Are Mixed Martial Arts Studios Ripping You Off?

By Scott Buendia_

Royce Gracie broke down barriers when he won UFC 1. While opening everyones eyes to grappling, he also did something that would change martial arts forever. He was beating martial arts black belts and proving to them that they were missing a vital element of their fighting arts, the ground game. Fast forward to a few short years later, everyone is being told by martial arts business gurus that they have to teach mixed martial arts (or MMA) to their students to get some of the money that is floating around. Forget that they havent trained in it before; forget they dont know the style. Theyve never competed, never had anyone compete before, and probably have never thought of fighting in a cage (even saying in the past, that it was barbaric and they want nothing to do with it, but they still found the gall to hang up a shingle and say, hey I teach MMA.

So the problem becomes obvious here, many schools are blatantly ripping off the unsuspecting because they have a belt and the talk with authority about a subject they know virtually nothing about. Theyve never competed or studied grappling close enough to teach it, and its all second hand information that is propagated and spread throughout communities, all while defrauding the masses. To give you a better idea, let me tell you a story.

In walks little Timmy and his dad who wants him to be able to defend himself against a bully no matter if it goes to the ground or if it stays standing. His sweeps are all wrong (Timmys) and his takedowns are weak, but hes somehow still good enough to be a brown belt in MMA (sorry, these don’t exist). He does get taken down by the local bully who is street crafty and may have training as well, and low and behold we have a problem. Timmy gets beat up, and blames himself. His parents blame themselves for not paying for more classes so he could be better. Everyone blames themselves except the school who have convinced themselves erroneously that they are doing the right thing and teaching the right things, and they do believe that little Timmy with bad training needs to pay more to come more often or get privates. No one blames the Grandmaster who has a black belt in MMA for 20 years (forget that MMA has only been around 12 years), no body questions that he has all the years of experience in teaching MMA and actually learning MMA. He gets by because he or she wears a belt that is black and talks with authority.

So whats the cure? Check the creditionals of your teach before you enter the training contract. Look for someone recognizable to back up what they say, someone with experience, and someone who has competed. Look for their competitors and how they have done in competitions (thats the only way you can see what kind of school it is). Be suspicious if the owner/head instructor has never competed or ever led someone who has competed. Ask if the owner was there when the competition happened, if they werent active with the student, then what makes you think that they will be active with your son, daughter, or you. If you do all this, youll be sure to find a reputable school you can trust.

Scott Buendia gives lessons in his Hillsboro martial arts school and teaches: Jeet Kune Do (the art used by Jason Bourne), Filipino martial arts, Catch Wrestling, and Shamrock Submission Fighting in his school.

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