Chris Fisher
1/5
Let me preface by saying, Fighting is not a game.
I had heard about this gym through a friend who had a family member drop in to train at this gym. This individual is completely brand new to the sport and was looking to gain experience. On Day 1 of training he was put in a situation where he was met with fight-level intensity during sparring and thus was forced to match that, eventually resulting in him actually knocking out his sparring partner, one or Sanctuary’s pre-existing members.
This wholly demonstrates a failure on the coach and his inability to control his gym, his fighters, and practicing safe standards.
1. New members should not be sparring hard day one. Every professional knows this. People can get hurt. Evidently one of his students took a significant blow to the brain, likely a concussion. That’s a HUGE deal. Especially if you’re just recreational.
2. In general, hard sparring has its place which it’s mostly reserved for ramping up during a fight camp to actually simulate a fight.
3. The coach should have never enabled this situation and should have de-escalated so that his fighter wouldn’t have gotten hurt, and so that a new member to the gym wouldn’t get hurt.
After the situation, the coach posted to his IG page essentially trying to defame the individual who had gone into the gym.
“This person threatened to fight me in the ring being 60lb heavier”
Yes, equal skill level the bigger man wins. In a professional gym with experienced fighters, if this happened, this would’ve more than likely be handled in-house. Truly disrespectful students get humbled, by the coach, or by the experienced fighters. I want to tie in the fact that this gym expresses that it teaches self defense. A capable coach SHOULD be able to handle someone untrained ESPECIALLY if they’re promoting self defense. Otherwise, what is being taught?
“Threatened to burn down the gym”
This was misconstrued from what the individual had actually said.
Ultimately this entire response was extremely unprofessional. I believe this gym also promotes bettering the mind, intertwining aspects of martial arts into the rest of our lives. If this was the case, the coach should be trying to HELP the individual rather than defame him. I know plenty of competent coaches that know how to properly de-escalate and handle students that might come from a troubled background, IF this was the case.
Looking into the coach’s background and credentials, he’s a black belt under Messersmith AKC, a karate dojo, but I couldn’t find any boxing credentials or fights. Which honestly is actually fine, there are a lot of coaches that are fantastic and haven’t fought, but as a student you should acknowledge this and take it into consideration. While I myself have only trained for 3 years, I’ve trained directly under accredited coaches with a legitimate lineage. I’ve trained countless hours one on one with a fantastic coach and former UFC fighter. I’ve fought 8 smokers within less than a year time frame between both boxing and kickboxing, and with that said I would say I would even be more qualified to coach technique.
Students, remember, fighting isn’t a game. People get hurt, people get injured, people die. If you’re coming into have fun, get a little bit of experience, sure. But if you’re really looking to fight, if you’re looking to be truly confident you can defend yourself in the streets, always tread carefully. Many things about this gym scream “McDojo”. If a coach can’t control new students, can’t control his fighters, allows his fighters to get hurt, can’t control a (supposedly) escalated situation and de-escalate properly while living by the fundamentals and philosophies he promotes, and can’t respond in a professional manner, you should truly consider if your well-being is in the best hands.
The Fort Worth area has plenty of strong martial arts gyms with great coaches that will happily take you in, look out for you, ensure you’re getting quality training and technique, and protect your health.
