- Joined
- Oct 20, 2011
- Messages
- 34,432
- Reaction score
- 0
Munoz got big.
He's gotten up there before though now that he's retired he probably will much closer to the left.
Munoz got big.
The problem is 80% of the money in these gyms are after school kids programs (basically daycare) and adult cardio kickboxing.
Being a pro fighter does not help at all with these two aspects yet it is what will keep you in business.
I've known multiple former fighters (two of which fought in the UFC) who have talked about opening gyms but the problem is they want to teach people to actually fight/train hard but that's not what the average person wants.
Advertise an MMA based class with hard wrestling and technical striking and you'll have maybe 5 people who will show up.
Advertise an after school kids program with free school pickup (shuttle bus) and advertise an adult Gi class with GUARANTEED stripe promotions for every 40 classes and BOOM, you go from 5 people in your gym to over 50 !!!!
For alot of fighters i've talked to, you basically have to sell your pride/soul to make money
Working your ass off for a decade and then turning around and having to alter everything you've ever done to appease the lowest denominator is what is off putting to these coaches. Your basically selling an idea/image instead of the actual product.I don't think you have to look at it as selling your pride/soul.
Yep, I imagine it's very hard to make it as a gym. Further complicating matters is the fact that I'm sure plenty of these fighters don't understand the business side of running a gym at all so they either have to learn that aspect really quickly or trust the right people. The fighters know how to train but there's a lot more than that to running a successful gym from a business aspect.
He's gotten up there before though now that he's retired he probably will much closer to the left.
I see he got on that Matt Serra diet. Eating good in retirement.Munoz got big.
Working your ass off for a decade and then turning around and having to alter everything you've ever done to appease the lowest denominator is what is off putting to these coaches. Your basically selling an idea/image instead of the actual product.
For most fighters (at least the one's i've talked too and trained with), they look at it like that because you have to water it down so much. Even with guaranteed stripe promotions which is extremely controversial and the definition of selling out, you'll still have only 1 out of every 15 people who sign up even make it to the first belt. The current generation maybe shows up to one practice a week and spends most of the time posting pictures on instagram/snapchat (your went from pro fighting to dealing with shit like this). Your selling an idea/image
One thing I don't get is I see so many bjj academies every couple blocks nowadays ran by (insert random Brazilian name here) and they're able to make it. I started at BTT Long Beach 10 years ago and now two of the black belts that I came up with opened two branches of BTT in another city and they're doing fine. I recall Reign having a huge hype with a lot of fighters coming through and seeing crowded pics of kids classes etc. don't know what happened there
Maybe that's exactly it. Try to be too much like a real fight camp and you forget who your real customers are.
It could also be that Mark is simply not motivated to do this. The last time he got so fat, he said it was clinical depression due to not competing.
From what I can gather, the MusclePharm team in Colorado pretty much broke up and TJ's had to assemble a fight camp on the fly in California.
Elevation Fight Team moves out of MusclePharm training facility
Timestamped:
This means a lack of sparring partners and probably a lack of time with head coach Duane Ludwig who has to stay in Colorado. Compare this to Cody's situation where he has a full camp of people who's sparred with TJ and knows his game.
On a side note, sad to hear Mark Munoz had to close his Reign training center. It truly must be hard making money from gyms.
The problem is MMA is generally viewed as underground and a fad. Trying to run a business around something that is basically a fad is annoying and unpredictable (your essentially selling and image/idea instead of an actual established product/service).The challenge is to understand what students' limitations are and working around them. The challenge is to keep them motivated through strenuous exercise and failure. Fighters pride themselves on overcoming challenges, this should be no different.
The problem is MMA is generally viewed as underground and a fad. Trying to run a business around something that is basically a fad is annoying and unpredictable (your essentially selling and image/idea instead of an actual established product/service).
Trying to sell the flavor of the week is what all these profitable MMA based gyms are doing and for fighters, they view this as selling out. One month there pushing "TRX suspension classes". Another month its "Functional MMA training circuit classes". The next month there pushing "Cardio Kickboxing".......ect
You having to create gimmicks just to get people somewhat motivated to workout is the definition of selling out and is a reason why alot of MMA guys transition out of running gyms.
Mark Munoz (who was mentioned in this thread) is known for his wrestling. Most guys who join MMA gyms literally do not care if they don't learn how to do takedowns. Hell, I use to train at a Machado HQ gym and they couldn't even get people to show up for no-gi because they only trained Gi so they could get stripes/belts....... (Like I said earlier, the sport is generally viewed as a fad and isn't established). That's very off putting to a high level guy
TAM doesn't even have a head coach anymore and Buchholz is fired.
Don't think of it as selling your soul, think of it as helping people who have the right attitude and love for the sport but are just from a different walk of life.
The question is what's the structure and routine like now.My impression (from the Chris Holdsworth MMA Hour interview) is that Buchholz hasn't left the team at all. He just has his panties in a bunch because they decided to change some kind of coaching routine he designed and Holdsworth made it sound like there isn't a head coach at all but a head coaching team.
My wife loves her some chicharrons.Them spaniards should've never let those philippino kids in on the chicharrons....dayum son
This is why I say Mark Hunt is not "just big boned" but fat af and lazy. Munoz on the left looks identical to Hunt and shows us that Hunt is more a fat middleweight than a heavyweight.
He's gotten up there before though now that he's retired he probably will much closer to the left.