Costa Mesa home to new Carlson Gracie jiu-jitsu studio
Real estate agents often like to talk about location, location, location.
These days, Anthony Misitano is prone to doing the same thing.
The Huntington Beach resident recently opened a Carlson Gracie Brazilian Jiu Jitsu studio at Triangle Square in Costa Mesa.
Misitano, 34, has seen a growing stream of foot traffic since the studio first welcomed students on Aug. 12.
“This is actually a perfect location for families,” he said. “If mom and dad want to drop off their kid and he goes to practice, they can go up and have dinner. Or there’s a movie theater that’s right here. And there’s plenty of free parking.”
Misitano, a brown belt, has been practicing jiu-jitsu for eight years, all of them using the Carlson Gracie method. The late Carlson Gracie was one of the most influential practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, as the oldest son of Carlos Gracie, who helped introduce the sport in Brazil in the early 1900s.
Brazilian jiu-jitsu is a self-defense martial art and combat sport based on grappling and submission holds.
Misitano opened the new studio in Costa Mesa with business partner Diego Segura, who has been a black belt for six years. Coaches also include Dave Hudson, a black belt for 14 years and a jiu-jitsu teacher for nearly 20 years.
Hudson competed at the World Championships in Brazil in 2002, later moving to the country to train. His tutelage was under two other well-known Carlson Gracie jiu-jitsu black belts, Franco de Camargo and Ricardo De La Riva.
When Hudson moved back to the states, he joined forces with Segura, who had an academy in Garden Grove. Now he has moved a little bit closer to the beach.
“There are a lot of options, but the Carlson Gracie brand is a well-known brand in the jiu-jitsu community,” Hudson said. “We’re really looking forward to building a competition team here. I think it’s great. A healthy competition is the kind of thing that you would want, so this area is a golden area for that too. We have some of our rival schools also here.”
One competitor less than 2 miles away is Art of Jiu-Jitsu (AOJ).
“AOJ has been around since 2012, they’re a great academy,” said Misitano, whose primary income is with his technology business. He also operates a dog treat food truck, the Mobile Barkery, with his wife, Krista.
“We know what we are,” Misitano added. “We’re new, so we’re going to be primarily white belts.”
Still, the instructors are looking forward to building up the studio.
“I feel like the Carlson Gracie brand really sticks to that concept of having practical techniques that are also useful in real life self-defense situations,” Hudson said. “Also, the Carlson Gracie brand is a competition-style academy, so we’re always active in tournaments, local and national. We’re opening a new chapter here, and that’s exciting too, building up from the ground.”
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