London MMA gym

H

Haye

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Hello chaps!

Been really struggling to pick a London gym to join for MMA.

Carlson Gracie seem excellent for bjj and do a couple of no-gi classes a week. However they dont do wrestling, unsure about their rep for muay thai and also don't do boxing. Wonder if this would be the perfect place for solely training bjj but not so much for MMA.

London Fight Factory are supposed to be good for bjj, seem to have decent wrestling, do boxing but tried their must Thai class and wasn't impressed tbh. Other thing I noticed was that most classes are packed so wonder about the ability of the instructors to see what individuals are doing right/wrong.

Diesel gym are pretty well known for their muay Thai, do boxing, have an excellent wrestling coach but do 10th planet Jiu jitsu under a purple belt so doubt the level is up to the level of the other places. Went for a class there before Christmas and they seemed like a nice group.

London Shoot fighters schedule doesnt fit in with mine unfortunately (all no-gi classes are too early for me to attend).

Please help chaps - any recommendations for where I should join from the above list or elsewhere.
 
Don't know about mma, but the bjj at London Fight Factory is really good. Visited there this summer and was impressed. I can't answer the MMA question though.
 
Melkesyre said:
Don't know about mma, but the bjj at London Fight Factory is really good. Visited there this summer and was impressed. I can't answer the MMA question though.
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Thanks mate. You didn't find particularly large numbers in the classes no (like 35 plus)?
 
Haye said:
Thanks mate. You didn't find particularly large numbers in the classes no (like 35 plus)?
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There were quite a lot of people there yes, I liked it, but to each their own. I prefer to be able to spar with a lot of different people, at the cost of a little less private time with the professor in the technique portion.
 
Melkesyre said:
There were quite a lot of people there yes, I liked it, but to each their own. I prefer to be able to spar with a lot of different people, at the cost of a little less private time with the professor in the technique portion.
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Fair enough, that makes sense. They also seem to get some amazing seminars going on at that place. Jackson Sousa, Bechecha and Anderson Silva have all been there recently I believe.

Im told that Carlson's have the most prestigious bjj team in the country so thats why I'm beginning to lean towards them now that it seems they have more classes than I originally thought. However, I do notice that LFF do have a few competitors at a decent level on the mma circuit but am not aware of any who fight out of the Carlson's gym!
 
East Finchely Combat Academy have a good mix of classes. Have you tried London Shootfighters East (Canary Wharf)? Both are good gyms. There are other teams I havr heard of but not trained at like Junk Boat MMA in Tottenham, Team Titan in Edmonton (Micky is a top guy) , Eddie Kone MMA in Walthamstow, Ibush Kabashi MMA, MMA Clinic(I've heard good things about it), Urban Kings, FightZone MMA, FightCityMMA. Tons of places to check out really.
 
When did you visit LFF? The beginner BJJ lessons were packed at the beginning of the year but they seemed to have died down a little. Advanced is never all that busy imo, at least not to the point where you cant roll.
 
charliebrown82 said:
East Finchely Combat Academy have a good mix of classes. Have you tried London Shootfighters East (Canary Wharf)? Both are good gyms. There are other teams I havr heard of but not trained at like Junk Boat MMA in Tottenham, Team Titan in Edmonton (Micky is a top guy) , Eddie Kone MMA in Walthamstow, Ibush Kabashi MMA, MMA Clinic(I've heard good things about it), Urban Kings, FightZone MMA, FightCityMMA. Tons of places to check out really.
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Thanks for the reply mate. Lots to Google there and visit but off the top of my head London Shootfighters East could be a good shout. The schedules not as comprehensive as the one in park royal but quicker for me to get to after work. Out of all the places in London this seems to be the place that produces the highest quality fighters. The only thing that put me off signing up to their main gym is that no-gi is on at 6 in the evening and no way I can get there for then. But from having a read of things I'm starting to see that perhaps the best way to get to a decent level is to be well rounded and it looks like the coaching across the board there looks good at the expense of not getting as much notice no-gi bjj.
 
Mufasatheking said:
When did you visit LFF? The beginner BJJ lessons were packed at the beginning of the year but they seemed to have died down a little. Advanced is never all that busy imo, at least not to the point where you cant roll.
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It was a little while ago now mate to be fair. Had a look on their page a couple of months ago and again the photos looked like some classes were packed but suppose that would coincide with the new year!

I did like the atmosphere there. Unlike London shoot it seems more of a bjj gym with other disciplines rather than mma focused. But could be wrong! Out of interest do you do the wrestling classes there? How do you find them? Cheers mate
 
You will find, as the standard of MMA isn't as high in the UK (it is getting there though), you will struggle to find a gym that will give you a super high standard in all disciplines.
Go to the gym who:
1) Has the best instruction for you (we all learn in different ways, some people don't respond well so some instruction styles)
2) Has a curriculum will best translate to MMA
3) Has a gym where you like the vibe

You're in London, you have an incredible list of gyms to choose from. Go try a class at as many of the academies as you can. This is the only way you'll know for certain.
 
Mufasatheking said:
When did you visit LFF? The beginner BJJ lessons were packed at the beginning of the year but they seemed to have died down a little. Advanced is never all that busy imo, at least not to the point where you cant roll.
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It happened at our gym too. The beginner classes were very packed in january. Now they have ease up.
 
Haye said:
Diesel gym are pretty well known for their muay Thai, do boxing, have an excellent wrestling coach but do 10th planet Jiu jitsu under a purple belt so doubt the level is up to the level of the other places. Went for a class there before Christmas and they seemed like a nice group.
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Diesel Gym is solid. Jamie Scott may only be a purple belt but that isn't reflected in his rolling, it's difficult to get ranked if you only practice No Gi and he is quite a new 10th Planet official school.
 
Harnaik said:
You will find, as the standard of MMA isn't as high in the UK (it is getting there though), you will struggle to find a gym that will give you a super high standard in all disciplines.
Go to the gym who:
1) Has the best instruction for you (we all learn in different ways, some people don't respond well so some instruction styles)
2) Has a curriculum will best translate to MMA
3) Has a gym where you like the vibe

You're in London, you have an incredible list of gyms to choose from. Go try a class at as many of the academies as you can. This is the only way you'll know for certain.
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Thanks. Yep certainly seems to be the way forward. Will check out some more places in the next few weeks and see how I find them. I had a brief look in again at Diesel last night and seems decent. Heard they're very good at muay Thai and wrestling coach has been Polish champ a number of times (though can't find any record of this apart from their website). Only reservation was learning 10th planet and being instructed by a purple belt when there's so many black belts to choose from but might be the way forward ovcerall. - especially as like one of the posters says he's actually at a higher level and its just because you start at scratch when you do 10th planet.
 
Frazzles said:
Diesel Gym is solid. Jamie Scott may only be a purple belt but that isn't reflected in his rolling, it's difficult to get ranked if you only practice No Gi and he is quite a new 10th Planet official school.
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Thanks mate. That's good to know as the bjj part of this place was the only thing holding me back from joining potentially. Want to learn bjj in an mma sense so sounds it could be the place to go with then. Heard Roger Gracie said 80% of what he has learnt is useless in mma so might be the way forward to learn something which directly translates to mma. Also like how there's no tie in with the contract.
 
Haye said:
Thanks for the reply mate. Lots to Google there and visit but off the top of my head London Shootfighters East could be a good shout. The schedules not as comprehensive as the one in park royal but quicker for me to get to after work. Out of all the places in London this seems to be the place that produces the highest quality fighters. The only thing that put me off signing up to their main gym is that no-gi is on at 6 in the evening and no way I can get there for then. But from having a read of things I'm starting to see that perhaps the best way to get to a decent level is to be well rounded and it looks like the coaching across the board there looks good at the expense of not getting as much notice no-gi bjj.
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I'm biased since Edu's my coach's coach but you can't go wrong at LSE. Edu is great coach and the BJJ guys there at least are really nice dudes who spar hard and push each other to be better at every session.
 
Frazzles said:
Diesel Gym is solid. Jamie Scott may only be a purple belt but that isn't reflected in his rolling, it's difficult to get ranked if you only practice No Gi and he is quite a new 10th Planet official school.
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This. The standard of grappling may not necessarily be up to scratch with Carlson Gracie academy and it is arguable that it isn't as high level as it was before Claudio Silva left to fight in the UFC, but it is still legit and operates via the same curriculum that Eddie Bravo manages.. Either way it IS legit, the wrestling coach is fantastic and the Muay Thai team is one of the best in the country. You're definitely better off there than in most places you'll find in London.
 
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Haye said:
It was a little while ago now mate to be fair. Had a look on their page a couple of months ago and again the photos looked like some classes were packed but suppose that would coincide with the new year!

I did like the atmosphere there. Unlike London shoot it seems more of a bjj gym with other disciplines rather than mma focused. But could be wrong! Out of interest do you do the wrestling classes there? How do you find them? Cheers mate
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Ive done the wrestling a few times when I had time and I found them good but I dont really have the experience/knowledge to judge accurately. When theyre teaching takedowns for Gi BJJ the instruction is really good but that doesnt seem to be relevant to you.

The no-gi classes are good as well but theyre only on 2-3 times a week (barring lunch times).

Youre right on how its mostly a bjj gym that also does MMA, so if MMA is you focus then it might be better finding another gym, but Harnaik was right in that most gyms are either going to be great at grappling or great at striking
 
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