*Do you know any TMA academy in your local area that you would consider "legit"?*

[Seiryoku Zenyo]

Besides BJJ and Muay Thai, do you know any TMA academy in your local area that you would consider "legit" (opposed to a McDojo)?

I mean, any judo, or karate, or TKD, kung fu, etc., that you would consider good enough for self defense or as a base if some of their best students would try to switch to MMA? Or in case if judo, to try to go for a national team, maybe olympics?

 

[TallGHunter]

I'm gonna say yes, here in las Vegas we have some legit trainers

 

[Odoylerules4lyf]

Wu Tang clan has legit Shaolin origins.

 

[NoSmilez]

My friend is an olympic judo assistant coach. With that said, he pushes the little kids to the limit. I seen little kids throw up and still got yelled at. I believe he slaps kids around when I am not there. He doesn't give a shit about parents since everyone is from his region and it is rough area.

 

[elwani]

Coincidentally I just posted this in the striking forum if anyone is interested in learning Sanda in Beijing, China: http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/sanda-散打-kickboxing-school-in-beijing-china.3873641

Here's a reproduction of the original post for convenience (please see the other thread for more information):

Hi guys, I have a Chinese friend who use to fight professionally in Sanda and has just opened a Sanda school in Beijing.

For those who are not familiar with it, Sanda is the Chinese form of kickboxing, based on traditional Chinese Wushu and wrestling (摔跤 or Shuai Jiao). It's like Muay Thai but with throws. This is what Cung Le, Zabit Magomedsharipov, Muslim Salikhov competed in before they started MMA, and it is the base of a lot of the Chinese fighters now entering the UFC. Here is a Vice article about it, Wiki, but a video says 1000 words.



The school is pretty centrally located next to central Beijing Railway station, within the 2nd ring. It is in the recreation club of a luxury hotel, so there's ultra modern facilities like a swimming pool and hotel quality private bathrooms and showers. It's luxurious compared to a normal gym. Here's some pictures of the pool and hotel (sorry I don't have any pictures of where they set up the gym but its right next to the pool).

I think this is a pretty nice way to learn real Sanda, in a private, relaxed, and well furnished setting with a real fighter who came up and competed in the standard Chinese national programs. He's also a pretty nice guy. If you happen to be in Beijing and are interested, or have questions, just let me know. I can probably get you a good discount.

 

[ryanrandy]

Jimmy Pedro Judo center is like 5 miles from me, as is the Sityodtong and Wait Kru for mma

 

[Shabutie]

Only TMA in my area and seems legit, they have a solid logo.

https://www.tma.asn.au/

 

[FightGuyOpenMind]

Yes, all of them.

A lot of the students I've noticed at the TMA places are inconsistent. They also don't train hard, which is on them as students. If you go to a boxing gym, and half ass it, your "skillset" wouldn't serve you too well either. You'd get in the ring or a fight, and get molly whopped.

As long as the TMA academy is teaching from legitimate curriculum, the potential is there.

 

[Mr.Maelstrom]

Wu Tang clan has legit Shaolin origins.

As well as culinary styling of the 36th chamber.

On topic, there's a tae kwon do joint that opened in the heart of the hood. To my surprise, it's flourished so far. Even while EZGOs and Hop n Sacks nearby folded, the guy is of Asian descent so I'd imagine the teaching isn't mcdojo nonsense.

Most of all, he markets and caters toward youngsters predominantly and I gotta say, glad I was wrong.

It's easy to rip on TMAs, but before MMA as we now know it,

TMA background vs. Some shitty bully was invaluable and I think ppl forget that to attempt to distance themselves from the years they may feel were wasted.

 

[chuckleknuckle]

Back in the early 90s, i trained at a school that cross trained 8 different traditional martial arts. It was run by a group of coaches from rough neighbourhoods who realised that most TMAs were worthless without being pressure tested.

We sparred full contact every night and the coaches added eye gouges, hair pulling, and they added fake knives into the sparring etc to make it realistic.

We also trained outside and in our regular clothes once per week to add to the realism.

It was pretty under developed and lame by modern MMA standards but it was legit in the sense that we actually scrapped most evenings.

 

[drbolony]

My cousins gf is a milf 5th degree black belt in Shotokan Karate. She has a legit rack.

 

[lts5025]

There is a school not far from me that teaches MMA and kickboxing but is based off of some goofy made up TMA. They’ve had a least one guy in the UFC and a few in smaller MMA and kickboxing promotions.

 

[FightGuyOpenMind]

As well as culinary styling of the 36th chamber.

On topic, there's a tae kwon do joint that opened in the heart of the hood. To my surprise, it's flourished so far. Even while EZGOs and Hop n Sacks nearby folded, the guy is of Asian descent so I'd imagine the teaching isn't mcdojo nonsense.

Most of all, he markets and caters toward youngsters predominantly and I gotta say, glad I was wrong.

It's easy to rip on TMAs, but before MMA as we now know it,

TMA background vs. Some shitty bully was invaluable and I think ppl forget that to attempt to distance themselves from the years they may feel were wasted.

I don't see too much of anything done in MMA that I haven't seen in TMA (technique wise).

What I do see is practitioners who train more intensely, and of course full contact.

If a karateka trained like a boxer or wrestler trains, along with full contact sparring I think they'd be fine.

The TMA places I've seen in the hood were more legit in terms of producing "fighters". It is reflective of the people studying it, and how they train.

There is a TMA place right next to an outlaw biker club locally. They may just pay the bikers for protection. lol

 

[MMAart]

Besides BJJ and Muay Thai, do you know any TMA academy in your local area that you would consider "legit" (opposed to a McDojo)?

I mean, any judo, or karate, or TKD, kung fu, etc., that you would consider good enough for self defense or as a base if some of their best students would try to switch to MMA? Or in case if judo, to try to go for a national team, maybe olympics?

The word TMA and "legit" or "good enough for self defense" usually don't go together.

I know this from first hand experience. Took karate and kung fu. The Karate school was a non McDojo, Shorin Ryo Karate, but its training methods lacked modernization like MMA (technique refinement, conditioning, sparring).

Most, if not all, of TMA schools suffer from the same inherently flawed system of hanging on to traditions (keeping techniques that are impractical, doing forms, aka katas). TMAs also do not evolve their techniques and discourage students to make alteration to techniques, because changing techniques is considered a blasphemy to the lineage and grand masters.

If you are really adamant about taking a TMA, I'd suggest taking Judo. Judo's techniques are based on actual competition, and because of this reason, it's practical in a real situation.

 

[Khalabeeb Stiopic]

Coincidentally I just posted this in the striking forum if anyone is interested in learning Sanda in Beijing, China: http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/sanda-散打-kickboxing-school-in-beijing-china.3873641

Here's a reproduction of the original post for convenience (please see the other thread for more information):

Hi guys, I have a Chinese friend who use to fight professionally in Sanda and has just opened a Sanda school in Beijing.

For those who are not familiar with it, Sanda is the Chinese form of kickboxing, based on traditional Chinese Wushu and wrestling (摔跤 or Shuai Jiao). It's like Muay Thai but with throws. This is what Cung Le, Zabit Magomedsharipov, Muslim Salikhov competed in before they started MMA, and it is the base of a lot of the Chinese fighters now entering the UFC. Here is a Vice article about it, Wiki, but a video says 1000 words.



The school is pretty centrally located next to central Beijing Railway station, within the 2nd ring. It is in the recreation club of a luxury hotel, so there's ultra modern facilities like a swimming pool and hotel quality private bathrooms and showers. It's luxurious compared to a normal gym. Here's some pictures of the pool and hotel (sorry I don't have any pictures of where they set up the gym but its right next to the pool).

I think this is a pretty nice way to learn real Sanda, in a private, relaxed, and well furnished setting with a real fighter who came up and competed in the standard Chinese national programs. He's also a pretty nice guy. If you happen to be in Beijing and are interested, or have questions, just let me know. I can probably get you a good discount.

Chinese nationalists made sanda after getting destroyed by Muay thai in the 60's and 70's. They took out elbows added some wrestling throws and emphasise the sidekick just to pretend its not watered down muay thai. They have good fighters now though even though they barely fight outside china because of the shame of losing

 

[Azure]

I practice Judo and the club has had at one time 4 people fighting with the national team.

 

[Mr.Maelstrom]

I don't see too much of anything done in MMA that I haven't seen in TMA (technique wise).

What I do see is practitioners who train more intensely, and of course full contact.

If a karateka trained like a boxer or wrestler trains, along with full contact sparring I think they'd be fine.

The TMA places I've seen in the hood were more legit in terms of producing "fighters". It is reflective of the people studying it, and how they train.

There is a TMA place right next to an outlaw biker club locally. They may just pay the bikers for protection. lol

That's a great point, dude. +1

 

[Dead Kennedy]

I got this here, and it’s for kids to not be lazy fucks...

 

[elwani]

Chinese nationalists made sanda after getting destroyed by Muay thai in the 60's and 70's. They took out elbows added some wrestling throws and emphasise the sidekick just to pretend its not watered down muay thai. They have good fighters now though even though they barely fight outside china because of the shame of losing

It's just a different rule set. Would you call MMA just a watered down version of Muay Thai? No I don't think so. How do you think an elite pure Muay Thai kickboxer would do against even an average MMA fighter under MMA rules? On the other hand, how well do you think an elite MMA fighter would do against even an average Muay Thai fighter under Muay Thai rules? Exactly, neither is better, it's just a different rule set. Which is better for you depends on what you want. Do you just want to learn how to defeat someone if neither of you are allowed to wrestle, then Muay Thai is probably better for you. Do you want to learn how to defeat someone if you can both strike and utilize throws and takedowns, then Sanda is probably better for you. Do you want to learn how to defeat someone if you can strike, utilize throws and takedowns, and also grapple on the ground, then MMA is probably better for you. Last of all, if you are interested in MMA but cannot study it directly, evidence would suggest that Sanda is better for you since it involves wrestling. We've seen several pure Sanda fighters make their way into the UFC (like Cung Le, Zabit, Muslim, and many of the new crop of Chinese fighters), but when's the last time we saw a pure Muay Thai fighter successfully transition?

I'm also not sure your information about the history of Sanda is accurate at all. Do you even have a source? I've actually had a chance to speak to some of the founders of Sanda, and I'm pretty sure it was developed in the 1980's by the Chinese military to provide soldiers with a practical form of unarmed combat. It drew from a variety of traditional Chinese martial arts (Bagua, Qiquan, Shuaijiao, etc.) as well as western boxing. This is probably one of the reasons why there is no ground work, because you're not going to be rolling around with someone on the ground when you're fighting multiple enemies in battle. Also I think you mean the Chinese communists, not nationalists. The nationalists were the ones who lost and were driven out of China after WW2. Get your basic history straight.

 

[Rozko]

2 of the Judo gyms in the area are ran by a Olympic medalist or alternates respectfully. Got humbled by a 115lbs woman during sparring. It is a great self-defense sport for WI. Gi grips 8 months a year.