Milwaukee MMA gym plans move for growth

MILWAUKEE, Wis. — UFC welterweight Zak Ottow stood outside the caged sparring area at Pura Vida. He remembered a time, more than seven years ago, when the gym was his home. The cage did not exist back then. In its place was the mattress that Ottow slept on.

In 2012 after losing his first professional fight, Ottow wanted to commit more to competitive mixed martial arts. He started living at Pura Vida BJJ & MMA, a gym that he would later co-own with Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and Head Coach Jake Klipp. Ottow continued his MMA career with a six-fight win streak and joined the UFC’s welterweight roster in 2016.

“It’s a hard sport to train for because you never know when the next fight is coming,” said Ottow. “After I made my UFC debut, I fought on Saturday night and took a plane home on Sunday. On Monday morning my phone rang and I had my next fight in five or six weeks.”

Professional MMA is unpredictable. Ottow stays prepared for future fight offers, but the gym and his students are his main concern now. Ottow and Klipp are running out of space as the number of members increases annually. They are moving the gym to a new location for the first time since its conception.

The gym’s location at 117 W. Walker St. has evolved since the gym first opened with its 12 members in 2010. Property owners have increased their rent and parking spots are difficult to find. The National Avenue Lofts, a 74-unit affordable housing structure, is a recent addition to the area. Ottow and Klipp’s landlord wants to turn his business spaces into residential living areas.

“We’ve been capped off as far as what we can do,” said Ottow. “We’re landlocked right now. We really need to expand because all of our classes are shoulder to shoulder.”

After the move, Pura Vida will be located near Capitol Drive and Richards Street. The larger space will allow for a complete locker room with showers, an area for weight training and more room for MMA classes.

Expanding means leaving their old space behind; a process that is bittersweet for both Ottow and Klipp.

Ottow discovered his passion for BJJ at UW-Milwaukee where he took a jiu-jitsu course taught by Henry Matamoros, Wisconsin’s first black belt in the martial art. Matamoros moved out-of-state, giving Ottow the opportunity to join Klipp as a co-owner of Pura Vida in 2012. Ottow and Klipp also replaced Matamoros as jiu-jitsu instructors at the university.

For Klipp, jiu-jitsu was more than a martial art. It was a way for him to experience the feeling he missed after his return from Iraq.

“Iraq was good and bad,” said Klipp. “I lost some friends while I was there but then on the good side, it’s a total adrenaline rush.”

Klipp served one deployment with the Marine Corps from 2004 to 2005.

“I get home and I’m kind of looking for my next adrenaline rush at that point,” said Klipp. “I drove a fast car and, not that I’m proud of it, but I’d go out drinking and get into fights with people. I was just seeking thrills.”

Klipp became a student of Brazilian jiu-jitsu in 2008 at Matamoros’ gym in Bay View. Klipp’s impact on the local community is one of the reasons why Pura Vida provided him with the thrill he was looking for.

“I’ve got two different guys that grew up without parents and lived out of their cars in high school,” said Klipp. “One of them just bought his own house and one of them joined the Marines. I’m a little more coach now than competitor, but the rush I get from wins and the devastating feeling from losses maybe mimics that a little bit.”

Jordan Clark, an MMA competitor who enrolled at Pura Vida six months ago, is optimistic about the gym’s new location.

“It’s going to be at a very public place,” said Clark. “People are going to be able to drive by and see the big Pura Vida banner.”

Clark’s MMA training began at another gym two years ago. He started sparring at Pura Vida on Saturdays and made the transition there after attending more classes throughout the week.

“These guys are monsters,” said Clark. “We have wrestlers, jiu-jitsu guys, wrestling guys and kickboxers at all levels from beginners to UFC athletes.”

Moving into a larger space provides an opportunity for local interest in the sport to grow. Despite the abundance of MMA talent and gyms in Milwaukee, the UFC have had two events since they first made an appearance at the Bradley Center in 2011.

The most recent UFC event was at the Fiserv Forum on December 15, 2018. With several Wisconsin fighters on the card, the attendance was 9,010 with a gate of $616,633. Six months later, UFC 238 was hosted at the United Center in Chicago. The event nearly doubled the Milwaukee attendance and had a gate of over $2 million.

“I travel to train a lot,” said Ottow. “When I go to restaurants with other fighters, people know me more in other cities than when I walk around in my own city. It’s very weird. People in Milwaukee aren’t big into the sport yet even though we’ve got all this talent here. You would think our town would be super supportive and the biggest fans in the world.”