In many ways Jiu-Jitsu has become a victim of its own success. Most academics are now run as for-profit businesses; they’re essentially franchised McDojos and the most important thing is making money for the owners. The true essence of the martial art has been sold out.

We couldn’t afford to play that game any more. The costs of affiliation and franchise obligations would have meant running costs spiralling out of control and being forced to run our club as a business. The resulting fees would have been too much for most of our students!

Instead, we made a choice to stay true to our origins and turn our back on the greed and politics. We do Jiu-Jitsu because we love getting on the mat; we’re not in it to get rich. And cost shouldn’t be a barrier to participation!

So, we are now 100% independent. The decisions we make are for the benefit of our club as a whole. Any surplus funds above and beyond our running costs are invested back into the club to support its future development

That’s why we chose DEF!ANT JIU-JITSU as our name. It means we oppose greed and power politics. And we don’t agree with people above us trying to dictate their terms and conditions on us. Being defiant means taking back your right to freedom and choice, regardless of whether its at a club or individual level.