Felipe Simplicio decided to learn jiu jitsu to defend himself at age 16, while growing up in his native country of Brazil, but it soon evolved into a love of the sport, numerous medals won in tournaments and to teaching students at his own academy, RedZone Jiu Jitsu, which opened in Clock Tower Square, 477 Main St. in Monroe, Conn., on February 3, 2025.
“Since I was 13, I was bullied in school and thought, ‘I’m done with this,'” Simplicio said during a recent interview at RedZone. “I wanted to be able to protect myself. I fell in love with the sport when I was 18 and was a blue belt.”
Simplicio had come to the U.S. to compete in a tournament when told his coach he wanted to open his own academy.
“I got my black belt when I was 24-years-old,” he said. “I left college in Brazil, work, family and moved here myself just with a dream to open an academy. I had to work in construction first, and helped coach classes at different jiu jitsu academies.”
Simplicio was living in Danbury for two years when opportunity knocked in 2018.
He taught classes at two jiu jitsu academies and one student who loved his class, ran a CrossFit gym in Newtown.
“I went to CrossFit to strength train and asked him about a space he wasn’t using and we had the idea to put down mats for me to teach jiu jitsu there,” Simplicio said.
The gym was CrossFit RedZone, so Simplicio incorporated RedZone into the name of his jiu jitsu class.
A partnership for life
Simplicio met his wife, MacKenzie, pictured with him in the top photo, three years ago, when she was a white belt jiu jitsu student trying to train, while recovering from an injury.
“I saw Felipe’s Instagram page and said, ‘do you do private lessons for people who are injured?” she recalled.
“I asked, ‘how about a coffee to start?'” Simplicio said. “We started dating from there, were engaged, then became business partners.”
“We’re best friends,” MacKenzie said.
MacKenzie runs RedZone Jiu Jitsu with her husband. Her background as a nurse allows her to assist students with any injuries on the mats, and she does photography for the academy and helps out on the business end.
“I coach the classes and have some people who help lead classes too,” Simplicio said.
RedZone Jiu Jitsu wasn’t its own business right away. “It was under their umbrella,” Simplicio said of the gym. “I was their employee.”
The impending closing of the gym provided the push Simplicio needed to own his own business outright. After receiving the bad news about CrossFit, he and his wife had a narrow window to decide what to do.
“We had a little more than 30 days from the final notice to figure it out,” Simplicio recalled. “Over Christmas I started to look into places to move into — I had until the end of January before they would close their doors.”
The couple formed RedZone Jiu Jitsu LLC, Simplicio’s brother, Caio, designed a logo, and a search was underway for a location for the new business to bring its mats to. Simplicio said they looked at four places before choosing the space at Clock Tower Square in Monroe.
“I saw a student of mine, Emily, who sent a screenshot to me,” he said. “I sent it to my realtor and he was able to contact the owner. We saw this place on January 14 and on January 18 I was signing the lease. My first class was on February 3. We had just set up the mats.”
“If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be,” Mackenzie said.
Simplicio said they had looked at another place in Monroe and two places in Newtown.
“This is the one I walked in and said, ‘this is it,'” he said. “There are no columns in the way. The space was wide open. That was a place I was looking to have.”
The couple said they also like the fact that the academy is in a shopping center, where it could attract foot traffic from other businesses.
“It’s nice,” Mackenzie said. “People feel welcome to come in. They see classes going on.”
RedZone grows into its new home
“My favorite thing about jiu jitsu is how the sport can transform someone’s life in so many ways,” Simplicio said. “It is stress relief from work. You can lose weight and get in shape or join a new community. It’s a great exercise for your body and your mind. Once you are comfortable training with another person, fighting on the mats, you’re learning how to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations. The things you’re doing in life become a little bit easier.”
RedZone Jiu Jitsu offers 6 a.m. classes three times a week.
“We have a kids class for three- to six-year-olds three times a week,” Simplicio said, “classes for children age seven to 13 Monday through Saturday, a beginners class Monday through Friday, and teach all levels of jiu jitsu for teens to adults Monday through Saturday.”
RedZone expanded to include wrestling classes for children age seven to 14 two times a week.
For information or to join, visit RedZonejiujitsu.com, follow the academy on Instagram and Facebook, send an email to redzonejiujitsu@gmail.com or call 203-880-5049.
RedZone Jiu Jitsu moved to Monroe with 30 members and membership has since grown to 72 students from age three to 62.
‘Better than any medal in the world’
Simplicio, who is now a third-degree black belt, still competes in about six tournaments a year.
“I won a few tournaments,” he said with a laugh.
This includes a gold medal in the Team Brazilian National competition, a silver in the South America Championships, a silver in the PBJJF Worlds, and multiple gold medals at the IBJJF (International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation) opens.
Simplicio takes his students to tournaments locally in Newtown and other Connecticut municipalities, as well as to competitions in New York, New Jersey and Boston.
“I bring students to tournaments, basically every other month,” he said. “I have one student who competes every year in Florida.”
“It’s really cool and meaningful to the members and the families to have the head coach and owner being there to support them at every tournament,” Mackenzie said.
Simplicio said he enjoys seeing the progress of his students, how they grow from every competition and training session, even when things don’t go their way.
“They’re overcoming obstacles of losing a tournament,” he said. “They learn that losing is part of the process. It’s how they deal with that and learn from their setbacks.”
And following successes …
“Stay humble,” Mackenzie said.
“You stay humble when you achieve your goals,” Simplicio agreed.
“So many parents say their children are doing better in school, forming better friendships and relationships,” Mackenzie said.
“It’s about being a good person and passing it forward to the next generation,” Simplicio said of jiu jitsu. “I have a member who recently joined. He wasn’t happy where he was training. He trained here, came home and his wife said, ‘you look happy again.’ Just somebody finding their spark for the sport, to me, is better than any medal in the world.”
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