No offense but if your 35 and you are wanting to get into MMA and turn it into your life, you better have some good insurance and a good doctor.
If I were you I'd stay in Hawaii, there are probably some better gyms out there anyways.

Wear wrestling shoes when you train, not barefoot. You'll save yourself some toe injuries. I learned this the hard way when I lost half my big toe and had to have it surgically re-attached because of an accident during some casual bare-foot training!

With this kind of sport, it's only a matter of time before you're injured and you can't go to work if you can't move for weeks on end. I think Jiu jitsu training is a little less wrecking than mma training.

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itsjustaride12 said:

I fought mma since 2006 or so. Im a black belt under renzo gracie from NY. Im def making my way towards cesar gracies in 2013. The sport is unforgiving but hey, you live once right? Good luck champ hope to see you there.

hey man thanks for speaking up. in the mean time, what books should i be reading and what videos should i be watching? what would you say is the best...

I would suggest joining a local gym in the interim just to build on your fundamentals and overall understanding of the sport. Hey, I once fought a guy down in texas who was 39. I was only 19, and it was one of my toughest fights. At the same token he had 22 pro fights at the time. Point is, if your going to do it.. do it. Dont listen to anyone. I wouldnt get caught up in the book thing. Just jump into the fire, and make sure you know who your fighting if you decide to fight, esp for your first few. Promoters will feed you to youthful savages!! Peace bud.

I have no aspirations to ever fight in MMA but it's fun as hell to train in. It hurts, it's exhausting, and sometimes it just plain sucks, but it's still fun. For me, it's an indicator of what my ability in jiu jitsu and Muay Thai is, as MMA's a way for me to kind of bring the two together.

That being said, I prefer the chill BJJ class over the intense MMA one. There are a ton of testosterbros in amateur MMA. However, the good thing is that if you can prove yourself in training then mostly everyone uncool leaves you alone.

PS Congratulations to Joe Rogan on getting his 10th Planet black belt from Eddie Bravo last night.

@Boonsketti +1

will an instructor get angry with me if i dont want a belt? im not in it for a belt... even after 20 years i wont want a belt. im just doing it for the fun, not to be part of a hierarchy, no offense to anyone out there... just my feeling for me, not anyone else.

Belts are part of the tradition of jiu jitsu but there's so little emphasis placed on them that I think you'd be fine if you don't pay attention to them as most serious practitioners don't give a damn about them either. However, I wouldn't say to a jiu jitsu instructor "Don't give me a belt, I just want to train" as that can come across very prickish. Just deal with a belt (unless you're doing no-gi, where you never wear the belt though they still have them for symbolic purposes) and realize that your skill level is independent of belt level.

Honestly, Stockton is an armpit and moving there is a terrible idea.

Oakland or San Francisco would be way better choices if you were relocating to a city just to train MMA. There are great medical marijuana shops everywhere and there are many attractive single people.

Ralph Gracie's academies are incredible, the 10th Planet in SF is supposed to be high quality and Fight and Fitness is superb for Muay Thai. You could join all of them for under $700 a month (a small price to pay for top training in your future career as a middle aged MMA fighter).

If you have a hard on for the Diaz brothers and want to immerse yourself in the Cesar Gracie experience, you can always train at Jake Shields and Gilbert Melendez's place, El Nino in SF.

Plus, the Bay Area has an incredible amount of good, healthy food options, which will be important if you are really about to get all Million Dollar Baby.