Cam Rowe
Head Coach/Owner
Cam’s martial arts journey started in Geelong in 1994 when he began training with his life long coach and Australian BJJ pioneer, John Will.
Training directly under John for 6 years, a work promotion saw Cam move to Melbourne where he quickly found his next BJJ home in Richmond at one of the few satellite schools around at that time. With the growth of BJJ in Australia beginning to expand, Cam was asked by John to take over coaching of the Richmond club to free up coaches to establish clubs elsewhere. Not realising where it would lead, he accepted the challenge and responsibility.
Cam went on to be one of three founders of one the biggest and most established BJJ schools in Australia, Dominance MMA. In 2014 Cam established Rise MMA in Altona where it’s grown from 20 BJJ students to now also encompassing Muay Thai, Kids classes, women’s only classes and our own full-time modern training facility.
Along with being a 3rd Degree Black Belt in BJJ, Cam’s training has included gaining a 2nd Degree Black Belt in Shootfighting (an early street orientated version of MMA), a Green Belt in Judo (under 4 x Olympian and UFC veteran Daniel Kelly), and many years training in Freestyle Wrestling (under Olympian Talgat Ilyasov), MMA and Muay Thai which has included training in Brazil, and the United States.
His MMA fight record stands at 2 - 0 with his second fight representing Australia in the US. Cam also qualified to represent the Oceania region in the 2011 ADCC World Championships (the most prestigious No Gi submission wrestling tournament in the world) held in Nottingham, UK.
Other titles include many state and national Pan Pacific BJJ titles and placings, winning Gold in the Black Belt Masters 3 division of the AFBJJ Victorian State Championships in 2019.
With over 18 years of coaching experience, Cam has had many of his students go on to win State, National, Pan Pacific and world championships, having previously assisted as grappling coach to UFC fighter Brian Ebersole in preparation for many of his UFC fights and his break out win over former UFC champion, Carlos Newton. Cam also helped prepare and coach retired UFC veteran Dan Kelly while he established himself in the local MMA scene.
Paul Martin
Muay Thai Coach Head Coach
Paul began his Muay Thai journey back in 1996 as a 17 year old training at Phraya Pichai Muay Thai & Cwmbran Thai boxing in Wales.
After training for over 5 years Paul wanted to challenge himself and put his skills to the test by stepping into the ring with his first fight in 2001. Having his first taste of the ring he continued to fight in UK Muay Thai scene for the next 7 years in doing so picking up the Welsh light welterweight title in 2007 and runner up for the Welsh welterweight title in 2008.
2008 saw Paul move to Australia and quickly found homes at Valhalla Muay Thai, Iron Fist and finally with Karma Muay Thai. In 2012 with his wealth of knowledge and he was tasked with the responsibility of bringing up Karma’s young and upcoming fighters in preparation with helping them to step into the ring.
The itch to fight once more hit in 2013 were he quickly found success winning the 2014 QLD light welterweight title followed on by a run at the 2014 Australian light welterweight title where he came runner up. Coming back stronger the following year he was able to secure the 2015 QLD light welterweight title before and defence saw him the 2015 Australian lightweight title runner up.
Paul has an extensive resume with 20 amateur fights and 17 pro fight for a record of 12 wins, 4 loses and 1 draw.
With Paul’s wealth of knowledge and experience coaching Muay Thai, he is able to cater to all levels, whether it be for fitness, self defence or for those wishing to step into the ring.
Sefo Sefokuli
Assistant BJJ Coach
Sefo began his BJJ journey with Rise MMA in 2014 before taking a break in 2015 to focus on his VCE studies.
Upon successfully completing VCE, his hunger for BJJ quickly had him back on the mat in early 2016 where he picked up where he left off.
With his love of BJJ saw Sefo want to compete, where in his first competition he took home the Silver medal, it was a sign of bigger achievements to come. In early 2017 head Coach Cam Rowe recognised that with Sefo’s passion for BJJ and possessing the right personality, he had the makings of becoming an exceptional BJJ coach. Currently he is an assistant coach teaching the Kids classes and Adult BJJ Intro class.
Grading to Blue Belt in December 2017, Sefo went on to win Gold and Silver in many of the smaller local competitions such as Grappling Industries and the Dominance Round Robins.
It wasn’t long before Sefo made his presence known at in the bigger state and national competitions by dominating his weight division winning double Gold (Gi & No Gi) at the IBJJF Sydney Open , double Gold (Gi & No Gi) at the AFBJJ NSW State Championships, Gold at the AFBJJ Victorian State Championships, double Gold (Gi & No Gi) at the AFBJJ Australia Cup, Silver at IBJJF Pan Pacific Championships and double Gold (Gi & No Gi) at the prestigious Abu Dhabi Continental Pro.
Having dominated the National scene, Sefo now sets his sights on testing his skills on the world stage representing Rise MMA, Will/Machado BJJ and the Australian BJJ scene at next IBJJF World Championships in Long Beach, California.
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