Since its inception in 1996, Reavlin transformed his company into a major player in martial arts. He now has a staff of 20, “a group of people who work as hard as I do,” along with administrative offices and a warehouse, he said. It was not easy — surrounding himself with like-minded individuals — but one of the keys to Revgear’s success and longevity. Reavlin said he would also place perseverance and controlling costs as two other important factors. In perservering, Reavlin said he ignored those who doubted him over the years, those who said it couldn’t be done. And by controlling his costs, Reavlin made — and continues to make — smart decisions with his money, not just “pouring it down the drain.”

Over the years, Revgear has not gone gangbusters — supporting a host of the top fighters at the same time. Instead, they have picked their targets carefully, sponsoring events across the country at the local and regional levels. “In every city, there are local events. It’s great, it supports the sport … Everyone plays a role in the growth of the sport,” he said.

Reavlin said he sees the value in sponsoring fighters, in that it is a viable option in terms of a brand’s growth, but also has realized that a fighter appearing on TV or a pay-per-view does not automatically mean Revgear’s website will blow up the next day with orders. Still, he says, “We want to support a lot of the guys out there. They’re on the front lines. They’re our modern-day gladiators.”

And in the very near future, Revgear will be sponsoring a lot of those modern-day gladiators; Reavlin said his company recently signed a contract with the UFC to allow it to sponsor fighters. Reavlin said he has verbal commitments from a number of UFC fighters, including Dan Hardy, Nam Phan, Kamal Shalorus, and Roy Nelson. In addition, Bad Boy’s official Mauricio “Shogun” Rua UFC 128 walkout T-shirt is prominently displayed on Revgear’s website.

Despite the upcoming exposure on MMA’s biggest stage, don’t be surpised to see Revgear at smaller shows along the east coast. Reavlin said early on in his company’s history, he realized that although dotted with small states, the east coast has a high concentration of the nation’s population, and along with that, a great many martial arts academies. “The people in Pennsylvania … they like their martial arts,” Reavlin said.

3 people will win a Shogun Autographed shirt, fight shorts OR MMA gloves!

Simply predict the outcome of the fight & send us a tweet with the
answers to these three questions:

1. Who will win? – SHOGUN or JONES

2. How he’ll win? – KO, TKO, Submission, or Decision

3. What round he’ll win? – 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5th round

Tweet must follow this form: [Who?] will win #ufc128 by a
[how?] in the [round?] @revgear

For example: Shogun will win #ufc128 by a TKO in the 3rd round @revgear

Contest starts at 9am PST on 3/17/11 and runs through 3/19/11 at 12pm PST. All correct answers, sent in the correct form, will be entered to win. If no correct answers, winners will be picked from the closest correct answers, in order of the questions. Winners will picked at random and announced through twitter on March 21st, 2011 at 10am PST. Each winner will have their choice of one (1) of the above prizes.