The Mat Factory Wrestling Club

09/13/2026

A hungry group of Hammers competed at two local tournaments this weekend, the American Grappling Federation and the Veteran Bushido Brotherhood. Their hard work and progression was on full display and we couldn’t be more proud!! ⚒️💪

09/13/2026

Get you tickets to see Nayimi Ferdaws put kn a show 9/26 for 247 Fighting Championships!!

Doors 5 PM • Grappling 6 PM • MMA 7 PM

09/09/2026

The Sanctuary Boxing Club 👏👏

We would like to clear the air before the newspaper or news releases a story. We want the truth straight from the owners before rumors begin to swirl. First and foremost the Sanctuary is not closing, shutting down the gym was never even an option throughout this entire process.
Now onto how we got here…. When Cheri and I purchased the church 7 years ago ironically to the day we didn’t pay attention to zoning because who would have ever thought a church that still had the altar, no bathroom, and no kitchen would be zoned residential. We built the gym and started running classes and over the years built one of the best boxing gyms not only in Pittsburgh but the entire country in that little church. The sanctuary has produced more national championships than any other gym in Pittsburgh history. More importantly we have touched so many lives here in New Kensington and the surrounding areas through the sport of boxing. We’ve taught a lot of life lessons through our platform to so many kids and adults! We even started a free program Wyatt’s Warriors for students with special needs. Through the years most of the neighbors in the area were very kind to us and would wave to everyone, granted every now and then we had a mistake here or there with parking or other minor things. The problem began when a new neighbor moved in across the street. For whatever reason they did not want our gym there. They went to the new Kensington office often with complaints about parking and other things such as people smoking on our property. Mind you in the previous 6 years we never had a noise complaint, any vandalism, or any other complaint from others in the area. They forced New Kensington to do something because they found out we were zoned incorrectly and we were operating a commercial business out of a residential building. We had to apply for a variance and during the first meeting they asked us to fix some stuff such as the parking and we did by changing our schedule and we even had other local people offer for us to use their lots. Our final meeting with the New Kensington zoning board did not go our way and they ruled in favor of the neighbor and we did not get the variance. After the decision we were given 90 days to get out.
Well where do we go from here, I was always taught that bad things don’t happen to good people and after all the good we put into this community and all the time and money put into that gym I never thought this could happen to us. In the moment what seemed to be the worst thing ever was the biggest blessing in disguise. I truly believe this was destiny and my Dad had something to do with this to push us to go bigger and better and really expand. We didn’t even wait a day before the search began for the next home of the sanctuary and we are currently in meetings with a building that just seemed like it was meant to be. We are looking at moving into the kiski area so there isn’t much change for our current members. It’s time to go big and that’s the plan. We will continue to keep everyone updated as these 90 days will go by quickly! This is not the end trust me this is just what we needed to force our hand to go touch even more lives through the sport of boxing and to build a bigger gym to build even more champions. Sanctuary 2.0 loading and yes we are running as normal until we move!

To our neighbor and to the New Kensington zoning board THANK YOU 🙏🏼

Our success will be the greatest revenge 🩵

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to all the neighbors that took care of us over the years. Thank you to anyone and everyone who stepped through those church doors and gave us a chance.

09/09/2026

Congrats Dominic Kiski Area Wrestling!!

Congrats to KA wrestler Dominic Roland on his commitment to wrestle at Slippery Rock University 💪

KA ALL DAY

09/06/2026

The Mat Factory scrap pack has been working hard and fought our way to a 3rd place finish in the Club division yesterday at the Breakthe Chainswrestling Battle in the Burg duals. We saw their hard work paying off and also found areas to focus on in the coming months. Back to work today at 1 pm wrestling practice with Coach Ashby Diaz!

09/05/2026

Olivia Schwender up next 247 Fighting Championships 9/26!! ⚒️

Live Sept. 26 at Sunny Days Arena.

09/05/2026

Karli Jo Patton gets the win Cage Fury Fighting Championships in Bristol, Va tonight to move to 3-1 as a professional!

08/30/2026

Sharpening the sword at Adamas Jiu Jitsu with Dante Leon and crew! Watch him compete for gold in 2 weeks at the ADCC world championships in Poland ⚒️💪

08/28/2026

Nayimi Ferdaws aka Bobby Murda has entered his official fight camp for 247 Fighting Championships on 9/26 and Dominic Mazzotta will be covering his striking classes on Fridays at 5 pm. Come learn from one of the best Pittsburgh has ever produced!

08/19/2026

A big thank you to Go Green Windows & Construction for the seamless install of a new window at the Mat Factory to help with airflow and much needed sunlight! They were very professional and worked with our busy schedule. We highly recommended them for all your window and construction needs!