BUILT FORD TOUGH

Interiors impresario Willard Ford punches in with an unexpected new mixed martial arts gym in Chinatown / By Andrew Asch /Photography by Spencer Lowell

Who would’ve thought that high-design snobs would ever embrace the extreme fighting fad? In recent years, furniture-world phenom Willard Ford has gained acclaim for his Chinatown showroom in the former Kim Sing Chinese-language movie theatre, peddling the likes of Cali –mod style PAD, and haute-hardwood designers Samuel Moyer and Jacob Marks (Skram). Now he’s branching out with a bruiser business venture in a converted convenience store in the same building. His mixed martial arts studio, Strong Sports MMA, is reinventing the beat-down beat with a refined interior aesthetic meant to help elevate the burgeoning scene beyond  its low down Ultimate Fighting Championship rep (think Randy Couture and skull-and-crossbones Affliction T-shirts). Ford himself studied king fu, judo and boxing as a boy, and now trains in the sport twice a week. “There’s an underserved mixed martial arts population that isn’t interested in covering themselves in barbed wire tattoos,” says the 40-year-old Valley native, whose brother Ben is the chef/owner of Ford’s Filling Station in Culver City. The 700-square foot studio will be run by Kengo Ura, Ford’s occasional sparring partner – the latter’s trained in MMA since the mid-‘90s – and will offer twice weekly beginner’s classes as well as regular demos by top local and international fighters. Ford is quite aware that his sideline may come as a surprise to those who don’t associate the in interiors scene with excess machismo, but makes no apologies. Who said furniture salespeople can’t wrestle?”

posted on September 24th, 2009