The Mats at Morales Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in El Centro, CA

I just wanted to give a shout out to Robert Morales for allowing me to train at his bjj academy in the Imperial Valley.  I go down to the Imperial Valley to visit family during the holidays every year.  And, for quite some time now, I have never been able to get any training in.  I just could not find a place to save my life!  I tried google searches, facebook searches, and even asking friends if they knew about a bjj academy in the Imperial Valley.  I was finally pointed to a place during my visit on Thanksgiving.  But, when I went to the location I was told, it was a different business altogether.  When I found it in December, I felt like a major dummy because it was right around the corner the whole time!

I went in during a training session and the instructor was very nice.  He invited me to train, and I was there for about a week of good training.  Robert Morales originally received his black belt from Joe Moeira, but is now under Fabio Santos and teaches very well.  Morales is a huge proponent of drilling and it definitely showed during the warm ups.  I was impressed with the level of jiu jitsu in their academy.  They have some good guard players and some very solid guard passers as well.

After one of the training sessions we stuck around a bit to talk, and he shared some very fascinating stories about bjj in the 90s.  Robert was one of the few people who was in pursuit of his black belt during the 90s, and he was there to witness a lot.  He shared some stories most people don’t know about the Gracies as well as stories about training with Vitor Belfort and other early UFC fighters.

So, for all of my people in the Imperial Valley, especially in El Centro, do yourself a favor and check out Morales Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.  It is a great way to lose fat, and upgrade your sexy.  It definitely never hurts to know what you are doing in a grappling situation, AND it’s a lot of fun to train.

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