bjjdna - Chris Brennan and Marc Laimon were roommates and good buddies in 95/96. They used to drive around in Chris’ green sports car that had a giant Gracie bjj sticker on the back window and go to this bar called the cowboy boogie and beat guys up with their bluebelt skillsets lmao.Thanks.They were both in the tga instructor’s program and paid Rorion $600/month to train full time, help teach, mop the mats, and do the Gracie laundry.
As part of the instructor’s program, there were semi privates once per week with Rorion, Royce, and even Helio when he was in town and front row seats to all the challenge matches.
I remember Marc telling me that he was using his college education money to learn bjj.
Chris and Marc left tga in late 96 and helped Avi open up the then brand new Bev Hills bjj club along with Ethan Milius, Richard Bressler, Lowel Anderson and some of the other “rotten apple” instructors from tga.
Once Marc left tga and began training at the bhbjj club, Marc got really good really fast. He lived on the mats at the bh bjj club and did nothing but train, teach, watch bjj videos, and play video games.
At the bhbjj club, Avi brought in Kerr, Bas, Oleg, Ruas, etc. before Avi eventually sold the place to Marcus Vinicius, the current owner. They were all teaching and training together which helped Marc’s game even more.
The beef between Chris and Marc was over money that Chris owed Marc. I think Marc took him to court, but I believe they have since settled up and are all good now but I don’t know the details.
bjjdna - Chris Brennan and Marc Laimon were roommates and good buddies in 95/96. They used to drive around in Chris’ green sports car that had a giant Gracie bjj sticker on the back window and go to this bar called the cowboy boogie and beat guys up with their bluebelt skillsets lmao.They were both in the tga instructor’s program and paid Rorion $600/month to train full time, help teach, mop the mats, and do the Gracie laundry.
As part of the instructor’s program, there were semi privates once per week with Rorion, Royce, and even Helio when he was in town and front row seats to all the challenge matches.
I remember Marc telling me that he was using his college education money to learn bjj.
Chris and Marc left tga in late 96 and helped Avi open up the then brand new Bev Hills bjj club along with Ethan Milius, Richard Bressler, Lowel Anderson and some of the other “rotten apple” instructors from tga.
Once Marc left tga and began training at the bhbjj club, Marc got really good really fast. He lived on the mats at the bh bjj club and did nothing but train, teach, watch bjj videos, and play video games.
At the bhbjj club, Avi brought in Kerr, Bas, Oleg, Ruas, etc. before Avi eventually sold the place to Marcus Vinicius, the current owner. They were all teaching and training together which helped Marc’s game even more.
The beef between Chris and Marc was over money that Chris owed Marc. I think Marc took him to court, but I believe they have since settled up and are all good now but I don’t know the details.
^ Knows his shit. Dude literally lived in the gym.
I trained briefly at CK with Marc after he split w Jsect, around 2004.
Very cool dude with great BJJ knowledge. Would def go out of my way to train w him again.
I'm sure the egos and editing on TUF contributed to the perception of some who've never met him in person.
sugarhigh -I was there around that time. What do you mean? Disrespect students?armbarring - Also Marc would give the shirt off his back.Marc was friendly to me, but was a complete ssshole to some of the other guys.
only trained at his gym for 4 months (back in 2004/04). I’m sure the truth lies somewhere in between, but he used to get off on calling guys out.
Chris SK -Nice we may have trained together! Where you there when we were training near Tropicana and Maryland?My first day in las vegas a OGer took me to train with him. I still use alot of his Jiu Jitsu he taught.I trained briefly at CK with Marc after he split w Jsect, around 2004.
Very cool dude with great BJJ knowledge. Would def go out of my way to train w him again.
I'm sure the egos and editing on TUF contributed to the perception of some who've never met him in person.
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He was damn good. One of the best. Scalped a who’s who at Beverly Hills Jujitsu
WillyMaunawili -Dittobjjdna - give us more stories if you got em, street fights, gym wars, funny shit, etc. Love hearing throw back bjj/mma stories
Sullivan -bjjdna - Chris Brennan and Marc Laimon were roommates and good buddies in 95/96. They used to drive around in Chris’ green sports car that had a giant Gracie bjj sticker on the back window and go to this bar called the cowboy boogie and beat guys up with their bluebelt skillsets lmao.Thanks.They were both in the tga instructor’s program and paid Rorion $600/month to train full time, help teach, mop the mats, and do the Gracie laundry.
As part of the instructor’s program, there were semi privates once per week with Rorion, Royce, and even Helio when he was in town and front row seats to all the challenge matches.
I remember Marc telling me that he was using his college education money to learn bjj.
Chris and Marc left tga in late 96 and helped Avi open up the then brand new Bev Hills bjj club along with Ethan Milius, Richard Bressler, Lowel Anderson and some of the other “rotten apple” instructors from tga.
Once Marc left tga and began training at the bhbjj club, Marc got really good really fast. He lived on the mats at the bh bjj club and did nothing but train, teach, watch bjj videos, and play video games.
At the bhbjj club, Avi brought in Kerr, Bas, Oleg, Ruas, etc. before Avi eventually sold the place to Marcus Vinicius, the current owner. They were all teaching and training together which helped Marc’s game even more.
The beef between Chris and Marc was over money that Chris owed Marc. I think Marc took him to court, but I believe they have since settled up and are all good now but I don’t know the details.
This. Actual cool story, brah! Thanks for this one.
So does anyone know where he is now?
still involved in BJJ?
JEWjitsu7 -He got a takedown and did nothing with it. I remember thinking bisping would win but didn’t think it would be such a one sided beatingtriforce -bungee up -triforce -I had no idea mayhem fought GSP
Yeah. He famously kept saying after the fight "Man... I think I just got my ass whooped!"
He’s the only one who’s fought both GSP and Bisping. Got beat badly by both.
He was actually working Bisping till his lack of cardio showed.
He was teaching at a small gym this summer in the Milwaukee area. He's originally from Wisconsin. I was surprised when I noticed him on social media teaching at Nova Gyms. It was weird seeing him in pictures teaching at such a small gym here, since he was a pretty big name when I was coming up. I am pretty sure the students didn't know how lucky they were to have him. Not sure if he is still there. I heard that he went through a divorce, and the wife took all his money (just a rumor), so he moved back to Wisconsin.
He was always super cool to me whenever I was in Las Vegas for UFCs. We would always hit Cobra Kai a few times during UFC weeks, and he never asked for money. Lots of big names like Forrest, Mir, Hendricks, etc. were always there.
garrote -WillyMaunawili -Dittobjjdna - give us more stories if you got em, street fights, gym wars, funny shit, etc. Love hearing throw back bjj/mma stories
I have some really great stories about the early tga instructor program days, the early days at the bh bjj club, some funny Laimon stories, and some cool old video as well.
Here are two pics of the original guys from the first tga instructors program in 1996. Only John Crouch, Eric Maier, Mark Baumeister, and Jon Burke finished the program. None of the guys to my knowledge ever signed one of Rorion’s adhesion contracts after being certified as a tga instructor.
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Marc is good people – WI born and bred, tons of bjj knowledge, and the nicest guy in the world. I knew Marc when he was very young, 18-22.
Marc left tga on bad terms and began shit talking the Gracies immediately, but before Marc left tga, he was all aboard the Gracie nut train and a firm believer that bjj was all you need to succeed in mma. He changed his mind after UFC 9.
I watched UFC 9 with Marc Laimon and Ryan Parker at the Sportman bar and can remember Marc busting my balls before the fights because I picked Don Frye over Amaury Bitetti.
I wrestled most my life. I knew about the wrestler’s work ethic, mental and physical toughness, and the overall crazy ass no fear attitude of wrestlers.
I knew Frye was a college level wrestler with solid standup and that with a little bjj defensive training he would be a nightmare for Amaury.
I told Marc, “Frye is a wrestler who knows how to strike. Once elite level wrestlers learn bjj and striking - especially bjj defense and mistakes not to make - the pure bjj guys will be in trouble.” Marc said “Amaury is going to kick Frye’s ass.”
We all know what happened in that fight…those brutal knees…
Not long after UFC 9, Marc quit tga and began training at the bhbjj club. Brennan quit tga one week later…
So back in 96 I was bat shit crazy about this beautiful Mexican girl Delia that I worked with who had a nephew that was about to start tkd. I made a bjj video for Delia and her nephew Alex to try and get him into bjj instead of tkd and to show off for Delia.
Royce let me bring my camcorder into the academy for a week. Here is some tga footage from 1996, cops and robbers at the end of the kids class with a young Laimon…and another video of Rorion’s very young sons…lol at Reylan and Ralek goofing around…
ttt for more old school Gracie Academy stories!
The 1st 3 months of TGA is nothing but a seminar on how NOT to smile in photos. These guys are clearly at black belt level of looking like bad asses.