Wimp 2 Warrior program teaming up with vaunted Tristar Gym

The program that takes people with little to no martial arts experience and trains them to be fight-ready in less than less than six months has landed at one of MMA’s premier gyms.

Wimp 2 Warrior, which started in Australia in 2012, has teamed up with Tristar Gym in Montreal for the next series of its program, which will begin in June, it was announced Thursday. People of all ages and fitnesses levels can try out and, at the conclusion of the 22 weeks of training, they will have a fight with another contestant of similar age, skill and weight.

The training will be conducted by the coaches and athletes at Tristar Gym, including head coach Firas Zahabi.

“It is fantastic to see the worldwide surge of martial arts training and we at Tristar gym are very excited to be featuring this life changing program that takes things one step further,” Zahabi said in a release. “We want to grow our sport by highlighting the best it has to offer, namely the training that translates into emotionally and physically accomplishing your goals while facing your fears. So put down your potato chips and close that laptop, it’s time to transform from a wimp.... to a WARRIOR.”

Wimp 2 Warrior has taken thousands of people who never trained before through the ringer with the goal of making them “stronger, healthier and more confident.” Per the release, more than 90 percent of people who sign up for Wimp 2 Warrior have completed the program despite the lack of experience.

With the addition of Tristar, Wimp 2 Warrior has 20 new partnerships signed over the last 12 months as it expands to North America. Recently, the program announced series with Straight Blast Gym in Portland, Ore., Syndicate MMA in Las Vegas and Team Oyama in Irvine, Calif. UFC flyweight Jessica-Rose Clark will once again coach the program at Syndicate. SBG Ireland coach John Kavanagh is an ambassador for the program throughout Ireland and the United Kingdom.

“Tristar Gym is one of the most well respected brands in MMA and pillar of the community within Montreal,” Wimp 2 Warrior creator Richie Cranny said. “Their commitment to teaching the ‘art’ within MMA has brought in fighters throughout the globe and the everyday person looking to learn a skillset as they get older in life. They mirror our commitment to growing MMA at a grass roots level by getting people off the couch and onto the mats, which is why we created Wimp 2 Warrior. To be an entry point into the world of mixed martial arts and thrust every day people into the empowered mindset of a fighter while immersing them in a training program designed to put a reality to those who have wondered ‘what if’ or felt ‘that is something I could never do.’“

Applications are currently open for the Tristar series and tryouts will be held at the gym June 3.

Per the release, Wimp 2 Warrior is poised to announce partnerships with more high-level gyms in the coming months. The goal for the company is “being to amateur MMA what the UFC is to the professional side of the sport,” the release stated.