how many mma clubs/practitioners in ireland?

suey71

hi there. mma is huge here in ireland and seems to be the fastest growing martial art in the world. out of curiosity, how many people train in mma in ireland? thanks.

MartyMcFly84

Easily one or two million

cowzerp

Compared to TKD,Judo,and Boxing, MMA is tiny in ireland and worldwide, its the fastest growing martial art because its going from 0 - to a considerable number where most other arts are established and could'nt possibly grow at this rate, the saying is actually pointless really..for example, sinn fein are the fastest growing political party in europe or where but are not running the country any time soon.

But its large enough that its touching on mainstream so thats good..

Tim_Murphy

It's growing at a huge rate but would still be small compared to a lot of martial arts. The difference between now and say 3 or 4 years ago is staggering but it's still never likely to compete with something like TKD is terms of sheer numbers.

Nothingcompares

I'd guess there is around 20 clubs/training groups around the country.

TKD SC

Doesn't 'kevinlyore' (sp?) usually post up his famous map at this point?!

MartyMcFly84

Sorry for my sarcasim above, couldnt resist . But as the lads were saying the numbers are much lower than compared to many more of the more set up and traditional martial arts. In the 3-4 years i have been doing the sport its popularity has grown tremendously. This year I coached the UL MMA club and have never seen higher numbers. (The 1st intervarsity comp was also held this year in Dublin.)

Most people in the club started without any previous martial art back ground, so its looking like many people starting from scratch are starting with MMA now as oppossed to doing a traditional martial/s art first.

Unlike other traditional martial arts in ireland like Judo and TKD there is no national organisation/association set up that practioneers become members of, So there is no way of giving you any acurate figure in terms of how many people are training MMA. But what I can say is that numbers are growing by the day and that some of the more established clubs are moving or redeveloping into larger gyms to accomomdate increasing numbers.

Raze_them_all

TKD SC wrote: »

Doesn't 'kevinlyore' (sp?) usually post up his famous map at this point?!

thats only clubs in dub city

Jason Mc

thing with mma is ppl come in try it, get a couple of slaps and think ah this is tough and misteriously disappear and start doing katas

light contact training probably intimidates beginners less

Professey Chin

Jason Mc wrote: »

thing with mma is ppl come in try it, get a couple of slaps and think ah this is tough and misteriously disappear and start doing katas

light contact training probably intimidates beginners less

Wheres the fun in that :pac:

Nothingcompares

Raze_them_all wrote: »

thats only clubs in dub city

and dublin county don't forget rush fight academy.

I'd put all the information for the clubs around Ireland on the map if
- I knew the information
- people wanted it.

Actually there may be closer to 30 clubs in all, ranging from those who might see 100 different people a month to those with around 10.

suey71

the reason why i asked how many clubs/practitioners is that i'm thinking of importing a lot of mma/bjj/thai gear over from brazil and the states and was looking to see if there was a market before i got a big loan and brought the stuff over. brand wise, i was thinking SPRAWL, FULL CONTACT FIGHTER, WARRIOR, FAIRTEX, PUNISHMENT, ECKO UNLTD, SINISTER, KNUCKLEHEAD, EXTREME COUTURE, THROWDOWN amongst others, oh and tapout just to bug yiz.. this is my wish list. would there be a market for this at the moment?

Nothingcompares

I would imagine if you wanted the business to be viable you'd need a lot more than people associated with martial arts clubs buying your wears. Were you thinking just fight gear? Or casual? or both?

I think a lot of people currently get their stuff from the net already so you'd still have to have pretty competitive prices so that's a lot of bulk buying

Tim_Murphy

suey71 wrote: »

the reason why i asked how many clubs/practitioners is that i'm thinking of importing a lot of mma/bjj/thai gear over from brazil and the states and was looking to see if there was a market before i got a big loan and brought the stuff over. brand wise, i was thinking SPRAWL, FULL CONTACT FIGHTER, WARRIOR, FAIRTEX, PUNISHMENT, ECKO UNLTD, SINISTER, KNUCKLEHEAD, EXTREME COUTURE, THROWDOWN amongst others, oh and tapout just to bug yiz.. this is my wish list. would there be a market for this at the moment?

Would you be able to sell them for cheaper than people can buy them off the internet for themselves?
The market for tacky MMA tshirts seems to be a growing one at the moment so you might be able to do well. I'll buy a Tapout one off you get me a good price!! :pac:

suey71

i'd sell fight gear and casual, as for the prices, i'd have to be realistic and charge the same as that wrestling shop in stephens green:D only joking. i'd try to sell at reasonable prices. but remember all the shipping and import duty costs and set up and upkeep of a website. i'll try to sell the stuff at around the same as U.S. prices. and you's won't get stung with a customs tax bill like some other posters have, I will...:eek:. this is my plan anyway. i'm just trying to get feedback from the people in the trench's. the more interest i get the more i can tell if it will work.