Why Now Is the Best Time in History to Own a Martial Arts School

I’ve been in this business since the 1970s. I worked my way through Georgetown University running schools for the Jhoon Rhee Institute — in today’s dollars, a martial arts chain doing something like $10 million a year. I moved to Denver in 1983 at 23 years old, and by the time I was 25 I was running five and six locations doing about $5 million a year in today’s terms. That’s 43 years of watching this industry go up, down, and sideways. So believe me when I tell you: there has never been a better time to own a martial arts school than right now.

That’s not cheerleading. A lot of good people got hurt six years ago. The overreaction to COVID ran an enormous number of established schools out of business — my best estimate is we lost roughly 40% of the industry, maybe 8,000 schools or more. So why am I optimistic? Because of what came next.

The UFC opened a door that had never existed

I’ll be honest, I was critical of the UFC in the early days. So was John McCain — he famously called it “human cockfighting.” But the sport grew up. It got professional. And in the process it did something for our industry that nothing else had done in my lifetime: it created a massive adult market for Brazilian jiu-jitsu, MMA, and Muay Thai that simply did not exist before.

For most of my career, martial arts in America was a kids’ market. The first couple of Karate Kid movies drove it that direction in the 1980s. Today the kids’ market is as strong as it’s ever been — and the adult market is back, big, thanks to the striking and grappling that fans watch every weekend.

The fastest-growing segment in the country

The single fastest-growing segment right now is Brazilian jiu-jitsu. It’s been on a rocket ride. Styles have had their moment before — Krav Maga had a real run a while back — but BJJ has staying power because the UFC keeps feeding it. If you run a BJJ gym or an MMA gym, you are positioned in the part of the market with the most wind at its back.

Here’s the part that surprises people: six years after the industry got gutted, we’re actually looking at something like a 50% growth factor over where we were before. There are at least 10,000 more schools in the country than there used to be. A lot of those owners are in their 20s and 30s. Many are running 100, 150 students and doing pretty well on the surface — but a lot of them aren’t actually making money, because nobody ever taught them the business behind the school.

Marketing got democratized — and more complicated

When I was doing millions a year with a chain, I had an advantage most owners couldn’t touch. I could run full daily-newspaper campaigns reaching half a million subscribers during the week and nearly a million on weekends. I could run television. It was expensive, and almost nobody else could afford to play at that level.

That’s gone. Today a brand-new school can buy clicks on Google and leads on Facebook the same as anybody, big or small. The playing field got leveled. The trade-off is that marketing became exponentially more complicated — more platforms, more moving parts, more ways to waste money. The opportunity is enormous, but only if you understand the whole process instead of handing it off and hoping.

What it means for you

The demand is here. The economy is decent. AI isn’t going to replace a human instructor teaching a room full of kids anytime soon — nobody’s learning a roundhouse from a robot. What that means is the fundamentals still win: quality instruction, real relationships, and a business built on systems instead of luck. The owners who learn the business side are about to have the best decade this industry has ever produced. The ones who don’t will keep wondering why 150 students still doesn’t pay the bills.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is owning a martial arts school still a good business in 2026?

Yes. After the industry lost roughly 40% of its schools six years ago, it has rebounded to about a 50% growth factor over its previous size, with a strong kids’ market and a booming adult market in BJJ, MMA, and Muay Thai. The opportunity is the best I’ve seen in over 40 years — for owners who learn the business side.

What is the fastest-growing martial arts style?

Brazilian jiu-jitsu is the fastest-growing segment, driven by the popularity of the UFC, which opened up an adult striking and grappling market that didn’t exist before.

I’m Stephen Oliver — founder of Mile High Karate and Martial Arts Wealth Mastery, and I’ve been coaching school owners for more than 30 years. If you want the systems my members use to double and triple their net income, grab my free books and register for the next training at MartialArtsWealth.com. You can also see real, named client results here.