Jeff Baker fell in love while working as a security guard at the Ultimate Fighting Championship in Charlotte.
It's the 1990s, and the UFC has recently popularized Jiu-Jitsu, a martial art and martial art that focuses on groundwork and holds.
“This dazzling little Brazilian boy was in control,” Baker said. “This really shows that small humans can defeat much larger opponents.”
Baker, then a Charlotte police officer, began studying jiu-jitsu in 2000. He took classes with Luis Toño, a martial arts expert who was holding classes in Gaston County at the time.
There he met Gastonia police officer Craig Lowrance. The two shared a passion for jiu-jitsu.
“When I was in high school in the 1980s, I wasn't really bullied, I was just a little kid who was being intimidated, but I didn't want to feel that way and started wanting to have my own feelings. My confidence grew. “I became interested in martial arts in general,” Laurence said. “Then in 1993 the UFC came along and people started learning about this new art called Jiu-Jitsu.”
Today, Mr. Baker has come full circle. Baker and his wife Lynne Robinson recently opened Gaston Jiu-Jitsu Academy at his 358 West Main Avenue in downtown Gastonia. Laurence serves as an instructor there, and together they train Gastonia police officers.
“If you do what you love, you'll never have to work a day in your life,” Baker said. “I love Jiu-Jitsu. I believe in Jiu-Jitsu… Jiu-Jitsu is so addictive… No matter what’s going on in your life, you come here and forget about it. If you don’t, someone will It will crush you.”
Baker's path to opening his own martial arts studio was a winding one.
A military veteran, he joined the Army in 1983 after attending and dropping out of two different universities.
After watching the action movie “Rambo,'' he decided to join the Army and became an Army Ranger, serving three years on active duty and four years in the reserves.
After serving in the Army, Baker attended Gaston College, studied criminal justice, and joined the then-Charlotte Police Department in 1989.
“I guess this is what it's like to be a civilian in the military,” he said of working in law enforcement.
Baker eventually returned to school and earned degrees in sociology and psychology from Gardner-Webb University.
He worked for the Charlotte Police Department (later to become the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department) for about 14 years and became interested in Jiu-Jitsu after watching an Ultimate Fighting Championship match.
“It was the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life,” he said.
In the early 2000s, Baker left the police force to become a private investigator, a job he continued until 2020. He practiced Jiu-Jitsu on and off for about 15 years, and began training full-time in 2017 at age 56.
He started competing and earned his black belt in 2021. He is currently a three-time world champion in the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation division and six-time winner of other tournaments held by the IBJJF.
In 2021, Baker met Robinson, who has a PhD in statistics and competes in jiu-jitsu, on social media, and the two married in 2023, becoming partners in both life and business.
At Gaston Jiu-Jitsu Academy, the couple offers Jiu-Jitsu classes for adults and children, self-defense classes for women, wrestling classes and specialized training for police officers.
Laurence, who has worked with the Gastonia Police Department since 2004, said the training provided to officers is particularly helpful in preventing police shootings because it teaches officers how to physically de-escalate situations without using a gun. Told. The Gastonia Police Department requires all newly hired officers to complete training.
Laurence said the Gastonia Police Department got the idea from a police department in Marietta, Ga., that required jiu-jitsu training for new officers.
According to a report from the Marietta Police Department, officers who participated in the training reported a 48 percent reduction in injuries to officers during use of force and a 53 percent reduction in injuries to arrestees when force was necessary.
Laurence said the training at one point helped him subdue a man who fought him and reached for a gun.
“This is the answer to reducing injuries and getting the job done more safely. Why wouldn't you want to do that?” Laurance said. “I recommend Jiu-Jitsu to all law enforcement agencies.”
