Derek Mattson, 33, of Boise, Idaho, announced for the seventh consecutive year that he plans to open his own Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academy, pending circumstances that haven’t materialized since 2018. The purple belt trains four times a week at Iron Triangle. He’s been “getting everything in place” for what he calls “a very specific moment when the timing is right.” Mattson first announced his academy plans during a casual open mat in March 2018, citing a 12-month timeline. “I’m going to have my own space by next spring,” he told training partner Marcus Chen, a brown belt who has since received his black belt, gotten married, had two children, and retired from competition. Mattson is still training three positions above where he was eight years ago.
He’s scouted eight years’ worth of locations. His initial target was a 2,400-square-foot space in downtown Boise leased at $1,800 per month. By 2020, he shifted focus to a 5,000-square-foot warehouse in a light industrial zone, “to build something from scratch.” In 2022, he started looking at a strip mall location next to a tax preparation office and a vape shop. Currently, he is monitoring a 1,200-square-foot former yoga studio on the east side, which he has not yet visited because “I need to go at the right time of day to check the light situation.”
His business plan, spread across four Google Docs he’s shared with teammates, projects 47 founding members by month three and 120 members by month six. The plan doesn’t account for overhead, supply chain delays, HVAC costs, or the fact that Iron Triangle has an 8 p.m. class that conflicts with his proposed opening hours. When asked if this might create competition, Mattson said his gym would stand out by “focusing on technique instead of ego,” a philosophy he’s never implemented at his current gym despite eight years and perfect access to try it.
“Derek is always talking about opening a place,” said Chen, who now trains at a different academy two hours away. “He’s got these binders with floor plans. Like, actual binders. Multiple binders. But every time I ask where he’s training from, he’s at Iron Triangle. I think what he really wants is to own a gym without the risk of owning a gym.”
Mattson’s most recent timeline, texted to seven training partners in February 2026, positioned an August 2026 opening as “very realistic.” He cited three reasons: his job had “stabilized a bit,” his landlord said it was cool to look around, and he had “finally figured out” the pricing structure. The pricing structure consists of a $150 monthly membership fee and a “community contribution” of $30 per month that would somehow fund equipment purchases, facility maintenance, and advertising across 47 members. He hasn’t shared the spreadsheet showing how this works, citing concerns that “it’s not quite where I want it yet.”
In preparation for the August opening, Mattson spent $2,300 on branding in March 2026. A local designer created a logo (a stylized triangle made of three curved lines, identical to four other Boise-area gyms), built a Wix website, and designed social media templates. The Instagram account, @MattsonAcademyBoise, was created on March 16 and has remained inactive except for one story posted April 2 showing a blank wall with the caption “coming soon.” It has received 11 likes, eight from fake accounts and three from training partners who felt obligated.
The academy name has changed three times. It was initially “Mattson Jiu-Jitsu,” then shifted to “Base Camp BJJ” (“because we’re starting from the foundation”), and is now tentatively “Ascension Jiu-Jitsu Collective” (“it’s more about the journey than the destination”). None of these names have been registered as business entities. His LLC application has been in progress since November 2023.
Mattson’s been recruiting his theoretical future staff. His plan includes three instructors, each handling specific classes. Marcus Chen, the brown belt who is now a black belt and has moved to Portland, remains listed as “Lead Instructor — Fundamentals” despite explicitly declining three times. He’s asked two other guys. They’ve stopped responding to his messages. His backup plan is to teach every class himself, a model he hasn’t pilot-tested at his current gym despite having unlimited access to the teaching environment.
When pressed on the August 2026 timeline during a recent class, Mattson admitted “things are still a bit unsettled.” His apartment needed a $1,400 plumbing fix. His truck needed new tires. And “work has been crazy.” He also mentioned that he was still “deciding between mat types,” a decision he has been making since 2021. He’s made spreadsheets comparing tatami, puzzle, and hybrid mats—and shown them to nobody. He asked five teammates for feedback. One teammate recalled seeing a screenshot of the spreadsheet: “It was just prices. Like, fifty lines of mat options. But there was no column that said which one are you actually going to buy. It was just information for information’s sake.”
His most recent recruitment pitch, sent to Iron Triangle’s WhatsApp group on June 14, informed members that “the academy is almost ready” and asked if anyone wanted to “get in on the ground floor by pre-committing to founding member rates.” Three people responded with a thumbs-up emoji, which Mattson interpreted as confirmed memberships. None of them had replied verbally. He updated his business plan to 50 founding members.
When asked when he expected to actually sign a lease, Mattson said he wanted to “make sure the market was right” before committing to any financial obligations. He then enrolled in a six-week online business course titled “From Dream to Dojo: Turn Your BJJ Passion Into Revenue,” taught by a person who doesn’t appear to have ever opened a dojo. The course begins July 1, pushing his “very realistic” August opening into “late September at the earliest, maybe October depending on how the course goes.”
“I’ll have my own place soon,” Mattson told his training partner James Rodriguez, a purple belt who has been hearing this exact statement once every six months since 2018. “Once things settle down. I mean, we’re very close now.” When Rodriguez asked what specifically needed to settle, Mattson said, “Everything,” and then spent 45 minutes after class explaining why the current market conditions for commercial lease rates were historically unprecedented and therefore required additional research before proceeding.