Michael “Mikey” Pharoah is a BJJ Black Belt and experienced martial arts coach with over 12 years of training across Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, No-Gi Grappling, Wrestling, Boxing and Muay Thai. Specialising in No-Gi and Wrestling, Mikey is an active competitor who has earned Gold and Silver medals at regional competitions while continuing to train with high-level grapplers.

Having coached at Elevate Martial Arts for a number of years, Mikey is known for his high-energy sessions, technical knowledge and approachable coaching style. He teaches No-Gi BJJ and Wrestling classes, blending concepts from multiple grappling styles to help members build confidence, skill and performance on the mats.

Nathan “Mr Bag & Tag” Jones is a professional MMA fighter, coach and Level 4 Advanced Personal Trainer. With over 15 years of martial arts experience across MMA, kickboxing and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu — including over a decade training and coaching at Elevate Martial Arts — Nathan is known for his high-energy coaching style, resilience and passion for helping others grow in confidence through martial arts.

Alongside competing and coaching, Nathan holds a Master’s degree in Youth Work and has extensive experience working with young people across London, combining fitness, discipline and mindset development both on and off the mats.

Sam King is a Kickboxing and Boxing coach for both adults and children, beginners to professionals. Sam has been training in a variety of martial arts and combat sports since he was a child in 2000 and has been coaching full time since 2010. Sam has taught numerous kickboxers through to their blackbelts, and coached fighters at the highest level of European Mixed Martial Arts. 

Fully DBS Checked, First Aid trained and insured, you can find Sam teaching our kickboxing classes. Sam is available for PT and can help you, whether that is to learn striking or sharpen up existing skills.

A pro mma fighter, combat sport coach and lover of life here at elevate. As a fighter Louis was unbeaten as an amateur holding both the cage warriors academy and fightstar welterweight belts. As a pro he remains unbeaten and is making his climb towards the big leagues! Training relentlessly for 7 years in boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, BJJ and MMA, Louis takes his training and coaching very seriously but himself less so.

With over 35 years’ experience in various martial arts across all ranges, Dean brings a wealth of knowledge into his coaching and instructing programs. Dean has trained at some of the top and most prestigious gyms across the globe including the London Budokwai, Roger Gracie Academy HQ in London, Rickson Gracie Academy and Dynamix Martial Arts both in LA and tutelage under Lyubo Kumbarov Wrestling. Holding multiple grades across the martial arts Dean is currently a trained in Dutch Kickboxing, Second Dan Black Belt in Karate, Black Belt in Judo and Second-Degree Black Belt under Roger Gracie in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Dean brought Elements of this training in to an early amateur career in the ‘90s as MMA was first making waves in the UK culminating in winning the first UK Shootfighting Championship at middleweight in ‘99.Whilst still actively engaged in training, Dean has moved his focus to coaching and training fighters having previously taken the role of head MMA coach and also coaching the No-Gi evening schedule at the prestigious Roger Gracie Academy HQ in London from 2017-2019.

Jack has extensive competition and coaching experience. He’s a retired Professional MMA fighter with wins on shows like Cagewarriors and BAMMA in venues like Wembley Arena and Copperbox Arena. After hanging up his gloves, the pursuit of strength has become his passion. Lifters coached by him collectively hold 5 World, 4 European, and 32 British Powerlifting Records. Two of those World Records are held by him. 

You can find Jack teaching all of our strength classes. Jack is available for PT. 

Tommy is a 3rd degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Roger Gracie and the head BJJ coach at Elevate. He’s a former competitive swimmer, Judoka, and diver with a deep family tradition in Wrestling. A super computer when it comes to BJJ and widely knowledgeable in the art.

Lon Kavanagh is a professional UFC flyweight fighter and one of the UK’s fastest-rising MMA talents, having trained at Elevate for over a decade. Lon earned his UFC contract with a first-round knockout on Dana White’s Contender Series before going on to climb to #6 in the UFC flyweight rankings.

With a background in sports science and coaching, Lon combines elite-level fight experience with a technical, approachable coaching style. Alongside competing on the world stage, he teaches MMA classes at Elevate, working with members of all levels to develop skill, confidence and performance.

Richard has trained in martial arts since he was a child, earning a black belt in kickboxing before taking up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He has trained and competed in BJJ for ten years and now holds a brown belt. His teaching style focuses on breaking techniques down into simple stages, particularly suiting anyone who might find the depth of BJJ a bit daunting.

Joanna is a second-degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt under Roger Gracie and a former World and European champion, with 25 years of experience in martial arts and self-defence. She is the founder of Women’s Self-Defence UK, an organisation dedicated to providing safety and empowerment training for women and the wider community.

She is also a certified Personal Trainer, and a Yoga Vinyasa Instructor and is passionate about helping people feel stronger, more confident, and empowered in both body and mind

Frankie is the SFC Amateur Featherweight MMA Champion and has been training now for around 4 years.

He’s competed in kickboxing, Jiu jitsu and MMA and loves competition and teaching.

I find imparting knowledge and watching people grow in this sport so rewarding. In the future I hope to try other disciplines of competition and continue to learn myself. I’m so happy I get to spend my days training and teaching martial arts and couldn’t imagine my life without it. See you on the mats