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Paul Rodriguez
Hi! My name is Paul Rodriguez. I am the Owner and Head Coach of Tribe Martial Arts. I am a merciless seeker of knowledge, an occasional purveyor of wisdom, and a martial artist and strength coach.
In 1996 a good friend of mine Din Thomas, introduced me to a then little known combat sport called the Ultimate Fighting Championship. I watched a skinny Brazilian (Royce Gracie) defeat several much larger opponents in a series of fights that consisted of no rules and no time limits. I thought it was pretty cool. Thus my journey began. Over the past 23 years I have amassed a wealth of knowledge, not just about martial arts and fighting, but about competing, weight training, conditioning, dieting, success, handling failure, motivation, and human nature. When I'm not in the academy you'll find me on top a mountain or cuddling with my dogs Zeek, Jerry and Meatball.
Street Cred
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29 years of experience training all facets of MMA (Striking, Takedowns, Grappling)
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Inducted into the Florida MMA Hall of Fame
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5th Degree Black Belt in BJJ under Ricardo Liborio
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Trained Muay Thai under Mejiro Gym instructor Bobby Robare since 2003 (still going)
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Over 30 professional MMA fights in the worlds largest organizations including the UFC, Pride, Shooto, Pancrase, King of the Cage, AFC, and World Extreme Fighting Championship
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NAGA Super Fight grappling champion
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NAGA Expert division grapping champion
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IGF Grappling Lightweight champion
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Trained professional fighters in over 200 MMA fights including K1, Bellator, Pride, and the UFC
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Strength and Conditiong Coach
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Martial Arts curriculum writer
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(oh Yeah) I picked up a BA in Political Science from UCF
