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Jorge Climent

Argentine coach who reached Spain in 2002, opened Climent Club with his brother and coached Ilia Topuria from the age of 15.

Biography

Jorge Climent is an Argentine coach who runs Climent Club in Alicante with his brother Agustín. It is the gym where Ilia Topuria trained from the age of 15 before he won the UFC featherweight title. Much of what is known about Jorge's own path comes from his telling of it, above all in a long interview the Argentine daily La Nación published in March 2024. Climent grew up in the Congreso district. As a boy he played rugby, and after he entered the Colegio Militar de la Nación he moved on to boxing. Agustín, then a capoeira practitioner, got into Brazilian jiu-jitsu before Jorge did. Jorge tried it after leaving the military college and then devoted himself to it completely. In the interview he named Freddy Sukata as the teacher both brothers trained under in Argentina, and said they were already giving classes of their own before they emigrated. They left in 2002, in the wake of the economic collapse known as the corralito, and arrived in Spain with roughly 100 euros. Jorge has described washing cars at the airport and moving furniture while they looked for somewhere to teach. The brothers then rented premises in Alicante and opened a gym of their own; in its first five years the group grew to around 40 or 50 members. In March 2024 the club was still at the address where it started, Calle Burgos 8. Climent calls the brothers pioneers. As he recalls it, Spain had only two black belts when they arrived, Fabrício Werdum in Madrid and Robin Gracie in Valencia, and after Werdum moved away the Climents were left among the leading figures in the sport there. He took second place at the first Spanish championship, and the following year the brothers travelled to several European championships. Because competitions were scarce and no federation existed, they began staging events themselves inside their gym. Jorge credits that work with creating the audience the sport now has in Spain. The Topurias found the club through one of its students. According to Jorge, a Cuban black belt who trained with them got talking with the boys' mother on a bus and pointed her toward the gym. The brothers spoke no Spanish and had a background in Greco-Roman wrestling. When they wanted to try themselves on the mat, Agustín took them on using nothing but his feet. The Climents coached them for a year, long enough for the boys to learn Spanish, after which they told their father they wanted to train full time. Jorge said he and Agustín told the father they would stand behind a son ready to commit that way. He describes the Topurias as dedicated almost to obsession, and Ilia as unusually analytical. La Nación called the Climents the masterminds behind Topuria's climb to the featherweight title, which he took from Alexander Volkanovski, and Jorge said the team had done it alone, with no help from outside. For UFC 298 they kept Topuria's camp at home in Alicante rather than in Las Vegas, where his camps had usually been run at the UFC Performance Center, and trained three sessions a day while fans walked in to take photos. Wikipedia names Jorge and Agustín as the coaches under whom Topuria holds his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. Climent Club's instructors page lists Jorge as teaching its MMA and grappling classes. In 2024 the brothers were also running a promotion, WAR MMA, whose second event was set for 29 June 2024 in Alicante's Plaza de Toros, with twelve professional and amateur bouts on the card.

Sources for this profile

  • La Nación, interview-profile of the Climent brothers by Diego Morini, 30 March 2024(opens in a new tab)

    • Jorge Climent is Argentine; the interview describes him and his brother Agustín as Argentines who have lived in Alicante for more than twenty years.

      Where in the source: Opening paragraph, sentence on the brothers' origins: "argentinos"

      Accessed:

    • Jorge grew up in the Congreso district; in the interview (March 2024, aged 48) he said he and Agustín had trained in Argentina as students of Freddy Sukata and were already teaching classes there before they left.

      Where in the source: Opening paragraph (Congreso) and the first interview answer, passage naming his teacher: "Freddy Sukata"

      Accessed:

    • As a boy Jorge played rugby, then took up boxing after entering the Colegio Militar de la Nación; his brother Agustín, who practised capoeira, started Brazilian jiu-jitsu first, and Jorge tried it after leaving the college and committed to it fully.

      Where in the source: Answer to the question on how he came to jiu-jitsu

      Accessed:

    • Jorge said the brothers left Argentina in 2002 after the economic collapse known as the corralito, arriving in Spain with about 100 euros, and took odd jobs such as washing cars at the airport and moving furniture while looking for a gym to teach in.

      Where in the source: First interview answer, passage on the 2002 departure and the early jobs: "corralito"

      Accessed:

    • Conflicting accounts

      Jorge said he was a blue belt and Agustín a purple belt when they left Argentina.

      Where in the source: Answer to the question on how he came to jiu-jitsu, closing sentences on belts

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    • Jorge said the brothers rented premises in Alicante and started the gym that the club still occupies; in its first five years the group grew to about forty or fifty members.

      Where in the source: First interview answer, passage on renting the premises and the first five years

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    • Jorge said that when the brothers reached Spain he knew of only two black belts there, Fabrício Werdum in Madrid and Robin Gracie in Valencia, and that when Werdum left the country the Climents were left among the leading figures in Spanish grappling.

      Where in the source: Answer on the Spanish scene on arrival, passage on the two black belts: "fuimos pioneros"

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    • Jorge finished second at the first Spanish championship, and the following year the brothers travelled to several European championships.

      Where in the source: Same answer, closing sentences on the first Spanish championship and the following year

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    • Because there were few competitions and no federation in Spain, the brothers began organising events themselves inside their gym; Jorge said they created the following for the sport that exists in Spain today.

      Where in the source: Answer on organising events in the early Spanish scene

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    • According to Jorge, a Cuban black-belt student of the club, Hamlem, met Ilia Topuria's mother on a bus and sent her to the gym; the Topuria brothers, then boys who spoke no Spanish and came from Greco-Roman wrestling, were tested on the mat by the Climents, with Agustín fighting them using only his feet.

      Where in the source: Answer to the question on how the Topurias reached the club: "Hamlem"

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    • The Climents trained the Topuria brothers for a year, during which they learned Spanish, and then the boys told their father they wanted to train full time; Jorge said the Climents told the father that, had they had a son with that ability and commitment, they would have supported him.

      Where in the source: Same answer, closing sentences; follow-up answer on the father

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    • The article places the Climents' first meeting with Ilia Topuria at age 15, and Jorge describes the Topurias as dedicated and obsessive, with Ilia especially analytical.

      Where in the source: Opening paragraphs, where the brothers first met Topuria; answer on talent

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    • The article credits the Climent brothers as the masterminds behind Ilia Topuria's rise to the UFC featherweight title, won against Alexander Volkanovski; Jorge said the team had done it on its own, without outside help.

      Where in the source: Opening paragraphs: "autores intelectuales"; Jorge's quote in the second paragraph on doing it alone

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    • In March 2024 the club was still in the same Alicante premises where it began, on Calle Burgos 8.

      Where in the source: Answer on the club's current location: "calle Burgos"

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  • The SportsRush, interview with Jorge Climent by Adarsh Ojha, 11 March 2024(opens in a new tab)

    • Jorge Climent was born in Argentina and landed in Spain in 2002 together with his brother Agustín.

      Where in the source: First section of the article, first paragraph

      Accessed:

    • Conflicting accounts

      The SportsRush reports that both brothers held purple belts in jiu-jitsu when they moved to Spain, and quotes Jorge saying that on arrival they found neither MMA nor jiu-jitsu established there.

      Where in the source: First section, quoted answer: "We are like pioneers."

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    • The SportsRush says the Topuria brothers began training with the Climent brothers at age 15 and later asked their parents to let them leave school to train full time at Climent Club.

      Where in the source: Second section, on the Topuria brothers at age 15

      Accessed:

    • For UFC 298 the team held Topuria's camp in the Climent gym in Alicante instead of the UFC Performance Center in Las Vegas, where camps had usually been held, and trained three times a day despite fans entering to take photos.

      Where in the source: Third section, on the UFC 298 fight camp

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  • El Español (Alicante), article on the brothers' WAR MMA promotion by Jorge Verdú, 21 May 2024(opens in a new tab)

    • El Español calls Jorge and Agustín Climent Argentines who in 2002 turned an empty local in Alicante into a gym for contact sports.

      Where in the source: Section "Alicante, casa del MMA": "Los argentinos Jorge y Agustín Climent"

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    • The brothers' promotion WAR MMA scheduled its second event for 29 June 2024 at the Plaza de Toros in Alicante, with twelve professional and amateur bouts, a DAZN broadcast, and announced purses of 2,500 euros for professionals and 500 euros for amateurs.

      Where in the source: Opening paragraphs and purse paragraph: "12 combates profesionales y amateurs"

      Accessed:

  • Wikipedia, article on Ilia Topuria, accessed 21 October 2026(opens in a new tab)

    • Wikipedia's Topuria article names Jorge and Agustín Climent as the coaches under whom Topuria holds his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt.

      Where in the source: Infobox Rank: "Black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Jorge and Agustín Climent"

      Accessed:

  • Climent Club, instructors page, accessed 21 October 2026(opens in a new tab)

    • Climent Club's own instructors page lists Jorge Climent as teaching MMA and grappling classes, alongside Agustín Climent.

      Where in the source: Instructors list: "JORGE CLIMENT / CLASES DE MMA - GRAPPLING"

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  • Climent Club, About us page, accessed 21 October 2026(opens in a new tab)

    • The club's own About page says Jorge and Agustín left Argentina with little more than a backpack and small savings and built a gym from scratch in an abandoned local, in a country where contact sports were taboo.

      Where in the source: About page, paragraph on the history of Climent Club

      Accessed:

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