Baker's Martial Arts - a BJJ McDojo in San Angelo, TX

**edtang** · Posted On: 9/29/2009 11:36am

Originally Posted by War Wheel

Is that the place on Phinney Ridge? I checked that place out when I lived across the street.

I think we're thinking of the same place - on Aurora just north of Green Lake.

**newbie999** · Posted On: 9/29/2009 11:39am

Originally Posted by booee

I might get my Carlos Machado-trained BB instructor to make a trip though. We'll see. I'll keep you posted.

Make sure he comes in wearing a white belt and not to display his skills straight up. Keep it undercover ^_^. btw, if you want to announce stuff like that just run it through the PM's to the mods so they are aware of it but the rest of the forum isn't.

**Matt Phillips** · Posted On: 9/29/2009 11:46am

Originally Posted by edtang

I think we're thinking of the same place - on Aurora just north of Green Lake.

My mistake, I'm thinking of Aikido Kokikai Seattle on Phinney ave

***Plasma*** · Posted On: 9/29/2009 12:23pm

Originally Posted by Uchiha Magician

What is a Mcdojo? Does that mean that a martial arts dojo is a fake because I've trained at Baker's Martial Arts before, and he is the real deal.

Lineage?

He's a great instructor who is skilled in BJJ.
I don't know why people talk so much crap. We have destroyed the competition at every tournament we have gone to.

Name, Date, place, medals won?

I have a question for an individual called Necroth. If you are from Abilene your just upset that the Baker's Martial Arts team mopped the floor with the abilene fighters. If you think this school is a fraud you should come down and spar with us and we will show you that we are a dominant and superior martial arts dojo.

More information, was this at a tournament?

Based on your posting style and username, it seems you are around 14 years old. If you are in fact older, I am sorry, but if you are you should use better language in your post and back up your statement with proof.

**booee** · Posted On: 10/03/2009 5:05pm

Here's a page from his Web site in which he discusses his BJJ training.

http://www.mindspring.com/~martialarts/events.html

If you look at the second photo from the top, it says Baker's student won a match in Dripping Springs. Fine enough, but let's look at a couple of things.

First, notice the belt the student is wearing in the photo. I can't tell which it is, but it looks like a brown or black. Baker himself says he only has a blue, one that was a "gimmie rank" from Royce. If this guy is Baker's BJJ student, and the way Baker talks the guy (ostensibly his student) "mopped the floor" with the competition, how can he have achieved a higher BJJ rank than Baker himself?

Second, I know what tournament he's talking about held in Dripping Springs. Joao Crus runs a school there. Crus was awarded purple by Carlson Gracie, brown by De la Riva and his black by Marcelo Monteiro. He also trained under Carlos Machado and Helio Soneca. He's legit. Crus also hosts a tournament in Dripping Springs for surrounding schools. There's simply no way Baker's brown/black belt beat Crus' students in a tournament. I mean, seriously. You've got a direct instructor under Carlson Gracie and Ricardo De la Riva and another instructor who watched Carlson Gracie Jr.s home-study tapes and got a blue belt from Royce at a seminar and who has a brown/black belt student though he is only a blue. Whose students would fare better?

Third, the text says he won one of his four matches that day by submission. Congrats. But after that it reads, "Now that he has won four matches ..." It seems to indicate that this student has only competed in four matches and those four matches were at the same event. Granted, I'm new to BJJ but all the advanced-rank BJJers (and this guy is at least a brown) I know have WAY more than four matches to their credit. So he's a brown belt, but he's only been to ONE tournament? I know blue belts who have had more matches than that. It just smacks of the "We don't/rarely compete because we're too good/too deadly/too honorable and have nothing to prove, etc." attitude.

Also speaking of tournaments as an aside, I've asked around the BJJ community - people who train in DFW, Houston, San Antonio, Austin under the likes of Carlos Machado, Travis Tooke, Phil Cardella (Relson Gracie instructor), Travis Lutter, etc. and NO ONE has heard of Baker or his academy, which makes me think they don't compete as often as they say they do. If his BJJ is anything to write home about, why aren't they better known among BJJ competitors?

I guess it'll take a legit BJJ BB to move to San Angelo to shut down Baker. Baker used to advertise that he taught Muay Thai until Woody Fox (USMTA certified) moved to town and rented gym space. Now that prospective students have a point of comparison with regard to Muay Thai, Baker no longer claims to teach that art.

**Ralff** · Posted On: 10/05/2009 5:48pm

Hello, new board member here. I was TDY in San Angelo for a month or so and decided to give Baker's a try. Bear in mind that I am a complete BJJ noob, so I will try to give information based on what I saw rather than my opinion on the training. I have never trained elsewhere as of yet so I do not feel qualified to offer opinions on the quality of the training compared to other places.

Training began with standard static stretches. No warm up to begin with, which I was at least a little concerned with. I have pulled a muscle before stretching without getting my blood flowing so I took it very light. After stretch was a 2ish minute warmup of a drill that I do not know the name. Basically you're on all fours and you sort of break dance without your body touching the floor.

After warmups, Mr. Baker and the other senior member demonstrated certain holds and submissions. I was paired with the senior guy, I'm assuming because of my newness. He basically helped me out on the sub that we were on at the time and how to defend it. This type of instruction was the bulk of the class time. At the end of class was 5-10 minutes of free roll. I really had no clue what to do so I tried falling back on my very limited wrestling. I got worked pretty good. Also, nothing below the belt was allowed.

Mr. Baker and the other senior gentleman (who was probably mid fifties) were indeed wearing black belts. I did not question origins so I am not of help there. Another guy was wearing a purple and several were blues. I will say that the blue that I rolled with knew about the same as I did, maybe just a tad more, which is not saying much as the bulk of my "knowledge" is from listening to Joe Rogan at UFC events. The other blues there looked equally clueless. The blue I was paired with after a few nights was a big guy. Really big. About 6'5 260ish and clumsy. I was new but I already knew the kind of pain a large clumsy guy can inflict so I was less than thrilled. He was pretty gentle though most of the time.

I was not asked to sign a contract. He actually let me attend for free for the first few times. When I told him I was leaving, I offered to pay for the instruction that I had received so far and he told me not to worry about it. He did, however, ask me that if I train with him in the future that I do not train at other gyms in the area. Something about politics and gym rivalries. I was there only a short time so I didn't bother to ask for details.

Overall, I enjoyed my short time at Baker's. I learned quite a bit, though I was a little disappointed with the lack of free rolling. They are definitely a nice group of folks. From my limited experience, it seems like a good place for someone beginning BJJ, though I would probably look elsewhere if I was in SA long term and wanted serious training.

**youngfolk11** · Posted On: 10/06/2009 2:04am

4. Only 5 minutes are alloted for randori per class, and no you cannot stick around and use the mats after class. They do have one open mat night per week.

I don't know if this is true because on their website it states that on "Fri - 6:30 pm - Competition Grappling"

Correct if you feel that I am mistaken.

**booee** · Posted On: 10/07/2009 12:27pm

It's funny Troy Baker mentions gym politics being the reason he doesn't want students training elsewhere. First of all there are no BJJ/MMA gyms there and the other places to train in San Angelo are run-of-the-mill TKD dojangs and a couple of aikido places. I did aikido there for awhile because I needed SOME kind of martial arts training and it was really good. All that time, I never experience the so-called "gym politics" he mentioned. I also know several of the other martial arts instructors in San Angelo and no one really pays anyone else any mind. They just train and let train. That's been my experience with MAs since I was little. Maybe a little smack-talking here and there, but no politics or strictures on where you can train. Makes me think it's all in Baker's head. His school is right across the street from an ATA TKD place and I remember him tinting his windows with dark tint supposedly because he thought the ATA guys would look in and steal his moves. Who knows?

In any case, it just seems a bit egomaniacal to forbid training elsewhere and act as if you're the sole source of knowledge. I box and do BJJ here and my BJJ instructors are always asking me what I learned in boxing and to share the knowledge. So far my boxing coach hasn't come on board with BJJ, but he's old school. lol. All the contracts, secrecy and insularity seems like a front for a lack of confidence in his skill, but who knows?