grappling in California

[thaifight]

Hi Guys,

I'm writing from Budapest, Hungary and I'm planning to travel to California this September for 2-3 weeks of advanced training. Could anyone recommend a schoold where I could polish my grappling skills. I'm looking for something without Gi and I'd prefer to learn from the Gracies if possible. I'd really appreciate any kind of info.

Best Regards,

[BIG BIRD]

I would recommend Chris Brennan's Next Generation Fighting Academy in Irvine. His school is 100% no gi classes all day long that he teaches. He is a black belt in freestyle jiu jitsu under John De La O...He earned his purple under The Gracie Academy before he left there to train with everyone from Marco Ruas to Gracie Barra in Brasil. Great students and a great fight team. I highly recommend it and I doubt he will charge you a dime for a weeks worth of training.

[thaifight]

Thank you very much for the idea, I'll contact them soon. Do you know whether any of the Gracies is doing without Gi in California.
I'd really like to meet one of them personally. Thanks again.

[Hookah Smokin Caterpillar]

You might want to go to the Rorion Gracie academy in Torrance. Royce and other randoms train there. They'll give you a free 30 minute "private" so you can get pretty much how they run things. You can ask them if they do no Gi training as I don't train there and don't know if they do or not (probably not though). At Francisco Bueno's school where I train, we've done some no Gi and it seems like it'll be more No Gi than Gi in the summer, but maybe thats not what you're looking for. Chris Brennan's school is nice though, its kind of big (the biggest BJJ school I've seen, even if it is like one of three), and its good facility. Brennan is nice and just by meeting him I can tell he's the kind of guy that'd give you a deal. The guys I met there are cool, I don't think you'll mind the school