Featured affiliated academy: C.D. Crossfight, Spain BJJ
“In Seville until recently there were no black belts, but nowadays the level is high. Not only of black belts, but of browns, purples and blues as well!”
Juan José Abad, Owner of C.D. Crossfight
Hi there! Let’s start by finding out a little bit about the location of the gym. Where can we find it?
The gym is located in Seville (Spain) in Virgen de Fátima Street, nº12. It is in the famous neighbourhood of Triana. Seville is a beautiful city in the south of Spain and one of the most visited in Europe with the largest historic centre in Spain.
How many people train in the gym? Are the numbers growing?
Currently in the BJJ team we have approximately 20 students. Combined with kickboxing, taekwondo and yawara teams we have 70 students.
The team is growing slowly but those who come to try seem to stay. We get about one new student each month.
What are the highest and lowest belt grades training?
The training sessions are planned by the teacher and all the students of all levels are together. Thanks to the good atmosphere, the higher level students help a lot of the new ones and in this way the team level is high.
When did the gym open and who founded it?
The dojo where it is practiced today bjj was founded by Juan José Abad and Samuel Espino in 2015.
C.D. Crossfight, Spain BJJ
Quick facts about the owner of the gym...
Name: Juan José Abad
Age: 39
Belt: Blue belt
Profession: Engineer
How many years in BJJ: 3 years
Other martial arts: Black belt in kickboxing, black belt in Kempo and also train some boxing
Where do you live: Seville
Where are you originally from: Seville
But I think I should say that the BJJ teacher is Aure Castilla. He is 35 years old and a brown belt in BJJ. He has been training in BJJ for 11 years and is a teacher in a school as his main job. He also trains some boxing and lives in Seville.
He is one of the best nationally and every year he travels to train at AOJ, Atos Wrox Wroclaw and SBG Dublin. He has been at the corner of UFC 200 with Enrique Marin Wassabi.
Please tell us the story of how your gym came into existence.
The gym was founded for the first time in 2003 by Samuel Espino. It was a fitness gym where kickboxing and Kempo were also practiced. I taught the classes myself and we achieved many of our goals at a competitive level. I had heard about “the gentle art” so I looked for a school and started to train. After one year, the teacher of that team was hoping to expand the gym and install a good tatami. Since the other school did not have good conditions, he opened up in my place. During these two years the school grew up to 50 students from 15 at the beginning, but seeing the success the teacher decided to start his own school.
In this way we call Aure Castilla the current professor, who curiously was a student of kickboxing 13 years ago. He has been teaching for two months. Our goal is to grow up with a healthy and free BJJ, where they do not impose clauses to train.
C.D. Crossfight, Spain BJJ
Tell us about the people that train in the gym – who are they? Why do they train?
There are a variety of people who train in the gym from students, engineers, policemen … boys and girls of all ages.
Some train for fun, others are competitors. They also come looking for safety and learn to defend themselves. Others like police officers seek to have an effective tool to carry out their work. And many of them are practitioners of other styles and complete their martial arts life with BJJ.
What are some of the challenges running a BJJ gym?
The most important challenge when it comes to running a dojo is to offer a good quality of BJJ. In Seville until recently there were no black belts, but nowadays the level is high. Not only of black belts, but of browns, purples and blues as well!
C.D. Crossfight, Spain BJJ
How do you see the future for BJJ in your area?
The future has good expectations. There are more and more people who are interested in BJJ, thanks to MMA and maybe also because of social networks. Although there is a cancer that is the teams that want to monopolise their BJJ over the rest and impose their conditions, forgetting and harming the components of their own teams. We have our athletes as a priority and that is why we follow BJJ Globetrotters.
What’s the best thing about your gym?
The best thing about our gym is, without a doubt, the good atmosphere that we have. Friendship and respect for classmates is the most important thing as the most advanced students help newcomers.
What would you recommend Globetrotters to see in your area apart from the inside of your gym?
I would recommend visiting Seville as a city. It is a fantastic place with very welcoming people and is especially beautiful in Spring.
Great! Thank you for sharing your stories with us. If anyone is in the Seville area and would like to visit C.D. Crossfight, Spain BJJ you can get in touch here.
