Legit Reviews

After finishing five years of night school the wife and I were looking into some form of martial arts to get into that we could do together. She wanted Tai Kwon Do but I wanted something a little more practical.

I started looking into some of the local MMA academies and found one. The funny thing is the guy who runs it has had a commercial on my local cable provider during some of the UFC events/air times. So, I checked it out on the web and found out that Mike "The Joker" Guymon http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Michael-Guymon-4015, the owner of Joker's Wild Fighting Academy (JWFA) http://www.jokerswildfighting.com/ was actually the King of the Cage Welter Weight World Champion. He had a title defense coming up which was interesting.

Fast forward about two months and I'm working out at 24 HR Fitness and this dude comes in and looks vaguely familiar. Turns out it's Joker. I wanted to chat it up with him but also wanted to finish my workout so I decided I would hunt him down after. Well, I couldn't find him when I was done so I went to leave. As I approached my car I noticed him next to it talking to some dude. I hung out and asked him how his fight went (he won) and started talking about how I was interested in checking his gym out. He ended up inviting me to his victory party the next week, and about a month later after school finished up I started taking Jiu Jitsu and Kickboxing lessons.

Now's where it gets interesting. Come to find out that he was part of the original TapOut Crew and that he had a falling out with Mask over some stuff. After Charles had his car accident and passed away, Joker ended up getting back in with the rest of the guys from TapOut and got sponsored by them for his upcoming title defense. About a week before his next title defense he and I went to and Angel's game, I had some sweet tickets four rows back from third base. At the game he tells me that he was talking to Dana White and Joe Silva and that he has a contract ready to be signed if he wins his fight.

So it's fight day and there's about 30 of us from the gym that decided to make the two hour drive to San Manuel Indian Casino and Resort to cheer him on. Mike ends up dominating this guy like you wouldn't believe, and a week later he tells everyone else that he just signed a four fight contract with the UFC. So, you think it's gotten interesting huh, well hold on...

Mark "The Phillipino Wrecking Machine" Munoz http://www.markmunoz.net/ another UFC fither trains out of JWFA, he and Joker both know Urijah Faber and decide to join JWFA up with Ultimate Fitness (Urijah's gym) and move it into a huge warehouse. So I helped out with the move, got to hang out with Mark Munoz, etc... I took a couple of weeks off after wards becuase of a tendon injury in one of my fingers. Well, I showed up to the new gym tonight for the first time and got a big surprise. Mark is there wresting and doing Jiu Jitsu with none other than the former Pride Heavyweight Champion/former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Antônio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant%C3%B4n ... o_Nogueira Not only is he there, but his twin brother Antônio Rogério Nogueira is there as well... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant%C3%B4n ... o_Nogueira

They trained for a couple of hours and I ended up briefly talking to them. They are really down to earth guys. Turns out they have been at the new gym since it opened up. I got my picture taken with Minotauro. I talked to Mark Munoz a little bit more and he then tells me that he also trains with Anderson Silva, the current UFC Middle Weight Champion of the World, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anderson_Silva http://www.spidersilva.com/and that he is going to be coming down to the gym on occasion to train as well...

I will post some pics if anyone is interested a little later.

nope

2 grown men fighting with a defensive form of fighting is just too ludicrous for me. Everybody and their sister is now taking some form of martial arts, yet everybody and their sister are still not joining the police force or at least becoming batman - whats the point? I can take care of myself, what is the point in showing the world that I am such a badass I can beat up another person...blah - Join the special forces, put your skills to ACTUAL use, if not, still a waste of television space.

Mike

Oh, BTW - I dont like MMA =) lol

I will watch them with my friend ONLY when he can tell me that there are mostly strikers fighting. I don't like watching two guys lay on the mat and hug each other for 3 rounds.

You must be a local boy FeRaL! I'm just a little to the north of you in Roseville. Very cool that you've gotten to meet some of the who's who in MMA. I've seen all of the Pride and UFC shows (I prefered PRIDE) and have been a big fan of the Nogueira brothers for a long time. I think my favorite fight was Minotauro against Bob Sapp. If you look at his record he has only lost to the best of the best! Please post pics if you get the chance.

KnightRid wrote:nope

2 grown men fighting with a defensive form of fighting is just too ludicrous for me. Everybody and their sister is now taking some form of martial arts, yet everybody and their sister are still not joining the police force or at least becoming batman - whats the point? I can take care of myself, what is the point in showing the world that I am such a badass I can beat up another person...blah - Join the special forces, put your skills to ACTUAL use, if not, still a waste of television space.

Mike

Oh, BTW - I dont like MMA =) lol

If you take martial arts you should become a cop or a soldier? What a weird take. What about the fact that it inspires self confidence, good health, and respect for others? There is a UFC affiliated gym in my town and I know it has changed plenty of peoples' lives for the better. The point is competition, like boxing, wrestling, football...

vicaphit wrote:I will watch them with my friend ONLY when he can tell me that there are mostly strikers fighting. I don't like watching two guys lay on the mat and hug each other for 3 rounds.

Not to say that there aren't some boring fights but there is a lot of sublety in the ground game. As the sport has evolved you rarely get this anymore. There is a ton of action on the ground!

Sowser wrote:

KnightRid wrote:nope

2 grown men fighting with a defensive form of fighting is just too ludicrous for me. Everybody and their sister is now taking some form of martial arts, yet everybody and their sister are still not joining the police force or at least becoming batman - whats the point? I can take care of myself, what is the point in showing the world that I am such a badass I can beat up another person...blah - Join the special forces, put your skills to ACTUAL use, if not, still a waste of television space.

Mike

Oh, BTW - I dont like MMA =) lol

If you take martial arts you should become a cop or a soldier? What a weird take. What about the fact that it inspires self confidence, good health, and respect for others? There is a UFC affiliated gym in my town and I know it has changed plenty of peoples' lives for the better. The point is competition, like boxing, wrestling, football...

Is what I meant was everybody is taking martial arts now a days - so why do grown men and women feel the need to showboat in front of a crowd to try and prove they are a badass - If you want to be a badass how about building a homeless shelter, that would prove more to me than kicking someones ass for money.

the cop/batman remark was called sarcasm ;)

It is a waste of tv time to showcase adults (supposedly adults anyway) fighting each other to see who is just the awesome one. Why not throw 10 people on a team with 2 teams, give them ak-47's and see who wins? They trained to use the weapons, they got in shape to handle themselves, so like MMA, it should be allowed to be showcased on television.

blah

Mike

Sowser wrote:You must be a local boy FeRaL! I'm just a little to the north of you in Roseville. Very cool that you've gotten to meet some of the who's who in MMA. I've seen all of the Pride and UFC shows (I prefered PRIDE) and have been a big fan of the Nogueira brothers for a long time. I think my favorite fight was Minotauro against Bob Sapp. If you look at his record he has only lost to the best of the best! Please post pics if you get the chance.

Cool, I have relatives in Roseville.

Sowser wrote:Not to say that there aren't some boring fights but there is a lot of sublety in the ground game. As the sport has evolved you rarely get this anymore. There is a ton of action on the ground!

Subtlety is an understatement. I remember when I first started watching MMA I couldn't figure out what the heck they were doing until some guy is getting choked. That's probable one of the big things that deters people from getting into the sport. The ground game is so complex that casual observer cant tell what is going on. Since I started trainin in Jiu Jitsu, my appreciation for the art/sport gone up even more. Oh, it may look like they are not doing much work rolling around on the ground like they do as they make it look effortless. But, let me tell you, it is probably the hardest form of exercise I have ever done in my life (even stuff I did in the military). Five minutes of rolling and all my clothes are dripping.

Just a couple of pics

Ok so I came into the gym the other night and there were some more pros there. I met Mo Lawal a.k.a. "King Mo" and while we were watching fights on youtube, Jason "Mayhem" Miller came in and added his two cents. I didn't have my camera so there's no pics but I am gonna stick it in my car from now on. Should have some more pics soon.