Crosley Gracie or Cesar Gracie - Stockton or Lodi, California

[unknownally]

Hello all,
there are two Gracie schools in my area.
There's a Crosley Gracie affiliate school named Ronin Jiu Jitsu in Stockton, Ca.
Then there's Nick Diaz's Cesar Gracie Jiu Jitsu in Lodi, Ca.

Compare and contrast. Which would you prefer?

Ronin is cheaper and is taught by 3 brown belts. I went to the trial and it was pretty boring. The whole time I practiced how to fall down over and over and over until the trial was over (1 hour). The people there are really humble and kind. They have Muay Thai which is something I've been wanting to learn since I was a little kid.

Cesar Gracie in Lodi is more expensive. It is taught by one black belt. They have an octagon there which is pretty cool. I think they only train in Jiu Jitsu, but I've seen them practice some boxing but I think only when Nick Diaz is there.
The thing is, though, I heard most of the people there are douche bags. You know... wannabee gangsters. I don't like that sort of environment.

Anyways, which would be a better pick in your opinion?

 

[Commissar]

Which ever you like, is the best choice.

If you practice breakfalls for one hour, that's good when you're new. It means you'll get injured less when you do throws.

 

[Gotti McCarran]

Either one is probably fine. You will learn at about the same speed for the first couple years wherever you go in my opinion. As long as they got top level guys there that should be all you need. Maybe start off with the cheaper one, since you like the people there better and they have more coaches and you get to learn MT as well, which will help your striking out very quickly and probably more so than boxing alone ever could.

I also don't see what's wrong with practicing falls. Take it slow and easy and don't get injured and focus on belting up and mastering basics rather then trying to slap gogos on motherfuckers right? You can do that once you are badass enough to take on some of the "gangsters" at Ceasar's school. By the way wannabe gangsters lol. I keep hearing people say that kind of stuff and yet the fight team he put together consists of guys that sure thing "kill" for their brothers, but also guys with strong family values, guys that put the guy first that has the next fight, which isn't the same in many schools that talk a whole bunch about being a team, yet never show it, guys that train their asses of every day and seek people better than them out to help in certain areas, etc. It's a very good and functional fight team that sticks tgether through ups and downs. I just don't see where the thugs come in here. There aren't any on the pro team. Maybe the school attracts self declared badasses, but if they manage to stay for a few years Cesar will make them good guys.

I'd imagine if you showed up with a "Nick Diaz before the fight attitude" at Cesar's you'd get the shit kicked out of you every day for as long as you had the attitude, lol. I don't see Cesar promoting that kind of person. You can act all badass once you are on the big show fighting top level guys, when you actually pay Cesar a solid income, but until then I'd strongly assume that having an attitude will be reason enough for Cesar to promote you slowly and match you up wih tougher people to teach you your lesson every day.

They strike me as a team where you leave the ego at the door. Sure they train to make badass fighters, but Cesar is far from a gang leader type.

 

[the heed]

You should go check out Cesar's place before you make assumptions about its a gangster place.. People make this really weird assumptions about it because their perceptions of the Diaz brothers. Quite frankly its nothing like that at all. It's been some times since I have visited there but everyone was super nice and really cool. Diaz brothers are not what they appear before their fights. They are actually really laid back and really helpful when you ask them questions when you are rolling with them. It is a very competitive environment.

Plus, Cesar is just a super nice dude.

 

[loyalyolayal]

crosley has decent striking which makes him the petrosyan of the gracie family. he might be adopted. having a muay thai instructor would be great as well.

 

[Carl Drogo]

419!!!

 

[YellowFury]

i go to ronin in stockton. Honestly the breakfalling is for your own good in the long run. The biggest thing i like about ronin is that i have yet to run into a meathead after 2.5 years of training. Everyone is there to train. There's also a judo school that meets wednesday and friday nights, so there's a full week's schedule of classes (M+T+TH BJJ, W+F Judo). And as i said, the slower paced intro is for your own good in the long run. Ronin stresses a lot of fundamentals for bjj.

 

[Cash Bill 52]

I vote for Cesar's school.

You get to train in the gi. Watch Nathan's recent gi match at the Gracie Open

 

[Cash Bill 52]

A little more about the team... WE're not all fighters but we share a common philosophy...

 

[gocubs1815]

Pretty simple realy. Just do the intro at Diaz's and see for yourself if the people are douches.

 

[tk99]

I once was in Nick's school. I can tell you that every single person I spoke to was extremely cool and welcoming. Didn't get the douche bag vibe at all. Maybe they were all absent that day, but I didn't see it.

 

[pistol3]

I train at a Cesar Gracie affiliated school and I can tell you that there are a lot of really good black belts that work in his schools. It is a rare day when we don't have a high level black belt teaching class. I think if you are serious about BJJ, you should pay whatever more it costs to train at Nick's school. It has been my experience that the gangsters and jerks don't usually last long at serious BJJ schools. I wouldn't worry too much about that.

 

[unknownally]

Thanks everyone. Really, thanks. I've been enlightened.
I guess I let the rumors get the best of me.

I'm still stuck between the two but now that I know they aren't douches over there at Cesar Gracie, I can now think it out more.

 

[YellowFury]

to be honest, just do the trial at cesar's. just don't get hung up on the gracie name thing. find the school that you like the best and go train.