MMA or BJJ Gym? In Sacramento, CA

[hhyuncheol]

Hey guys beginner looking to get in to MMA and looking for some guidance on where to start. To help you guys out with your decision let me give you some background information

I’m currently looking in the Sacramento region. First I want to know if I should join a MMA gym or a BJJ specific gym. The two schools I am looking are Urijah’s Ultimate Fitness (http://ultimatefitness.pro/) and Yemaso BJJ (http://www.yemasobjj.com/).

Where’s why I’m looking at both.

Ultimately the two things I want out of MMA is competition and the confidence of self defense. Actual MMA competition seems much more a high risk route in terms of money, time, and physical injury so I lean heavily towards BJJ competition because of this reason and I do like the culture and style a lot more. But wanting the ability to defend myself in a fight makes me lean more towards Urijah’s Ultimate Fitness since they have a variety of different styles (kickboxing, boxing, bjj) where I will be able to learn stand up techniques as well as groundwork. The only thing that detracts me away from Urijah’s Ultimate Fitness is that Marcus Yemaso Torregrosa (owner of Yemaso BJJ) is world renown and a true legend in the BJJ community. I know Dustin Akbar (the instructor at Uriah’s gym) is also good and has experience in actual MMA competition but I feel his BJJ game is no where Marcus’. Also the Yemaso BJJ gym has a strong competition team and brings home big titles like 2nd Place at IBJJF’s SF Open. I feel the BJJ team at Urijah’s will never reach this peak because of the focus of MMA instead of pure BJJ. But at the same time I probably won’t ever learn stand up at Yemaso’s BJJ gym.

I’ve been battling back and forth and can’t come to a conclusion. Please help!

 

[Leigh]

Don't know anything about either programs. With that in mind, I do both. BJJ is easier and probably more fun. Competition is friendly and less stressful.

MMA is vastly superior for self defence.

 

[hhyuncheol]

Don't know anything about either programs. With that in mind, I do both. BJJ is easier and probably more fun. Competition is friendly and less stressful.

MMA is vastly superior for self defence.

Thanks for the response! Could you elaborate on why MMA is vastly superior for self defense? Wouldn't BJJ still help in a street fight?

 

[Leigh]

Thanks for the response! Could you elaborate on why MMA is vastly superior for self defense? Wouldn't BJJ still help in a street fight?

Yes it would but not relying on the gi, dealing with punches/striking and training in a variable environment (cage) make it clearly superior for a combat situation.

 

[hhyuncheol]

Yes it would but not relying on the gi, dealing with punches/striking and training in a variable environment (cage) make it clearly superior for a combat situation.

So you said you practice both. Do you attend two different schools? And do you compete in MMA or BJJ?

 

[Leigh]

So you said you practice both. Do you attend two different schools? And do you compete in MMA or BJJ?

I run a MMA/JiuJitsu school. I compete in both

 

[hhyuncheol]

I run a MMA/JiuJitsu school. I compete in both

So in my position what would you do? lol

 

[Leigh]

So in my position what would you do? lol

Me personally? I'm a MMA fighter who likes BJJ. If I had to choose, MMA is who I am.

A passionate BJJer would tell you the opposite.

But reading over your OP, I see your goals as:

* Get good at fighting
* Compete in BJJ

I think the best option would be to join the MMA classes, which provides both.

 

[Darqnezz]

Have you done any martial art before?

 

[Kinosis]

I don't think there should be that much of a difference between a BJJ gym and an MMA gym. I think BJJ should have strikes while closing the distance and on the ground. You should train for that stuff sometimes anyway.

 

[Collin Reuter]

Ultimate fitness has a world class black belt instructor in Dustin Akbari. I am biased towards alpha male but there are several excellent gyms in the area such as marinobles and Cassio werneck's academy.