What's the quality of BJJ classes in the UFC gyms?

[Dirty Holt]

Hmm not sure i rememeber a black belt Ray, which GB are you referring to?

Feel teh same way at my GB too. Granted, I've only ever trained at a GB, but judging from our competition results etc, we're pretty decent.

And yeah every one there now is a friend to me. Not a single jerk or unpleaseant person, which is truly remarkable when you think about it.

Encinitas. I believe its the biggest in SD and has the highest level of competitors

 

[TroldeAnsigt]

You're not wrong on anything you said. In my GB they're extremely strict about using only Gracie Barra official wear and nothing else. This extends all the way to the $70 shorts we use for no-gi. About the only thing I am so far allowed to wear that is not GB wear are the black tights under my GB shorts on no-gi days. Gis run about $200 and rash guards and shorts $70 each. Its expensive but the quality is definitely pretty good IMO.

There is a quarterly GB only tournament, GB Compnet. Its OK, just a bit disorganized and its mostly the kids divisions. I had a ton of fun the firs time I competed though, and I did IBJJF and other smaller local tournaments, and GB compnet was above average in terms of professionalism and quality of competition, but IBJJF was obviously way better.

Its also true that we are expected to be fanatically loyal to GB and nothing else. Every day our professor instills that in us. But I really thought it was the same or even worse at other affiliations/teams?

Sounds like the beginning of a cult.
Do you also pledge allegiance to a picture of the Gracie family before each practice?

 

[Thai Otoshi]

1) Is that they're a megacorp (who also happens to run the most prestigious BJJ-focused tournaments). They have a crapton of affiliate gyms, and that's scary. They have a certain way they expect the business side to work (i.e., I've visited GB gyms that demanded GB gi's were the only acceptable Gi's, have certain sales tactics they all employ, etc.). It's very efficient as a franchise. A lot of the critics of GB are pretty much put off by that fact alone; it reminds them of the tae kwon do chains. In reality the quality is across the spectrum (there are world class competitors who fly the GB colors, and since bell curves are a thing, naturally there will be some lower-quality schools) as with any school/affiliate system, but it's easy to forget that fact sometimes. They also tried some shenanigans regarding exclusive in-house GB tournaments, but I don't know if that ever actually happened. It was like, 8 years ago?

I train at an Alliance gym, and they do the same thing with gis, where you can only wear one of theirs.

I personally don't mind too much, because it eliminates the need to try to get team patches attached to your gi or whatnot for competition. My only real gripe is that I like to shop around for gis, and that takes that away from me. I would love to wear a heavier gi that also happens to be cheaper, but that's not an option for me.

2) Is that it engenders intense tribalism, or becomes an identity for people. It can happen with any gym, but since there are a large number of GB students (see 1), it becomes a more pervasive feeling for a lot of people. And while anyone within the GB family loves to link up arm-in-arm with their fellow GB brethren in singing the gospel, it's annoying for non-GB people. Obviously not true for every GB student, and there's nothing wrong with having pride in your school; but it's the same reason 10th planet students or Gracie Combatives students can get under your skin, because they base their entire identity off of what BJJ franchise they pay their money to.

Thankfully, they never do any of this at Alliance.

Its also true that we are expected to be fanatically loyal to GB and nothing else. Every day our professor instills that in us. But I really thought it was the same or even worse at other affiliations/teams?

No, that is actually kind of weird.

Alliance's "cult-level" is firmly stuck at "have to wear an Alliance gi" and that's where it stops.

You're a paying customer and not a knight swearing fealty to your lord.

 

[Evenflow80]

Sounds like the beginning of a cult.
Do you also pledge allegiance to a picture of the Gracie family before each practice?

We start and end each class by bowing to a picture of Carlos Gracie Sr.

Is that bad? <45>

 

[Evenflow80]

Encinitas. I believe its the biggest in SD and has the highest level of competitors

Not just SD, internally its called GB "HQ". That gym is full of absolute killers and a ton of legit black belts. Nelson Montiero is one of the most underrated old school BJJ black belts you will ever meet. He destroys everyone despite being well into his 50s.

I never trained there but with GB, your membership lets you train at any GB in the world, so I have a handful of my team mates who train 1 or 2 days a week over there.

 

[LS1Rx7]

UFC gym in Boston has a brown belt and black belt teaching. I guess it depends on the gym.
I don't know the business model for UFC gyms, but it seems like a franchise model

 

[cjd]

It varies wildly. UFC gyms are franchises (or at least the ones I've been to) that grant a decent amount of leeway to the owner to hire whomever they want to run the various programs.

It's not uncommon to find blue and purple belts teach for a discount rate.

I've also seen situations where there is a skilled, motivated, brown or belt belt (albeit one without name recognition) teaching, and in these situations the level of the room usually gets pretty decent, pretty quickly. It's usually a great deal since UFC gyms are usually cheaper than most BJJ schools. These guys usually move on with a substantial portion of the student body to open their own shop after a year or so, though.