Featured affiliated academy: Victus MMA, Norway BJJ
“We are open minded and have a friendly atmosphere where everyone is welcome.”
Nick R. Cleppe,Owner of Victus MMA, Norway
Let’s start out with some facts about your gym:
We are a Next Generation MMA affiliate and also a BJJ Globetrotters affiliate. Next Generation MMA has 11 affiliates around the world, and we are one of two in Norway. NG also has affiliates in England, Ireland, Australia and many in USA. The one in Liverpool is killing it these days. They have a champ in Cage Warriors in WW, just lost the belt in LW, and have contenders in the female leagues as well.
Where is the gym located?
My gym is located in Solør Norway (HQ), and Elverum. (The name Solør comes from Old Norse and was pronounced Soløyjar).
Solør is a Norwegian traditional district consisting of the valley between the cities Elverum in the north and Kongsvinger in the south. It is part of the county of Hedmark, and includes the municipalities Våler, Åsnes, and Grue. There’s about 16-17 thousand people living in Solør.
My gym is located right in the middle in Åsnes, in the town Flisa. I also teach classes in Elverum twice per week, which is a 35 minute drive from Flisa. Elverum has a population of about 20,000 and has a lot of college students and Norwegian soldiers.
How many people train there? We have about 50 people. Some only do striking and some only do BJJ but about forty per cent crosstrain and do both.
Is the gym growing – if so by how many new members each month or year?
The gym is growing slow and steady, and I’m happy if I can have 8-18 students on the mat every night like it is now. If I include both striking and BJJ classes I think there’s between 10-30 guys that comes through almost every day.
The weird thing is that even though Flisa is much smaller with less people spread out over a bigger area, the attendence at my gym is a lot better than in the city Elverum. I’m not sure of the reason why, but I like to think there’s a good culture at my gym.
What are the highest and lowest belt grades training?
I’m the highest ranked at purple belt and I have been for two years. We have got five blue belts. Two of them are our own from white to blue, the others have their belts from other academies. I guess a couple more are getting close to their blue.
When did the gym open/the story of how your gym came into existence?
I opened it in 2015. I wasn’t even finished with my Bachelors degree when I got contacted by the former owner. It was just a fitness gym back then, and I guess he was tired of the fitness business and he also had another job on the side. The gym/fitness business is a tough business after all. He asked me if I wanted to buy the gym from him. At first I was hesitant. I had lived in the capital (Oslo) for so many years and had almost all my friends there. But I’m happy I moved back. I feel more at peace here away from all the crowds, trams, tubes, traffic and the stress of commuting around in the city. Here I’m surrounded by nature and there’s less stress in the daily life. People sort of know you around here while some people like to be anonymous in the big city. But I like to go outside and be able to talk to people when I’m at the grocery store, the local bar or restaurant etc.
Many of my closest friends are starting to move back now too and are getting into BJJ again which is awesome!
Victus MMA, Norway BJJ
Some facts about you:
Name: Nick R. Kleppe
Age: 28
Belt: Purple
Profession: Gym owner/Personal Trainer/ BJJ/MMA Instructor
How many years in BJJ: I started late in 2008, trained for a couple of years and competed a lot at white belt. I went abroad and lived in Brazil and Bali for a year and got some training done there, but had some problems with injuries and I guess there also were other temptations like surfing, diving, and other summer sports while I lived there. When I got back from Brazil I was sick and had to have surgery. I had gotten peritonitis and sepsis and almost died. I did my rehab and was out for almost a year, came back and had to have surgery on my hip because of a torn labrum in a beach soccer accident in Brazil. So I had a total break for 2 years before I got through rehab (again) and back in mental and physical shape to do BJJ again. I got my blue belt from Dean Lister in 2013 when my gym in Oslo was affiliated with him, later I got my purple belt in January 2016 from Chris Brennan.
After I opened my gym, and later when I got my purple I’ve been much more serious about my training. When I was a blue belt I maybe trained 1-3 times per week. Now I train BJJ 5-6 days a week and sometimes 2 times a day, and I do striking 2-3 times per week, and supplement with cardio and strength training 2-3 times per week. In total I’ve trained 5-6 years.
Other martial arts: Muay Thai, Sanda/Sanshou, Taekwondo, Boxing, MMA
Where do you live: After living in the capital Oslo and traveling for 8 years, I’m now back in my hometown of Flisa.
Where are you originally from: Flisa, Norway
Tell us about the people that train in the gym – who are they?
It’s mostly young guys with an age range between 15-35ish. But we have a couple that are younger and older than that.
Unfortunately we don’t have a lot of girls, we’ve had some here and there, and if all the girls that tried it had stuck with it, we would probably have around 10 girls training.
Why do they train?
We have guys that just want to exercise and keep fit, some train for self defence. Others want to compete in pure grappling, and some want to cross train and learn grappling for MMA.
Victus MMA, Norway BJJ
What are some of the challenges running a BJJ gym?
Of course a challenge is to have enough students. The sport is still new and growing here and hasn’t reached it’s peak. The fitness gym is what brings food on the table.
For me personally though it is that I’m the highest belt, and probably could use someone that could challenge me more during rolls. But it can also be a blessing in disguise I think – it forces me to travel to other gyms and train, have seminars with high level guys to keep updated and it keeps you creative when you roll, and you get to practice and hone your offensive skills.
As Joe Rogan says “the best way to get good at jiu-jitsu is to strangle blue belts”. And I think he’s onto something there. I also feel that I learn a lot from teaching, it forces you to analyse what you do, and why you do it.
Another challenge as a coach is to balance the time between training for yourself and at the same time focus on your students, especially if you want to compete as a coach.
How do you see the future for BJJ in your area?
I think there’s potential for growth, especially at my other location. But I’m happy the way it is now if it stays like this. One thing that I think is super cool is that I managed to get a teacher position with the local high school. Like you guys have wrestling in America I have managed to get them to have BJJ/grappling and kickboxing. So I have kids that are 15-18 that have BJJ/Kickboxing/MMA as a subject in school. This is very unique in Norway.
Victus MMA, Norway BJJ
What’s the best thing about your gym?
I like to think we are open minded and have a friendly atmosphere where everyone is welcome.
What would you recommend Globetrotters to see in your area apart from the inside of your gym?
This place doesn’t seem like much at first glance. It’s a small town in the countryside of Norway, and Elverum is a small city. But many people in the capital have cabins around here in Solør, they like to come here for the nature experience, fishing, hunting and skiing etc. So if you’re into that stuff it’s awesome. It’s also not too far away from Oslo, or Trysil if you’re into skiing/snowboarding/downhill biking etc. There’s also good local hiking trails and cross-country skiing opportunities.
Any other comments you would like to add?
I want to say thank you to my girlfriend for putting up with my lifestyle with late evenings because of work and training.
Also a thank you to Mats Taihaugen, he’s the headcoach for the Thai boxers and is doing a good job with them.
