We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Adam Collarile. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Adam below.

Adam, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Success comes slow. Success comes slow because it is a culmination of failures mixed with the grit and positivity needed to pick up and try again. To fight forward when the fight isn’t going your way. Our Jiu Jitsu Academy is built on failure.

Legends Martial Arts opened to the public on February 15th 2020. 5 weeks later we where asked to close our doors as the Covd-19 pandemic creeped further into New York State. We were devastated. The hard work, the plans made and the mission we set out to achieve was forced to come to a halt. Our doors shut – 5 weeks after opening. Devastated.

But we fight. It’s what we’re best at. After all its what our business revolves around – Fighting. But it didn’t stop there. Shortly after the soft re-opening of Legends I tore my ACL, MCL and meniscus while in training. Blew out my entire knee. 2 weeks later my beautiful son was born and a week after that I had the surgery to repair my knee.

I remember waking up the one morning shortly after the surgery. I couldn’t walk and I had baby boy in the next room who needs to be held. Plus my brand new business couldn’t even fully open to the public yet. My knee was wrecked, my business was stagnant and I was a brand new father. The pressure was crazy.

I remember laying there. Staring at the ceiling. It was cold that morning. All these thoughts running through my head. All the negative shit on tv and in the news. The world seemed to just stop and the failures added up. I thought of all the work that needed to be done. I thought about the fights I’ve had, the wins the loses the training. I thought about what it took to earn my BJJ black belt and all the blood and sweat it took to become an owner of a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu academy. I thought about my team. Man, I have as strong team. Good coaches, good fighters, one hell of a business partner (Mike Davila). I thought about my wife and my son. I thought about Legends. I thought about the pressure.

And I smiled.

I smiled because I remembered how good I’ve become at failure. Not because I suck at what I do but because of how important failure has been in my career. Especially in Jiu Jitsu where we fail every day on the mat in training. It’s why we show up – to get better. To succeed. This was no different.

Even the pressure felt exactly the same as it does before a big fight. Shoot, I remember thinking about how good we are (my team) at handling pressure. Because if there is one thing Jiu Jitsu teaches us, it’s how to handle pressure. How to get comfortable and stay patient when the pressure is relentless. And ultimately how to use pressure to open up new opportunities – Because pressure creates Diamonds. And that year and the years to follow we’re a Diamond.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I graduated Dobbs Ferry High School in 2006 after placing in an all section championship in Wrestling. Shortly after, I began training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Mixed Martial arts at a local school in lower New York.

In 2008, I moved to Hilo, Hawaii to pursue the Martial Arts and to attend college at the University of Hawaii. thats where I met multiple time Jiu Jitsu World Champion and 2x UFC World Champion BJ Penn and his Academies fight team – Boss MMA lead by Black Belts Ross Ebanez and Chad Ha’o.

Under the tutelage of BJ Penn and over the next 8 years, I fought my way to the top of the rankings going undefeated and becoming the #1 ranked Amateur Lightweight in the State.

On July 31st, 2015 I made my Professional MMA debut and entered the rankings when I stepped into the ring against #4 professionally ranked Hawaiian fighter, Isaac Hopps. I finished the fight in the first round.

My time in Hawaii wasn’t only spent in the ring however. My passion for teaching and helping local kids was discovered. Over this 8 year period, I worked exclusively with the Hawaii Youth Foundation, forming the Prodigy Wrestling team and helping the troubled youth of Hawaii find an outlet through the Martial Arts. Many of these kids went on to win Hawaii State and National Wrestling championships, and are currently attending or graduated College.

Later that year (2015), my accolades got noticed outside of Hawaii. This is when I met Wade Rome, a Jiu Jitsu Black Belt and one of the founders of the world renowned Martial Arts gym – American Top Team. Soon after i made the move to Florida to begin training with Wade and the World Champion Fighters that American Top Team produced. Its here that I found my passion for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, earning my Black belt under Wade Rome and Ricardo Liborio.

I’d go on to continue my MMA career, obtaining a contract after defeating top Russian fighter, Sodik Ismoilov under the bright lights of Ring of Combat. Soon after, I’d be watched world wide on the famous UFC Fight Pass network competing against top level athletes such as Dennis Bermudez on the Professional Grappling stage of Rise Invitational.

In late 2016, a popular Martial arts gym in New York reached out to me to become their head Grappling and MMA instructor. I spent the next 3 years here, helping to grow the gym, the team and producing competitive Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, Boxing and MMA champions at all ages. It was here that I would fine tune my teaching skills and would shift my focus to learn the in’s and out of the very business that I own today.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

I met Mike Davila while leading a program in New York around 2018. A mutual friend of ours, Tevin Dyce brought him in to help me prepare for a fight. And I immediately recognized him.

Flash back 1 or 2 years. I’m at the Finishers tournament to corner PJ Barch in Northern New Jersey. Mike walks in and PJ turns to me and says that’s the guy whos supposed to win the tournament. Mike was scary looking. He had the fresh haircut and was wearing vale tudo shorts. Mike was a already a finishers champion, an EBI veteran and at the time a brown belt under the worlds best grappler – Marcelo Garcia.

I cornered against Mike that day. I had no idea we would become good friend and business partners after that.

Fast forward back when Tevin brought him in. It was a cold winter day and I knew how hard the training was about to be. We learned a lot about each other that night. I wasn’t sure if he would come back again but he did, again and again.

As our friendship grew I told him that I’ve been searching for a place to open my own Academy. “Hey Mike you want to jump in on this and partner with me?” No, he had a good career and a good life that didn’t need to change at the moment.

Spring sprung -. “hey mike! You sure you don’t want to partner up?. No it wasnt the right time for him.

So we trained.

Summer was hot that year. I was looking for 1500 square feet around Sleepy Hollow New York to open an academy in. I was on a budget and success comes slow.

My phone beeped and I had text from mike “Hey bro, you still looking for a spot to open up at? I want to jump in.

Summer seemed to cool off all of a sudden.

Our budget doubled and so did the size of the space we where looking for.

The leaves fell off the trees and we built an academy.

And the rest is history..

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I have a fortune hanging up in the gym office from a cookie that I ate when we first opened. It says: “It’s amazing how much good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit”

Our coaching revolves around this. It takes an entire team to be successful. We win together, we fail together and ultimately we succeed together. No one is put on a pedestal. We train with our fighters and we “dig the trenches with the team”

When you lead from the front and set the example, the future leaders will shine and show themselves.

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]
• Instagram: @Legends_MartialArts
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/legendsmartialartswestchester
• Youtube: Gym fights : Adam ‘Bomb’ Collarile, Mike ‘Thrilla’ Davila, Nick ‘Risky Business’ Navarro, Mike ‘Sharp Sanders, Ben Decrenza, Tevin ‘Mushin’ Dyce

Image Credits

Rise Invitational
Giulliana Fonseca
Angelo Carchesio
Legends Fight Club LLC