Former Tuatha De Danann head coach launches uniquely Irish Jiu Jitsu Brand

Marko Conroy, who co-founded and coached at Irish MMA gym Tuatha De Danann along with John Ging, has moved on to the apparel business, launching jiu jitsu brand “Wolfhound Fightwear” two weeks ago along with his business partner Ian Stewart.

“I’ve been training jiu jitsu for about six years now and like a lot of people involved in the sport, I’m completely obsessed. It wasn’t until I got talking to an old training partner of mine, Ian Stewart, that I thought that this was something we could actually do.

“He trained with me in Port Laoise for a while and he has 12 years of marketing experience under his belt. Together, we decided that we would try and launch a uniquely Irish brand that puts out high quality jiu jitsu gis,” he said.

Conroy went on to describe the lengthy process that was needed to get the right design for the new products, enlisting the help of some of Ireland’s most dominant grappling competitors, including Gracie Barra’s Darren Curtis.

“We came up with the concept in 2012 and selecting the right design and finish took 15 months. It was a massive benefit that I had been training for so long, I could judge the prototypes quite well and I had people like Darren Curtis give me a second opinion for things like shrinkage and general movement.

“We had a lot of designs come in over the 15 month period and it would’ve been easy to just pick the cheapest one, but Ian and I wanted something that I could be proud of, so we took the extra time. We went for the ‘Wolfhound’ name because it’s something that people will automatically associate with Ireland.

“One of Ian’s ideas was to have ‘tada gan iarracht’ embroidered on both of the gis that we have available, which is Gaelic for ‘nothing without effort’ – it looks great and I think it’s a proverb that sums up BJJ pretty well,  I’m sure anyone who has trained the sport will agree with me. “

“The Dabilla gi comes in black and it’s my personal favourite, I think it looks brilliant and just like the Púca, it’s great to roll in. It’s a little bit heavier at 550 grams, but we’ve been getting great feedback on both of the gis. One of the unique things about them is that they’re both completely embroidered, there’s no patch work on them at all.”

“We sent a gi and a rash guard down to Stewart Dollery for the guys at the MMA Clinic too. They have guys going to the MMA amateur world championships in Las Vegas so I hope the gear we gave them goes some way to helping them in their preparation and when they compete.”

Conroy also claimed that the brand is already looking to expand into international markets.

“At the moment we’re focusing on national sales and we’ve been doing really well, we already need new stock. We’re going to branch out into MMA apparel soon, stuff like shorts and gloves, and again, we’ll be looking to sponsor athletes as soon as possible.

“Ian is looking at a possible deal with an agent in America, so hopefully the Irish folklore inspired equipment will go down with the ex-pats,” he finished.

By Peter Carroll – @PetesyCarroll