Thoughts on BJJ in the Phoenix/East Valley area?

[MetalBoar]

So, since I've moved to Arizona I've been doing some FMA training that I'm enjoying, but it's once a week and on an evening when I can't always make it. I'd like to be spending more time training and have been thinking that I might add in some form of groundwork, since that's the only thing the FMA school doesn't do at all and the area in which I'm weakest. There appear to be a lot of interesting options in the area, a ton of BJJ of course, catch wresting, folk wrestling and a couple of different judo schools that say they really include newaza, plus a large number of MMA gyms.

As far as BBJ goes, there are some names that seem to be fairly big, like Gustavo Dantas, Paul Nava, Carlos Farias, and Francisco "Kiko" France, that all appear to be teaching in a 10-15 minute drive from me and others, like Wellington "Megaton" Dias, who are maybe just a little farther than I want to have to drive several times a week, but aren't completely out of reach. There are also a huge number of schools with less illustrious coaches. I plan to take a look at most of the nearby schools and see what I think, but if anyone wants to jump in and tell me that any of these guys (or anyone else teaching east of Phoenix) absolutely shouldn't be missed, that would be great.

The 3 closest schools are a 10th Planet affiliate, a Gracie Certified Training Center and an MMA gym that offers several grappling options. The 10th Planet school is lower on my list because it's strictly no-gi as I understand it and I'd like to train both. I plan to check out the MMA gym soon. The one that I'd really like some input on is the Gracie school. Can any of you fill me in on the Gracie Academy? It sounds like it's online based, or has that as an option. I'm not completely opposed to online training as a supplementary thing or if it's the only option, but I worry about how qualified the instructor can be if his training was largely online. I'm not asking for fraud busting, I'm just trying to understand how (and if) it produces good instructors. On a related note, what are your thoughts on the Gracie Combatives program? Good stuff? Waste of time? Other?

I'm not likely to have a big focus on competition, I'm not against it, but starting in my 50's I doubt I'll ever be setting the BJJ competition world on fire, so I'd rather train with a school that's retained BJJ's self defense roots as much as possible. If that influences your thoughts, please let me know.

Thanks!

 

[frank raud]

My good buddy Cecil Burch runs Gracie Jiu Jitsu North Phoenix About Us - Brazilian Jiu Jitsu North Phoenix. He is a black belt under Megaton Dias.

 

[MetalBoar]

My good buddy Cecil Burch runs Gracie Jiu Jitsu North Phoenix About Us - Brazilian Jiu Jitsu North Phoenix. He is a black belt under Megaton Dias.

Thanks for the recommendation! Unfortunately, it looks like his school is about a 70 mile round trip and that's just too far for me to do with regularity right now.

I'm in northwest Mesa, so the best places for me are Mesa, Tempe, north Gilbert, the southern end of Scottsdale, the north end of Chandler, Fountain Hills, and southeast-ish Phoenix, kind of in that order. I can stretch a little beyond that if I have to, but I'd like to keep the drive under 30 miles round trip if I can. Professor Dias is about 50 miles round trip and I'm going to check his gym out and see what I think, but that's the absolute outer limit of how far I might be willing to go at this time.