Any Chicagoans train at Degerberg?

i used to train there when i first moved backed to chicago. prior to joining, i did muay thai and san shou in in another state and was looking for a school to continue my training. unfortunately, degerberg is not the place to learn MMA, Muay Thai, or any kind of grappling. Ocar is a cool cat and is probably the only real fighter to come from there. Everthing else is TMA...even the Muay Thai classes. its a shame that they call it muay thai when in reality it is just kickboxing. there is no sense of tradition or semblence of style in the muay thai classes. if anything, it resembled a karate class from when i was 12 years old. when i had to bow, say yessir to some kid who paid for the belt promotion, and had to do pushups when i didn't yell, i just knew this wasnt the place to train. i would not recommend that school to anyone who wants to learn effectively.

if you want BJJ, goto Carlson Gracie Jr. and Gracie Barra on Lincoln. 'Nuff said about the quality there. if you want Muay Thai, goto Active Edge in the Southside. Kansak Sor Ploenchit who is a former Lumpinee champ, should be training down there. I trained with him and he is legit. If you want boxing, check out JAAB in the west loop area. Stephen Bonnar, Andre Arlovski, and Kendal Gill train from there. I forgot his last name but the head trainer at JAAB, Mike, is an awesome guy and is legit. I believe at one point in his amateur career he was on the same level with Oscar DelaHoya. Now, I think he is just training and doing promos.

There are alot of choices in Chicago. Not one place has it all but there are definitely options.

ttt

"Nope, no MMA gyms in the city of Chicago. There's some in the subs, which are like 40 minutes from the city. "

False.  The Carlson Gracie Academy is located in the Fitplex gym at LaSalle and Division.

There are gi classes at least on Mon. Thurs, & Sundays taught by various Black Belts.  Brown Belt Jay Valko teaches an excellent no-gi class on Tuesday nights.  Expert boxing coach Joe Kahn also teaches at Fitplex

Sat. is open mat and you can get privates from undefeated NHB Carlson Sr. BB Jeff Neal.  Jeff's team subsequently has an MMA record of 35-2.  We just scored another win last night From Anthony Gomez's victory at Pure Force in Tinley Park.

If you want MMA training I can't imagine learning anywhere but from Carlson's team.