is it really good? was interested in buying it but the sample technique in the video page didn’t seem too unique and details seemed quite basic, not unlike staff you’d see elsewhere
It’s not a bunch of shit stolen from Scott sonnen
I found it interesting that right beside the front door was a plaque with a quote from Hello about how Gracie jiu jitsu is like pure water from the well and the farther you go away, the dirtier the water gets. Later, I was talking to someone about how I was a black belt in BJJ but just a blue belt in GJJ when Ryron overheard and said it’s the same thing, although he said it in kind of a quiet voice just to me.
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Yup! Manipulative bs. Exactly the stuff theyd do on the regular. Its like “bjj microaggressions.” Bunch of sly comments and jokes they make on the regular under the guise of being likeable and jovial guys. I trained there up til purple belt and left cause of all their cultish bs and passive aggressive shit. I left with a chip on my shoulder. shared the story before but i ran into ryron years later at a seminar once i had my black belt. He made several mocking jokes about my black belt to belittle me and just reinforced why i left the school. I addressed my grievances and reason for leaving.
I remember when they had their first promotion ceremony and they gave out their first black belts to a bunch of guys. before each belt they gave a brief speech about each guy getting promoted. Each speech morphed into some form of, “…and even though he has trained for 15 years and worked so hard to earn this black belt…i would still tap him in under a minute.”
EVERY SINGLE GUY getting their black belt and rener ryron made the same FN JOKE about how they would destroy the guy repeatedly on the mats. So fn self absorbed and narcissistic
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That’s some weird stuff. I had always wanted to train there but maybe best I didn’t lol.
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Yeah its so sad cause they are EXCELLENT instructors. They dont just understand bjj, they also understand TEACHING itself and making the material accessible for everyone. Rorion is still the best instructor ive ever seen. However their last name and all the nutt hugging they receive goes to their head immensely especially with rorion’s sons. Rorion was always cool and down to earth. Rener and ryron at the time appeared to operate under the guise of being down to earth, but it became clear they had no interest in any students other than “how can i benefit from interacting with this student.” Most students were just a funding source in their eyes. Any relation beyond that was incredibly superficial unless you had more to offer them. Rorion was definitely exploitative but in personal reactions he seemed to at least genuinely think of you as a human being.
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I dont know if i shared this in another thread. Just found this a week ago or so. Interview with richard bresler. Rorion’s first student. He also financial backed the gracie academy when it first opened and ufc 1. Rorion used the shit out of him.
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Heres rorion promoting jordon to black belt more than a decade. His dad used to be active here. His son was awesome. I remember him before he was even a teen.
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Tomi & Jordan are great. I drove down to GA for a private with Jordan not long after he got his BB.
Don’t recall which brother it was that didn’t like Jordan but Rorian overruled and made them promote him. I just recall one of the brothers didn’t like him. Jordan was always great though.
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I remember his dad posting often.
Tomi is a great dude!
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WHOA SHIT. First im hearing of this. Im going to assume it was rener. Rener is who i had issues with and even when i talked to ryron about the matter even he acknowledged that it was sort of a common complaint. He didnt go into detail obviously.
Wow im shocked that even jordon received beef from one of the bros. Though i guess i shouldnt be knowing how they are.
Any idea what the issues were? Does jordon still have involvement at the gracie academy or bjj at all?
FWIW, at 1:04:36 when he’s talking about a Krav Maga school in Culver City, he says “there was another guy who just left” -That me was me. Lol
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It came from Tomi telling me. It’s been 10+ yrs now since I last spoke with him. He was pretty upset about it back then but at the time I just took it as gym drama & he was venting a bit. Jordan never mentioned anything. This was back when Jordan was contemplating leaving GA to go manage another gym, 2012ish. I remember him looking at a place in Santa Barbara & Rorion even offering to finance Jordan for his own place. Don’t recall where he ended up or what he decided on.
I do think he made mention of it here though. Would have to go back several years & search old threads in this ground to find it though.
Wasn’t Jordan living with or touring around with some rich guy as his personal bjj trainer? (Not that it’s any of my business, I’ve only read about him on this forum).
Don’t know. I quit bjj in 2013 so only drop into this forum on occasion. He very well may have.
I know he got into music as well when he entered his 20s and had a band. Tomi and jordan were really cool and friendly people
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Jordan vs cobrinha
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Does it surprise you about Ryron and Rener. I mean they went and tried to threaten their Uncle Royce. Who threatens an older Uncle, higher rank and UFC Champion
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I spent a day at that school and my friend who’s a BB who teaches in New Zealand was there, said "this is an amazing school… I mean it’s really incredible… " I said, “yeah”. Then he added “I could NEVER train here.” And I agreed, “my thoughts exactly.”
If you have done martial arts for a long time --maybe different arts-- you have probably encountered cult-like dynamics. And once you get away from it, you never ever want to be around it again. You think, “WHY did I stay there…?” When you see people walking on eggshells to not “upset” someone in charge, when you see all sorts of subtle & not so subtle control. when you see a super “charismatic” teacher act like a complete prick behind the scenes, you want no part of it.
Less so today, but it still happens that many BJJ/MA students confuse the art itself with cult-like dynamics, as if they are one thing. They think, “Well, if I want to learn this art, I guess I just have to put up with this other nonsense.” But that is not the case.
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