"We are a true mixed martial arts school," said Owner/ Head Instructor Buck Grant  when we asked him to give us an overview of Hybrid Academy.  Whether this was an off the cuff response or a rehearsed answer, after speaking with Grant and researching Hybrid,  'true mixed martial arts school' is the perfect way to describe it.

Located in Virginia Beach, Hybrid Academy is one of the most respected and recognizable schools in the area, partially due to their loyal fan base and multimedia presence (they have one of the more active MySpace pages: www.myspace.com/hybridacademy ), and partially due to their successful Competition Team.

However, the goal of Hybrid seems to be broader than a traditional competition team fueled by traditional courses.  According to Grant, one of the major issues plaguing other schools is instructors that "are a jack of all trades, but master of none...leading to a watering down of the knowledge."   Hybrid, on the other hand, employs various instructors to teach courses in traditional MMA courses like Brazilian Ju-Jitsu and Muay Thai, but also covers more exotic disciplines like Capoeira, Filipino Indonesian Self Defense Tactics and Combat Submission Wrestling. 

Like many other top schools in the area, Hybrid's competition is one of it's most visible attributes.  The team includes well know local fighters like Antoin Britt, Phillip Wyman and Chris Bucker and it seems to share a similar philosophy with other successful teams.  According to Grant, Hybrid takes great pride in not only their competition team constantly testing themselves by fighting top talent, but their instructors as well.   "This game is evolving on a day to day basis," said Grant "If you are not active in the game [you wont be able to] bring the most up to date knowledge to the floor."

Overall it is hard not to be impressed with Hybrid Academy.  From children to recreational students to hopeful fighters, there seems to be a place for everyone at Hybrid.  And almost as important to us at DCMMA.com, Hybrid seems to espouse the philosophy we heard from others like Scott Howard of GCA/Fightworks concerning the importance of fighters fighting top competition, which Howard, Grant and DCMMA.com all feel is important to continued growth of the talent and popularity of the Virginia/DC mixed martial arts scene.