We caught up with UK based Matt Benyon, creator of Scramble – martial arts technical and casual wear brand with its roots in jiu-jitsu. Indeed, Matt himself has some roots in Japan where he lived for four years. A brown belt under David Onuma, Matt has trained BJJ since 2006, earning his blue and purple belts under Kenshi Tomashi at Paraestra Hakata (now Tri Force Hakata). Currently training under Jeff Lawson at IPPON, Matt partners with school friend, Ben Tong, with a handful of staff to make Scramble authentic, innovative, and conscientious.
Matt’s connections to Japan are what make Scramble so authentic. Kazushi Sakuraba, Caol Uno, and Mei Yamaguchi have all been on board with the production of some great collaboration gear. Following a very cool line of designs through Sakuraba, and with his successful work in making Polaris a top level grappling show, Matt became team coordinator for the inaugural QUINTET.1 show in Tokyo, Japan. A fresh-out-the-box grappling survival team match where four 5-member openweight teams grapple it out in a “winner stays on” or King of the Hill style tournament, QUINTET is already making waves in the no-gi submission competition world.
Team Polaris excelled in QUINTET.1 at the Sumo Hall in heart of Tokyo, taking the tournament from Sakuraba’s Team HALEO from in a fine display of the grappling arts, showcasing some of the best in the world. Gregor Gracie, Craig Jones, Dan Strauss, Marcin Held, and Caol Uno were a true dream team together. With QUINTET 4 slated for London in December this year, fans eagerly await another nukijiai, or winner-stays-on, big name card.
Polaris and Scramble orchestrator, Matt Benyon, bridges the often elusive gap between East and West with an understanding of both. He visits Japan once a year and pops in to gyms keeping a strong presence and supporting local athletes with good design and quality training and casual wear appealing to the jiu-jitsu and grappling art fan base and practitioners. An avid fan of RIZIN, Pancrase, Shooto, and K-1, Matt recalls the days when New Year’s Eve television in Japan was a martial arts extravaganza:
“I am the biggest fan of Pride. I used to rent all the DVDs from the Japanese video store under my apartment in Australia. I attended the 2005 opening round of the middleweight GP in Osaka, which is still one of the most stacked MMA cards of all time. The atmosphere was unbelievable. The production values blew my mind. I remember having two TVs in my apartment in Fukuoka so that I could watch K1 Dynamite on one channel and Pride on the other channel, live, on New Year’s Eve. Heaven!”
Please, visit www.scramblestuff.jp and buy in confidence from the new Japan shop representative, Billy Hooker. Billy is a great guy with a lovely family, who really cares about the brand and about his customers. Scramble Japan is always stocked with the latest releases. You can shop at Scramble Japan as you would any other online shop in Japan. It is optimised for mobile, offers and COD. Get at it!
