Jiu jitsu studio to open in Longmont

LONGMONT — A Los Angeles-based chain of jiu jitsu studios will soon have a franchised location in northwest Longmont.

Conor Heun, who owns, manages and serves as head coach at 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu in Wheat Ridge, will open a Longmont location this year at 1751 N. Hover St., in a 1,900-square-foot space that until two years ago had been a Pinocchio’s Italian restaurant.

“We’re finalizing negotiations and hopefully will sign a lease this week,’ Heun said. “We’re pulling down the numbers for the buildout and working with several different contractors. I hope we could get it open in a month, but that may be wishful thinking.”

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The buildout is to include showers, changing rooms and coach’s office, and Heun said he expects to have five employees.

Born in Boulder, Heun got his first taste of competitive martial-arts grappling at age 5 and won titles in freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. 

He moved to Southern California in 2005 and trained with Eddie Bravo, the sensei — or martial-arts teacher — who founded the original 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu location in Los Angeles and founded the 10th Planet method, a Brazilian style that was one of the first jiu jitsu versions that did not employ the wearing of a “gi” or traditional training uniform.

Brazilian jiu jitsu is a self-defense method of martial art based on ground fighting, grappling and submission holds.

After six years of competitive fighting, Heun retired from mixed martial arts and received his black belt in jiu jitsu from Bravo. He returned to Colorado in 2018 and opened a 10th Planet location in Wheat Ridge.

Among 10th Planet’s other locations are a studio at 1318 Centaur Village Drive in Lafayette. The chain has more than 100 locations spread around North America, Australia, Europe and Russia.

Heun said Bravo chose the “10th Planet” name in recognition of Nibiru, the mythical tenth planet in our solar system, predating Pluto’s demotion to dwarf planet, because one of Bravo’s students called his jiu jitsu method “out of this world.”