UFC Gym BJJ programs good or bad for BJJ?

[SubmissionarY]

Has anyone attended these classes(UFC corporate not franchise)?


Ive been training a while now and currently a brownbelt under a well known instructor and recently went to a UFC gym BJJ class just to see and experience a different perspective.

I honestly cant decide if its good or bad for BJJ. Part me sees the program as pretty awful and there is basically just 40 minutes of animal drills and some awkward self defense moves and basically no sparring. Someone who stays in this program without opening the pandoras box of Jit Jitsu will be forever limited, and may even have a false heightened sense of self defense that could turn a bad situation even worse.

Another part of me sees this being an eye opener for someone just starting out and gets them to seek out more legitimate/effective training.

Good bad or indifferent?

 

[Dogstarman]

Has anyone attended these classes(UFC corporate not franchise)?


Ive been training a while now and currently a brownbelt under a well known instructor and recently went to a UFC gym BJJ class just to see and experience a different perspective.

I honestly cant decide if its good or bad for BJJ. Part me sees the program as pretty awful and there is basically just 40 minutes of animal drills and some awkward self defense moves and basically no sparring. Someone who stays in this program without opening the pandoras box of Jit Jitsu will be forever limited, and may even have a false heightened sense of self defense that could turn a bad situation even worse.

Another part of me sees this being an eye opener for someone just starting out and gets them to seek out more legitimate/effective training.

Good bad or indifferent?

To be fair. I've been to BJ Penn UFC gym and the instruction there is some of the best I've had. I know some guys that have taught at smaller UFC gyms. It seems like the owner can dictate a lot of what goes on. I've heard stories where guys weren't getting paid their contacted or promised rate. So I've experienced and heard of both positive things and negative things. I don't think it's necessarily bad or good. I think it depends on the owner and the instruction.

 

[SubmissionarY]

To be fair. I've been to BJ Penn UFC gym and the instruction there is some of the best I've had. I know some guys that have taught at smaller UFC gyms. It seems like the owner can dictate a lot of what goes on. I've heard stories where guys weren't getting paid their contacted or promised rate. So I've experienced and heard of both positive things and negative things. I don't think it's necessarily bad or good. I think it depends on the owner and the instruction.

Sure that wasn't a franchise store?

My understanding is that corporate UFC gyms have a pretty firm program.

 

[biscuitsbrah]

I live in Hawaii and some of the instructors are very close to world class. (Haru Shimanishi co-founder of AMC, Leandro Nyza from Nova Uniao, and Scott Junk from TUF) They purposely water down the instruction so hobbyists can have fun and keep returning though. (UFC BJ Penn).

It's a corporate place but I think it's run very differently than gyms on the mainland. I'm sure most of those places have free rolling though.

The only downside I can see is some of the colored belts may not deserve their rank, at least from a competitive stand point.

 

[Dogstarman]

Sure that wasn't a franchise store?

My understanding is that corporate UFC gyms have a pretty firm program.

I'm not sure. It said UFC gym at the entrance and was advertised as a UFC gym. The place closed down because there are better places to train in the area. But like I said. It depends in the owner I guess.

 

[ChumsGum]

They hire instructors and it really depends on how much the particular UFC gym is willing to spend. I know of a UFC gym in Vegas that hired Sophia Drysdale who is an excellent instructor. I also know of a UFC gym in the Socal suburbs and they hired an awful purple belt as their instructor.

 

[Dirty Holt]

They hired a purple belt in the one in our town who is a wrestler. Dude has been bouncing around jobs for the last 15 years. I have tried to get several students to join BJJ gyms in town and none do, until this UFC gym opened up. They go for the striking, get bored, go to the BJJ. Im hoping it leads them into wrestling or BJJ, and they can go to a much more technical and competition oriented gym.

 

[SubmissionarY]

They hired a purple belt in the one in our town who is a wrestler. Dude has been bouncing around jobs for the last 15 years. I have tried to get several students to join BJJ gyms in town and none do, until this UFC gym opened up. They go for the striking, get bored, go to the BJJ. Im hoping it leads them into wrestling or BJJ, and they can go to a much more technical and competition oriented gym.

This was the optimistic view point I was trying lean on. Hoping these UFC gyms become a seed for an otherwise unmotivated individual.

The pessimist within me says that there will be too many people that will get the wrong interpretation of Jiu Jitsu and grappling as a whole.

However if this UFC gym catalyst inspires just a small number of people to open pandoras box of grappling Id say that would be a success.

 

[Cappy Goodtime]

How do these gyms work? Do you pay one price then get to use whatever they have and go to all of the classes? How much do they cost?

 

[Grob]

You pay a monthly membership fee and can do whatever classes are offered. The ufc gym here has a brownbelt teaching. We do warm ups, he'll show a technique which is then practiced. Then we do rolling. It's half the price of other bjj schools in the city. I haven't been attending long enough to see how they promote.

 

[Cappy Goodtime]

How much you pay? ~$75?

 

[CFGroup]

I'm not sure. It said UFC gym at the entrance and was advertised as a UFC gym. The place closed down because there are better places to train in the area. But like I said. It depends in the owner I guess.

The UFC gym Sports Arena Blvd San Diego is no longer open...

 

[Coconutwater]

From my own experience, I joined the UFC gym because it had a full weight and cardio section combined with martial arts, two things I love, and for cheap!

Without going into details, my BJJ class was taught by a purple with several pro-MMA fights and a verifiable Sherdog record in addition to a blackbelt with a local academy. The MMA class was also taught by a former MMA fighter and during the BJJ class, sparring was totally allowed if not pushed upon you. Same for MMA. We were going pretty damn hard. I guess it's true of what others said above, the owners maybe determine the tone of the gym.

I have since transferred to a regular BJJ academy since I moved for work. It's not like I joined UFC gym first and foremost as I was already plenty experienced in grappling and felt like spending less money on a gym that served multiple functions. BTW, the shakes they make taste awesome, I think one was named Mantis? I can't remember.

 

[AJay]

I went to a UFC gym for 2 years. Prices are the best you'll find! It was pretty good but I noticed at both locations I went coaches changed up pretty frequently and some have UFC level experience, while others have only had a couple ameture fights and never won any.

The BJJ seemed pretty good to me, throughout the 2 coaches theres were 2 coaches, 2 brown belts and two black belts. They where all very knowledgeable but the problem is, is that some of them were very skilled practitioners but not very skilled teachers. They're willing to hire pretty much anyone there so you never really know how qualified the coach is really going to be. For example I knew a 17 year old guy who worked as a coach at one of the locations last year- the kid was still in highschool and had no certification as far as teaching.

That all being said- you really have to decide on your own. If the atmosphere is enjoyable, the coach you have genuinely likes teaching, and is showing you some good shit on the matts that's really all you need in my opinion.

Let me know how it goes though!