One of the great things about combat sports is its ability to connect people in pursuit of a common goal.  Personal mastery of the sport is only possible in a team environment so often the strongest bonds between people are forged on the mat.

This was how Andrew and Darius - the unlikely duo behind 50/50Lockers - met and brought their different skills together to create an exciting new combat sports clothing brand.

50/50Lockers was the brainchild of Andrew (affectionately known  as "Kumite" to his friends on the mat!).  Several years ago, Andrew walked into Darius’s MMA Gym (The Fighting Arts Academy), confident, cocky, strong, covered in tattoos…. He was very quickly humbled by people with more skill but a far more mild mannered appearance!  

It’s a story that you hear again and again from different gyms across the world.  The real difference in what happens next depends on the fledgling practitioner's ego and strength of character… Do they hate the idea of losing? Walk out?... and end their journey.  Or do they come back hungry and to get humbled over and over in the pursuit of knowledge.

Andrew took the later path.  He is well known for his obsessive nature and so started devoting all his time and energy to improving his understanding of the arts through focused research and practice. 

His obsession with grappling soon saw his skill level sky-rocket (turbo-charged by his love for leg-locks which he discovered in a chance encounter with Robert Degle at a seminar).  

Despite his sometimes intimidating appearance, this friendly London Black Taxi driver has a personal charm that always shines through and helps people instantly warm to him. He is one of the most genuine, respectful and friendly guys you could meet and is always there to help people progress in the sport.  

Once Andrew started regularly sharing grappling gems and snippets of leg-entanglement wizardry on instagram… he discovered he was not alone in his obsession.  The 50/50 Lockers community was born and now comprises more than 15 thousand people from all over the world.

Andrew teamed up with his coach Darius in 2019 to help transform the growing 50/50 Lockers online community into a leading combat sports brand.

 Darius has been training martial arts all his life.  He grew up in Hong Kong and has studied extensively in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, Taekwondo and Chinese Kung-Fu. Keen to share his love of the martial arts with others, Darius helped to create The Fighting Arts Academy which is where he met Andrew.

When he isn’t training, teaching martial-arts or spending time with his family, Darius works as a Senior Technology Executive and startup CoFounder.  With the track record and experience of building something up from an idea into a successful company, Darius started to work with  Andrew to turn 50/50Lockers from a dream into something very real. Darius isn’t always front and centre in all our videos and posts, but rest assured he is working hard behind the scenes to ensure our community gets the best possible products and content.

To both Andrew and Darius - 50/50Lockers represents a personal commitment to bringing the best of the martial arts to as many people as possible.  We are passionate about our content as well as our apparel and want them to always remain authentic and always represent the very best that the beautiful world of martial-arts has to offer.

Join us on our journey.

Stay Passionate. Be Authentic. Oss.