Photo courtesy of Max Gimenis on IG (@maxgimenisbjj)
While Max Gimenis is a brand new name to fans of the UFC, he is hardly that in the world of combat sports. An ADCC qualifier, IBJJF champion, and frequenter of big shows like the Craig Jones Invitational – he’s been all over the grappling world. Although the accomplishments stacked up fast, part of Gimenis knew that wasn’t going to be the end result.
“Man, I think I was a kid, when I started doing jiu-jitsu – I started like around 10-, or 9-years old – but my dad is a huge fan of MMA,” Gimenis explained. “I think in my mind back in my mind, I already being prepared to fight MMA at one point of my life.”
For years that’s where that thought stayed – the back of his head. However, after getting annoyed with the world of jiu jitsu, he knew he needed to move on to somewhere else.
“I thought when I turn 28 years old I will do MMA fight at least one or two to prove my jiu-jitsu is good. I kept that in mind and at 28 years old I fight my last world an adult division got second place,” he said. “They have some some problems on the bracket and I was a little disappointed with jiu-jitsu, so I’m like ‘ah man, that’s I think it’s time to to move on.”
For a while, that was just running his school, Culture of Jiu Jitsu Academy in Gaithersburg, Maryland. It was then that his business partner an co-owner, Eric Philcox, gave him the nudge that he needed.
“Maybe I will just focus on my school. I have a jiu-jitsu school now, maybe I’ll just focus on my school and then focus on another stuff too. At the time I opened up with a big friend of mine and jiu-jitsu tournament too and we run that together,” Gimenis said. “The next weekend… I was talking with a friend he like man why you don’t try MMA? Let’s do one fight.”
The rest, they say, is history. Now with seven professional fights under his belt, Gimenis is set to make his UFC debut this weekend. He fights Josh Hokit on the prelim portion of UFC Vegas 111. The fight card begins at 4pm EST and airs on ESPN+.
