Trevor Wittman – MMA Coach Biography
| DOB: | March 5th, 1974 |
| Age: | 48 |
| Place of Birth: | Denver, Colorado |
| Gym: | ONX |
| Location: | Wheat Ridge Colorado |
| Martial Arts Background: | Boxing/Kickboxing/Wrestling |
| Notable Fighters: | Justin Gaethje, Rose Namajunas, Kamaru Usman, Shane Carwin, Rashad Evans |
Trevor Wittman’s Martial Arts Background
Trevor Wittman is a Colorado native that grew up learning martial arts from a young age. He first started learning karate as a kid, but then moved to training amateur boxing.
When he moved to New Jersey with his family, he would wrestle at Berlin High School. Then after graduating, he pursued becoming a professional boxer, but had to stop due to a hyperinflated lung.
Trevor Wittman Becomes a Trainer
Since he couldn’t compete anymore, he turned his focus to training boxers. Opening his first gym in 1998 called T’s K.O. Fight Club in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.
During the 11 years the gym was open, Trevor Wittman trained numerous amateur champions and at least 3 world champions. The biggest name being former 3 time junior middleweight champion Verno Phillips.
Towards the end of his first gym’s run MMA began to gain popularity, so Wittman began training MMA fighters. Since the gym began to expand it’s type of training, Trevor decided to close T’s K.O. Fight Club. With an idea to open up a new gym with a focus more on mixed martial arts.
Grudge Training Center
After closing T’s K.O. Fight Club, Trevor Wittman would open Grudge Training Center in 2009. It would become one of the most successful MMA gyms in Colorado and later the country.
During the 7 years the gym existed many MMA fighters from the UFC, Bellator, and Strikeforce would train there. Wittman also became an affiliate gym of Jackson-Wink in New Mexico.
Fighters from the Jackson-Wink gym would frequently come to Colorado to train with Trevor. One of the most notable that came to train with Trevor was former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans.
Grudge had built quite a reputation as being one of the best gyms in the world to train MMA. The gym was especially known for producing top heavyweights like Brendan Schaub, Pat Barry, and interim champ Shane Carwin.
ONX Sports
Through years of training and using various types of gear, Trevor Wittmanknew what worked and didn’t work. Eventually he got tired of trying to find good gear for his fighters to use with most having flaws.
So, he started to look into how to make his own training equipment. He began gaining experience learning how to construct various training equipment from boxing gloves to MMA gloves.
This led Wittman to open ONX Sports. A combat sports company that sells training gear personally made by Wittman.
He became very passionate about making the best fight equipment in the world. So much so that he decided to close Grudge Training Center in 2016 to focus on ONX Sports.
Trevor Wittman’s Small Fighter Stable
Even though Trevor Wittman has been working full-time at ONX since 2016, he didn’t completely stop training fighters. He still has a small stable of fighters that he takes time to train.
Three to five to be exact and all of them are among the best fighters in the world. Those fighters include Rose Namajunas, Justin Gaethje, and his newest addition Kamaru Usman. Under Wittman’s guidance, he has helped them to be among the best in the world.
Rose Namajunas
Thug Rose is one of the most talented female fighters ever and the only 2x strawweight champion. She and her then boyfriend, now husband Pat Barry moved from Roufusport to Grudge Training Center to learn under Trevor Wittman.
Trevor saw that Rose was extremely talented and began getting the best out of her. No stranger to shocking the world when the odds were stacked against her.
The first time Rose shocked the world was against dominant ex-champion Joanna Jedrzerejczyk. One of the only people not surprised by her dominant title win was Wittman, who had no doubt about the outcome.
Then after dealing with personal issues and losing the title to Jessica Andrade, Wittman helped her get back to the top. She would win a rematch against Andrade, which made her the #1 contender for the title.
Again she would face a heavy favorite in champ Zhang Weili. Once again she would shock the world delivering a devastating head kick KO in the first round. Becoming a 2x UFC champion and showing that she is one of the best female fighters ever.
Justin Gaethje
Trevor Wittman has been with Gaethje since the beginning of his career and has helped him become a world class fighter. Gaethje gives Wittman credit for the success in his career.
At first Gaethje was a brawler that loved to get into exchanges and go for the knockout. Then once he got into the UFC and lost 2 fights by vicious knockouts, Wittman had a talk with him.
Trevor told Gaethje if he wanted to be a UFC champion, he would have to be a smarter and technical fighter. Gaethje took his coach’s words to heart and changed his approach.
Since then Gaethje has gone 4-1 and looks like a completely different fighter. His best performance by far was winning the interim light heavyweight title stopping Tony Ferguson by strikes.
Kamaru Usman
Wittman’s newest student is current UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. The welterweight champion has had this stigma with some fans of being a boring fighter. Using his wrestling to grind out his opponents.
Although since training with Trevor Wittman, Usman has been anything, but boring. In 3 of his 4 title defenses, Usman has delivered stunning knockouts. The last KO coming in a rematch against Jorge Masvidal.
Kamaru has credited Trevor Wittman with his improved striking. Helping the champion evolve into an elite champion.
Trevor Wittman Considered A Top Coach
With the recent success of his three fighters, Trevor Wittman has continued to become one of the most respected MMA coaches. In his career, Wittman has helped his students win nearly 20 world titles.
On top of being a world class coach, Wittman is also an analyst for the UFC. He has also been pushing the UFC to change the design of their gloves to resolve the eye poking problem.
