MMA gyms

Discussion in 'MMA' started by LoChu, Feb 8, 2016.

  1. LoChu

    LoChu Valued Member

    Given MMA's growing popularity I'm surprised gyms similar to below aren't more common -- at least in my area. Otherwise most "MMA gyms" are just martial arts schools that don't offer standard gym and martial arts equipment (bags, grappling dummies, etc).

    http://ufcgym.com/
     
  2. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    It's because most MMA gyms are set up by active/former Fighters, or as a part of a BJJ school, whereas UFC brand gyms are a money making business who employ people to teach for them, their quality ranges enormously. If you want a regular gym, just join a regular gym.
     
  3. philosoraptor

    philosoraptor carnivore in a top hat Supporter

    I'm not so sure I see this proliferating as much as uh… let's say non combative tai chi or completely kata based karate. The fact that MMA is inherently tied to a competitive format, and people who train in a substandard manner will either not compete or not do well, should ensure that the best gyms still have that "train with XYZ athlete!" angle.
     
  4. Tom bayley

    Tom bayley Valued Member

    MMA is going to go the way of traditional martial arts. Traditional martial arts are about practical fighting application. But the problem is that most people do not like to actually fight and most people like the idea of being able to win a physical altercation much more than they like the time and effort required to gain and maintain the necessary skills and fitness to win.

    Clubs will grow, not on how well their fighters perform but how well they are marketed, and how well they feed the fantasy fighter who watches mma and sees themself in the ring. "M,M,A'ercise" will grow to feed the fantasys of weekend warriors in the same way that karate, and kung fu did.
     
  5. Mushroom

    Mushroom De-powered to come back better than before.

    In my opinion, its already there. You got people going around claiming to be BJJ Blackbelts. Arguments over lineage. Gym wars. Etc...

    However as a technological driven culture with the urge to do everything quickly and least amount ofeffort, the DVD fitness stuff is pretty much a given as soon as more than 10 people know your name. Even GSP has a RushFit series. What makes me laugh is even people on Big Brother end up with a DVD after doing 5 push ups.

    But hey, thats brand marketing for you. Its good business.
     
  6. icefield

    icefield Valued Member


    Actually I don’t think this will happen at least not as badly as it has with TCMA schools, because at the heart of MMA is the competition format, join an MMA gym and you will have to spar, and more than likely at least a few people will actively compete, this alone will help it avoid the trap traditional arts have fallen into of fantasy make believe, add to this the total lack of forms and you will have a class that has sparring, lots of partner work and a number of guys fighting.
    Now there is and will be a further growth in fitness classes which utalize MMA techniques, much like there is boxercise classes, but as with boxing it wont have too detrimental an effect because it will be easy to find a good fighting school (simply see who competes and where) and because those classes are sold as exercises not fighting classes, (go to a boxercise class and ask if they can teach you to defend yourself, they will laugh at you)

    The issue with most TMA classes is there are sold as fighting or self defence arts when plainly the guy teaching has never had a fight in their lifes, and they methods used to actually teach the art are suboptimal for actually making a fighter or transmitting a fighting art

    The problem isn’t so much people not wanting to fight or train hard, its them being sold one thing by teachers when its plainly not what they are preparing their students for.

    The real problem in most MMA classes isn’t people taking the MMA class and thinking they can fight when they don’t spar hard or work against resistance (its hard to find an MMA class that doenst spar) The problem is people doing grappling only at MMA clubs and thinking they can actually fight like the MMA guys lol
     
    Last edited: Feb 8, 2016
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  7. icefield

    icefield Valued Member

    The amount of guys in BJJ claiming a blackbelt who haven't earned it can be counted on one hand though, and they get called on it, same with the guys opening an MMA gym with false credentials these guys are easy to spot because at the heart of it MMA and BJJ is about competition and comp records are easily found and thus teachers and clubs easily judged, the e same cant be said for most TMAs
     
  8. Pretty In Pink

    Pretty In Pink Moved on MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Yup. If you claim to fight it can normally be verified. Black belts are outed pretty much straight away.
     
  9. Mushroom

    Mushroom De-powered to come back better than before.

    True. But TMAs been at it a lot longer :) and also started before people started making records. Its the fact that people still try regardless and BJJ only became mainstream in our current lifetime. Give it a generation.

    A guilty pleasure is watching vids of people being outed though.
     
  10. philosoraptor

    philosoraptor carnivore in a top hat Supporter

    Honestly, I kind of think that things like the internet will prevent that. The data is available online now and things are more transparent than ever. It's not just your guilty pleasure, now it's everyones. So if you claim to have been taught BJJ by some dude on a mountainside, people are going to be analyzing that claim and waiting to see you fail. With popcorn.
     
  11. ap Oweyn

    ap Oweyn Ret. Supporter

    I don't doubt that they'll become more popular in the near future. In Loudoun County, VA (where I recently relocated), I've already come across several UFC gyms. And in Alexandria (where I came from), there was LA Boxing, which is essentially the same thing. It's growing.

    The question, really, is who's going to be drawn to those places? Both in terms of clientele and staff. I think someone already correctly observed that people are drawn to these places because they like the image of being a fighter more than they like the reality of becoming one. And that's not an accusation. Now that I'm forcibly retired, I can acknowledge that I sat somewhere around the midpoint of that spectrum myself. I wanted to spar, but I never had the fire to be a proper fighter. So I could have been a nameless shmo in a proper fighting gym or quite smart looking in one of these suburban fight clubs.

    Same goes for the staff. I don't know anybody who teaches at one of these places. Maybe I'm wrong in thinking they aren't your elite fight trainers. I can certainly understand the appeal of working or learning at a clean, new, well-equipped facility. I can also understand the appeal of broken down, dirty, and packed with serious contenders though.

    I think, at the end of the day, it's true what others have said about this being branding. And a good fight record is only going to serve as good branding for a very narrow subset of your potential client base. For the far larger section of your demographic, a nice, well-finished, shiny new gym full of attractive people in fashionable workout attire is going to work a lot better.
     
  12. goforit1

    goforit1 New Member

    New MMA Gyms

    MMA Gyms like the ones from your link may grow in popularity depending on where they're built and how they're marketed. Though I prefer an "old school' more traditional dojo, I'm older and that's what I'm familiar with. I help out at an older Mixed Martial Arts dojo in Dayton that has character... http://teamtenbears.com/ ... Its built in what was once a large garage, and the students love it. I used to train in the same area when I was younger in a dojo that was built in the basement of Drs. office... wood floors and all.

    If those more modern MMA Gyms are marketed to a younger more affluent potential Martial Arts student those types of trendy MMA gyms may be successful. I think it also depends on a few other things. There are more upscale sections of most urban or suburban areas where a flashy new MMA gym would fit in. I guess as far as getting qualified instructors, well that's going to depend on the city, who's managing the gym etc. All the dojos in my area are more traditional, but I'm seeing flashy Title 1 Boxing Gyms popping up throughout central Ohio. MMA Gyms may be the next big thing here too.
     
  13. LoChu

    LoChu Valued Member

    I started this thread because I just want a standard gym with more martial arts equipment (bags, grappling dummies, mats for falls and rolls, etc.) so I can practice on my own with proper tools. My current gym actually has bags but no grappling dummies and their mats are only reserved for their taekwondo class. MMA gyms potentially can fill my above request.
     
    Last edited: Feb 9, 2016
  14. Mushroom

    Mushroom De-powered to come back better than before.

    Then go and have a look :)

    However I dont know what UFC gyms are run. If its classes only or if any free spots will allow you to use the grappling dummies. Theyre quite expensive.
    Punch bags are different tho.
     
  15. LoChu

    LoChu Valued Member

    Would check but none in my area.
     
  16. Guitar Nado

    Guitar Nado Valued Member

    Maybe the best grappling dummy is a person that wants to learn grappling. I say this as a person who is crappy at grappling, but does it sometimes anyways. I feel lots of times I am serving as a practice tool for people better than me. That is cool, cause maybe we both get a little better after that. No fancy gym needed.
     
  17. Mushroom

    Mushroom De-powered to come back better than before.

    The positives of a grappling dummy, you can throw long and hard. Throw like the head throw and land in a kesa and not break your partner's rib.
    Negatives. Dummies tend to be a bit too stiff and the weight balance and the fulcrum point is off.

    Kinda like the difference if you're cradling a 60kg log and a 60kg water bag.
     
  18. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    Letting untrained people loose on mats without instruction will soon end up with someone getting hurt, and the gym getting sued.
     
  19. icefield

    icefield Valued Member

    not to mention gym space is at a premium, they wont want a big matted area only being used by 1 or 2 people who aren't paying for a class, or let someone loose on their dummies unles they are paying
     
  20. LoChu

    LoChu Valued Member

    Agree. But my actual in class training time is limited cuz of bad work schedule. So searching for gym with proper MA equiplment to maximize self training.
     

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