The Gauntlet Fight Academy

The best academy in London!
From day one every single member of staff and coaches have been amazing. If you looking to start Martial Arts and specially BJJ this is your place, everyone is welcoming and grateful sharing the same passion. I’m so grateful to have found this place.

Been training here since the pandemic of 2019. It’s a great place to learn BJJ, Muay Thai, boxing, Self defence or just get fit as a fiddle. The Professors and coaches are champions in their own fields and great teachers. Lots of high level BJJ fighters keep coming in as guest instructors as well. The team and the vibe is really friendly among students. A great place to train, learn and make friends for hobbyists and serious competitors alike.

It's a welcoming place, everyone is respectful and nice. I recently started my journey in martial arts after long time I spent without doing any sport, and I find it easy to settle in. Highly recommended!! Hamza from the reception is the best!

Neto along with the rest of the coaches bring a wealth of both experience & knowledge to the structured sessions while creating a great, family like atmosphere to help support your training. Whether you’re looking to start your Jiu Jitsu Journey as a starter or are a seasoned grappler looking to get serious competition rounds in, I could not recommend this gym enough! Shout out to Hamza at reception who is always helpful and happy to help also.

I started BJJ in January at Gauntlet and the coaches and members are incredibly talented and make you feel apart of a family. Prof Neto and Prof Silviu are amazing and have really brought on my skills and made it easy for me to be consistent by being great coaches. They have also been incredibly supportive to my family and I off the mats whilst my daughter is undergoing medical treatment. I’d encourage anyone to join this gym!

The Gauntlet Fight Academy advertises itself as a martial arts gym offering classes for multiple disciplines of fighting. This is absolutely not the case. This is a BJJ gym masquerading as an MMA gym.

Before I go on, let me say this: if you are wanting to train BJJ then this place will be excellent for you. The BJJ team often competes and they are well looked after by the owner (who is also the head BJJ coach).

If you want to train muay thai, this is a different story. Whether you are a beginner whose never thrown a kick, or a seasoned fighter who is looking to remain active, this gym is probably not for you. Consider the following points.

There is a pretty severe lack of equipment. No proper thai pads, just rdx pads which are clunky and awkward to hold. We also don’t have belly pads or skip ropes. Every muay thai gym I’ve trained at prior to this have had all the above equipment.

There is a lack of class structure. Most of the classes are mixed/all level classes. There are no beginners/fundamentals classes. This poses a few problems. First being that there never seems to be any purpose to each class. We are just punching and kicking pads for the sake of it. Second, people who are pure beginners often have to train with people who are very experienced. This might sound nice, but again, there are problems with this. The beginners are…well…beginners. They need time to develop their technique and pad holding. It is frustrating as someone who is experienced to constantly have to wonder if the person you partner with that evening will be able to hold pads. Third issue, no fundamentals class means beginners are not taught proper technique or pad holding. At my previous gym, the beginners classes only ever focused on kick and punch technique, and the fundamentals for holding pads. At GFA they make beginners throw 4-7 shot combos, and don’t teach them anything about technique or holding pads. Because of this, we have a lot of beginners who have trained for a while but have not progressed much at all.

The coaches for muay thai are not active fighters. They had two coaches who were active but they have recently left the gym.

The price for this gym is ridiculous. They offer three memberships: Bronze (£75 p/m, train two days a week), Silver (£90 p/m, train three days a week), Gold (£118 p/m, unlimited training). The membership perks allow you to use the gym facilities 7 days a week, but tbh their gym equipment is nothing special. Downstairs they have a single squat rack, a single smith machine and some weights. Upstairs they have a single treadmill, a few stationary bikes, and a row machine. You can’t even use the heavy bags, because the open mats are only during lunch time when everyone is at work and can’t make it (only the BJJ guys are special enough to get their OWN open mat on the weekends). Let’s compare these prices to other gyms. The price of a gymbox membership is about £90-115 depending on your package. This gives you access to all of team tieu’s fight classes, as well as access to a sauna, a load of other gym equipment and heavy bags. Not to mention all team tieu coaches are active. Shootfighters Academy offers different packages. You can pay £80 a month to get either unlimited striking classes OR unlimited BJJ/wrestling classes for the month. OR you could just pay £100 to get unlimited training regardless of discipline. Shootfighters has many active fights in Cage Warriors, Bellator and the UFC. Some of them are even coaches (MVP coaches the striking classes at Shootfighters in Alperton). The point I’m making is there are other gyms that will offer you better equipment, better quality of training and for a cheaper price.

The muay thai classes at gauntlet feel more like an afterthought, especially when you compare them to the BJJ classes/structure. They get twice as many classes, better class structure, better times for training and overall better quality of training. All of the reasons I stated above are the reason I cancelled my membership and will probably be signing up to train at Shootfighters instead.

I joined The Gauntlet Fight Academy in January (2022), around 10 months ago, and I can honestly say that it was one of the best decisions that I have ever made in my life. It has helped me both physically and mentally.

Aged 23, and with no Martial Arts background I was fairly nervous about getting started but I was very welcomed into the gym by Hamza and soon my nerves were gone thanks to the community atmosphere that the gym provides. I have since progressed massively on my Martial Arts journey with the help of the professors and coaches.
What I really like about the gym and what helped me (especially when I was starting out) is that the coaches are very helpful and will take time with you if you need it. However, when necessary, they will also be sure to give you that extra shove to keep you progressing. For me it is a perfect balance. I feel this has been one of the key points as to why I have been able to reach the milestones I have within the gym and not feel so overwhelmed whilst training.

The gyms community feel is great and you never feel as if you are looked down upon as a beginner. It’s actually quite to opposite, you feel as if all of the team want to help you and want to see you succeed.

Grappling is my favoured art and so I do really enjoy the Jiu Jitsu and Wrestling. I do, from time to time, do Boxing, Muay Thai and MMA. All the classes I attend are really well structured and we are blessed by all of the coaches being world class athletes within their specialty. There are many coaches from all around the world and so you can learn a lot from many different view points during training.

One of my favourite things about the gym is the ability to train so many different martial arts all under one roof, all under one membership and not at a ridiculous price. Being available all under one membership means you are able to adjust your training schedule to your work/life balance. For somebody like myself, with 2 kids and a full time job, this is an amazing perk that the gym has to offer.

Just to add, the gym has good changing rooms, showers and lockers. I’ve also left my gum shield and bracelet there a few times and it’s always been returned to me safely. The gym is also very clean and maintained well which is a must have when considering a martial arts gym, especially a grappling one.

If you are looking to begin your martial arts journey or you are experienced I would recommend this gym. There are a lot of skilled members and the professors and coaches are very skilled and have a lot to offer to all.

I had a great experience here an amazing 5 years training with Coaches and Students at GFA, I had started 5 years ago at age 15 where with Sami, Muay Thai Coach, I grew and developed as both person and fighter along with the help of Neto, Head Jiu Jitsu coach. What I will say is if you are just starting out this is a place you should check out most definitely and think about it is a great community and family, although I am now venturing to see more styles and I am opening a new chapter in my life. But regardless it is a very respectful environment and I have loved every moment of it. Oss