AMA Fight Club's Home to MMA Pros (and Kids Too)

In an unassuming storefront in the back of the Pine Shopping Plaza, Route 10, Whippany, the AMA Fight Club trains world-class mixed martial arts and UFC fighters. But they also work with students from as young as 3 to entire families developing their bodies and their minds.

Owner Mike Constantino has trained in martial arts his entire life and started training others when he was just 19 years old. 

“I started working as a tactical training instructor working with military, martial artists and law enforcement personnel,“ he said. While Constantino was traveling around the country as a trainer, he had a sense that he had something special to offer and decided to open his own school.

AMA Fight Club provides training in a number of martial arts disciplines including karate, jiu jitsu and muay Thai. Trainers work with students at all levels of development including classes for teens, women, adults and fighters. 

“We want to provide programs for everyone and we pride ourselves on being a family martial arts training center,” Constantino said. “The bigger you make your door, the more people will come.”

MMA Pros

Fighters that train at AMA Fight Club compete at all levels of the sport. Dan and Jim Miller, brothers from Sparta, have been training and fighting for the last eight years.  “My brother and I wrestled all through elementary and high school,” Jim Miller said.

He was working in construction with his father, and he and his brother were “kind of bored.” The brothers knew about MMA fighting. “We were definitely big fans and watched it and wanted to give it a shot.  I started training in May and was fighting my first fight in November.” Jim Miller is now 22-4 as a professional.

On April 27, Jim Miller will be a part of the main card for UFC 159 at Newark’s Prudential Center where he will fight Pat Healy. 

Another fighter at AMA Fight Club is Charlie “Spaniard” Brenneman. He has fought in the UFC and is presently fighting in the Cage Fury Fighting Championships. Like many of the other MMA fighters, Brenneman started as a wrestler at 8 years old and continued through high school and college. He earned his master’s degree and was teaching Spanish at his old high school, “but I just had this itch to keep on competing, and in athletics, what I do is wrestle. There weren’t many other options except MMA.” 

Brenneman won his second fight as a lightweight on April 12 in Valley Forge, Pa., defeating Jeremy Castro by submission in the first round.

Pros Mentor Kids

At the other end of the spectrum is Nolan Karosen, a 6-year-old from Cedar Knolls. Nolan has been training for 3 years. His family was at The Pancake House one Sunday morning and walked next door to the AMA Fight Club. 

“We were looking in the window and Mike (Constantino) invited us to come in,” said mom, Marcel. The professional fighters were practicing that morning and came over, introduced themselves and took pictures with Nolan. “The integration of professional fighters and the kids, to see them and interact with them, it’s inspiring,” said Marcel. “Nolan has been here every week since.” 

“I want to learn how to protect myself and not get picked on by bullies” said Nolan, already a green belt. Nolan’s cousin, Declan Koch, 6, of Cedar Knolls, has been training with him at AMA for three years. 

For more information on the AMA Fight Club, call 973-884-5995 or click here.

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