UFC Gym Franchise Opening in Johnson

Have you heard the one about the preacher and the fighter who are opening a gym in Fayetteville?

Here’s the punch line: The preacher and the fighter are the same guy.

Wes Sharp, a Baptist preacher as well as a mixed martial arts fighter based in Memphis, is the local franchisee for a planned UFC Gym franchise, a first for Arkansas, that’s slated for the Shoppes at the Mill development along Greathouse Springs Road in Johnson.

Flake & Kelley Commercial has leased Sharp the remaining 6,080-SF in the 15,545-SF building, making UFC Gym the largest tenant among the five there.

UFC, for the uninformed, stands for Ultimate Fighting Championship, the wildly popular brand considered the industry leader in the sport of mixed martial arts.

Sharp said the gym won’t be solely for aspiring UFC combatants.

“The average person doesn’t want to get punched in the face,” he told Whispers. “We take the workouts the fighters use to get in shape and offer those to regular people.”

Sharp, dubbed “The Punching Preacher” by the V3Fights promotional company in Memphis, said the gym will open later this fall, possibly the first week of October.

He expects to have seven full-time employees.

UFC Gym, launched in 2010 as the first extension of the UFC brand, began the year with just five full-service gym facilities, but has been in rapid expansion mode since January when it acquired and re-branded 81 LA Boxing locations throughout the country.