How To Find An Amateur MMA Fighter To Sponsor or How Did They Find Me!?

Funny how these things come about.  This isn’t Wikileaks worthy, but considering there are plenty of other worthy events to chose from; lunar eclipse 2010, the winter solstice or Sarah Palin’s new outdoor adventure show, Omegazone seems to have stumbled upon an MMA training company in need of sponsors for its upcoming MMA Amateur bouts calendar of 2011.

Was this our early Christmas gift?  Could this be our best buy of the year?  Santa’s marketing department should be working overtime to grant the wishes of good little boys and girls, instead he drops this on my lap! 

It all started with a simple text message, not much else really, just an ominous and frightening text message, no need for a translator!  I get chills just thinking about it!  Maybe how Ginobli feels about the UFO’s so much in the news lately.

 ” Interested in sponsoring fighters?”

Me-  “Maybe……………”

 

Certainly, sponsoring an MMA fighter amateur or otherwise could be done, had been done by others.  Just saying the words, had a certain cache.  But, really, what did we know about that?  We hadn’t explored too much in the way of enlarging our logo line of fightwear.  So, was this really, too progressive and way too soon??,

Well, since that fortuitous text…………..this sponsor/fighter relationship has taken on a life of its own. 

So, simple as it was, that introductory text has morphed into a full blown sponsorship of an up and comer Amateur Fighter- straight out of the heart of Central Texas- Templeton Texas?  Let’s check that out with the online yellow pages.  Where’s my driving instructions from mapquest or do I need to book with United Airlines anytime soon??.

 

Jared Luna, Ast. Coach.  Training out of Gillaspy Mixed Martial Arts (GMMA) through Central Texas Taekwondo studio.  Under the tutelage of John-Michael “The Punisher” Gillaspy- Senior BJJ Instructor.

 

Here, in an abbreviated format is Omegazone’s interview with John-Michael about GMMA, all things MMA, and his career as a very effective grappler, par excellence!

OZ-  How did Gillaspy Mixed Martial Arts (GMMA) come about?

GMMA-  GMMA came about because I love to teach, and it was a natural next step on my way to supporting my dream of being a full time martial artist.

OZ-  Why “The Punisher”?

GMMA-  I hate being shot on, and while watching me wrestle a friend made a comment that I “punish” people for taking shots, so I thought it’d be a great name.

OZ-  How are you structured for classes or individual training of potential contenders of the MMA sport ?

GMMA-  We have Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes which not only include BJJ but also Judo, Freestyle, Folkstyle, and Greco Roman wrestling. We also have kickboxing and taekwondo. I think that traditional martial arts are often over looked when training for MMA but look at Machida. There’s a reason he’s successful.

OZ-  Who are your instructors? Do they each specialize in a particular form of mixed martial arts?

GMMA- Myself- I specialize in the ground aspect of MMA although I have rank in other stand up martial arts as well. I like to focus on takedowns, working for submissions, and looking for the TKO. I don’t let my fighters try and lay and pray a decision. If you see a fighter from GMMA be ready for a show!

 

Assistant Coach Jared Luna- Coach Luna is 22 and has trained in BJJ almost 3 years.

He helps me teach the BJJ class.

Master David Shadden- We work in conjunction with Central Texas Taekwondo, which is who our taekwondo and kickboxing programs are through. He’s the owner and operator of CTT as well as the senior Taekwondo and Kickboxing instructor.

OZ-   Do all of the members of your coaching team have aspirations of MMA participation either at the level of Amateur or Professional? What’s the transition timeline from Ammy to Pro?

GMMA-  Master Shadden doesn’t, his focus was always TKD and he is a US Open champion himself in 2006. Myself as well as Coach Luna though do plan to make a long career out of MMA.

The timeline from Ammy to Pro I think has a lot to do with the fighter. I’m not going to force you to go Pro if you’re not ready but if you’re an amateur champion with a good record why not get paid for what you do?

OZ-  Will you eventually go Pro yourself?

GMMA-  Hell yeah! The only thing hindering me right now is a thyroid condition which I’m working hard to remedy at this point. I have aspirations to the big show and I get what I want!

 

Hell Yeah, indeed.  Think I’ll just hang on for dear life.

Here we go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks John-M, always great to find opportunities to spark awareness of MMA and training groups such as yours.  Best of luck for 2011 fight season!

c jones, Marketing, www.omegazone.com Omegazone features extreme sportswear.  This includes Mixed Martial Arts(MMA) and extreme board sportswear.  Omegazone has recently launched its signature line of fightwear and will be adding new pieces throughout the 2011 season.
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