Fightzone Costablanca: From 0 to One of Spain’s Biggest BJJ Gyms with MAAT

Key Takeaways

• MAAT enabled Fightzone Costablanca to scale from 0 to over 700 members, creating one of the largest combat sports gyms in Spain.

• Designed from the ground up as an international academy, they balanced smart operational planning with MAAT's digital infrastructure.

• Their success helped establish MAAT as the go-to solution for Checkmat gyms across Europe, thanks to powerful referrals and proven results.

Introduction

In 2012, Marco Canha and James Roach founded Fightzone London, a project that would eventually become one of Europe’s most prominent Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academies. Built with a clear focus on excellence, Fightzone London produced numerous European and World BJJ champions, growing into what many consider the largest BJJ gym in Europe.

But their mission didn’t stop there. Marco and James had a bigger vision: to bring high-level Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to all corners of Europe. To do that, they partnered with Cristina Sempre to open a new academy in sunny Costablanca, Spain, an international destination for those seeking elite-level training in a world-class facility.

However, opening a gym abroad brings its own set of challenges,language barriers, multi-discipline scheduling, international payments, and consistent operations across borders. To overcome these hurdles and stay focused on what truly matters, building community and developing athletes, they needed the right digital infrastructure.

Here's how Fightzone Costablanca partnered with MAAT from day one to build one of Spain’s most successful and professional martial arts academies.

From 0 to 100: Building with the Right Tools

Coming from the experience of opening and growing a major academy like Fightzone London, the team already had a clear direction and high standards. But launching a gym in a different country, with a new language, legal framework, and cultural environment, was a completely different challenge.

To succeed, they invested time and effort into understanding the local market, building a professional structure, and adapting their systems. A key turning point came when a local gym owner referred them to MAAT, a gym management software built for combat sports and already trusted in the Spanish market.

"MAAT has helped us all the way to open this location"

With MAAT, they were able to:

• Operate in multiple languages: Their goal was to create a multicultural hub for training, welcoming athletes from all over Europe and beyond. MAAT’s interface and communications being available in several languages for both students and managers made it easy to serve their diverse audience.

• Handle essential admin with automation: For a gym aiming to be professionally run from day one, it was crucial to streamline core tasks like payment processing, attendance tracking, and class bookings. MAAT’s automation capabilities saved hours of manual work and kept everything consistent and reliable.

• Set up a dynamic and personalized class schedule: Because MAAT was built specifically for combat sports, it allowed Fightzone Costablanca to structure a detailed and flexible schedule. This supported their vision to not only grow their BJJ programs, but to eventually expand into other disciplines.

• Track belt progress and notify coaches when students are ready to graduate: One of their biggest operational needs was enabling multiple coaches to follow student progress across classes, even if they didn’t see those students every day. MAAT’s built-in belt tracking and promotion readiness features made that possible.

The result? A strong launch, minimal friction, and a foundation built to scale.

From 100 to 700: A Rapid Rise in Spain

With the gym up and running, the next challenge was scaling. Fightzone Costablanca began by deepening and diversifying their BJJ class offerings, making room for more training times and specific groups. As membership grew, they expanded into striking disciplines like Muay Thai and Boxing, and later added fitness-based classes to meet the needs of a growing and diverse member base.

This expansion led to a thriving, all-encompassing training environment. Today, Fightzone Costablanca offers more than 160 classes per week, delivered by a team of expert coaches from all over Spain and Europe. This level of coordination would be impossible without the right infrastructure.

Thanks to MAAT’s combat-sports-focused architecture, they were able to seamlessly manage dozens of instructors across different programs, maintain class consistency and attendance tracking across disciplines and empower students to easily book and attend sessions from any device.

The result? A training experience that feels personal and professional at scale.

MAAT allowed us to Expand effortlessly

Becoming a Checkmat Pillar in Europe

As Fightzone Costablanca matured, it took on a new role: a central hub for the Checkmat network in Europe. They began hosting annual instructor meetings, organized team training camps, and welcomed Checkmat coaches and students from all over Europe.

In 2025, they hosted the prestigious Checkmat Summit, an event that brought together key figures from across the organization, including Leo Vieira and Rico Vieira, further cementing Fightzone Costablanca’s position as a strategic venue for the global BJJ community.

The MAAT Referral Ripple Effect

Fightzone Costablanca didn’t just use MAAT, they championed it.

As their peers in the Checkmat network saw how streamlined operations had become, the referrals started pouring in. Today, Checkmat gyms all across Europe, including BJJ Dojo Berlin in Germany, Life Academy in France, Nexus Academy in Spain, and many others in the UK and beyond, use MAAT to manage their academies with ease and professionalism.

👉 Learn more about this partnership in the full article on BJJEE.

Today, MAAT is the go-to gym software for Checkmat academies across Europe. And Fightzone Costablanca continues to grow, not only as a training center but as a thought leader in professionalizing martial arts.

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