Description

American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) is a mixed martial arts gym in San Jose, California, founded in 1985 by Javier Mendez. One of the pioneering MMA schools in the United States, it has trained prominent fighters including Daniel Cormier, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Cain Velasquez, Jon Fitch and Josh Koscheck. Dave Camarillo ran its grappling program from September 2003, where he developed Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu, and Leandro Vieira has been the academy's Brazilian jiu-jitsu head coach.

Also known as

Founder

Instructors (2)

• Da
  Dave Camarillo

  2006
• 
  Leandro Vieira

  2013

Trained here (3)

• 
  Cain Velasquez

  linkGuerrilla Jiu-Jitsu 2

  Probable

  Wikipedia and multiple MMA outlets report Velasquez earned a brown belt in Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu under Dave Camarillo while training at AKA; single secondary source

  under Dave Camarillo badge (2006)

  expand_morefact_checkassessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  1 source

  fact_check

  Wikipedia and multiple MMA outlets report Velasquez earned a brown belt in Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu under Dave Camarillo while training at AKA; single secondary source

  assessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  "Velasquez is a brown belt in Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu under Dave Camarillo"

  — Cain Velasquez - Wikipedia (EN). Wikipedia (English)linkinfo

  linkBrazilian jiu-jitsu 2

  Probable

  Multiple independent MMA outlets report Leandro Vieira of Checkmat awarded Velasquez his BJJ black belt in October 2013; corroborated by Wikipedia

  under Leandro Vieira badge (2013)

  expand_morefact_checkassessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  1 source

  fact_check

  Multiple independent MMA outlets report Leandro Vieira of Checkmat awarded Velasquez his BJJ black belt in October 2013; corroborated by Wikipedia

  assessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  "a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Leandro Vieira"

  — Cain Velasquez - Wikipedia (EN). Wikipedia (English)linkinfo
• 
  Jon Fitch

  linkGuerrilla Jiu-Jitsu 2

  Probable

  Multiple sources report Fitch received his black belt in Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu under Dave Camarillo while at AKA; corroborated by Wikipedia and BJJ Heroes

  under Dave Camarillo badge

  expand_morefact_checkassessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  1 source

  fact_check

  Multiple sources report Fitch received his black belt in Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu under Dave Camarillo while at AKA; corroborated by Wikipedia and BJJ Heroes

  assessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  "Dave Camarillo became a mainstream name as a coach after many of his students became big stars in the world of mixed martial arts (MMA), names such as Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, Mike Swick, and Cain Velazquez."

  — BJJ Heroes. Dave Camarillo (BJJ Heroes). BJJ Heroes linkinfo
• 
  Josh Koscheck

  linkGuerrilla Jiu-Jitsu 2

  Probable

  Multiple sources report Koscheck earned a black belt in Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu under Dave Camarillo while at AKA; corroborated by Wikipedia and BJJ Heroes

  under Dave Camarillo badge

  expand_morefact_checkassessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  1 source

  fact_check

  Multiple sources report Koscheck earned a black belt in Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu under Dave Camarillo while at AKA; corroborated by Wikipedia and BJJ Heroes

  assessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  "Dave Camarillo became a mainstream name as a coach after many of his students became big stars in the world of mixed martial arts (MMA), names such as Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, Mike Swick, and Cain Velazquez."

  — BJJ Heroes. Dave Camarillo (BJJ Heroes). BJJ Heroes linkinfo

Styles founded here (1)

Tags

Sources