Kung fu dreams

Fred Thomassen (right) practices jiu-jitsu with a student at Big King BJJ gym in Beijing.

"I started doing some Chinese styles in Norway and Europe and I wanted to come over here and check out how good I could get, how real it could get, and when I came to China I tried to find a good school, there are some good schools, but for every one good school there are a hundred dancing academies, they just show you how to dance, it's not real, and all of us are more into competing or defending ourselves."

Big King BJJ has had the softest of soft openings, slowly increasing the size and number of their classes to ensure each new student feels like they are part of the business. Chatting to them, it is apparent that they are operating their gym with the same one-eyed zeal they approach their sport - this is less a business and more a labor of love.

A good fight

"Most gyms here start out by looking for a lot of capital from an investor and then they start looking for the students. They are usually not that financially sound and the students don't feel that much ownership to the gym, so we are doing it the other way around," says Thomassen.

When Big King BJJ opened they had only one student - their neighbor who worked in a local horse riding equipment store.

"He was just your average Joe, you know?" says Thomassen. "And the thing is, we still have that kind of customer, not all professional fighters, not all rich embassy people or something, we want all kinds of people, all walks of life to just blow those barriers away and just communicate and be happy together," he says, sounding more yoga instructor than martial arts competitor.