Lange’s MMA

Jiu Jitsu is like an ocean, broad, deep, and for all practical purposes, infinite.

In early 2007 I signed up at Lange’s MMA to sail across this ocean. We relied on our Captain and Navigator, Anthony Lange, for safe passage on this voyage of discovery, reminded regularly that calm seas do not make a good sailor.

In late 2022 we returned to where we began. This voyage is over, but the wanderlust remains, and there will be more voyages on that ocean.

I started and ended this long and fantastic voyage in the same place.

But I am not the same man.

Lange’s MMA was the first Mixed Martial Arts and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu academy to open in the city of Sydney and the state of New South Wales, Australia. It operated continuously from 1994 until December, 2022.

The founder, business owner, and chief instructor was Anthony Lange, the holder of multiple black belts, including a fourth degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, under John Will and Rigan Machado. He was New South Wales State Head of the Will/Machado organisation for many years.

Anthony’s approach was to find the most useful and effective martial arts he could. He chose kickboxing and Muay Thai (striking), Jiu Jitsu (grappling), and Arnis (weapons). Anthony felt he should compete in those arts where possible, to have the experience necessary to coach other competitors. He developed high competence as a practitioner, competitor, coach, competition promoter/organizer, referee, cornerman and cut man for the ring, the cage and the mat.

One recently promoted black belt described Lange’s as a “Disneyland of martial arts”.

Lange’s MMA started first in Anthony’s garage and backyard, then in a hall at Manly West Public School. The permanent premises at Girard Street, North Manly, opened in 1999. Back in the day it was called Northside Martial Arts.

Anthony fought professional Shooto in Japan from 1995 until 1997, headlining events where luminaries of the MMA scene, with much higher current international profiles, fought on the undercard. He was an IBJJF World Masters Champion at both brown and black belt levels.

Anthony believed that martial arts was about healing as well as fighting, and ran a Shiatsu clinic out of the gym for many years, before the martial arts side of things grew to become his full time occupation. Many a student has benefited from an informal consultation during or after a class, including myself.

UFC veterans Elvis Sinosic and Anthony Perosh were Lange’s MMA students in the early years. Anthony was Elvis’ coach and cornerman for his early international fights, including Elvis’ victory over Jeremy Horn.

Other notable alumni include

• Peter King – Anthony’s 2IC for a long time, now head coach at Reef MMA
• Stephen Kamphuis – multiple Jiu Jitsu world champion and President of Philippines BJJ Federation
• Simon Farnsworth, now head coach at Universal Combat Academy
• Sonny Brown, MMA titleholder, podcaster, BJJ black belt, MMA commentator, Youtuber …

Above: Anthony interviewed by the excellent Ian Bone, from Courage Training Centre, Townsville

I joined Lange’s MMA in early 2007. I had been training Jiu Jitsu at Rick Spain’s Kung Fu academy since 1998, getting my first lesson from John Will at a seminar there. Anthony was Rick’s BJJ coach for a fair while. I had met Anthony briefly at seminars with John Will and JJ Machado. Rick took me to Anthony’s academy in April 2004 to test for my blue belt.

I wanted more Jiu Jitsu than I could get at Rick’s. I went to another gym for nearly a year in 2006, but they changed their schedule so I could no longer attend. As I was still training Kung Fu at Rick’s, a Will/Machado affiliate, I felt I should stay under the Machado umbrella. Anthony’s was the only other Machado school on the north side of Sydney I knew of at the time. I was good friends with Lin Donevska, who achieved significant competition success under Anthony’s guidance, and, while this meant a 40-50 minute commute each way, it seemed like the best bet. I listened to a LOT of podcasts during that commute.

I talked to John Will about my plans at a seminar. He told me he thought I had made a sound decision.

I had found it hard to feel like I fit in at the other place. The instructors were younger, the physical demands intense, and by all accounts the attrition rate was high. I cannot fault the instruction I received there, but I got the feeling they weren’t quite sure where or if I fit in, and nor was I. That gym no longer exists, though both instructors have their own successful academies now.

At Lange’s, I felt much more at home very quickly. The instruction and training were very focused but slightly more relaxed, and the student body was more inclusive. That laid back Northern Beaches surfer vibe, perhaps.

I got my second stripe on my blue belt in mid 2007 and my purple belt at the end of that year. This was a goal I thought for a long time that I would never achieve, and finally getting there was both incredibly satisfying and a huge relief. I went to a Christmas party at Lange’s a few days later, rolling and hanging out with friends, enjoying my new status, and feeling like this a place where I belonged.

I got brown in 2010 and black in 2013. You need a tribe around you to get this far. Anthony was definitely the one that showed me how to climb the greasy pole towards jiu jitsu competence, but so many others helped me, Peter King and Darko Zaric in particular.

Anthony ran the Events BJJ promotion with Elvis Sinosic, Anthony Perosh and Steve Perceval. He encouraged me to pursue an interest in refereeing, starting with an in-house comp he ran at Lange’s mainly for white belts. Then out there with the serious people at Events BJJ. I have a love/hate relationship with refereeing (like just about everybody), and it took me a while, but eventually I got reasonably good at it.

The Events BJJ competitions got steadily better and more professionally run, especially after a discussion or seminar we had with Steve Kamphuis, who has refereed internationally and in Brazil. A while back, the other groups running competitions were taking the improvements and innovations Events BJJ made and incorporating them into their own offerings. My opinion, at least.

“Developing the Individual” was the motto of Lange’s MMA. So many people, but we all got the necessary time slices of individual attention and pivotal snippets of targeted advice. This is uncommon.

I didn’t expect to feel special, or want special treatment … but somehow I still felt it and got it, you know?

Some of my best friends go or went to Lange’s MMA. Some of the most intelligent and creative people I have ever met among them.

Hitting an 8 am Saturday flow roll class with a bunch of longtime training partners and friends, including multiple black belts, followed by a swim in the ocean and a chat with friends, was just a joy. We asked each other regularly at the beach if we could believe how lucky we were.

I am sixty eight years old, with no children, and jiu jitsu gives me a way to stay in touch with younger people, and their wide variety of interests, while too many of my contemporaries spend too much time discussing medications and ailments. I am in great shape for my age and take no prescribed medication, and feel martial arts, jiu jitsu, and the company I keep with those activities, along with the loving care I get from my wife, are the major reasons for that.

I am continually surprised at the respect and friendship I get from younger and more physically competent people, as my physical abilities suffer their inevitable slow decline. If I am world class at anything, it is Impostor Syndrome, but the crew at Lange’s have both kept my ego in check and at the same time made me feel competent and courageous. My life has been enriched immeasurably thanks to Lange’s MMA, Anthony Lange’s guidance and friendship, and the company of my fellow trainees.

I am not the oldest. Victor Ross received his purple belt at around eighty years old.

Everyone needs a third place, and Lange’s MMA was definitely one of mine. Every time I went there, I felt like a kid on his way to the playground.

The word [Coach] actually originated from a village in Hungary.

In the fifteenth century, skilled artisans in the village of Kocs started producing the best horse-drawn carriages. word spread of their advanced design all over Europe, and the word ‘coach’ started to be used for this mode of transportation. After other methods of transportation appeared they kept the name ‘coach’ going. That’s why you’ve heard of a stagecoach and you’ve [probably] ridden in coach [class].

[A] coach [is there]

to take you somewhere

you want to go

when you can’t get there yourself.

Martin Rooney – “Coach to Coach – an empowering story on how to become a great leader“

Anthony Lange, my friends. An exemplary coach indeed.

End Times

Anthony had two premises in the one building, one at street level (The Ramp) and another up top (The Roof). The gym survived the Twilight Zone of Covid lockdowns. Then the Northern Beaches Council, in its questionable wisdom, decided to change and retrospectively enforce new zoning restrictions. Lange’s MMA and a number of other businesses in the building were now in violation thereof, despite Anthony operating there trouble free for over two decades. A period of angst and acrimony ensued, the eventual resolution of which was that Anthony was permitted to stay on until the end of 2022.

In March 2022, Manly and much of the Northern Beaches were flooded due to unprecedented storms. “Rain bombs”, they call them now. Water had come up close to the door of The Ramp before during heavy rain, but now the street level gym was about a meter underwater, along with most of the surrounding suburb. Anthony decided to let the Ramp lease go, and moved the entire operation back to The Roof, where it had begun.

It was time. “The universe is pushing me in this direction,” he said.

The final grading day was held on December 1, 2022. Two new black belts were awarded that night, Finlay Quilter and Damien Rodr. Alex Newcomb and Troy Te Ao were promoted to second degree, and Karl King and Matt Heaton to first degree. There were around thirty of Anthony’s black belts on the mat that night, and about dozen more who couldn’t make it.

“Last rolls” and a presentation to Anthony were December 15. The mat was PACKED.

Then it was over, and we watched Anthony close that Roll-a-door for the last time.

The phrase “end of an era” is cliched and often overused, but describes our situation perfectly. The gym has been operating longer than many of its students have been alive.

We all thought this would last forever. Zen has it that impermanence is the nature of reality, and that for everything there is a right time to let go. This was the right way to do it.

I am very proud and grateful to have been part of this wonderful group of humans.

The Future

Three of the best, Nick Pudney, Chad Lumley, and Sonny Brown have opened a gym in Brookvale, Apex MMA. Sonny and Nick are both Jiu Jitsu black belts and MMA titleholders. Chad is a veteran kickboxer and kickboxing/MMA coach, and a Jiu jitsu brown belt. All are superb technicians and excellent, caring instructors with innovative approaches to teaching. The torch shall be passed, and no recipients are more deserving. No doubt the bulk of the Lange’s tribe will migrate there. I have signed up already.

It’s better to burn out, than to fade away

Neil Young

– but far better still to finish at a time of your choosing, under your own terms, going out on top, with legacy secure and a solid succession plan.

Leave them wanting more

David Bowie