Mixed martial arts fever is glowing hot around the world with no cooling off in sight.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship league and its counterparts, such as Tapout, can be seen on TV every night.
The sport, which incorporates several fighting styles, has taken over boxing as the top combative sport in popularity.
The industry”™s growth has led Marcio Stambowsky to expand his Brazilian jiu-jitsu studio in Norwalk and add another in Bridgeport.
The towering instructor was born in Brazil and is married to the granddaughter of Carlos Gracie, who created the Brazilian style of jiu-jitsu.
Gracie Sports on Main Street in Norwalk has built up a following quickly.
Stambowsky is a sixth-degree Brazilian jiu-jitsu master.
“I was born in Brazil, I was brought up on Brazilian jiu-jitsu,” he said. “I started when I was 15.”
Stambowsky was one of the six individuals to gain a black belt under Rolls Gracie, a legend in the culture of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, who died in 1982. Carlos Gracie studied traditional Japanese jiu-jitsu while growing up in Brazil and created the spin-off version, with an emphasis on ground techniques. The Gracie family is now into their third generation of world-class Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighters and have schools in Brazil, the United States, western Europe, Japan and Australia. The family has more than 40 members who have competed on the world-class level.
Stambowsky continued his study of the martial art while also starting a bathing suit company.
“All my life I stuck with jiu-jitsu. I always trained and conditioned.”
Stambowsky would teach classes to a few men every week. His bathing suit business began to grow quickly and when the pressures of the business became overwhelming he decided it was time for a change in his life. He kept the business going and moved to New Haven where a friend owned a gym. Stambowsky began to teach Brazilian jiu-jitsu full time.
“I wanted to change everything in my life,” he said. “My blood family is in Brazil, but I made here my home.”
Stambowsky”™s son, Neiman Gracie Stambowsky, is a world-class competitor who placed first at the 2008 Pan American tournament and placed third at the World Championships. Neiman teaches and competes with his uncle, Renzo Gracie, in New York City.
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Stambowsky opened his own gym three years ago in Norwalk. Perfect timing for a martial art that is centric in the growing world of mixed martial arts. Mixed martial arts organizations, of which the Ultimate Fighting Championship is the heavyweight, have gained interest and became a big money sport in recent years. The first champion of the UFC was Royce Gracie, one of the sons of Carlos Gracie.
In 2006, the UFC had already broken the pay-per-view industry”™s all-time records for a single year of business, generating more than $222 million in revenue, surpassing any boxing match ever held. The UFC continued its rapid rise from near obscurity with programming now shown in 36 countries worldwide.
According to Complete.com, a website analytics company, in 2007 the UFC”™s webpage became the sixth most visited in national sport leagues in the United States, beating out Major League Soccer and the Professional Golf Association; it also boasted the highest percentage change in growth of site activity over year. The UFC generated more than $300 million in 2009 just in pay-per-view events; that”™s in a year when the NBA is having to give loans to its teams and the NFL is laying off staff.
UFC fighters have also begun to take home larger purses, nearly half a million dollars for top fights like that of Brock Lesnar and Georges St. Pierre. Fighters, many of whom in the past talked about their day jobs, are able to make a full-time living at the sport. With the promise of riches comes even greater interest and more prospective athletes coming forward.
Such growth has brought the study of Brazilian jiu-jitsu droves of new students, ready to learn. Gracie has been growing in its short three years opening a location inside Fitness 4000 in Bridgeport, as well as renovating and expanding the original location in Norwalk.
“I think it”™s really taken the place of boxing,” said Todd Bucaro, owner of Georgetown Masonry in Weston, co-owner of Fairfield County Generators in Norwalk and a student at Gracie. “It doesn”™t matter your size, it matters what you know and the UFC has really put it on the forefront of sports.”
Bucaro, a former gymnast who has tried nearly every kind of martial art, said none of them compare to Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
“It”™s the best thing I”™ve ever done,” Bucaro said. “I was a gymnast for 25 years and I wish I had been doing this my whole life.”
Bucaro said the sport also attracts individuals who would have never tried boxing, including his wife. Bucaro said you will see everyone in the Gracie Sports studio, from janitors to CEOs.
“It”™s tremendous for self defense, not only for men but women,” said Bucaro. “My wife is involved and she out ranks me because she”™s smarter than I am. This is a sport of talking your time, it”™s a chess match and technically she”™s just phenomenal.”
Stambowsky said that at the heart of Brazilian jiu-jitsu is using the force and weight of your opponent to your advantage. He said Brazilian jiu-jitsu has real life applications and has much to do with where most fights end, on the ground.
Gracie Sport classes range anywhere from 10 to 20 individuals and all ages are encouraged to come and learn the techniques. There are more than 100 members at Gracie Sports.
“It”™s a tight-knit family there,” said Bucaro. “The upper belts always want to see you improve. There are older guys and you get the range from the teens all the way up to the 50s or 60s. It”™s not only teaching you about jiu-jitsu but also how to deal with things in life. The key word in the whole thing is respect.”
