Mixed Martial Arts in Turkey-“The Last Round” Gym

Although I only visited Istanbul, I have always known the nation of Turkey to produce great athletes in the sports requiring great physical strength, particularly weightlifting and wrestling. Football (or as we call it ‘Soccer’) and Basketball are also extremely popular. Last year, Turkish National hero Naim Süleymanoğlu ( a multiple world champion and world record holder in weightlifting sadly passed away.

I was first impressed with the Turkish Olympic wrestling when I witnessed 62 kg wrestler Mehmet Akif Prim upset the 3 time world champion from Russia Sergei Martynov for the gold medal in the Barcelona Olympics. I had once attended a wrestling camp with Martynov ( although I was a far, far cry from his league/ability).

So where is the Turkish presence in the world of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)?

I personally have only heard of former UFC fighter Alptekin Ozkilic, who I later learned was Turkish-American-based in the USA. Alp actually had one UFC fight against my friend Darren Uyenoyama .

I made a friend at a wrestling seminar in San Francisco named Egemen. At the time he was studying grappling and MMA in general in order to open his own gym in Istanbul. I had asked why being from Turkey, he needed to come to the US to study wrestling/grappling.  I’ll paraphrase his answer : Although Turkey has great and successful national programs in wrestling and other sports, these programs are all government institutions. The average person does not have ‘access’ to wrestling/grappling instruction unless they are part of those programs……    Thus he was on his own quest of building up a knowledge and technique base to share with others in Istanbul. A few years later, he opened his own gym in Istanbul named The Last Round. When I visited Istanbul  took the time to show me around some of the sites and was a gracious host. This time I actually got to visit his gym.

The gym is 2 levels with ample floor space. Almost all the workout areas are covered with mats. Several hanging bags, weights,  a weapons rack and more round out the gym:

The gym seems to be a pioneering work in the evolving MMA scene in Turkey. Of the noted instructors is former UFC fighter from Dagestan, Azamat Gashimov:

Egemen and I spent some time talking about the whole MMA scene in Turkey. Before I left he mentioned his plans to open his second location of approximately 15,000 square feet!

Best of luck to Egemen, The Last Round, and the development of MMA in Turkey!

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