i've also heard that Ali, Kevin H, and Andre Galvao are super cool guys are very good teachers. If you're near Garden Grove then check out Shen Wu MMA. Tim Cartmell runs that school,him and Ed Beneville are the authers of the first Passing the Guard book.
Guess I'm expected to post on this one
I was one of his first handful of students in 96 when he first came from Brazil
I'm friends with Cleber, everyone affiliated through him and the one who left on his own as well.
my suggestion is visit them all, every academy will have a different vibe to it, see where you fit in best.
here's a nice highlight of Cleber
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I-gee_-YDE
Thanks for the kind words ogjune, you're a legend.
Flee76: Tom Knox is a really cool guy. He's also a black belt in judo and a pro skateboarder. Great guy to train with.
johnnyvtx: Tim Cartmell is one of the best human biengs I know. Sick Jiu-Jitsu too. You can't go wrong there. Lots of choices in the area. Peace.
"There is a reason why so many old school students have left him. Hope this helps. Peace!"
whoa...is there anything else you can devulge ?...not really asking for real specifics or anything.....But would like to know if im going to be paying money to a wierdo or if theres something inperticularly dangerous going on there.
technique wise Im guessing/hoping its pretty level...but clebers is just minutes away from where il be living.
Havent trained since the late nineties at all, but dont want to pass up this opportunity....
theirs nothing to worry about, he's very friendly and his background/skills are as good as anyone. He's not a weirdo or none of that, he's like happy little kid and you'll feel welcome in his academy.
In 2008-2009 over 60 students have left him to train at other places. The people recommending him have either never trained with him, have not been there in many years, or are new. Many of his black belts don't go there to train anymore. I would recommend Tim Cartmell (His first black belt) who is about 10 min away in Garden Grove, or Asa Fuller who is in Fountain Valley(Ase Jiu Jitsu). Great guys and even better trainers. Or you can just drive to the closest academy to your place, and wish you had listened in 2-3 yrs. Good luck, peace.
What happens after the first few years that doesn't happen initially at clebers?
Speaking as someone who just knows about cleber from the competition scene...Clebers students perform very well and he seems like a pretty good coach working the sideline. I like that his jiujitsu seems very aggressive.
But losing that many students, including blackbelts within a one year time does sounds very odd.
Bigmello,
please explain.
Hey BigMelo, while your explaining that please explain to everyone why you got kicked out of Cleber's too.
Chris Tuie and Asa were at Clebers the other day shooting the shit with Cleber, everything seemed cool to me. Tim Cartmel is always there for belt testing and Chewy is there almost everyday.
The only people that left were the ones that left with you, and the ones that live closer to Asa's school. Hardly 60 people.
now its getting interesting
LOL Huntington Beach is straight up....
pops popcorn
Opens a can of spam.
"Also, as Bigmello metioned A-team BJJ is in Westminister. Ali runs that school and while i dont care for Ali much his BJJ is very, very good. He is also great with kids, if you have any."--HuntingtonBeach
In one sentence you tell the people you don't like me, in the next sentence you recommend me to their children. Then you say how everything SEEMED cool to you. You have no idea what your talking about. I trained there for over 10 years. I was the head instructor under him for 7 of those years. I ran the kids program. When he left town or couldnt teach, i tought all the classes. I am still very good friends with a lot of your current high ranking students. I was their teacher for many years. And I did not get kicked out, his wife Lily who makes all the decisions there fired me after I refused to ref at the Copa. I wanted to coach, but she didn't want to PAY for someone else to ref. After that I never went there again. A bunch of the parents where so upset that they offered to invest in our own school. You see they had done the SAME THING to the previous instructor, who is currently a black belt from Gracie Barra, and a GREAT GUY. He warned me, but I was young and didnt belive he would do that to me. I looked up to Cleber at that time. There is a lot more but it's old personal stuff between us. I will say also that after I left I could NOT believe how many people came forward with terrible stories or experiences with them. The worst part is that none of it was necessary. They screwed over lots of people that really cared about them.
And what is your name HuntingtonBeach? Are you one of the handfull of guys who wanted to train at his and my school but I said no to?
Love,
Ali
damn
Look Ali,
First and foremost, your BJJ is great.
My opinions of you, as a person, stem from the little bit of time I spent with you.
Your sense of humor rubs alot of people the wrong way. I have personally seen you be downright disrespectful to people that you out ranked (even if they were old enough to be you father). I have seen you repremand purple belts for helping white belts by saying shit like "Dont give him free private lessions." Joking or not you came off like an ass to alot of people, especailly newer guys, that may not have known you as well... hell even guys that are purple belts now still hate you from the way you treated them when they were white belts.
But like you eluded to eariler, you were younger and maybe didnt make the best choices.
Its funny that you say you got fired for not wanting to ref. If thats what you think went down then fine. But everyone else seems to think it had something to do with the fight you got into with Joaquin.
Plus, your website is misleading. If I was a new student looking for a place to train I would assume from your site that you got you black belt from "Master Oum Ri". (http://a-teambjj.com/instructors.html) Regardless if you like Cleber or not you should at least keep it real.
Even if I told you my name you wouldnt know who I was, as I was just a lowly blue belt at the time you left, so I wont bother. Plus, I see you around at tournaments and dont want to deal with added drama.
"Are you one of the handfull of guys who wanted to train at his and my school but I said no to?"
Its funny that you said this because on your website you have a picture of Jim who is either training at Clebers (as i see him every week) only or training at both Clebers and yours. Which aparently you dont allow.
The bottom line is, I would recommend you and your school to anyone that wanted a good BJJ instructor. I would let them decide for themselfs if they cared for you as a person or not.
Also, Im done airing dirty laundry on this site. If anything I said here was incorrect then I'm truly sorry.
"Its funny that you said this because on your website you have a picture of Jim who is either training at Clebers (as i see him every week) only or training at both Clebers and yours. Which aparently you dont allow."--HuntingtonBeach
Whats funny is how you keep trying know WTF your talking about. Jim Vu the purple belt from your school has an identical twin brother named John Vu who trains at my school. He will be fighting this wekend at the NABJJF tournament this weekend if you would like to come meet him. Or you can ask Jim yourself.
"Its funny that you say you got fired for not wanting to ref. If thats what you think went down then fine. But everyone else seems to think it had something to do with the fight you got into with Joaquin."
That is one story that he told people. He also said I was a drug dealer, a theif, and not safe around children. He has said a lot about a lot of other good people too. And although Joaquin and I are friends now, at that time he had also started fights with Eric(brown belt), Daniel(black belt), Victor(purple), and Gino(purple). I just had the most aggressive response. Joaquin and I have since buried the hatchet. Him and his sons whom I like a lot train at Ace Jiu-Jitsu now.
"Plus, your website is misleading. If I was a new student looking for a place to train I would assume from your site that you got you black belt from "Master Oum Ri". (http://a-teambjj.com/instructors.html) Regardless if you like Cleber or not you should at least keep it real."
Well I also got my blue from Rickson, spent a year in Hawaii with Charuto, went purple, brown, and black with Cleber, and spent half a year with Leandro Vieira. Leandro was the best instructor I've ever had so I joined Check Mat to continue learning and improving my bjj as a fighter and more importantly as a coach. Master Oum Ri whom I love very much is my Muay Thai Teacher. Do you like that better. Does that give you a better idea of me? I don't teach Clebers jiu jitsu, don't you know that? So what should I exactly be keeping real?
And yes maybe I could have been nicer to some white belts. But I have been doing this a long time, and he has a huge school. So many people come and go, so it usually took me a while to warm up to people. I didn't talk to Eric(my brown belt) for his first year there. Maybe thats why almost no white belts came from there. It was almost all more advanced students from blue to brown.
"hell even guys that are purple belts now still hate you from the way you treated them when they were white belts."
Look I totally understand that some men are more sensitive than others. And I believe all people should be respected. I promise you that I in no way meant to harm or attack you directlty or indirectly. Some of us crazy old school guys believed that you've got to earn your stripes, work your way into the family. You've got to remember I was doing this back when only guys who where fighting, were training. But I am learning a lot too as a trainer, and I will continue to try to improve all aspects of my life.
I appreciate your honesty, even though you choose anonymity. I do however hope you change your mind and introduce yourself next time you see me. I promise you I will be pleasant and I'll even apologise for any ill will I've created in the past.
And one final note, my reasons for leaving Cleber are my own and exclusive to me. If you ask any of the 40 or so other people in my school alone, you will get many different explanations based on their own experiences. Good luck and best wishes.
Ali
Good enough for me man.
I wish you and your guys the best of luck.
(P.S. I know Jim has a brother, but Jim said that it was in fact him in the picture. Either way no big deal. Knowing Jim, he could be messing with us.)
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