Coming to the U.S. as a teenager, Gokor Chivichyan set two goals and achieved them in over 30 years. Chivichyan, who is currently the President of the U.S.-based Hayastan MMA Academy club, left Armenia for the U.S. at the age of 16.  

“I have done wrestling, sambo and judo since I was 5, and prepared my homework right during the trainings. In 1979, Armenia hosted competition in which U.S. judo players also took part. It was them who invited me to the U.S. and in a year we left there with my family. Before my departure I had set two goals: to advance in sports and open my own sports school. I prayed every day to achieve this,” Chivichyan said.

In the U.S. he starts looking for a job and at that very time gets a proposal to fight a battle. Without a referee and any control, they looked more like street rammies. “And my family though I was working at a construction site…This way I was able to advance and buy a house after 3,5-4 years. We were three brothers, and I always dreamt of three houses on the earth where we could all live together. And this came true: we helped each other and bought a house,” he noted.

Chivichyan still exercises, takes part in championships and wins cups.  But he doesn’t like to fib his rivals and more often works on wrestling mats.  His coaches tried to retrain him, demanding more grappling. “And then children began to come to me to learn grappling. I have been developing this type of wrestling in different countries for already 20 years. I’m also trying to do this in Armenia,” Chivichyan said.

Living in the U.S. for several years, Gokor decided to teach wrestling to the Armenian children of his yard in order to “cut them from the street.” He rented a small gym and gathered 40 children. When their number reached 100, Chivichyan decided to rent a spacious place and open a sports school. “30 years had passed and my dream came true. I opened my own sports school, which currently has 400 children, out of which 200 are Armenians. I achieved all this due to many years of work. Nobody helped me… I slept with a shoe under my head during my fist years in the U.S. Many think that money grows on trees in the U.S. Far from it: U.S. is a country for those who work,” he said.  

There is no American dream for Chivichyan who is also a mixed martial arts world champion. He is sure Armenians have wrong perceptions about America.

Gokor Chivichyan has lived in the U.S. for 36 years and opened sports schools in 43 European countries and 27 in the U.S. cities. He supports development of sports in Armenia, but doesn’t want to open his own school there yet.