to your website? It’s the most important tool you have for growing your business. In this article, you will get a crash course on how to build a success-ful website to generate leads and grow your MMA business. Creating a successful website is an art form that includes both the website itself and marketing elements. Before we talk about any specific web design principles, it is important to establish the general process to create a successful website.

STEP 1: R & D PHASEStep 1 in the creation of a successful web-site is R & D – that’s research and discovery. Here you will study your organization, your processes, targeted keywords, competitors and similar businesses in the industry. Ad-ditionally, it’s critical to set the goals of the website. Do you want website visitors to buy a product, request a free class, register as a new member or download a training video?

Establishing clearly defined goals is key to creating a successful website. Those goals will dictate everything you do in Step 2.

STEP 2: PLANNINGYou’ve done your research and laid out your goals. Now list the specifications, features and requirements needed to meet those goals, such as any payment processing infor-mation, lead capture forms and any required integration with third-party software. keep the requirements and goals in mind while creating wireframes for each page on the site. A wireframe is a simplified map of what fea-tures you would like on the page and where they should be placed. once the wireframes are complete, you can then move on to plan-ning menu structure, color schemes, and call-to-action placements. Good planning makes the next step – design and develop-ment – even easier.

STEP 3: DESIGN & DEVELOPMENTHere is where you will create the graphic designs of the website and then turn those designs into reality. Well, probably not you,

but the person or company you hire will do this. It helps if you know the detailed steps. use all the planning and goal setting you did in phase one and two to help guide this process. Add all the copy, photos, videos and any other content. When complete, this is your alpha website – that means it’s created just for internal testing. So test it. Get your staff and some close friends to help you with testing and us-ability of the website. Make sure all the links, forms and components function properly. The website should be user friendly and all the content should be properly designed to “f low” visitors to-ward completing your goals. After any revisions are completed, it is time to launch the beta website – this is the one designed for broader testing without actively driving traffic to it. This will give you time to fix any bugs and to make any improvements you see to maximize goal conversions. Typically, between 10 and 14 days is enough time to collect data and fix any possible bugs before hard launching and actively promoting the site.

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Write Effective Copy and Complement with Visualsunlike with print media, few people actually read on the web; they scan. It’s critical to keep your content short and to the point, leverag-ing bullet points and numbered lists. Pictures and videos should complement written content, not dis-tract from it. All pictures should be resized to the appropriate size and “Saved for Web” in Adobe Photoshop with quality resolution set to 70 percent. This will ensure quick load times while still maintaining a quality image. Remember, website load time is one factor Google looks at while determining search results. Leverage the power of videos where they can do more benefit than a picture or text. This could include showcasing your classes, in-depth product views, video of the product in action or a testimonial for your business. Use a Content Management SystemCreating your website on a content management sys-tem (CMS) will save you time and money, and can offer some impressive features like: beautiful slide-shows and galleries, interactive social networks and forums and SEo optimization components. Each CMS consists of a front end visible to the public and a private back end for the website administrators to manage the site. While there are many options, we have found the Joomla! (joomla.org) to be our preferred CMS. Joom-la! is a free, open-source platform with a huge active community constantly developing and innovating the CMS. Additionally, Joomla! is very user friendly and offers many possibilities for customization.

Create Strong Calls to Actions (CTA) to Drive LeadsA call to action is some sort of text or graphic that urges the visitor down the sales funnel. For example, I end up on your Jiu Jitsu class page and read over all the infor-mation, but then what? A “call to action” should direct me to go further, like signing up for a free trial, downloading a free resource or sign up for an email newsletter. A call to action should be short and sweet, and not appear pushy. There is no exact rhyme or reason for the perfect CTA; it will depend on your business goals and your target market. Start with two slightly different sets of CTAs and test to see which one performs best. You could adjust the color, size, placement or copy, and over time you will find the best combination to convert your visitors.

LET’S DIVE INTO SOME SPECIFIC PRINCIPLES TO KEEP IN MIND WHILE DEVELOPING YOUR MMA WEBSITE.

34 FEBRUARY 2012 I W W W. M M A B U S I N E S S . C O M

Leverage Landing Pages for ConversionsA landing page is a specific page on your website that has been tai-lored for a specific audience. You direct people to a landing page through targeted marketing, whether a billboard, radio ad or printed message. For example, you had a hanging banner at a local event to target Jiu Jitsu athletes, and you want them to see a specific web page for their interests This targeted landing page should be short and to the point. It should be free of distractions like external or internal links. And it should have additional calls to action to complete a goal such as fill-ing out a trial request form. Forms on landing pages should be as short as possible by only collecting the data you absolutely need. Remember, you can always collect additional data later in the sales process. Longer and more complicated forms lead to lower submission rates. In addition to the landing page, create a custom “thank you” page you can send them to after they fill out the form. This thank you page should have additional resources, links to social networks or anything else you can use to engage the visitor. There is no better way to engage your audience online than interacting with them on social networks. Create linked social media icons that entice viewers to follow your business. Placing these social network buttons on blogs, thank you pages and contact pages can boost your social media following.

Make Google HappyThe Google algorithm is complex and involves more than 200 factors to determine the rank of your website in search results. Additionally, each factor has different associated weight depending on importance.

In the realm of basic Search Engine optimization for on your web-site, keep these things in mind: Whichever keyword you are targeting with that particular page, make sure to include it: o one time in the Page’s Titleo one time in the Page’s uRLo one time in the Image Alt Tag (a.k.a image description)o Four times total within the overall page (including title)

Some additional points:o Make sure the page’s body text is at least 300+ wordso keep your page titles and uRL’s keep short and to the pointo Where you have an option to include a page meta-description, keep

it under 155 characters. The meta-description is the text that will display on your Google search result, so make it legible, engaging and encourage viewers to want to learn more about the page.

o Do not over-optimize your website pages. Google’s most recent update flags over optimized websites as poor content and thus it will lower your ranking. using the keyword 25 times in your copy will not help and may actually hurt.

Make Your Site MobileGoogle cites that more than 50 percent of local searches originate on a mobile device. How does your website look on an iPhone or Android device? If it’s difficult to read or slow to lead, a mobile visitor will be unhappy, and there’s a 40 percent chance they will quit the search. Who knows if they’ll come back. With the exploding trend of mobile devices, having a second “mo-bile” version of your website specifically designed and optimized for mobile devices is critical not only for local businesses but also online e-commerce sites. This past holiday season saw a huge spike in pur-chases made on mobile devices.

The Major No-Nos for Website DesignDo any of these, and you’ll hurt your website’s usability or SEo. Sadly, we see so much of this in MMA websites today.o Pop-up windows: There is no place for pop-up windows in suc-

cessful web design. Pop ups will destroy your site’s usability and make you look like a cheap car salesmen.

o Auto-play movies or music: This is not the 90s… it’s annoying. Enough said.

o Overload the visitor: Loading any page with too many visuals or too many modules will overwhelm visitors and they’ll leave. The ensuing low page views or engagement time can hurt your SEo score.

Final ThoughtsBuilding a successful website is not an overnight venture; it is a continuous journey. It is critical that you don’t let your site


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Holding an MMA fight inside a training center is not illegal in Pennsylvania. This particular event, however, was unsanctioned, said Greg Sirb, executive director of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission. The school’s owner – who allowed licensed fight-ers to train at his school around the time the sport was legalized in 2009 – never applied for a promoter’s license, Sirb said. The referee and judges were not certified by the state; weight disparity between combatants was disregarded. There was no cageside doctor, EMTs or ambulance at the ready. Participants were allowed to use ground-and-pound in this fight; Pennsylvania bars amateur fighters from using this technique. When Sirb was informed of the event, he summoned the school’s owner to the athletic commission offices in Harrisburg. “He’s lucky no one got hurt,” Sirb said. The owner now faces a fine and the possible closing of his business. The event in Red Lion serves as an example of what not to do – on so many levels – when holding an MMA event at an academy. But as a way of alleviating a serious chunk of over-head, some promoters who also happen to own MMA gyms or martial arts schools have turned to using their own facilities as fight venues. Generally speaking, academies can’t hold as many fans as a hotel ballroom, high school gymnasium or other event center. But, school owners-turned-promoters say they are not looking to make a great deal of money by hosting a fight event. Rather, using their own business space gives them a relatively inexpensive way

to help their young fighters gain some valu-able experience – while also marketing their own business.

The Pros and ConsWe asked two fight promoters with direct experience to weight in on this topic of holding a fight event at your gym.

Con: Mark JovichMark Jovich holds promoter’s licenses in Pennsylvania and Virginia. He has never held a fight event in an academy, and says that do-ing so may “send the wrong message.” “If I was taking my fighters to an academy, the first question is, how many fighters from that academy are on that card?” he said. “You may get a school that’s just trying to promote itself.” If an academy’s ulterior motive is to gain more members, its owners might be matching up their fighters with opponents they know they can beat. A winning record for the academy’s fight team could mean a more favorable response from prospective members. “You’re compromising the quality of the event just to save money,” he said. “You might as well do it right.”

S t o r y B y

T e d C z e c h

In March of this year a Mixed Martial Arts event was held in the basement of a karate school in Red Lion, Pennsylvania. Sitting in chairs arranged around the ring, spectators watched and cheered as fighters slowly approached the ring, their cor-ners in tow, as the school’s owner announced their names.


Jovich began promoting in Pennsylvania in 2009, holding the first sanctioned event in the state – Central Pennsylvania Warrior Challenge I – in April of that year. on his earlier cards, Jovich booked several fighters he had been training at his academy, Central Martial Arts Academy, a move for which he received some criticism from the local MMA community. over the past year, Jovich has saved money on renting venues in Pennsylvania by holding his events at college gyms, like East Stroudsburg and Millersville. By offering a portion of event proceeds to directly benefit the college’s wrestling team, Jovich either doesn’t pay to use the facilities or pays a nominal fee. Given collegiate wrestling’s deep ties in the sport of MMA, and the lack of school funding that plagues wrestling programs, the strategy appears to be a sound one. And since he’s already at a facility that has plenty of mat space for its wrestling program, Jovich usually holds a grappling tournament earlier in the day there.

Pro: John BostickJohn Bostick, co-owner of Fight Academy MMA in Pasadena, Calif., said he and business partner Savant Young designed the facility with the idea in mind that one day fights would be held there. “It was in the business plan from day one,” he said. “We thought we could run small shows” in the 7,000-square-foot MMA gym opened in August 2009. Soon after the California Amateur MMA organization (CAMo) was established, Fight Academy MMA held its first event, Proving Grounds 1, on Jan. 29, 2010. They are now planning for the eighth event, to be held in June. The events usually feature 10 amateur bouts, with about six to eight of those fighters training at Fight Academy MMA, Bostick said. It’s a great way for younger fighters to gain experience, but also to fight in front of a home crowd, he said. “They get to fight in the cage they train in – this is their house,” he said.

one challenge he encountered was how to keep the fighters from the red and blue corners separate as they warmed up. The answer was to have one side of the card warming up in an office in the academy, while the other side went to a nearby Cross-Fit gym, the owners of which attend the Proving Grounds events. Holding an event in a relatively small venue means that fans will be packed in, which gives the show an intimate feel, Bostick said. “It feels like you’re at a house party – with fights,” he said. “You feel the energy in there.” But, holding an event with a 400-seat capacity means less profit, he said. Besides paying for things like insur-ance, fees, and a cageside doctor – which can cost up to $9,000 per event, Bostick said he and his promotional team also don’t skimp on bringing in extras like a band, DJ, and someone to sing the national anthem, to give it a professional, fan-friendly atmo-sphere. Still, he admits, “We make a little bit of money.”

1. Savant Young, co-owner of Fight Academy MMA in Pasadena, Calif., is a fighter himself, and plays emcee for the gym’s “Proving Grounds” fight events. 2. An event inside your gym needs to be sanctioned by the appropriate state organization, and have proper cutmen and medical personnel. 3. This is your gym when the mats are stowed away and you’re host to a different group of customers. This is your marketing potential in action.

1 2

3


The most important benefit to holding MMA events inside his gym is that it serves as a great marketing tool for the school. “It helps market our gym,” he said. “You bring 400 people in – they see your facility, they see your team … that’s probably more valuable than the money.”

Editor’s OpinionHolding a fight in your gym or school is not for everybody. It involves operational and logistical elements that make it impossible for some business owners. Plus, local zoning rules, or requirements in the athletic commission code can rule this out as well. But for gym owners who can do this – like Bostick and Young of Fight Academy MMA – great rewards are possible. We’ve attended three of the seven fights held at this Pasadena gym, and we get it. It takes a lot of work, and your regular business will be closed for a few days. Ask yourself first if your business can handle that. For a Saturday evening fight, plan on being closed Friday for prep, Saturday for the event, and Sunday for cleaning and re-assembly of your business. You and your staff will put in longer-than-normal hours during this time, and your regular members will be eager to train come Monday. Plus, you should have plenty of new inquiries from people who attended the fight. You need to prepare for all that “extra” work. More importantly, you need to decide up front why you’re doing this. The correct answer to that question will overcome the objection of Mark Jovich in his argument against fight events at your gym. If you’re pursuing this as much to serve the local fight community as to build your own business, then you can organize quality fights that do more than simply give your fighters a winning record. Yes, you want your fighters to win on their home turf. But if you’re honest with a community of fighters, including the state sanctioning board, then you’ll create fair fights. And when that happens, you’ll be able to create several of these marketing opportunities. Fight Academy is busy prepping for its eighth in-house event in a little more than two years. If they were not honest with their own members and with local fighters, they could not have continued with this business plan. We don’t doubt that Jovich’s objection is proven by some fight promoters. But the market – including fighters and consumers – will decide if such business can continue.

ADVICE FOR WOULD-BE PROMOTERS from Greg Sirb,

executive director of the Pennsylva-

nia State Athletic Commission:

1 Talk to other promoters; find a

mentor. Pick their brains on what it’s

like to be a promoter, the challenges

they’ve experienced, and how they

overcame them.

2 Attend as many events as you can.

Pay close attention to what the pro-

moter is doing before, during and af-

ter the fights. Observe with whom he

interacts and how he does it.

3 Talk to fighters. What have been

their experiences in dealing with pro-

moters? What have they appreciated,

and what aspect of their business do

they think promoters need to improve?

4 Have a good match-maker. This is

the guy who is charged with knowing

the fighters, their records and expe-

rience, and has the innate ability to

match fighters up to create the most

exciting bouts.

5 Be as organized as you can.

Something will always go wrong on

fight night; the key is to anticipate

what might happen, and have a plan

B, C, and D in place to deal with it.

The most important benefit to holding MMA events inside his gym is that it serves as a great

marketing tool for the school.

4. Tammy and John Bostick (left) enjoy a fight night with Chris Ramstead of the local fire department, enjoy a fight night with friends. 5. Turn this into a complete night out. Hire a band. And use the event’s marketing power to allow other MMA companies to show their products.

”

“

4 5

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Dubai Fighting Championships 1Starting small but starting nonetheless, the Dubai Fighting Championships will hold its inaugural event May 4 at the Habtoor Grand Beach Resort in Dubai Marina. “We plan to have 5 events this year including DFC 1 on May 4,” said Tam Khan, owner of Contender MMA gym in Dubai and CEO of Tamari Promotions, the parent company of Dubai Fighting Championship. The new DFC is created primarily to help local fighters hone their skills and provide a competitive platform in regulated surroundings. “There are many fighters in the United Arab Emirates,” said Khan, “especially amateur to semi professional level. Due to the amount of MMA facilities opening and the Abu Dhabi Combat Club academy, it’s enabled us to really display some of the local talent.” Dubai is capital of the United Arab Emirates, a country on the Persian Gulf that is also home to Abu Dhabi. Certainly not all local talent, the promotion’s first headline fight pits American Ricco Rodriguez, former UFC fighter, against England’s heavyweight champ Stav Economou. Rodriguez might be best remembered for beating Randy Couture in UFC 39, but that was 10 years ago. “We plan for this first event to host 1,200 to 1,500 fans,” said Khan, “and we’ll increase this number every event. We are planning a huge event in September. But for our debut event, we went for a location with a maximum capacity of 1,500 spectators.” Royce Gracie is an ambassador for the promotion. “The fan atmosphere is good in Dubai,” said Khan. “The majority are people who simply like to watch fighting, like UFC fans who just want to be entertained. We’re still a few years behind the U.S. and the UK when it comes to the demand, but it’s getting there. MMA clothing brands are becoming more apparent here, and TV viewing figures are increasing on channels that show MMA events.”

Sports Authority of Thailand bans Mixed Martial Arts, according to the Bangkok PostThe Bangkok Post reportedly recently that the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT), the group that oversees professional sports in this southeast Asian country, has banned MMA. “It is brutal and it is not boxing,” said

SAT deputy governor Sakol Wannapong who oversees professional sports. “It is against the 1999 boxing law.” SAT officials met this week to discuss whether holding an MMA event was lawful or not following a request from a private company and they finally agreed that under the 1999 boxing law, it is unlawful to stage an MMA event in Thailand. “Organising (sic) an MMA event here would hurt the image of Muay Thai,” Sakol said. “Organising MMA here could mislead the public into believing that Muay Thai is brutal. If you want to do this kind of business, you should do it in another country,” Sakol said. The Post reports that two MMA events have been held in Bangkok, neither approved by the SAT. Sakol said the SAT was asking the Interior Ministry’s legal advisors to consider action against any MMA promoters.

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Canadian MMA Merger to Challenge MFCThree Canadian mixed martial arts promoters have joined forces to create the Aggression Fighting Championship. The new organization is the sum of Edmonton-based Aggression MMA, Victoria-based Armageddon FC and Calgary-

based AX Combat. Calling this union “by far the largest deal in Canadian MMA history,” Armageddon co-founder Darren Owen said the plan is to hold between nine and 11 fight cards a

year, with shows in Calgary, Edmonton and Victoria. The first planned event, AFC 8, was held April 14 in Victoria, British Columbia. The next two on the schedule are AFC 9 in Edmonton, Alberta on June 8, and AFC 10 in Calgary, Alberta on June 15.

“Darren and I have been seriously discussing the idea of merging for some time, and in the process reached out to AX Combat and determined that we had the same goals moving forward,” Aggression co-founder Moin Mirza said in a statement. The new organization wants to compete more directly with Edmonton’s Maximum Fighting Championship, run by Mark Pavelich, who called the new organization’s claims “comical.”

Will UFC Gamble on Macau?With its event in Stockholm, Sweden considered a success, the UFC has sights set on Asian markets including South Korea, the Philippines and China. But the promotion’s most immediate target is Ma-cau, the world’s Las Vegas. “We’re in pretty detailed discussions about Ma-cau for this year, though we’re not at a point where he can make a formal announcement,” said Mark Fischer, UFC’s managing director in Asia, in a recent interview with Reuters. “It’s very exciting for us be-cause it’s right on China’s doorstep and that’s a market we want to grow and build long term.” Fischer said venue selection is important. A location has to be big enough and modern enough, he said. He also looks at economic and commercial conditions in the area, judging the region’s fan base, media and sponsorship op-portunities. Before joining the UFC, Fischer spent 12 years helping build the NBA’s presence in Asia.

Macau, a special administrative region of China, makes the bulk of its revenues from the casino industry. Gaming revenue in the former Portuguese colony reached $33.5 billion last year. That’s more than five times the gross gam-ing revenue generated on the Las Vegas Strip. Fischer told Reuters, “The UFC have plans for more events in the region and I hope we’ll soon be talking about new home-grown heroes, more fighters from Asia in the UFC.”


Perhaps more than any other name in sports worldwide, the Gracie name means “family.” So even when Renzo Gracie has his name on a new gym in Brooklyn, New York, it’s more about family than about any individual family member – and not just his own family. “Our main point and theme is, it’s a family. We want everyone to come here and feel welcome,” said Joseph Katz, owner and partner with Renzo Gracie in this new Fight Academy. “I personally want to keep track of everybody here, to know how they’re doing. And every employee here should know every member’s name. We’re not here to take your money. This is a family, and this is directly from Renzo.” If every family had a gym like this, the family unit would be a lot more stable in this country. This academy opened at the end of March this year with 15,000 square feet of space – the majority of which is dedicated to training.

You enter the plain brick building into a small but welcoming lobby that also includes a pro shop owned and run by retailer East Coast MMA. Walk under the “Welcome to our family” sign to the left and you’ll find well-appointed locker rooms for men and women. But you’re more likely to be drawn in by the huge training space straight ahead. Soaring ceilings and bright white walls make the training space look even bigger. An upper-level training mezzanine is filled with free weights and cardio-training equipment, all with a view of the mats, rings and cages below. The majority of the main-level floor space is covered in Zebra mats. Roughly 4,000 square feet of mat space is open for a variety of training. Walk in to the right side to find another 2,000 square feet of mat space surrounded by cage panels and a wall of hanging bags. It opens to a functional training area with ropes, tires and sledgehammers, and

a variety of cross-fit style equipment. On the opposite end of the expansive space you find two rings for boxing and Muay Thai training. As if it’s not enough, Katz is already talking about an expansion that would add another 7,000 square feet to this gym, and could include a full-size cage as well as seating for spectators. If the Renzo Grace Fight Academy sounds like a training center for world-class fighters, that’s because it is. But it’s more than that. “This gym is open to anyone,” said Katz, a boxer and businessman with a love for martial arts training. “It’s designed for the entire family to come and train, and we expect to have a lot of kids here. Kids are the best gym members, and a lot of gym owners don’t believe that.” Two schools are located across the street from the new Academy. On the opposite corner is a large city park with a running track, pool and skateboard

NAME: Renzo Gracie Fight AcademyLOCATION: Brooklyn, New YorkOWNER: Joseph Katz, Renzo GracieYEARS IN BUSINESS: Just OpenedDISCIPLINES: MMA, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Boxing, Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Wrestling, Strength & Conditioning

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park. And the neighborhood is filled with residential housing, some of it quite high priced. If you believe in the realtors’ rule about “location,” Gracie has a good one. The Academy is ready for a varied member base with programs designed to serve a diverse audience. “A full membership here costs $180 per month,” said Katz. “While that’s competitive for the area, it’s still a lot of money, and I want people to get their money’s worth. First, we have in one building more than any other gym. And second, we have unique programs that will help people reach their goals and make the most of their investment here.” Katz and his team have created some unique programs designed to keep members motivated and enthusiastic about regular attendance and fitness goals. “Weight It Out” is

a fun and competitive weight-loss program where participants wager a small amount of money each month. And the Academy adds to the pool as well. At the end of each month, the participant losing the most weight wins the cash. It’s a fun and low-risk contest that helps push members and engage with the community. The gym’s “White Collar Workout Program” is created for business people who get stuck in a rut of traditional cardio workouts and exercise classes. In this program, participants set challenging but attainable goals and are aided in maintaining fitness routines to help them meet those goals. The Gracie Academy has also created programs for youth, for those interested in competition and a program for women that combines fitness, martial arts, self-defense and even gymnastics to create a dynamic

program that can help women reach a variety of fitness goals. With the business being open just a few weeks, MMA Business was among the first to see the new training center. Just us and the nearly 200 members who signed up before it was even open. “We’ve been enrolling about 20 new members each day,” said Katz, “and that’s with no marketing at all.” The gym does have a presence on Facebook, and plenty of industry buzz has delivered a powerful word-of-mouth marketing program. “We will do marketing,” said Katz. “Only Facebook for now; we need to go little by little.” He said he expects to use a variety of marketing techniques, from flyers to bus wraps and more. And with Renzo Gracie himself as a regular, plus the fighters he’ll bring along, traffic should remain heavy just from the public relations created.

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PRO SHOP

B Power of the OctagonAnthony Johnson’s “Power of the Octagon” is a new book that uses examples of MMA training and fighting to deliver eight steps for achieving excellence in business, training and in life. Written and designed for both MMA fans and newbies, Johnson’s book does a great job of helping readers build strategies for success. Its workbook style makes the book an interactive keeper. It’s easy to overlook the clichés and poor editing. The book is available on Amazon.com, or at www.mmafighterconnect.com.

A Little Warriors Martial Arts Designed specifically for children from 3 to 6 years old, the Little Warriors program helps MMA trainers teach essential life skills to this young group. Along with developing motor skills, the program teaches moral and social values, and it does so with a focus on respect for other cultures. The program includes marketing materials as well. Visit www.littlewarriorsprogram.com.

C RevGear VigilanteMMA GloveThe new Revgear Vigilante Gel MMA Gloves are part of RevGear’s new Combat Series. These comfortable MMA gloves feature an open palm for solid grip. They use a unique crossing wrist strap for support. The one-inch padding includes 5mm of gel padding over the punching area. These black-and-red gloves are available in a variety of sizes from small to XXL. The RevGear Combat series features several gloves as well as training pads and shin guards. Call RevGear at (800) 767-8288.

D Martial Ops SafetyProgramsTactical trainer and personal-protection specialist Tom Patire has created Safety Programs for children, women and entire families, and they’re programs that gym owners can implement for members and communities. The “See-n-Flee” program gives kids age 9 to 12 techniques to help them escape to safety. His “Training for Life” program offers personal protection training for women of all ages. Visit www.martialops.com.

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OUTSIDE THE OCTAGON

Starbucks now plans to sell beer and wine at select stores. If you think that’s an out-of-place business extension and that Starbucks is just in the coffee business, you’re wrong. Starbucks is in the getting-people-to-hang-out business, and they built that around coffee sales. The new product offerings are designed to increase the company’s business, creating more opportunities for hanging out. They certainly have mornings cornered – in fact, I’m writing this at 9 a.m. while in a Starbucks. Like Starbucks, more martial arts training cen-ters are working to give more people increased opportunities to hang out, and to train in different ways. That means MMA and martial arts gyms are offering expanded program options. It also means traditional fitness centers are entering our markets with classes in boxing, kickboxing and more. The growing Lifetime Fitness chain now offers mem-bers a “Mixed Combat Arts” class including Brazil-ian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai and boxing for members age 4 and up. Is that a stretch for the fitness chain? Not necessarily. They continue to market healthy lifestyles to an increasingly active (and growing) member base. The increased offerings fit the com-pany’s culture, and they bring people in the door. Failing to meet either of those criteria, the com-pany would – I bet – kill the product offering.

What’s The Point? Every gym owner needs more of the general public to train and become members. You can’t live off fighters. This is true even for the country’s leading trainers. Martial arts schools used to be very niche, sim-ply focused on individual arts. You can still find that, of course. Some dojos and martial arts acad-emies will remain pure in their niche of training taekwondo or karate. Even arts like krav maga and capoeira have recently been finding popularity in the states. And your business may have started by focusing on a single art. Mine did. My business, Pedro’s Judo Center, started with a singular focus, and later added wrestling. I did this

for two reasons. First, I was an NCAA wrestler and had the experience needed to build a good train-ing program. Second, the local community needed it, and responded with enough business to make it sustainable. Perhaps more importantly, wrestling was a completely natural fit into the culture of Pe-dro’s Judo Center. I didn’t change the business to make the new services fit. Kinda like Starbucks.

Do You Have To?Many businesses would say right now that it’s difficult getting people in the door, even Starbucks. If that doesn’t apply to you and your business, then, no, you don’t have to do anything different. But remember that it can also be difficult to retain customers today. We are not immune to economic swings, and this economy is still swingin’. For several reasons, now is a great time to look for new business opportunities in and around martial arts, MMA and fitness training.

1. The Summer Olympics are approaching, and this tends to make people more aware of healthy lifestyles. And it certainly provides good promotion for the martial arts that are part of the Games (Judo, Taekwondo, even wrestling and boxing). Judo will be televised during the Games in London, and the US team is poised for success this year. 2. The connection between Mixed Martial Arts and fitness continues to grow stronger. And, as large fit-ness chains offer more classes in martial arts, that’s a chance for MMA gyms to showcase their expertise. We have a growing and captive audience. 3. Today’s most successful businesses are lead by passionate and focused experts, and they’re promoted eagerly by happy customers. Be honest about what your business is now, and true to yourself about what it can become. Don’t just sell coffee.

Jimmy Pedro has earned two Olympic Bronze medals, and was Judo World Champion at 73 kg in 1999. He is active as a USA Judo national team coach and as owner of the Pedro Judo Center. Now as a vice president for Zebra, a leading provider of facility equipment for martial arts and MMA businesses nationwide, Pedro has a wealth of experience in the industry.

JIMMY [email protected]

Jimmy

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MMA Business April 2012

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