February 2001 saw the first Gracie Jiu Jitsu Academy opening in the UK with the first MMA/BJJ dedicated store within it. We have supported both MMA and BJJ from the offset in the UK and have not attached ourselves to anyone show or one promotion and spread ourselves over the whole of the UK.

In the early days of Fit to Fight the creator and founder of and still current director of  Evolution Fightwear Andy Smith was the first to import brands such as Tapout, Chute Boxe, Hunter, Vitamins and Minerals  and Cyclone, truly opening up and pushing MMA from a merchandise point-of-view in the UK.

Realising early on the need for a UK brand, Evolution Fightwear was born. The first sponsored event was the first Gracie European Invitational and the first professional fighter to wear our products was Royce Gracie.

We have supported hundreds of up and coming athletes some have gone on to become house hold names such as Mark Weir, Paul Jenkins, Dan Hardy, James Thompson, Brad Picket, Che Mills, Michael Bisping, Ross Pointon, Jeff Lawson, Anderson Silva and to this day have always tried to continue in this vein. (see our list of past and present sponsored fighters in the fighters section)

In 2005 we attended 46 shows showing true dedication to the sport.
 
Whilst MMA has been Evolution's main objective we have sponsored various other events and teams over the years ranging from The London Racers Professional Ice Hockey Team, the Lyrical Combat competition "Battle Scars", Team Japspeed  from British Drift Racing, Armwars Arm wrestling Events and the Arm Wrestling World championships as well as the British team..