Kenny Florian — UFC color commentator, former UFC fighter, and third-degree BJJ black belt — is opening up a new school.
Why?
Simple. Because he loves Brazilian jiu-jitsu. For him, BJJ is so much more than choking people out or forcing them to tap; it is a way to deal calmly and effectively with the chaos of our world.
“My partner in Meraki Jason Hunt and I decided to open Meraki Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu because we love to teach and have benefited so much from the lessons martial arts has given us,” Florian told the Jiu-Jitsu Times via email. “One of the best ways to be able to deal with the chaos that life throws our way is to simply have practice dealing with chaos in various forms. No doubt that the mat provides the perfect canvas for us to learn how to deal with the chaos of grappling. Some see a problem and calmly approach it and solve it with grace. Others, perhaps not so much. We want to show that you can approach the problems on the mat the same way we should approach problems in real life with courage, grace, skill and intelligence. At Meraki we tried to provide a beautiful gym for our students so that they can be surrounded and inspired by art. We teach BJJ and Judo at Meraki and they are some of the most intriguing arts to share with people.”
Meraki BJJ is located on 11677 Santa Monica Blvd in Los Angeles. You can visit its website here and check out some picture of it below. All photos were sent by Kenny Florian to the Jiu-Jitsu Times and were used with his permission.
