Universal MMA: Richmond or Vancouver?
 

which one is better? in terms of facility, equipment, instructors, etc.

.........?

The only Universal MMA I know of is downtown Vancouver just over the Granville bridge.

um well all the instructors are the same - they travel there from vancouver and there back so its all the same instructors

but if you're saying people... i do think that the people at vancouver are better to spar with - they're more diverse and there are more people so there will definitely be someone your size

definately not a mcdojo, the bjj portion's head instructor is marcus soares who is the highest level blackbet in canada. also used to be denis kangs old gym if i remember correctly.

I wasn't really suggesting that this was a McDojo. Just that I've been seeing a lot of "MMA Gym" threads lately, and with the recent boom of MMA I thought that means we will be seeing a lot of them some time soon.

nah kang used to train with soares at gold lion muay thai on commercial drive. he might have dropped in to roll or give a seminar though. also don't think soares is with universal anymore.

if you want a mcdojo, go to kikara or champions. run by the same people. mcdojo to the max.

I think they cut all ties with Marcus and Denis. I remember the old Universal MMA website had bios of Marcus and Denis as trainers there.

Doesn't Marcus have his own gym in North Van? (Coworker told me this awhile back)

looks like he teaches at burnaby/new west. langley too.

http://www.marcussoares.com/Vancouve...-schedule.html

Bumping...

I'm considering checking the Richmond one. Anyone actually train or have experience with them?

I'm a beginner. I don't want a mcdojo but I also don't want to get thrown into a team that trains pro lol.
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Did you end up checking out the Richmond Universal azzuro?

Richmond location is a great place to train for beginners. Smaller classes means more attention from the instructors. But if you become more serious you'd definitely have to make it downtown more often (membership fees are good for both locations). More people of all skill levels to spar/roll with.

And for the record, BJJ at Universal is headed by Shane Rice, a Rickson Gracie blackbelt.

yup I checked it out. Just dropped by to watch a bit. Are you a member?

I think I prefer 10th planet jj better actually. I'm gonna do a free class at both places when I'm ready to enroll.
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there's many places in richmond - universal, 10th planet, the kb/mma place inside sport central, apex, creative fighters guild etc