I'll be in LA for a couple of days and I thought I'd go do a private with someone cool and famous in the area. My first thought was Royce just because it's Royce, but I'll be willing to consider other options if any good folks in here would have some recommendations. Thanks!
Me in irvine. I'm famous in my own mind
Not trying to be a jerk here, but unless you are doing it 100% for the wow factor, I would probably pick someone else.
Royce as a seminar teacher is really hit & miss. Some people say they've had good experiences, but I went to one seminar with him and to say he just didn't give a f@ck would be an understatement.
So, maybe I'm wrong, but I can't really imagine a super expensive private with him being a great experience. But what do I know?
Agree with Shen.
Maybe find someone who does something you really like/want to learn. That should be the person you're contacting. Come to the private with questions ready.
I don't think I'd do a private with royce for free. He's like a weirdo.
do u do Bjj or are u just trying to do a private with a famous old fighter? Haven't met many people in the bjj world that would care to learn from royce, especially with all the top level black belts in the la area.
theres cobrinha, Leo viera, jj machado, nino schembri, henry akins, Kron, caique, rener and ryron, eddie bravo... Whatever floats your boat there's so many options.
VonKrap was posting about really good experiences in privates with Jack Taufer. In LA, you could also look into Henry Akins, Cobrinha, Marcus Vinicius, Rodrigo Antunes, Sean Flannery, Xande Riberio, Kron Gracie, Rey Diogo, Nino Schembri, Jean Jacques Machado, Gokor Chivichyan, Eddie Bravo, and probably 100 more that I'm missing.
Rogans Heroes -Xande's in LA?VonKrap was posting about really good experiences in privates with Jack Taufer. In LA, you could also look into Henry Akins, Cobrinha, Marcus Vinicius, Rodrigo Antunes, Sean Flannery, Xande Riberio, Kron Gracie, Rey Diogo, Nino Schembri, Jean Jacques Machado, Gokor Chivichyan, Eddie Bravo, and probably 100 more that I'm missing.
Anyone take a private with Rorion?
if you wanna take a seminar with a name out here...you might as well go jean jaques. hell cost you around the same as royce...
you could get a few privates in with jack taufer for same price and walk away with way more than the story about the one time you did a private with "blankety blank blank"...
im not trying to spend your money for you but theres so many more i think id take a private with many others before royce.
nino...franjinha...leo vieria...cobrinha...akins...mendes...rumolo...o.sousa
graciesrule - Anyone take a private with Rorion?
allegedly he has a private gym in beverly hills for privates only.
he popped in our gym just before he opened it to "size up the competiton".
jack taufer
Royce is gonna do a seminar at my gym on Wednesday, but its over $100, and guys I know have trained with him when he came by before, and said its not worth that amount of money, apparently he's not a very enthusiastic teacher.
Try to get a lesson with Eddie Bravo in LA, he seems really chill, a great teacher, uses interesting techniques nobody else really uses, and he's famous, even has a BJJ ruleset some competitions are using called "Eddie Bravo Invitational"(EBI) named after him.
Eddie doesn't like to do privates. They will run you a lot of money if you want one
Where in LA? Gi or No gi?
Toby Grear too...
It would be SiCk to learn the "Gas Chamber" submission directly from him.
There are so many amazing instructors in LA. There are a ton of good choices!
I'm super humbled to be mentioned in this thread.
CUO has a very unique lineage and perspective. Black Belt under Eddie AND Carlos Gracie Jr.
If you could book Kama, Henry or Kron I think you'd be blown away. All 3 are amazing. I am biased of course. One thing you might get that's different is an underlying PRINCIPLE. It very well could change your entire view on Jiu-Jitsu rather than learn a couple new moves.
Oh and I'll hook a brother up too. 
Jack Taufer - There are so many amazing instructors in LA. There are a ton of good choices!
I'm super humbled to be mentioned in this thread.
CUO has a very unique lineage and perspective. Black Belt under Eddie AND Carlos Gracie Jr.
If you could book Kama, Henry or Kron I think you'd be blown away. All 3 are amazing. I am biased of course. One thing you might get that's different is an underlying PRINCIPLE. It very well could change your entire view on Jiu-Jitsu rather than learn a couple new moves.
Oh and I'll hook a brother up too.
That's what I hope to get out of seminars. I have never done a private. I love the underlying principles that can help every aspect of your game.
Nick Gregoriades swears by Tim Peterson of Robot Fight Fitness.
Not a big name, so probably won't cost you as much, and you won't be name dropping him to BJJ hipsters, but Nick says he's completely changed his game.
And knowing Nick's obsession with conceptual BJJ, it's a safe bet you'll gain a ton of insight
I recommend Henry Akins if you want to do a deep dive of the basics. Do you want to understand why your upa doesn't work, why people won't tap to your cross choke or why people can break your posture in closed guard? He's great at answering those types of questions.
it really depends on what you want. i feel that it's perfectly fine to waste money on a private with royce if you're looking to train with a legend. one of the cool things about BJJ is that the stars are pretty accessible. so you can pay a few hundred bucks and get an hour of time with someone like royce. it'd be like paying a few hundred bucks to play one on one with michael jordan. sure you might not get a lot out of if but it would be a cool experience.
in the los angeles area, there are a lot of big names that i think would be fun to train with. royce would be cool because he's pretty much the man who put BJJ on the map. there are some modern legends like cobrinha and the mendes bros in so cal. there are some old school sport guys like nino schembri and leo vieira around too. it depends on what kind of BJJ you're into
but i say that you should totally go for a fanboy private. especially if you're not in the area that often.