Featured affiliated academy: Reign MMA, India BJJ
Where is the gym located?
Bangalore, India
How many people train there?
Reign MMA India has currently around 15 members.
Is the gym growing – if so by how many new members each month or year?
Since we only opened about two months ago, there’s a weekly increase in the number of students. We’re doubling the numbers every week.
What are the highest and lowest belt grades training?
We are a bunch of white belts coached by a blue belt.
When did the Reign MMA, India BJJ open?
April 2019.
Some facts about you:
Name: Vighnesh Nathan
Academy:Reign MMA India
Age: 32
Belt: Blue
Profession: MMA / BJJ / Strength & Conditioning coach
Years in BJJ: 8
Other martial arts: Kickboxing and wrestling
Currently living in: Bangalore, India
Originally from: New Delhi, India
Please tell us the story of how your gym came into existence:
I was the owner and coach at my previous academy for the past 6 years, a gym handed over to me by my first BJJ coach, Rama Reddy. My current academy, Reign MMA, is my attempt to do things bigger and better and, more importantly, give back to my students what they require – quality training with a lot of attention.
Tell us about the people that train in the gym – who are they?
We have a variety of students at the academy. Most of them are working professionals, but we have a few full time fighters too.
Why do they train?
Getting fit is the initial motivation for most beginners, by trying something different than what they’ve done before. That motivation almost always changes once the students get a proper taste of BJJ. It becomes a passion to learn more for 99% of the students.
What are some of the challenges of running a BJJ gym in general and in your location specifically?
The general lack of awareness about BJJ in India even today is the biggest challenge. Despite the growth in mixed martial arts even in Bangalore, BJJ is still a foreign discipline. Most academies and students who currently train BJJ in Bangalore and India take an approach of learning techniques which are trending rather than trying to understand concepts, hence new students get lost and quit within a few months. Parents relate BJJ to traditional martial arts like karate, and are reluctant to let their kids to practice the arts. Women are apprehensive of BJJ too, rather preferring activities like cardio kickboxing which they feel is safer and less invasive.
Also, there are no black belts and very very few decent higher belts in the country. So most practitioners get stuck at white belt or blue belt level for quite a while.
Reign MMA, India BJJ
How do you see the future for BJJ in your area?
The future can be huge in a populous country like India. But quantity and quality are very different to each other. There is a surge in the number of academies, competitions, and visiting BJJ practitioners in India. And with an increase in the demand for self-defense training, especially for women, BJJ is in demand. There are already an exponentially larger number of BJJ trainees compared to couple of years back. But the lack of quality instructors and especially higher belts is still a big issue.
What’s the best thing about your gym?
Reign MMA, India BJJ is open to everyone. Right from beginners to advanced practitioners. And we love to learn as well. If you’re a beginner, we are very dedicated to perfecting our fundamentals and would love to share that. If you’re an advanced belt, we would love to refine our game and pick your brain.
More importantly, we believe that knowledge not shared is worthless. Each and every detail we have, we want to pass it on to our students and help them on their journeys.
What would you recommend Globetrotters to see in your area apart from the inside of your gym?
Bangalore itself is one of the fastest growing metropolitan cities in the country. Apart from a few historic monuments and other typical city structures like malls and local eateries and shopping points, Bangalore is also known as the pub capital of India, with some amazing breweries around. And for any globetrotter the best thing is that, just a few hours from Bangalore in any direction, there are amazing beaches, hills or jungles, all waiting to be explored.
