SBG Rochdale MMA Kit

SBG Rochdale was founded in 2013 by Martin Stapleton (Stapes), a former Royal Marine Commando who served for 12 years. It was during his time in the Marines that he discovered MMA, igniting a passion that followed him back to the UK, where he sought out the nearest MMA gym and began his journey in the sport.

Stapes enjoyed a successful professional MMA career, boasting a 19-7 record. He competed on The Ultimate Fighter, as well as in promotions like Cage Warriors and Bellator, and he captured the BAMMA world title in 2015.

In recent years, Antonio Sheldon (Anto) has become a co-owner of SBG Rochdale. Anto is an active professional MMA fighter, known for his exciting fights, and currently competes in Cage Warriors.

Today, SBG Rochdale is one of the largest MMA gyms in the northwest of England, with a steadily growing member base.

We’ve had the pleasure of working closely with Anto and the SBG Rochdale team, collaborating on new ideas that we’re excited to release soon!

For the design of their first SBG Rochdale kit, the brief was simple: the kit had to be blue to represent their brand colours. Beyond that, Anto gave us creative freedom to develop a design that reflected the gym’s values and ethos.

One key symbol stood out to us, the gorilla. While the gorilla is the face of all SBG franchises, at SBG Rochdale, it embodies the gym’s identity.

Gorillas symbolise strength, resilience, community, and respect, all core values of martial arts and central to the culture and goals of SBG Rochdale.

We made sure the gorilla played a prominent role in the design, featuring a large, bold gorilla graphic that stood out on the front of the t-shirt and one leg of the shorts.

For the pattern, we wanted something that complemented the gorilla’s power. We created a unique line-based design that conveyed strength and structure, helping the kit stand out.

In the end, Anto and the team were thrilled with how the kits turned out, and we’re now working on new designs and colourways for SBG Rochdale.

As Anto said: “Attanto’s creative styles and the fit align perfectly with what our gym members want. Really helpful and easy to work with. We’re looking forward to more collaborations in the future. Excellent custom designs.”

Start your custom kit journey with us and bring your gym’s spirit to life!