Gyms that aren't redpilled?

MMA and Martial Arts
#1

After practically ignoring the martial arts world for the past decade, I decided to visit a few places before the pandemic hit to dip my toes in the proverbial water. I was kind of shocked to find that quite a few of the places I visited had this strong undercurrent of weird incel macho conspiracy political bullshit, and it put me right off again. One BJJ place in particular. Has this become the norm in combat sports these days? What the fuck happened? Is this a UFC/Joe Rogan/Eddie Bravo cultural thing that took over when I wasn’t looking?

And on a related note, are there any no BS Muay Thai or BJJ places in Los Angeles that anyone can recommend?

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#2

I have encountered this as well. I don’t have a large sample, but I suspect self-selection is most of the issue.

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#3

It’s always been there.

Gyms, dojos, dojangs, kwoons, and backyard wrestling mats have always been the domain of macho men, and a lot of talking is done… All that’s changed is the topic of the day, unfortunately information is far more easy to come by today than even 10 years ago, whether it’s accurate or not.

I think many people join gyms to transform themselves because they don’t like themselves. That’s the same reason people become Flat Earthers or QAnon. People of low self-esteem flock together and feel more powerful as a group.

Their individuality dies.

That’s what WWG1WWA means, after all. And “red-pilled” before it.

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#4

Well if you ever make it a bit north, you can come train with me.

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#5

That would be cool. I hopefully will be attending UC Davis next year. Whereabouts do you train?

#6

I was a part of one of those macho gyms back in the late 90’s early 2000’s, but the bullshit always revolved around the martial arts themselves…magical powers, the normies just not understanding how deadly the mystical arts were, all that nonsense. I don’t think I ever had a political conversation with anybody. When I went this past year, it was full-on MAGA Q conspiracy. Maybe I was just sheltered before, but holy shit just spending five minutes after class with these dudes was fully Hitler Youth Rally/Bolsonaro Boys type stuff.

#7

LOL, not that far north. If you’re in LA I’m just 85 minutes north of you.

#8

Oh shit, like Lancaster or something? 85 minutes isn’t very far at all. I’d commute from NOHO every day and take longer than that.

#9

Santa Barbara

#10

Well hell, I might have to come visit at least. What’s your gym called?

#11

Valhalla MMA

#12

Sweet. I’ll let you know if I’m ever in the area. Are there any throwdowns or anything happening? Are they even a thing anymore?

#13

Last one I held here was in 2013. After that nada. Doing a knife fighting seminar this weekend and we always have open mats here on the weekend. We just had a toughman boxing event last week. So yeah, we got things always going on.

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#14

Good to know. I’ll hit you up.

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