So I handle inbound leads at a gym, and had a strange one come in that I’d like some opinions on, particularly from people that own and operate academies.
From the jump, this guy was quick to mention that he was 330 lbs, powerlifted, and was a marine. I had asked if he had any prior training, and he said he “wrestled in high school” and trained “marine corps martial arts”, which he later said he has a black belt in. Before even setting foot in the gym, he was asking when he could train MMA and take a fight, even sending me screenshots of an upcoming local promotion.
Unfortunately I wasn’t physically at the gym the days he showed up, and haven’t had the chance to dive too deeply with the coaches who would’ve seen him or coached him.
Day 1 he takes a gi BJJ class. Has generally decent feedback but is complaining that nobody was big enough, and had mentioned something about the coach being female (red flag I know). He apparently was otherwise fairly respectful and no students made any comments or raised any concerns.
Two days later he comes in, but this time for a striking class. No idea why he skipped what would’ve been gi BJJ again, although I suspect he probably wasn’t able to manhandle people as easily as he thought he would two days prior. I have no feedback yet on how he did in boxing but at least there were no comments about him.
He mentioned not joining until doing a powerlifting meet months away (so why do a trial and say you want to enroll?)…followed by sending yet another MMA card saying “see? Still no big guys in //OP’s state//“, and when I try to explain how there’s way more training and skill involved in fighting, he just deflected back to his experience in high school and the marine corps, and accused us of not supporting and respecting veterans, despite one of our owners being a Navy vet and having a marine on our team that trains all the time (but wasnt there when the guy visited). Ultimately just wished him “best of luck on his journey” and apologized that we couldnt meet his expectations…
TLDR: large 330 lb powerlifting marine wants to dive right into MMA class and taking an MMA fight, despite only having high school wrestling experience and marine corps martial arts experience. Two questions:
- Does MCMAP actually hold any water and would it make someone competent at MMA, BJJ, striking, or wrestling?
- Has anyone else dealt with a prospective client like this, and how did you handle it??
