Dominion Martial Arts, Texas

[sambosteve]

I have not been around here much, but this particular case has inspired me to post here specifically because my name came up...

OK, on June 21, 2012 I was contacted by Rey Rodriguez, chief instructor of Dominion MMA Academy in Helotes, Texas (though he did not identify himself as such when he first wrote to me - I discovered that with some net fu). His e-mail stated the following:

Sir,

Have you ever had a student by the name of Cory Marcera train at your school? I started training with Mr. Marcera several months ago and he said that he had trained at your school and that he was actually trained by Ivan from the Sambo 70 academy. He has never shown me any credentials or documents to support this.

Thank you

Rey

"Ivan at Sambo 70"...LOL! How about Wand at the Shaolin Temple? LOL

Anyway, Cory Marcera, as it turned out claimed I was his sambo coach and he had trained under me at my gym (false) among other things (like he trained under Reilly Bodycomb and a Sensei Soto in NYC). He apparently taught out of Dominion Martial Arts though he was not listed on their website...only their facebook page (he has since been removed). They did have some horrible videos of him teaching.

http://www.samboacademy.com/
http://www.facebook.com/SamboAcademy

Through the course of the e-mail and subsequent phone discussion I had with Rey Rodriguez, I learned that Marcera was their ONLY link to sambo and that no other coach there has trained sambo prior.

They had built their whole operation around sambo in terms of marketing, yet their class schedule only offered one combat sambo class. Here are some of the original web pages dated 6/21/12:




After discussion with Rodriguez, he agreed to remove sambo from his bio (as his only "teacher" was Marcera) on the instructor page, as well as take references to sambo off their site and redesign it. None of the instructors on the page had detailed bios, only styles listed. I encouraged them to come to our Texas open this past August and meet the local sambo community if they really wanted to start getting involved in sambo in Texas. He said they were already planning on coming.

That same day Rodriguez made good, in part, by changing his bio and removing sambo from it:


While the site still claimed to be a sambo club in the immediate days after this all went down, Rodriguez assured me he would update it, but it would take time to redesign.

At the time, my opinion was that If Dominion was duped by this guy who claimed to be my student, there is no reason to hold it against the entire club. They just needed to make things right and change their website to reflect that they are clearly not a sambo club. But, I still had some questions lingering and a weird feeling about the whole event.

While researching this Marcera guy, I discovered that he was originally from NY, but not NYC. He was from Rochester. He apparently affiliated himself with Phil Porter (oh boy!) and started a club:
http://www.wwmaa.org/memberlist/usmaclubs/ny.htm

Comar Martial Arts Academy
Mr. Cory J. Marcera
43 Harold Ave., Rochester, NY 14623
E-mail: marcerac@aol.com

A bit more investigation revealed this business listing for his club:
http://mma.isport.com/mixed-martial-...academy-992858

And it looks like he bought himself a rank registry here to seal it all up nice and tight:
http://www.combatmartialarts.com/RankRegistry.html

Cory J. Marcera, Registration#0013678 Rank: 2nd Degree Black Belt and Instructor of Aiki Jujitsu

Lastly, while researching his "school", I discovered that it was actually his old house, which was foreclosed on:
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/43...30914645_zpid/

http://classifieds.dolanmedia.com/rc...px?adid=366397

http://radaris.com/p/Cory/Marcera/

According to Rodriguez, Marcera had been in Texas for about 18 months (in June). He apparently vanished once confronted about his lies.

So all is good, right?

Wrong.

So, just yesterday after a friend from Texas told me they were still pushing sambo, I visited their website (which is still www.samboacademy.com) and facebook:


Here is the whole sambo page:
http://www.dominionma.com/?page_id=194

They actually link a vid of Kurinnoy (the Reilly Bodycomb originally posted and edited) as well as this vid...to try and gain some credibility:
http://youtu.be/RcZcpAtY6pI

Rodriguez has put sambo BACK in his bio!


They have increased their sambo classes from 1 to 6!






This bit here really gets me. They say they are no longer related with Sambo and Aiki-Jitsu instructor Marcera...as if he was ever legit! They way they write it, and link it to their sambo page makes it seem as if they had a legit sambo history!


Their current Facebook page (which is still www.facebook.com/SamboAcademy):


Interestingly, if you look at the timeline of the facebook pics, they started hanging a Russian flag in the school at the end of July AFTER Rodriguez said they would not promote sambo.

If you want some laughs, check their Youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/dominionmartialarts


So, bottom line is that these guys are full of **** and I wanted it on record here. Rodriguez is an extra rare piece of **** liar.

[blackmonk]

Definitely a rare case of douche. I want to make the drive out there and take a class.

[sambosteve]

Definitely a rare case of douche. I want to make the drive out there and take a class.

Yeah! Gotta get some of this action!

[blackmonk]

I trained sambo with Ivan at sambo 70... Just like I trained boxing with Juan in Mexico.

[sambosteve]

Interesting...
Dominion's Yelp page still lists Cory M as the manager...
http://www.yelp.com/biz/dominion-martial-arts-helotes

Specialties
Our martial art system is based on combining the best of JuKiDo, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Judo, Aikijujutsu, Jujutsu, and Sambo to give you what we believe is the best martial arts system available.

History
Established in 2011

Over 25 years of martial arts training and instruction from both head instructors.

Meet the Manager: Cory M.
Cory has been training for over 30 years in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Judo, Aikijujutsu, Jujutsu, and Sambo.

[Daniel Rizzo]

Hello Community,

Martial arts program contains techniques that can cause physical injury. Individuals involved in the teaching of this program and demonstrating their skills assume no responsibility for any injury or damage resulting from the execution of techniques and exercises presented at our academy. Consult your physician before beginning this or any type of exercise program.

With Regards,
Daniel Rizzo

[slamdunc]

Hello Community,

Martial arts program contains techniques that can cause physical injury. Individuals involved in the teaching of this program and demonstrating their skills assume no responsibility for any injury or damage resulting from the execution of techniques and exercises presented at our academy. Consult your physician before beginning this or any type of exercise program.

With Regards,
Daniel Rizzo

Are you quoting the subject school's disclaimer or is this something else?

[sambosteve]

So, I wanted to update this thread. I recently got an e-mail from Cory Marcera (on Monday, Sept 24th):

Hello Mr. Koepfer,

First of all let me say that I have great admiration for you and the martial arts. It was your videos on expert village that first interested me in Sambo.

Unfortunately, it has come to my attention that you were contacted by a Mr. Rey Rodriguez from Dominion Martial Arts in San Antonio Texas regarding me. I just wanted to give you the real information on the situation at that school.

I never claimed to have been a student of yours or Mr. Bodycomb's (although that would have been a honor). I simply stated that you were the owner of the best Sambo school I had heard about in NY, and that Mr. Bodycomb was a student of yours that was like yourself internationally known. I told him I just wanted to train and that I had trained several places in grappling arts. We had talked about Sambo and I told him I knew some of the throws and some of the ground techniques. I told him that a couple of the guys I had sparred with and trained with said they had trained at your school in the past and had gone to a seminar or two of yours. I talked about you teaching at Sambo 70.

I indicated to him that I did not possess a recognized rank in Sambo and to my way of thinking we were just really practicing moves and having fun. Which is the point of training as far as I am concerned.

I never even knew they were filming me a few times when we were messing around. I even had a work shirt on at the time. I never gave permission to post my name on anything or authorized any video or still images of me. I left the school on my own when I realized the deal and that is the truth of it.

My "school" in NY was with a friend of mine whom I trained with. He needed a business address.

I apologize for any misunderstanding this may have caused, but I did not make these claims. Would you please encourage anyone that you can to not include me with these folks. After all they are the ones saying I claimed all of these things. Yet I am not training with anyone, nor am I claiming to teach anything as they are currently doing.

Kind regards,

Cory Marcera

For the record folks, I never taught at Sambo 70.

Here was my reply (Monday, Sept 24th):

Cory,

Thank you for writing to me with your side of the story. It is appreciated. I would encourage you to tell it yourself on the thread regarding this situation at bullshido.net in the MABS forum where it will be public record.

I must say that at this point I don't know who is truthful and to what extent lies are being told.

But, I will say that your story does have some credibility as Rodriguez not only continued to promote sambo after you were gone, but increased the promotion of it substantially. I consider him a fraud, and the games he played are insulting ones. I went out of my way to work with him (based on his account of events) and he repayed that by showing his true colors after he thought the dust settled.

Once again, thanks for writing me. If you want your version of the story told, I encourage you to tell it yourself.

Steve

His reply (Tuesday, Sept 25th). Clearly he never came here to speak for himself:

Mr Koepfer,

Thank you for your kind reply. I just want you to know that I was excited to hear back from you. I would like you to know a couple more things. I was never a paid instructor of the school, employee, or owner. Also any pictures of me on the Dominon Martial arts website were not authorized. I realize that it may be difficult to know who to believe in this case, but as you can see these folks are still presenting themselves as Sambo instructors. If I did all the things they said and duped them why are they still attempting the ruse? All of the instructors of the school must be aware of these claims, yet they are still affilitating themselves. I suppose the needed some type of scapegoat to try and justify their activities, and I was as good as anyone else. The sad thing for me is that someone like yourself whom I have admired now thinks that I am an individual of low moral character. I hope after this correspondence that will no longer be the case. I appreciate the offer to present my side of the story. That is very kind of you. I will not bother you any further and thank you for your encouragement and understanding.

Kind regards,

Cory Marcera

My final reply sent today:

I did not offer to share your side of the story. I suggested you do it. I am not going to defend you.

I will post your e-mails on the thread today with some of my own thoughts, but if you do not log on and speak for yourself, it will speak volumes in my mind. You have had plenty of time to go onto bullshido and state your version of accounts. The fact that have not says that you do not care to tell your side of the story, but prefer to send my private complimentary e-mails.

Regarding any changed opinion of your character, I have made no such statement. At this point it is your word against Rodriguez and I really do not at this point have high opinion of either of you. If your concern over your appearance in this matter were important to you, you would have posted on the thread by now.

http://www.bullshido.net/forums/showthread.php?t=117916

[sambosteve]

Why is it that people who get busted with this kind of **** either challenge you or kiss your ass when caught? So predictable. I am going to invite Rodriguez to speak here as well.

[sambosteve]

I just sent thios e-mail to Rodriguez:

You may want to come here, comment for yourself, and dig yourself out of the very deep hole you are now in.
http://www.bullshido.net/forums/showthread.php?t=117916