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Humble Beginnings

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We have been in the martial arts industry for over 12 years.  My martial arts journey began as a teenager fascinated with the grappling arts in the 90’s.  I studied Combat Aikido, Judo, and kickboxing in my formative years.   From 1997 to 2001, while attending college at UCSD, I had the opportunity to train BJJ with Professor Roy Harris and Judo with Dr. Lyman Connoly.  In 2009, I attended one of the first Jiu-jitsu Instructor Certification Program under the Gracie Academy in Torrance (currently called Gracie University in Carson).  Within the same year, I opened up the first Gracie Combatives Program in the San Gabriel Valley region.  The program was under a Taekwondo/ Filipino Kali-Eskrima School.  Within one year, the Combatives program became successful enough to have our own place in the city of La Puente.  The gym was then called La Puente Combatives.  In a span of 9 years, from 2010 to 2018, La Puente Combatives has reached the highest level of certification, a Level 4 (black belt owned and certified training center).  Also, during that period, La Puente Combatives has produced:

 

60 blue belts,

6 purple belts,

4 brown belts,

3 fully certified instructors,

1 limited WE Instructor, and

1 partially certified GST instructor.

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We then moved to the City of San Dimas in 2019 to accommodate the growing number of students.  By the end of 2020, despite the COVID lockdowns, the new Gracie Jiujitsu – San Dimas family has grown to almost 200 students.  Once again, by summer of 2021, the gym reached a point when it was time to move to an even bigger place…

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The Unexpected Storm

 

Truly, the heart of man is desperately wicked.  With every business success story looms pride, greed, betrayal, and disloyalty.  In the interest of transparency and accountability, in 2021, it was heart-breaking when allegations were made that our gym fosters, promotes and tolerates  a hostile and unsafe environment for students to learn self-defense.  We defer the judgment to you.  In our humble opinion, our gym has always been and always will be a safe, welcoming, and accommodating place to learn self-defense. We would not be where we are had that not been the truth.

 

The source of the allegations were two of our five instructors who, unbeknown to us, had been teaching on the side without our authorization.  They were running "range day" program for the women in class,  operating un-licensed "garage" private classes, purporting to be the sole owners of the gym, and were engaged in unethical instructor-student relationships, etc. ;  essentially breaching their duties of loyalty and confidence to our gym.   The same two instructors then took our women students and the rest of the students' files and ran off to start their own programs; in violation of non-compete clauses!   Their actions constituted intentional misrepresentation, breach of contract, intentional interference with contractual relations, disparagement, conversion of property, and defamation in civil claims. 

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We also found out later that, apart from the betrayal of those two limited and partiality-certified instructors, two of our very own blue belts who had only trained with us for less than 2 years had an allegiance to another gym where they trained concurrently.  Their other gym has been wanting to receive the same level of certification and affiliation as we’ve worked so hard to achieve.  They could not achieve it otherwise because we owned and were paying for the exclusive rights to this area of San Dimas and the surrounding regions.  Those same two students were the ones who made the accusations against us while at the same time enjoying the services and the discounts we gave them.  

 

Many of our students reached out to our parent company via email and phone calls to attest to the falsity of their allegations.  Unfortunately, their  voices were not heard.  In less than 5 days, Gracie University stated that they have conducted a “thorough investigation” after speaking with those two accusers (and ignoring the rest of the students).   Meanwhile, the two partially certified instructors concealed, denied their activities and involvement, and were never held accountable.   Due to this unfair treatment, biased, and rushed decision-making before finding the facts, we had  no choice but to DISCONTINUE OUR AFFILIATION with Gracie University. 

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The Present and Moving Forward

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Today with now over 100 students, JJG San Dimas thrives as still the friendliest, the safest, and the most family-oriented martial arts gym in the area.  We are dedicated to the self-defense aspect of Brazilian Jiujitsu and follows the curriculum established by Grandmasters Carlos and Helio Gracie, the JJGF, and IBJJF/USBJJF.

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Our Kids (ages 4 - 9), Teens (ages 10 - 14), Self-Defense, and Advanced Jiujtsu Programs are thriving more than ever.

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On an average training week, you will get a chance to train with:

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4 Black Belts, 3 Brown Belts, Purple Belts, Blue Belts, and Beginners

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In December of 2023, after passing a standard provisional status for 3 years, we were recognized and registered under the IBJJF/USBJJF, allowing our students to compete at the highest levels of national/international competition!

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Thank you for supporting a family-owned small business.  May God richly bless you and your family. 

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Professor Jorge & JJG-SD Family