Bay Area Ralph Gracie vs Fairtex Mountain View

[slick52]

Hi,

I am new to the Bay Area, and I looking for good schools near the Mountain View area. I am a white belt and have only trained for three months before. I am interested in both Muay Thai and BJJ. I saw too good schools: Fairtex and Ralph Gracie in Mountain View.
I heard Fairtex has Leopoldo Serao
and Ralph Gracie has William Dias.
Would like to get your opinions on whats good. thanks.

 

[slick52]

ttt

 

[Amave]

how close is mountain view to santa cruz or campbell?

you could try hitting up sandro batata if you're close

 

[slick52]

thats a bit far for me.... I am looking for schools around Mountain View area, I know there are alot, and heard there quite a few good ones. Would like to hear people's recommendations on the good ones...

 

[slick52]

I found there is also an AKA Sunnyvale and Mike Prudencio teaches there. any1 have any opions about AKA Sunnyvale ?

 

[slick52]

Hey Guys, I checked out the AKA website. And, AKA sunnyvale offers BJJ gi and no gi as well as Judo and Wrestling. AKA looks like a candy shop for grappling. What do you guys think about mixing BJJ (gi and no gi), Judo, and Wrestling at AKA vs the pure BJJ at Ralph's ? I read Dave Camarillo has the philosophy of mixing Judo and BJJ to improve your game on both sports. The AKA Judo and Wrestling coaches are awesome, their BJJ coach is Chris Coldiron (Camarillo brown belt), and Ralph has William Diaz (Ralph Black Belt).

 

[Title Fight Productions]

Try out AKA in Sunnyvale. Dave Camirrillo is there alot!!!!!!


**Edit** looks like you already found it. I also think if you sign up at the AKA in Sunnyvale you get rights to drop into the new SUPER AKA in South San Jose.

 

[kid^ 510]

There 2 AKA. AKA San Jose (new one) and AKA Sunnyvale.

Dave Camarillo is the instructor @ AKA San Jose.

There also two black belt @ AKA Sunnyvale, which is Mike Prudencio & Alex Khanbabian.

I'll train under Mike Prudencio. Who also teach @ One World Jiu Jitsu in Union City.

Very excellent instructor!

it's up to you though. Try all 3 gym and see which one do you like.

 

[slick52]

Thanks for the reply Kid. How recent is ur info? Last I checked though the BJJ instructor was Chris Coldiron (Dave brown belt), I did not see Mike Prudencio there (unless Chris was subbing for him). And, I called the new San Jose gym and they said a Patrick or Ron is the BJJ coach there (no Dave...). If you train at AKA now, I could use your opinions, what do you think about the kickboxing ? and bjj program ? I like the fact they have Judo and Wrestling

 

[pistol3]

AKA, Fairtex, and Ralph Gracie are not the only games in town. I train under Samir Chantre in San Jose. It is a bit of a drive from Mountain View, but the instruction is top notch.

Academies | Samir Chantre BJJ
Samir Chantre takes double gold in Las Vegas | Samir Chantre BJJ

There are also striking and MMA classes available if that is your thing.

 

[joe_mama]

If you're going to include the greater bay area, you might as well talk about Claudio Franca's, Caio Terra's, Heroes Martial Arts, Cesar Gracie's place, Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu(Dave Camarillo's school in Pleasanton) etc etc. There are many great places to train in the bay area.

Stick with Ralph Gracie's, AKA or Fairtex. All good schools, drop in all and sign up with the one you like the most. The bay area(ESPECIALLY) around Mt View/Sunnyvale, gets nasty rush hour traffic. Stick with a school near your home or work.

Ridiculous IMO to drive out to Samir Chantre's or Sandro Batata's when you have very legit schools right near you, and it won't take you an hour to get there(and you'll end up not going as often because it's such a pain).

 

[joe_mama]

Thanks for the reply Kid. How recent is ur info? Last I checked though the BJJ instructor was Chris Coldiron (Dave brown belt), I did not see Mike Prudencio there (unless Chris was subbing for him). And, I called the new San Jose gym and they said a Patrick or Ron is the BJJ coach there (no Dave...). If you train at AKA now, I could use your opinions, what do you think about the kickboxing ? and bjj program ? I like the fact they have Judo and Wrestling

Just an fyi, Dave's opened his own school in Pleasanton, and is in the process of expanding to downtown San Jose as well.

 

[slick52]

Hey Guys,

I just finished checking out all the schools. I wanted to state my opinions below for future guys lookin around... (and they are just opinions...)

Fairtex Mountain View -
Best Muay Thai instruction. It is pure Muay Thai... good program... good atmosphere...
IMO did not like the BJJ program, it is no gi and too advanced for a white belt (it may suit a higher level belt though...)....

Ralph Gracie Mountain View -
Very friendly atmosphere... in the class there were 3 black belt instructors per class... the instructor Will Diaz was very nice. However, they only teach gi BJJ, very old school about it....

AKA American Kickboxing Academy Sunnyvale -
Friendly atmosphere, nice people to talk to me, the Judo instructor was so enthusiastic, really got me encouraged, as well the Wrestling instructor, then I met Alex the head instructor he was really friendly too. What it came down was that AKA offers BJJ, Judo, Wrestling, Boxing, and Kickboxing, and it is a MMA gym, I really like all the variety of training it offers... Best place to get a well rounded MMA experience... The two BJJ instructors Mike and Alex have trained at Ralph Gracie Mountain View, Mike (Ralph brown belt) and Alex (Ralph Purple belt) then they both got black belts from Dave Camarillo...

thanks to joe_mama and TFP... I decided to join AKA ... Go Team AKA baby