Interview #2 Doug Brafford
Jon Kingsley interviews Doug Brafford, owner operator of Ultimate Gym.
Doug is licensed to teach for Guru Dan Inosanto as well as Ajarn Chai and assists Mr. Harrell in class.
This
is Jon Kingsley with another interview for Allcombat.net with Doug
Brafford, the owner/operator of Ultimate Gym in Charlotte, North
Carolina.
Kingsley: How are you doing today, Mr. Brafford?
Doug Brafford: Fine, sir.
Kingsley: How long have you been running the gym here in Charlotte?
Doug Brafford: We’ve been here almost five years.
Kingsley: And how many styles do you guys teach here?
Doug Brafford: Six to eight. (Depends on the week, ed.)
Kingsley: What do you do outside of owning and operating this place? Do you have any styles that you are currently teaching here?
Doug Brafford: No. I don’t really teach anything although I’m certified to teach certain things here. I give way to my instructor though, Dick Harrell.
Kingsley: Ok. We’ve already interviewed Mr. Harrell, so we’ve made acquaintance with him. Have you had the chance to train with some of those guys like Dan Inosanto?
Doug Brafford: I’ve trained with Dan and was certified under Dan Inosanto. Ajarn Chai and was certified under him. I trained with the late Larry Hartsell. Francis Fong down in Atlanta. Think that’s about it.
Kingsley: Wow. Some real opportunities there. What kind of things have you brought to Charlotte with this gym? What was your idea for creating this gym?
Doug Brafford: I wanted to be different. I didn’t want to be just a weightlifting gym. Didn’t want to be a Karate school. I wanted to be the biggest and best thing in Charlotte. I’ve got all these different styles under one roof. For the lack of a better term, it’s the Wal-Mart of Martial Arts. You can come in and find just about anything you want to do. From traditional stand up boxing to the newest craze in MMA, traditional Karate, whatever you want, we got it.
Kingsley: Wow. That’s awesome. So, you’re not just a one dimensional training location. You could do anything you want here?
Doug Brafford: Yes. You can train to fight. Train for self-defense, or you could just do it to get in shape. Your fight. Your choice.
Kingsley: And as of yet, you guys are the only show in town for this type of environment and training?
Doug Brafford: Yep.
Kingsley: Well that’s a good deal to have if you can get it, huh?
Doug Brafford: As long as we can stay that way.
Kingsley: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) has made a big return to the Carolinas after being gone for so long (13 years, ed.). What are your opinions on that? Good thing? Bad thing?
Doug Brafford: I think it’s good but to an extent. I think what they’re going to do is over saturate the market. We’ve got all of these little sanctioned bodies popping up. This little group and this little group and that little group. I think they’re just going to have too many little cells and end up not being any good. They need to incorporate. A lot of these little groups need to get together and form a big group and try to focus on the best people they have.
Kingsley: I see. So
do you think it would behoove North Carolina to ask an organization
like the UFC to come back in or do you think the small groups have the
ability to pull something like that off?
Doug Brafford: I’d like to see the smaller groups. Or a combination card with the small shows here leading to a big show like a UFC.
Kingsley: A unified title of sorts?
Doug Brafford: Yeah.
Kingsley: That would be very interesting. Outside of the Mixed Martial Arts Programs that you guys have here, what other programs do you have? One that I’ve heard of is Crossfit which is slightly different and not really a martial arts class.
Doug Brafford: Well, we’ve got the Crossfit. We’ve got Personal Trainers if you’re interested in just the weight training. We’ve got Boxing. We’ve got the Charlotte Boxing Academy that works out of here also. Youth Boxing. We’re a registered gym with USA Amateur Boxing. Thai Boxing or Muay Thai. Brazilian Jiu-jutsu. Kyokushin Karate. MMA. Kali and Silat. JKD or Jeet Kune Do. Oh! And Systema whom I forgot. They’re a new group.
Kingsley: What kind of direction would you like to see Ultimate Gym take in the near future?
Doug Brafford: I want us to stay open! (laughter)
Kingsley: That’s a good one.
Doug Brafford: I want it to grow. One
of the things I thought about when I was planning this was that I want
to have a place for people that want to train to fight. That WANT to fight. So I want to pursue that. I want to keep bringing up some fighters. One dream was to get this place open. My second dream is to walk a fighter down on HBO. I haven’t got there yet, but I did get the first one done. It’s open. So, I thought, “Train the fighters.” We’ve got this place to do conditioning. They can get themselves in shape. Learn how to protect themselves in the street. Charlotte’s getting more and more dangerous every day. Crime rate’s going up. I’ve got so many different niches here. I’d like to put on some shows in here. Get some use of our ring, our building, our facility and offer a sanctioned event.
Kingsley: Good deal. And you’ve got options with that with all the trainers you have here. If someone wanted to do amateur Golden Gloves or professional boxing, or Mixed Martial Arts, or any of the types of tournaments that are out there, they could do that through here right?
Doug Brafford: Oh sure! We’ve got trainers for all that.
Kingsley: And corner men also, right?
Doug Brafford: Yep.
Kingsley: Well, Doug, I think that’s about all I got for you today. Did you have anything coming up that you want to let the viewers and readers know about?
Doug Brafford: In August, we’ll have another Fight Night. Our last one went over REALLY well. It’s probably the best one we’ve had. Our Fight Night is just a chance for people who haven’t really fought before to get in a ring in front of a crowd. It’s just glorified sparring more or less, but they get in front of that crowd and get the butterflies out of their stomach. It also gives a chance for an outsider to come in and see what we do. We have just about everything we offer in that ring that Friday night.
Kingsley: Got any seminars coming up? Something for someone to come get some martial arts training and get their feet wet?
Doug Brafford: Dick’s doing a knife seminar at the end of this month (June 28th 2008). I think it’s on the 28th. It’s the last Saturday this month. It’s an hour and a half knife seminar. It’s fifteen bucks. Open to anybody.
Kingsley: WOW. Fifteen bucks.
Doug Brafford: Yes. Fifteen bucks. It’ll be knife versus empty hand, knife versus knife, single blade, double blade. (Ajarn Sirisute) Chai’s coming in October. He’s been coming to Charlotte twenty something years now. I think it’ll be his fifth year here.
Kingsley: And that’ll be a Muay Thai Seminar?
Doug Brafford: Yep. Train with the Master for two days.
Kingsley: Well, alright, Doug. That’s a lot going on out here and I hope some of our viewers come to check it out some time.
Doug Brafford: I hope they all do!!