Hi, I’m Jesus

As a kid I was told “you can do and be whatever you want if you try your best”

but when I said what I wanted the response was:

“That’s not a real job. That won’t pay the bills. Do you realize how much competition there is? Why don’t you look for a real job? If there was a market for it someone would have already made it. There’s no marker for that. That won’t get you anywhere in life.”

When I had my daughter I didn’t want to repeat the same cycle, so I changed it to:

“You can do and be whatever you want in life, but know that it’s not going to be easy, people are going to tell you no. but if you want it, you have to give it everything you have. You have to give it 1,010% and if your passion ever changes then that’s ok. You’re going to grow up and your going to change and it’s ok for your passions to change.”

I didn’t realize that after years of telling her this I was unknowingly healing my inner child thanks to her.

To the point where I ended up confronting myself in the bathroom mirror: “How dare you tell her that she can be and do whatever she wants but you’re too scared to do it yourself? Don’t you tell her she needs to lead by example? So do you!”

That’s why I started training.

I’m a Jiu-jitsu practitioner and MMA fighter as of the date of this Blog I just started my amateur fighting career.

I’m passionate about martial arts, and supporting my local community.

With your help, My goal is to build a Jiu-Jitsu/Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) gym in Miami, Florida, and to build a greater network of martial arts practitioners and local gyms.

Once gym is built, I’ll begin partnering with other local owned gyms in the Miami area to create the Ongoing Practice Network (OPN)

The Goal of the Ongoing Practice Network is to provide a mechanism for local gyms and their members to support each other, both financially and from a training perspective, allowing members of OPN to easily find others to train with within the network.

Through the past couple of years, we all observed the impact that COVID-19 has had on our local businesses. It’s my hope that with the Ongoing Practice Network, we can come together as a community to help ensure the success of our partnering gyms.

Each partnering gym will receive 5% equity (up to 49%) Of the OPN gym it’s partnered with, and the partnered gym would enable their students to use OPN as a supplemental training ground to sharpen their skills, and provide teaching opportunities, and give access to a greater community of Jiu-Jitsu/MMA practitioners.

My vision is for the Ongoing Practice Network to be a pillar of support and collaboration within the local community for all Jiu-Jitsu/MMA practitioners.

As an MMA athlete myself, OPN provides solutions to common problems I’ve faced:

1. Open mat will always be available. At OPN Gym, train what you want when you want.

2. Always have a place to train, and people to train with. A priority for the Ongoing Practice Network is to create a strong community and provide members so that you’ll never have to go without a training partner again.

3. OPN is affordable. We’ll have two memberships so that you can choose which is right for you. Both memberships provide access to the greater OPN network, so that members’ fees to multiple gyms are no longer necessary: A. Open Mat Only- Unguided practice with yourself, or with other members B. Class Membership- ( Includes Open Mat).

I believe that when a community comes together to support each other, we all win. I’ve designed the Ongoing Practice Network to benefit all parties, so that we all have a vested interest in the network’s success. Instead of local gyms being in competition with each other, being part of OPN shifts us towards collaboration.

Growing up I was never allowed to fight back, not even to defend myself. and though I know my parents and step-dad father would want the best for me they weren’t very supportive of my passion. I started training 4 years ago and it has never been about the “W or L”. I do it because I love the sport. plus I have to lead by example.

The only reason I even started training is because after years of telling my daughter that she could do and be anything she wanted but that she needed to know it wasn’t going to be easy.. it was going to be hard and people will tell her no but she shouldn’t let anyone take her dream away. regardless of her age… to the point that I had to look myself in the mirror and confront myself “How dare you tell her this but yet you’re too scared to do it yourself…? What kind of example are you giving her? don’t you tell her she needs to lead by example? well so do you!”

Please support me in building the OPN gym, OPN network and supporting the local community of athletes, martial arts practitioners and their communities.

Other Ways You Can Help:

You can’t contribute? That doesn’t mean you can’t help. Get the word out and make some noise!

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