Taking it to the Mat

By Dylan Marsh
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
Mixed Martial Arts are coming to Newport. Dan and Sara Pitta are the owners and operators of a new MMA gym in town. The gym, Newport MMA, will be located at 62 John Stark Highway in the Sugar River Plaza.

Originally from New England, the Pittas had been living in Texas for the last eight years, but moved back to Massachusetts to be closer to family during the COVID-19 pandemic. While in Massachusetts their son began training with UFC fighter Joe Lauzon and found some unexpected results. “It changed his attitude, he was doing better in school. He started winning awards for being the friendliest kid, he became more motivated,” Pitta said of his son’s training results.

Dan Pitta began practicing martial arts at the age of seven years old. He too immediately noticed the benefits of the training. A self described shy kid, Pitta began to feel more confident in his everyday life. He also found that it taught him discipline in a way he hadn’t had before.

“I wasn’t walking around feeling scared of people anymore. I also had to get up and go to practice, even on days when I didn’t feel like it, I still had to get up and go,” Pitta said.

The family wants to share that experience with kids in the area as well. The gym initially intends to be more kid focused and kid friendly. In addition to mixed martial arts, they are offering movie nights, nerf wars, and laser tag for kids. Punching bags will have sensors as well so that folks can track their progress digitally. The gym will also feature security cameras so that parents can watch their children’s classes from home to assure their safety.

“We want parents to be able to come down and train alongside their kids if they want, or be able to feel like they can go have a date night,” Pitta said.

Opening an MMA gym will be a new adventure for the Pittas, but they have said it was a communal effort from other gyms and people in the community. PJ Lovely and other Newport locals have been instrumental in helping the Pittas set up the gym and coordinating with the Recreation Department. In the summers, they hope to do summer camps and have wrestling meets with other nearby towns. They also intend to have professional fighters and wrestlers come in periodically to do seminars for students.

“The Newport Wrestling team only gets to practice two months out of the year. Kids also had to practice in the airport hangar,” Pitta said in regards to her desire to give kids a place to train.

When they moved to Newport they were disappointed to find that there weren’t any classes or training programs like the one their son had been taking. Martial Arts classes are offered at NIMMA in Claremont, as well as places like Gracie Jiu Jitsu in Lebanon NH, but none that combine different aspects like wrestling. Many of them also do not offer the option of competition teams, such as the North American Grappling Association, something Newport MMA intends to incorporate. They will also be the only local private wrestling school in the area.

Newport MMA will have its grand opening on Saturday, May 13th, and invite everyone to come and see the space for themselves. Originally intended as their normal Saturday classes but for free so that people could come try it out, the Pittas are instead having their doors open so that they are available to answer any questions that students or parents may have. They want everyone to feel at home in their new local gym.