mixed martial arts glendale arizona
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| 602-370-5781 20633 N 39th Ave Glendale AZ 85308 |
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| Our classes have changed and we no longer train competitive fighters. Injuries and life have caught up with a lot of us. The classes are less intense and perfect for learning MMA while having fun. Looking back on what we accomplished has prompted me to write this. Sometime in 2004 I approached Attitude First owner and my striking coach Lawrence Robinson and said let’s start an MMA class. (This was 2004 and there were no gyms in the West or NW valley). He didn’t hesitate and things went from there. AFTC was unique in our approach. We started with not the most desirable training set up. Remember the couch? The shelves and the crazy bamboo looking stuff on the walls? The puzzle matts? Those were the good old days. The gym evolved into a fully functional training facility over the years. The Training. I guess we didn’t know any better. Looking back we did some serious MMA training every night. Our classes were tough and geared towards fighters. We didn’t do the “family” style classes that most MMA gyms have now. I remember a couple of times other fighters or coaches would ask me what night we sparred so they could come train with us. What night??? Every night! I guess most gyms only sparred once a week. We literally beat the crap out of each other every night. We were in incredible shape and pushed ourselves to crazy limits. We did take it easy on the new guys but how many of them stuck? You had to really want to train to come back for a month. Probably not the best business decision but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. When I think back on the guys we had in the gym on any given night…….. We had some serious quality. I would put our guys up against any other local gym in a heartbeat. We had some dangerously talented guys. The best part was we were family. The joking and fun we had while training as hard as possible. Did Little Sal every stop talking? How many times did Big Sal run to the bathroom? So many things I could point out about every one of our team. At one point we were ranked in the top 50 schools in the world on Sherdog.com based on our win/loss percentage. There was only one other Arizona gym listed at that time. Pretty good accomplishment for a tiny little gym in Glendale! We owe it all to the guys. They never said "No". They did what we asked and it was amazing. The talent and fun we had! I am forever honored to have been their “coach”. It is one of my greatest sources of pride and something I will always look back on with honor. Thanks, Mike Grandinetti We had Pro, amateur, and guys training for fun. We had King of the Cage and Rage in the Cage Champions. I think every one of these names competed at one point. These are some of the guys that made it all happen. Eric Ogden Shane O’Dell Corey Gill Wes Garcia David Solorio Eric Schneider JR Schumacher Jason Zimmerman Chris Mitchell Omur Cor Ray Obrien “Bobby” Thank Sal Azuela Alex Flores Josh Nasco Colten Smith Matt Dell Sal Mendez Ricardo Marquez Joel Carbajal |