UFC GYM NAPERVILLE

Memorandum: UFC Information Report

The original purpose of this project was to prove that I could write up a professionally written piece of content intended to go to other professionals. Yes, that was the explicit job, but I grew this into a short series of interviews with the owners of the Naperville UFC gym and their online marketing team. This was a very productive way to get a firsthand source of what it’s like to work at the gym and its vision and to contextualize it into a report defending and persuading the reader to learn more about UFC gym.

Abstract: From my findings, the UFC Gym is not designed by fighters for fighters. It is not a gym where the average person can be beaten up, rebuilt, and turned into an MMA monster. Instead, it sets itself up to be a community based on self-improvement at all levels and for all ages. From the sparse discourse that shows hints of interpersonal connections all happening at the gym, to interviews about what pushed the gym to make it through the run a business that can’t make a profit for the benefit of its members, to the artifacts gathered that all point to what it means to create, maintain, and curate a healthy community no matter what. 

Discourse: I researched several data sets covering formal and informal discourse. I looked into the Greater UFC LinkedIn account, the UFC Naperville account’s Instagram postings, and their Yelp reviews. 

Executive Summary: Common themes between the data sets were inclusion and trying to get a good workout. Many of the articles from the LinkedIn account were about gyms opening in countries other than America and their inclusion in ethnic meetings such as the Middle East Fitness Business Summit. Comments found on social media were supportive, if sparse, and their aggregate reviews were supportive, with very few negative reviews (outside of personal feuds. Yes, personal feuds, a prime example being the 1-star review from Danny S. on Yelp.)

Summary: Overall, my data was sparse. Yelp reviews, Instagram postings, and LinkedIn posts are OK. Still, I couldn’t find a more regular discourse community with frequent conversations anywhere on the internet, specifically based around the Naperville location. That could be my general social media ineptitude. However, here’s what I found.

I started on LinkedIn and found that the Naperville location had no specific page dedicated to them, but the overall corporation did. This involved a lot of new places being opened, pictures of the inside, and what the corporation as a whole was doing: getting involved in multiple countries outside the US and getting into the Middle East Fitness Business Summit, which was interesting. However, there is nothing on UFC Naperville. So, I moved on to their other social media.

This took me to Instagram on 10/30. I was informed by Ricardo the day before that he had a post that had garnered over 1 million views. He wasn’t sure what had made it so popular, as it was fairly standard, and I’d have to agree. It was a ‘standing guillotine’ submission, shown in a fight where he had used it, and then how to correctly put it into motion, and played up to “look flashy for the camera,” according to the former fighter. The comments were almost exclusively praise or users being impressed by the move, which, despite being posted by the gym’s official Instagram, seemed to be a how-to video on some complicated moves simply. Cool, but not targeted explicitly at gym members, though some did comment about how interesting it was. Other posts had many of the same sort of responses. Cool, attractive, etc. 

Finally, after a brief and uninteresting browse of their Twitter (rarely updated) and a look through their Facebook (which had much of the same as Instagram), I went to their Yelp reviews. In-depth reviews from former and current members detailing their workouts and experience were provided. One was from the mother of a girl scout when the Girl Scouts were invited to have a class at the location. She gave a glowing review about the staff, the gym's cleanliness, and how her daughter began to cry after being told they had to go and look into classes after the fact. On the contrary, a one-star review detailed how a staff member insulted, harassed, and was rude to him. However, I happened to have been going to the gym at the time and was very present for said interaction and future interactions this particular member had at the gym. The sense of community and building is so strong that even troublemakers who badmouth the gym and make things up about its trainers are overall despised and softly blacklisted by its members for stirring the pot. I was impressed when the tight-knit community made it apparent that they wanted to work out and be unbothered by those who came in to drive down the ratings of a place like that. Simply wonderful. 

Interviews: I interviewed Matt Kuschert, UFC Gym Naperville’s general manager; Ricardo Lamas, their Fitness Director and former successful UFC fighter; and Nathaniel Jones, Creative Director for I am Nat Jones Productions a 3rd party affiliate to UFC Naperville. I interviewed both Matt and Rick on 10/29, within an hour of each other, and I interviewed Nathaniel on 10/21.

Executive Summary: In each interview, a sense of community and openness was first and foremost. Even though the words were different, Nat wanted to emphasize breaking the stigma of the UFC being an MMA fighter’s club through advertisement, Matt talked about the importance of community, and Rick demonstrated the importance of accessible and effective exercises. They each informed me that their goal was to make the UFC everyone’s gym, not just fighters in training.

Summary: My first interview was with Nathaniel Jones, Creative Director for I am Nat Jones Productions and a vendor for UFC Gym Naperville, who works closely with them on finely crafting their marketing material. This interview occurred on October 21st in a lovely dining room after dinner. Nathaniel made it very clear that his first and foremost goal in doing the marketing and creating advertisements for the gym was to break the stigma of UFC gym being an MMA gym, where you see large men wrestling, hurting each other, and ultimately being too extreme or ‘all out’ for the average gym-goer. It was to show that the owner wasn’t some slick gym rat trying to squeeze you for your money and that the classes here were professional and meant to help you get your workout. His most recent advertisement, shown to me on request, depicts members working out, milling about the facility, and having fun. That was the message: normal people have fun at UFC gym. It’s all about breaking the stigma, and this was no different. For Nat, it’s all about “Generating ideas for Matt and Rick and bringing experiences to the customers.” 

The second interview was with Matt Kuschert, General Manager for UFC Gym, on 10/29, in the middle of the gym. I want to preface this with the tone of the conversation: Matt is incredibly talkative and genuine. I only asked him six questions despite having upwards of 20, and the interview lasted nearly an hour. He preemptively answered all 20 of my questions without much guidance on my part on the matter and then answered some more that I didn’t know I thought I had. Then, after I finished recording, he had some afterthoughts that I made sure to record in my journal for another 20 minutes. Matt is truly passionate about his work, and his enthusiasm and care shone through the entire time I had the pleasure of interviewing him. The thing he wanted to hammer home to me was his community, the community he built in this building for anyone and everyone who wanted to try what it was like to get a good workout. He went into detail about how he and Rick had wanted to start this for some time, having had the idea since he had tried multiple gyms and not having found the experience he wanted. Then, after he and Rick talked about their future, he said that Rick knew, “Nobody can fight forever.” They were right, and after two years of having founded the business on July 5th, 2018, Ricardo Lamas would have his last fight on August 29th, 2020. The location, people, and town were researched and decided in advance. Thirty-three thousand cars drive by their gym daily, and each sees the large “UFC GYM: Ricardo Lamas” sign when they do. It was prime real estate, so they took it. Their classes, equipment, and openness to anyone and everyone being able to come in made people come to the gym, and the community and vibe are what keep them there today. Parents can come in and hit the bag for a class and sweat as a professional instructor helps them keep up their heart rate, and their kids can participate in class with all the other kids. Afterward, they can hit the weights, try for the dedicated MMA class, or head home and be back the next day to do it all over again. That’s what the advertisements show, the experience, and what they’ll continue to sell. After all, their loyalty to the community helped them keep their doors open for the entire epidemic because their community was loyal to the place they’ve incorporated into their schedules, made friends, and found their finances in.

Finally, I had the chance to interview Ricardo Lamas after the Co-GM and Lead Fitness and Health Instructor for UFC Gym on 10/29, at the same table, right before he was about to instruct a class to help a group of wrestlers train for an upcoming tournament. Matt volunteered to warm them up and give me more time for an interview, which I graciously accepted, and Rick granted it. Much of my conversation with Rick was about his part in the process and how things were for him as he was winding down from his career in the Octogon and gearing up to be a full-time coach. Again, we encountered the same message: What interested his people in learning? What techniques are people interested in? What other ways can he break the stigma of UFC gym? Having had to split his time initially was tough, but being full-time at the gym has made things more focused for the former fighter, and it was that experience that helped him become an excellent teacher. He did not have much to add or say, so I left him at that. 

Artifacts: I gathered a marketing plan used to direct business discussions, a business plan for UFC gym, and an Excel sheet calendar to plot out when certain advertisements should be rolled out. The first two were collected on 10/29 and the latter on 10/31. 

Executive Summary: Both the Excel sheet and the marketing plan are frequently used in meetings to direct business goals and ideas and drive the conversation. The business plan is a reference guide that is drawn upon when a conflict of interest or guidance is necessary since it outlines the core tenets of why the gym exists.

Summary: The first artifact I gathered from my findings is labeled “Grassroots Marketing Plan,” and it is precisely that. Matt and Rick use it to generate new ideas for their marketing and advertisements when looking to get new members. Going into detail with this thing, it has specific sections labeled with potential access points for marketing. For example, one of the sections is “Fire/Police/Military”. While the gym does have a few members who are a part of the firefighters/police/military, sometimes they’ll host a free training session to a local boot camp just to give their services back to the community and their servicemen. Other boxes include “High schools/Colleges,” “School district,” “Cross promotions/Trade-outs,” “Girl Scouts/Boy Scouts”, “Charity events/Religious Gatherings/Scout groups,” and many more, designed to instigate conversation about those potential leads, as each member of the conversation usually has connections, thoughts, and ideas to contribute. 

Of course, the KuLamas LLC business plan is a multi-page document that was pitched to the bank to get an early loan to start the gym in the first place and has their core tenets and intent as to what they want to do with their business, and how they want to run it. It was written by Matt and Rick (KuLamas is their last name, Kuschert, and Lamas) and highlights their planning and philosophy around running their gym: community. From the start, the pair wanted to run their gym for their community after their shared experiences with many gyms around the nation. As highlighted by the document, it was the reason why the greater UFC corporation reached out to Rick and Matt to see if they were interested in starting a gym. The vital purpose of this document today is the core tenets that, if things get muddled, can always be referred back to Mission, vision, and values—outreach and loyalty to the community. Being more than just a gym. Those things kept the lights on while the gym struggled to stay afloat during COVID, while nobody could come in. They’d record stuff and host online classes for any members. They didn’t charge their members monthly and just did their best to keep the community they’d kept around for so long. 

The calendar is not finished, to be frank, but its purpose. Function are still there: to create ideas for marketing at specific times of the year usually the most significant time this comes about is at the beginning of the year (New Year’s resolutions), and right before summer (to prepare your summer body). People stop coming in around October through December for the holidays, but some events can continually draw people to the gym. However, the gym has never been about being a revolving door of members coming in, signing up, working out for a month, and then dropping their subscription, so marketing events when they come up is essential as well. This calendar would be used to direct discussions when it’s finally finished.

Conclusion: Overall, UFC Gym is designed to create a community around fitness, first and foremost. I found this data contradictory to my first thoughts, and as a former member, I find a new light to my interactions in the past and findings in the present. I think that while UFC gym may market itself as a community, its members may initially not see it as such and believe it to be another ‘Anytime Fitness,’ ‘Planet Fitness,’ ‘F45,’ or another such gym that is designed to offer equipment, and not much else. I wonder what the members think of UFC gym or how their marketing strategies affect their profits. Do members think of their gym as a community, or is it a gym?