It’s the ultimate in kicking a stereotype to the curb or knocking it on its keister, with two fighters from the world of mixed marital arts launching a mortgage brokerage, focused on winning deals, not championship belts.
It’s the ultimate in kicking a stereotype to the curb or knocking it on its keister, with two fighters from the world of mixed marital arts launching a mortgage brokerage, focused on winning deals, not championship belts.
“Our philosophy is simple,” said Wojtek Kaszowski, a three-time North American MMA champ and now principal broker of MMA Mortgages.com. “The mortgage business is changing every day and we want to be the trailblazers in the industry. If we can help people find the right types of financing and get them better rates then what they’re being sold at the banks then we’ll know we’ve done our jobs.”
Partnering with former UFC Champion Carlos Newton, Kaszowski has also assembled a team of seven mortgage professionals, many of them drawn from the world of competitive sports, disciplines they’ve now moved to the backburner in order to build a collective book. Most have, in fact, been in the business anywhere from three to five years.
The group is hoping to capitalize on the notoriety of both Kaszowski, 33, and Newton, 34, each with a dedicated fan base that extends across and, indeed, beyond Canada. That strategy could be a double-edged sword in Ontario, where MMA fighting was only legalized earlier this year.
“We did do a little bit of market research on the MMA branding, which recommended its use,” David Gallo, an agent with the firm, told MortgageBrokerNews.ca “There’s something to the idea that a successful fighter in one arena is going to be a successful fighter in another. For now, we feel this is a good way to differential ourselves from the competition, but at the end of the day, we would like people to remember us for what we’ve done for them.”
The firm intends to focus on the Toronto market, although is gunning for provincial reach, Gallo said. MMA is prepared to do both A and alternative lending as well as private deals. That isn’t to say Kaszowski and Newton have entirely given up their athletic pursuits.
“Both are now in training,” said Gallo, with Newton preparing to get back into the ring and Kaszowski shifting to the boxing world later this year.
