What seems fishy is: how he could have learned this things?
I am a Marine. I know very little about MCMAP, as it came into being long after I had gotten out of the Corps. However, what my Marine friends tell me is that it incorporates a number of the principles one might find in MMA. There is some kicking, some grappling, some punching, some throwing, etc.
I agree with you that it is difficult to understand how a person could be qualified to teach MCMAP unless they are themselves Marines, and even then, I would have some hesitation, because MCMAP 'instructors' are only charged with training fellow Marines, which unless I am mistaken, neither this instructor you speak of nor yourself happen to be. No offense intended.
Even in MCMAP, a 'belt' ranking is to be worn with the uniform, not with a gi or on the street, etc. It has no validity outside of actual military training.
As to ranking in "MMA," I guess that is starting to happen now. I've seen it. I understand some of the concern exhibited by others here; like them perhaps, I have run into more than a couple weirdos who come into the dojo where I train and proclaim that they have advanced belts in "MMA" and "UFC" and other interesting terms that have no basic meaning. In other words, they're all mouth and exhibiting their idiocy. It might impress those who don't train, but no one who trains in any form of authentic martial art is going to be impressed by their made-up titles.
MMA, as you may know, is actually not a stand-alone art by itself. It is a term which means that practitioners incorporate parts of many different arts in their study. They take techniques from BJJ, MT, Judo, and even at times Karate and TKD and use them in ways that best fit the type of fighting they do. And that's great. No one is putting that down or giving the MMA guys a hard time about it. They're terrific people and they're often quite capable and dangerous. No argument there.
But I have not run into any 'real' MMA guys or gals who have called themselves black belts in "MMA" as such. They might hold advanced belts in other styles, often BJJ, but they use their training to advance their work in MMA.
That doesn't mean someone can't invent a style, call it MMA, and proceed to give out belts in it. And it doesn't mean that what they teach is automatically BS. But it is *suspect* even if they are legit training some good techniques and have real ability.
It's like someone telling me they have a black belt in eye doctor. Eh, what? Eye doctors don't have black belts, do they? Now, they might actually be eye doctors, and they might actually know their stuff optomitrically speaking, but I am going to tend to harbor some doubt, just because they're being weird about it. Make sense?
I would definitely take a cautious approach and see what you can *independently* confirm about this MMA Black Belt's credentials. Not what he says, what he can prove. Certificates on the wall and photo ops with seminar big names don't mean much. See what you can find out about his credentialed instructors and take it from there.
It doesn't make what he purports to be teaching invalid - it makes it worthy of further investigation before placing any trust in him.
Just my 2 cents.
