More BJJ bullshido - The Gracie Combatives Licensing Program™

[GiornoGiovanna]

This is insane. It's even crazier somehow than getting a blue belt online

[KungFuTruth]

Another Moneymaker

The Gracies have always taught Bullshido. This online program is just another moneymaking scheme as any "blue belts" opening a school to teach the stuff they learned online will have to pay money up to the Gracie family.

[beardedtaco]

The Cape Town Gracie school kindly loaned us Ryron when he was here the year before last. It was a great seminar. Hopefully we can get his brother down here when he comes to their school in april. I learned some great stuff about hip control when you have mount that I'm working on all the time.
A lot of the advertising for this program makes me sad. But, Gracie Cape Town is a good school with solid grappling skills. Two of our guys were there for a visit recently and they really loved the atmosphere, attitude, and big-ass floor fans. Damn we need some of those.

[Bodyartsguy]

I don't think its going to be cheap.......I hear the other Gracie camp bases there monthly affiliation fees on how many students you have....and they want to know everything you do.

Yeah I figured it's spendy (but that's all relative I guess). Just curious as to what the Filing/Monthly fees are, so again - if anyone reads this and has any idea please post. I noticed Gracies will not release the Licensing Fees until "Deemed Eligable" which sends a clear message that it's not cheap.

[Team Python]

Licensing Fees
Although participation in the ICP requires only a one-time flat fee, all CTCs pay a monthly licensing fee.......

ANYONE have any idea what:
1) the one time flat fee is????????
2) What the CTC monthly fees are??????

I don't think its going to be cheap.......I hear the other Gracie camp bases there monthly affiliation fees on how many students you have....and they want to know everything you do.

[Bodyartsguy]

Licensing Fees
Although participation in the ICP requires only a one-time flat fee, all CTCs pay a monthly licensing fee.......

ANYONE have any idea what:
1) the one time flat fee is????????
2) What the CTC monthly fees are??????

[MMAlee]

It seems to be a conversion course which if they choose the candidates well could work, but I agree 2 weeks would be much too short a course to make a good fighter.
Im not sure of the specifics, but if a Olympic wrestler or Judo player studied 8 hours a day for 2 weeks it's not improbable that he could adjust his 34 basic techniques to a reasonable enough level to teach them right?

[chingythingy]

Recently we had a seminar with Ryron at our academy. He is a really good instructor and I can tell you it was a great learning experience watching him teach. I have been teaching MA for, sigh, 20 years and I learned and relearned some great things.

I cuaght a Ralek seminar recently and got to play around with him a little. Real legit skills - you can certainly feel that they are above the level of your average BJJ black belt. Those guys may not be winning Mundials lately but they are not too far off that pace, honestly.

[risingphoenix73]

I don't think anyone is shocked by BJJ bullshido at this point. I've read enough about it. Just wanted to add the latest to the pile which, again is not shocking given what we know about some of the Gracies' marketing and business practices. But, at least it's new.

From the "Gracie Insider" e-mail (don't even remember signing up for it, but ok):


Then some history and horrific hyperbole like this:



What the fuck does that even mean?

Well, there's more craptacular information here.

Lineage is unfortunately going to grow even more and more important in BJJ. Hopefully, we're a few hundred years away from a full on _ing _un lineage war. Because we all know that BJJ was created by a Portugeuse nun who's name means "homely fall" and who had to fight several men to get one to marry her.

damn...don't you just love baseless statistics that can't be proven or disproven? for example i could say 85% of statistics are made up:)

[datdamnmachine]

The Gracie Combatives program does contain stuff that most sport BJJ schools don't, how to defend punches.

Yes, and I believe that is a good thing. My instructor will have classes dedicated to self defense such as defenses against punches, weapons, etc. He also will use normal, BJJ/Judo movements and techniques and show you how they are applicable to self defense. It's not down like it's some sort of completely separate martial art.

The thing is, it isn't being advertised as a "supplement" to what you are already doing but as what you "should" be doing instead. I spoke to a guy who is doing the combatives program even though there is a BJJ school 20 minutes away from this person. Eventually, you are going to see guys who are only 10 minutes, or 5 minutes away from quality BJJ training, deciding that they would rather do Gracie Combatives out of the comfort of their home.

I don't care how good the instruction is, nothing beats having that instructor/student interaction as well as having a diverse group of training partners to provide different experiences.

[slideyfoot]

This program has much to offer the experienced instructor

That's a good point: if you already have the teaching skills, so you have a solid understanding of how to relay information successfully to a large group of people, then a well structured Instructor Certification Program could be of real benefit in refining and adding to those skills.

IIRC, there was previously a requirement that you had to already be a martial arts instructor before enrolling, which makes a lot of sense from that perspective. Now, anyone can do it, meaning that they potentially have to learn all those complex and challenging teaching skills from scratch.

[Like_A_Boss]

Recently we had a seminar with Ryron at our academy. He is a really good instructor and I can tell you it was a great learning experience watching him teach. I have been teaching MA for, sigh, 20 years and I learned and relearned some great things.

Without a shadow of a doubt these guys are great salesman also and I can tell you that the Gracie name carries a lot of weight. So much so that we are considering this program for our academy.

I have always been a fan of the Gracies. Royce is the reason I started Judo. This program has much to offer the experienced instructor but as previously stated I don't think they should give a certification to just anyone who pays the fee.

Rener is coming down to our academy in April, looking forward to it.

[Coach Josh]

Recently we had a seminar with Ryron at our academy. He is a really good instructor and I can tell you it was a great learning experience watching him teach. I have been teaching MA for, sigh, 20 years and I learned and relearned some great things.

Without a shadow of a doubt these guys are great salesman also and I can tell you that the Gracie name carries a lot of weight. So much so that we are considering this program for our academy.

I have always been a fan of the Gracies. Royce is the reason I started Judo. This program has much to offer the experienced instructor but as previously stated I don't think they should give a certification to just anyone who pays the fee.

[CrackFox]

Whatever the exact technical requirements are, on the ground the only Gracie Combatives place near me is a hapkido school that has zero interaction with any of the local BJJ schools.

[Like_A_Boss]

I'm assuming Like_A_Boss trains with Gary 'sapateiro' King, who is teaching Gracie Combatives the right way (i.e., also has his team enter competitions, spar etc), judging by King's posts elsewhere. Although I'm sure King learned how to teach through hands-on practice, not online learning followed by a two-day evaluation. I could be wrong, though: would be interesting to hear his thoughts on the new Instructor Certification Program.

You are correct sir, though I have been bunking lately. Need to get my ass back on the mats.