Castelli at War: the “impossible event” of MMA in the impenetrable Chaco

When George Romero (35) decided to organize an event MMA (mixed martial arts) and boxing in the city of Juan José Castelliinside impenetrable of Chacothe province was experiencing a historic drought.

So much so that, with a liter of water per person, they had to get ready to wash, sanitize and quench their thirst. But that December 7, 2013, the date of the first “castles at war“, the long-awaited rain has arrived. And it did it in an exaggerated way: 300 millimeters fell in just a few hours.

Of course, the water made it more difficult to carry out the sports evening an open field and with flooded roadsfact worthy to fit the popular phrase: “I start a circus and the dwarfs grow up“.

But the businessman has shown resilience. And, despite everything that happened that day, he assures that it was an experience that marked him and taught him the lesson he considers most important when hosting MMA nights: “I realized that it is more difficult to suspend an event than to do it“said a clarion.

The latter, by the way, because the fighters have been preparing for combat for months and have the promised purse. In order not to lose credibility, the event may lose some meetings, but not many. He knows fighters have to charge.

“The commitments we had with the competitors, who two or three months before had trained thoroughly, taking care of themselves, eating, going out, etc. to get to the event in the best possible way. Being the first in Castelli, all the more reason” , detailed.

At the time, he had to put $2,000 out of his pocket (a much higher amount than it represents today). Despite the difficulties, he managed to forge a classic in “Castles at War”. It already has 13 editions and that on May 13 it will have its fourteenth version in impenetrable sand.

“We gave him the name so that it impacts people. Everyone wondered: ‘What is Castelli in Guerra?’. They believed that anyone would fight, that if you felt like it, you would get in the ring and fight. All this aroused some attention and word of mouth runs. People came from Buenos Aires, Corrientes and Misiones. I hosted 50 people in a hotel that time,” she said.

“Today I am recognized in Juan José Castelli. I was the first gymnasium to bring martial arts here”, he was proud. Romero calls himself a “Gypsy“, who rummages through life doing everything, but who always comes together in the same desire: to live on martial arts.

Although he is a radiological technician, he has never dedicated himself to the practice. “I’ve always been attached to martial arts, but I was also kind of a ‘gypsy’ as they call it here. I bought and sold things, like cars, land, houses, cellphones and other used stuff. I did a little bit of everything. The gym has always given me to live in, calm down: eat, feed, pay the rent, clothes and slippers. I look for it, because if I don’t look for it another way, I don’t think I could live. More in a small town,” he confessed.

It is that Juan José Castelli, about 300 kilometers from Resistencia, has between 35 and 40 thousand inhabitants, of the 65 thousand in the department of General Güemes. It’s a quiet city, “a very humble city in the sense of the charisma of the people and the good vibes,” he said.

“The complicated thing about us is that we are far from everyone the places where tournaments are held or courses can be taken. From the beginning we are in the opposite direction, which means an amount of money to move, always. So since most of them are humble, it gets complicated for us. It helps us traders in the area a lot, you have to take your hat off how they cash us in,” she continued.

“I love martial arts, through that you can support demons. All of us who practice martial arts are cut from the same cloth, because we’ve all had certain types of experiences in life that are very similar,” he concluded.

– How did you start with this?

– I started training in Corrientes in 2005, with kickboxing and full contact. I lived there for six years, studying in parallel. Since I wanted to work as a diagnostic imaging technician, I returned to my city, where the Bicentennial Hospital was about to be inaugurated. That’s where I put my gym. In October 2011 I started teaching kickboxing, full contact and boxing classes.

– What’s the name of your gym?

– It was called Vitamina Team, but now I have joined an MMA LAB branch, located in Resistencia, which through Mariano Lugo has given me the opportunity to train with people he brings to his gym, such as Fredi Sukata in jiu jitsu , Martin “Shotgun” Gil of muay thai. I was able to access those courses because it is very difficult for one. If one of my students is missing a glove they help us, they have no problem. For us, meeting them was like winning the lottery, because they shorten us a lot of time. At one point I had one of the best gyms in Argentina. I had put together an MMA cage, professional boxing ring, tatame, 30 bags, heaven on earth… whatever you are looking for, I had rented it on the spot. But there was something that wasn’t, and that was the most important thing: the number of students sufficient to be able to support a gymnasium of that magnitude.

– And how did you get started in the world of events?

– I knew that for my students to have a competition I had to organize some kind of event, but I didn’t know anything about it. I returned to Corrientes to see an event, where many local MMA figures were present at the time, such as the brothers Guido and Bruno CanettiOR Emiliano Sordi, who are now stars of the highest level. I spoke to the organizer about how he did it and found a colleague who shared a gym and he said he would help me out. Honestly, my motivation was economics. I thought about doing one of these events that you don’t see anywhere and it would explode with people. That was a starting point in my life, because my role as organizer, matchmaker and everything started together.

– What other things did you learn from that first event?

– That you must always do it with time and patience. Many fights can fail, so you have to have substitute competitors. I always have local fighters. Back then it had only one competitor and all the others came from outside. Nowadays, I sometimes have seven competitors above the cage that I train everyone.

– Castelli leaves you money in the war?

– In the first instance I did it for a matter of taste, but also for an economic matter, as I believe any entrepreneur does. I thought: ‘There is nothing here, I am the first‘ and that I would line my pockets, but that was the biggest lesson: not everything happens through money. The best thing that happened to me at that moment was, if I had money there, my thinking and focus would change. I appreciate what happened to me, because it made me grow as an organizer, a person and a coach. I recover thanks to the sponsors. Without that support, they would lose or draw. With the sponsors I make some money, but I use it to pay the rent of the gym or set up the equipment, gloves, lights, tarps, etc.

Since it’s a small town, it happens that there are two or three students training and we become friends. There comes a time when they are going through an economic situation and cannot pay, and one lets them train anyway because otherwise the team falls, the number of people decreases and one likes to move en masse. I don’t charge competitors because they represent the gym, the city, everything we’re doing.

– And how do you see Castelli’s fighters?

– I prepare all the boys from scratch. We have great potential here. There is potential in Argentina and the Chaco. I’m too young in age and too young in fitness to pretend to jump high. But I remain optimistic that I will make it. I was very close to El “Perro” Aguirre and he just injured his knee. Living 1,800 kilometers from Buenos Aires, in the impenetrable, where we are isolated from many things… I know we are close, I’m sorry, to being able to take a Juan José Castelli boy to the big leagues.