Our Story
OUR STORY BEGINS...
In May of 2012, Mike Ginn and Erik Johnson crossed paths during the weekend of UFC on Fuel TV 3: Korean Zombie vs Dustin Poirier. An epic event and definitely a good weekend. That meeting would lead to a friendship and the eventual launch of Art of MMA in February of 2013. Art of MMA would go on to be a premier source of online MMA content featuring interviews of up and coming fighters and stars of that decade.
As time would go on, Art of MMA would transition to a podcast post-pandemic and that podcast would feature Mike Ginn along with Brandon "The Mechanic" Cuttino and Sergio "The Savage" DaSilva. RIP Savage.
The slogan was always... Fighters First.
July 1, 2021, the decision was made to make Art of MMA something more. That past winter we had already begun selling Art of MMA branded apparel. But Mike Ginn decided to expand that and launch Fighters First!
Initially launching with just original designs, Mike Ginn signed his first officially licensed athlete Brandon "The Mechanic" Cuttino.
Brandon Cuttino, a professional kickboxer and GLORY Kickboxing veteran was the first licensed athlete. He was followed by our first pro wrestler... Davey Boy Smith aka The British Bulldog
Davey Boy Smith's estate, headed by his daughter Georgia Smith, would open up opportunites to license more wrestlers and more fighters.
Soon after, we would sign more fighters from not just kickboxing, but MMA, Boxing and Muay Thai. We would go on to sign more legendary pro wrestlers like the Dynamite Kid and Bad News Allen (Brown).
FIGHTERS FIRST TODAY...
Fighters First has one goal. To tell the story of each and every one of our athletes. Some have already had their stories written like WWE Hall of Famer Ivan Koloff, and we share those legendary tales.
Others are just now writing their stories like Robert Varricchio and we are excited to share his journey. Everyone has a story to tell, and legacies are built on those stories.
Not to mention... some of the highest quality apparel on the market.
