When someone thinks of Santa Barbara, a few things come to mind: sunshine, vacation, and the beach. However, what the average sunburned tourist may not see is that it actually has a thriving martial arts scene. Santa Barbara holds an impressive 25 martial arts studios in our vacation town. From Mixed Martial Arts to Krav Maga, it showcases an extremely diverse range of studios despite Santa Barbara being such a small area geographically.
One of the highlights of these gyms is Paragon Academy. Paragon Academy, started by Ricardo “Franjinha” Miller in 1988, has become a staple of the Santa Barbara area since its beginning. Franjinha, a five-time Pan American champion and world champion, is regarded as one of the most respected Jiu-Jitsu coaches and offers his expertise to his students of all ages with incredible patience and encouragement.
The studio offers Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, kickboxing, boxing, and wrestling classes Monday through Sunday, demonstrating the dedication they have to offering a complete martial arts experience. The gym has a variety of locations spanning across the coast, all under the Paragon name, showing the growth the studio has had since 1988 from its original location.
While Paragon is one of the more respected names for martial arts in Santa Barbara, it is not the only one. More recently, Enso MMA, a mixed martial arts gym, has opened up downtown and provides coaching from a Santa Barbara native named Jacob Sandoval. Jacob attended Bishop Diego High School, where he wrestled for the school and eventually won the CIF title. After high school, he explored more disciplines of martial arts such as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai to round out his martial arts prowess. All of this eventually culminated in him moving back to Santa Barbara and opening up Enso MMA.
Santa Barbara is in an extremely unique situation; unlike most towns or cities that would be lucky to have one or two gyms, we hold multiple, all with great legitimacy to their names. These gyms hold real experts and teachers eager to share their own expertise, and with so much diversity in the selection of martial arts, almost anybody can find what they are looking for. Santa Barbara has a lot to offer but the great depth of martial arts also showcases the fact that it is worth exploring a new travel destination beyond what is found in the pamphlet.
