Robert Mendoza

I grew up in Houston Texas where as a kid I participated in Karate, Baseball and raising animals for rodeo. At the age of 17, I joined the United States Marine Corps in June of 1994 and after I reach the Fleet Marine Force I was introduced to a more demanding for of fighting called LINE training which later became Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP). In this program I reached the belt of Black Belt Instructor Trainer (1 Red Tab). MCMAP is compiled of moves from a number of arts including Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. In 2000 I became interested in learning more and I went to a small academy in Oceanside, CA and started my BJJ Journey. Being in the military made it hard to keep a consistent training schedule and moved over to SDBJJ (Palo Fernando) in San Marcos where I reached the rank of Purple Belt. After Purple Belt I moved to Dojo Americana BJJ (Mark Hopkins) and then over to The Compound MMA (Sean Loffelor). Throughout Brown and Black Belt I trained at 2 different schools under two different schools learning BJJ in a MMA setting and BJJ in a Gi setting. During my Brown Belt years I worked for a company called Throwdown Industries and I had the opportunity to travel the world installing MMA gyms and training with martial artists from all walks of life. I was the account manager for UFC Gym, and was always able to roll in BJJ class at any of the corporate facilities.