I have been training at HMA for about a year. I have seen a few other Dojos in the past but none of them comes close to the facilities, open format and cleanliness of HMA. Mr. Hatcher is an awesome teacher. He is very good at mixing different training models to improve the students overall fitness. The Dojo is a perfect 10 on 10 on all aspects. The academy is a very professional place and is run to the highest standards.

HMA is an awesome place to learn and train in various martial arts. The technical training is superb. You will be hard pressed to find a better teacher than Brad Hatcher. The dojo environment is clean, friendly and inviting. I am a husband and father. HMA is a family environment with a strong ethical and moral code, which is very important to me. There is a wealth of knowledge to be had from not only Mr. Hatcher but also from the higher ranked students who train under him. If you want to be the best martial artist that you can be, this is the place for you.

I just noticed Judson’s comment. His high ranked students have left his school. You can not say Mr. Hatcher has a strong ethical or moral code if you have trained/watched classes taught by him any time at all. How many people train MMA at Hatchers? 1 or 2? He is a jerk even to his very best students/clients. He runs everyone off. They only people there are people locked into his 3 year contract or people that have their children in Karate that are not involved in that sport and think he is teaching them respect. He has 0 patience and I have seen him talk about his students that are standing across the room and then go train with them like nothing. That is not moral or ethical. You want to see a real Karate teacher in action??? Go see Mr. Shane at TTJC for Karate and Judo. He is a Pastor and has the patience of Job. He is amazing and the children feel 10 foot tall when they leave…that’s what it’s about…their confidence not beating them down. Mr. Shane doesn’t train MMA but there are some awesome gyms in Knoxville and one in Maryville that going to open soon and it is going to ROCK! I can’t wait. They will have a full cage and everything! If you are for real about the way you feel about Brad Hatcher, then you better watch out and pay attention because he will stab you in the back so fast if he hasn’t already or the first time you tell him you can not work his tournament for free, he will pitch a hissy and I mean he pitches a hissy fit like a girl. Ask anyone.

I agree with John. I’m a serious BJJ student, and I trained there for awhile. Brad is very good at BJJ, and teaches it well, but that is the only thing nice I can say about him. He is a rude, negative, selfish, and backstabbing person. He is the kind of guy that will be nice to a little kid when their grandma brings them in to sign up for class, and as soon as they walk out the door he will talk bad about them. I’ve seen it! I can’t think of one person that I trained with there that he hasn’t trash talked behind their back. Even a couple of people on this page promoting his gym have had trash talked about them behind there backs. I know, because I am the one he was talking to! He’s trash talked about me too. My buddies told me so. All of his top students got sick of his crap and went to Pinnacle and Wolf Clan. His MMA program is totally worthless. He knows nothing about MMA. Many times in an MMA striking class, he would just have us spar and that was it. No teaching techniques, correcting, or advice. It took me a little bit to figure out it was like that because he doesn’t know anything about MMA. Once I started training with other people, I learned a whole lot more about MMA and my game improved greatly. He is just trying to make money off of the current MMA fever sweeping across the country right now. Brad is not a good person at all. There are no likeable qualities about the man. He has no friends, and pretty much crushes the self-esteem of weaker people. He is dishonest, greedy, and no fun to be around. He would make us mop his mats after class because he was too lazy to keep his gym clean. I didn’t pay him money to be his janitor. If you work one of his tournaments, he is ungrateful, and treats you like crap because he is under the stress of trying to run the tournament. Ask him for a tournament t-shirt for helping him and see how he acts. He acts like you’ve bankrupted him. I didn’t help him in one tournament because a relative died. He never gave me any sympathy. Instead he threw a hissy fit. It got to the point where I started missing class because I simply didn’t want to be around Brad. I would rather be around good natured people. I started asking other students what they thought of Brad, and found that they could not stand him either. I hate to trash talk him, but I hope someone reading this doesn’t take their kid there for karate. Go to a good christian man like Shane at TTJC. Brad just isn’t a good role model for children. He has some kind of insecurity issue about him, and he compensates for it by being a butthole and threatining students.

I have a hard time believing that anyone could give Brad a positive review. I guess the last three people who commented before me actually know Brad personally. He is the last person you should go to for training. He is probally the most unlikeable person I have ever met in my life. He is a social moron, a liar, a backstabber, and a selfish whiny baby. Let’s see… where do I start? If you can’t work one of his tournaments for him, he will throw a fit on you. If you do work it for him, he isn’t one bit thankful. If you decide to train there, you will be asked to work one before long. He talks trash behind his student’s back, then acts like their friend to their faces. He threatens students randomly if he feels insulted or disrespected. The only reason his mats are clean is because he makes his students mop them after class, which can take a long time if there is only a couple of students to do it. He is a habitual liar. I remember before the kickboxing coach quit, Brad was sparring one of the students. They were working boxing only and no kicks. Brad was getting owned by his student, so he throws a front kick into the guy’s stomach. Everybody knew Brad did it because he didn’t like to lose, but the next week in class Brad was talking about how everyone was intrigued by his technique and asking him how to do it. That is just one out of many stories I can tell. His MMA program is useless. The guy knows as much about MMA as I do about brain surgery. When I was there 3 yrs ago and since then, Team Hatcher has built a perfect MMA record of all losses. He will throw his fighters to the sharks.His Karate teaching will get you killed. It’s funny how Brad tries to be cool by talking the same lingo as young people. Actually it’s creepy, since he is an old fat guy. He tells bedroom secrets about his wife openly in class, I guess so people will think he is cool. He has a gay rivalry with the street kung fu guy in maryville. It is totally lame to hear him talk about it. All of the good students and instructors that were there when I was have left for better schools. They all were tired of Brad’s BS. Tuition at HMA is expensive and not worth it. If you get into one of his 1-3 year contracts you might be able to save $5 a month, but if you get a 2nd shift job or have to move, you can still pay him through the collection agency he will send after you. Brad is good at BJJ, partly because he is fat and you can’t mount him. His BJJ teaching is okay at best. His students don’t seem to dominate any tournaments though. Brad doesn’t possess any of the admirable traits that a martial artist should. The closest he comes to it is wearing a wife beater with a yin-yang on it out to wal-mart. Ask around and you will see that his school isn’t any good, and that most people who know him hates him. Come on, the guy talks smack about his 5 year old karate students. Only a jerk would do that. I started training MMA in Knoxville, and I’m glad. If I ever got into the cage while at HMA, I would’ve been reduced to a bloodstain on the canvas. In the end, my biggest problem with Brad is how rude he is and how he talks behind his student’s backs, and preach about loyalty he whole time.

I was a good bluebelt. I couldn’t tap him. I train under someone else…but have been there more than once…Brad will tell you he doesn’t specialize in mma…its funny how often things get said behind peoples backs actually…as I doubt any of these sentiments have ever been conveyed to his face…yes Brad uses his size and weight alot in bjj…just like a flexible person uses flexibility…if ya got it…ya use it…an instructor who makes you feel 10 feet tall when you are actually 2…will get you hurt…As fer ego…yeah I’ve found one of those everywhere I’ve went…pretty common actually…