Firefighter Mark Prior aims to turn up the heat in the fight world.

For Mr Prior, a member of the Bermuda Fire & Rescue Service, has opened Bermuda Combat Club — dedicated to the “gentle art” of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and mixed martial arts cage fighting.

The training also includes other core disciplines seen in the professional Ultimate Fighting Championships.

And he has brought in veteran world-class professor of the art Marcos Tulio from Brazil as head coach of the club.

Mr Tulio, a third degree BJJ black belt, is a former top student of ex-UFC middle weight champion Murilo Bustamante, who helped found Brazilian Top Team.

Mr Prior, who is also an officer in the Royal Bermuda Regiment, said: “Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is called a gentle art because there’s no striking — it’s all grappling, but with proficient technique it can be used to escape from larger, more aggressive and stronger opponents without resorting to violence. You can escape using choking and holds.”

He added that he also had the Bermuda franchise for Brazilian Top Team, an elite mixed martial arts and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu team, originally founded in 2000 and which now has branches around the world, whose members train in Bermuda Combat Club.

Mr Prior said: “This is my passion. When I was in college in Canada I decided to start training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

“I found a nearby gym, entered a couple of tournaments and I was hooked. I joined Brazilian Top Team Canada, the affiliate of Brazilian Top Team.

“When I moved back to Bermuda, I made it my mission to introduce it to Bermuda.”

He added: “It didn’t exist here, so I started my company and we began as an events company, bringing down professional fighters to do seminars and we did it as a tourism initiative by collaborating with local hotels and businesses to give discounts exclusive to our participants.”

“Now we’re a full-time gym and we’ll be offering these services monthly in the form of seminars with our elite world-class coach.

“Marcos has taught professional fighters most of his life and is himself an active professional fighter — many of his pupils are now in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and other mixed martial arts leagues.

“This is world-class instruction, never before seen in Bermuda. It’s world-class training and this puts Bermuda on the world stage.”

Mr Prior was speaking at his new premises in the Brown Brangman building at 100 Reid Street in Hamilton, which opened only a few weeks ago and already boasts 35 members from a wide range of backgrounds.

The gym got its official opening last Saturday, with the island’s first grappling tournament held as part of the celebrations.

Mr Prior said: “We want to train local people up to Marcos’s level. I thought we would attract the fighters at first, but I was very surprised to find we attracted the average joe — men and women and even people with injuries.

“One man had had open heart surgery and he’s back on the mats and a current student of mine. He’d done martial arts all his life and he brought his whole family along.

“It’s changed his whole outlook on life.”

Mr Prior, a former reporter at The Royal Gazette, added: “People who aren’t necessarily in shape can do these holds and it’s great for women from a self-defence point of view.

“Our training method is we show people, we explain and they practise with partners under pressure to test the effectiveness of each move.

“It’s not discipline for discipline’s sake, it’s not do as I say because I say it. It’s do as I say because it works and we show people it works.”

And he said: “You can see the effectiveness of how a small guy or a woman can defeat a larger guy without strikes.

“All of our students swear by it and that’s why they keep coming. We’ve become a sustainable gym in just one month and that speaks volumes about the training.”

Mr Tulio, who arrived in Bermuda in July, added: “It’s going well — I like Bermuda. Bermudians are known for their striking, not their grappling, but I aim to change that.”