I am so glad to be able to voice my opinion once again about Ray and his gym. I was a student of Ray’s for four years. I have some positive things to say but a lot more negative things to say. I have heard Ray make some of the most racist, sexist, anti-government comments of any one person. He will contradict his views and his statements almost daily.

Ray is very sneaky. At first he will be your friend as he takes your money and has you sign a lethal contract. Next he will establish dominance and instill fear into you. (This usually happens during your first sparring session with him and he knocks the snot out of you. This is not an exageration. I have been victim to it and seen it happen many times.) Now if you are a weak minded person like his “Trainer” James you will be brainwashed and become his servant. If you are strong minded you will be shunned, and talked down to. Or you will leave, like his long time trainers Brian and Chad.

While I was there I was asked to participate in Buddhist like ceremonies and forced to purchase Rays out of this world overpriced equipment. The same equipment that I could find on the internet for fractions of the price. And when I say forced, I mean if you didnt buy it from Ray you couldnt use it in the gym. But then the next day you would receive a post class sermon about how monopolies are so unfair. What??!!

Now if you can deal with all of this, Ray actually has a pretty good class setup for someone wanting to learn the BASICS of muay thai. The classes are well designed to keep you busy the whole time and you will lose weight. But Ray, let me give you a tip. Stay out of peoples personal lives, and keep your opinions and comments to yourself.

I have been a student for almost a year i have nothing but great feelings and things to say about the club. I have met many friends and lost over 24lbs doing training several times a week.
As far as Indypopo i agree with the comment thinking he some crazy red neck guy.

James is the trainer that got me started and he helpful and fun to train with as far as other trainers i never met them. What i dont get is he is a 4 year student and has so many bad things to say why would he stick around for 4 years makes no sense to me why not quit in the first month. i think the training is hardcore and fun to learn as far as any crazy ceremonies or rasict comments been here a year not see any of it , again i go back and say why stay some place for 4 years if that was true you crazy.

As far as gear they do sell gear and its the same price if you bought new from ringside or everlast and its made in Thailand. Every adult should make up their own mind by at least checking it out. Listing comments from some crazy ex-student its false. He is probably the guy at my work that compalins and is an a-hole to everyone and everyone doesnt like him.

Indykickboxer must be James or that poor kick who became rays new lap dog… Stay away from imac. If your looking to lose weight save your money and sign up at cardinal fitness… This gym is a joke…
Ray will be the nicest person till u sign a contract. After that ur just treated like the horse poo he cleans up every night. There are better gyms out there that treat you with respect and cost alot less then this mouse trap

so how much does the contract run a yr?

Been a student of Ray off and on since about the age of 6. He has forged me as much as anyone, and I find it hard to believe that anyone who brings the right attitude will be anything but thrilled with their results. The new gym is HUGE, the staff patient and helpful. Im happy to pour my effort (and yes, money) into bettering myself as an athlete and person at this gym.

i just joined up as a student about a month ago, and i read reviews on here and on google and you can not tell who is telling the truth and who is some guy on the internet just making up stuff. I have a business here in Indianapolis and i get reviews from people i dont even know who lots of times its other competition who puts up fake reviews since they never use real names or anything.

I have been training for over a month and first time in martial arts and i have not witnessed any of the negatives things other people who are saying. I have had the best workouts and learning muay thai which is a very complex martial arts in itself to learn and i find ray and his staff very knowledgeable and patient and fun working with students. If you are thinking about doing muay thai give it a shot because im sure most of the bad reviews are not even from real students.

I will review Ray from an outside perspective.

I have tried to deal with him over the past few years, but cannot because he is such an arrogant person who just disrespects all beliefs but his own. I train with the most accomplished fighters in Indiana (you can guess who they are, they fight once a month on PPV in MMA events), and Ray calls them all “garbage.” He says he trains world champions, yet, they are all amateurs, he will not fight with actual pros, even though he says it is because everyone else is afraid of him. His Seal story is the best, because at our gym there is an actual Seal right now, some Rangers, a few Recon guys, and a AF STS team member, and Ray won’t get near any of them. He says “bring in your best guys, and my guys will beat them,” yet he won’t get near our world class MMA fighters? He even put his hands on one of our guys and told him to leave when our guy tried to train there to build a positive relationship. When our guy told him who he trained with, Ray kicked him out.
Bottom line…we allow our fighters to train with everybody to develop their skills. When we reach out to Ray, he talks smack about MMA fighters, then hides in his gym, and won’t allow his guys, or himself, to actually fight them. He is an arrogant coward. If you train there now, just go out to another gym and see how you are treated, and use your right to train with whoever you want. If you are paying Ray, he has no right to stop you. He doesn’t want you to see that his school is just for basic Muay Thai, not advance Muay Thai, and not real combat fighting.

Hope this helps, and always keep an open mind. AJ

I received a serious skin infection from this gym. I know it was from this gym because I wasn’t allowed to train anywhere or would be forced to leave and still pay my monthly membership fee. In addition, do you ever see anyone cleaning the mats or smell bleach….NOPE. Anyways, I was hospitalized due to this skin infection and still had to pay my monthly membership fee. They didn’t care about me personally and was only interested in my money. In addition to paying almost $200/month. I was told I could only attend 3 sessions a week. Other gyms allow you to attend as often as you want. Ray would show dominance by sparring with you. He would use Karate not Kickboxing and try to knock you out. That shows you how WEAK of an instructor Ray SARKINE is. In addition, how can someone be an instructor yet so out of shape. Everyone has heard the lies he was a cop, a world champion, blah blah. But, when you google his name nothing comes up regarding a past record. In addition, I had my friends parents look up his name that are both detectives for IPD. Guess What….He never was a cop. These are all lies. You’ll jump rope for 15 minutes at the beginning of class, told to do a few pushups, punch a bag for 30 minutes and shown a few combos. But, I can get the same instruction on ON DEMAND from Body by Jake. LOL. I stayed for 1 year and 1 year only due to my contract. I have met other instructors that I call my friend, however Ray is just an A55hole. One more thing the so called equipment he sells you at the beginning that is suppose to be made in Thailand to withstand the vigorous training is crap. You get a jelly jump rope and thai pads that will come unstitched. I will say the gloves were nice. Probably the only thing great in this own gym. The fighters are all amateur and would be killed by any MMA fighter with any experience. Ray Sarkine = Weak Sauce and Clown Shoes.

I’m retired military of 22 years, spent a lot of it in special operation units. I am here going to school on a GI bill. When I first moved here I started working out at this gym. I was treated very good and yes I was pushed. I’m 45 years old now and they have always treated me with respect. But I also know how spoiled our society has become and how sensitive people are now. Discipline will always come with some hurt feelings if you let it. Depends on how weak your mind is. I like not only being kept in physical condition but mental to a degree too.

When I first joined I paid month to month for about 3 months to make sure I liked it enough to sign a contract. Once I signed I read it and knew it’s a contract and that I was going to have to pay. Something went wrong with our GI bill and I had to move to MO for a few months. I kept paying the contract because that’s what it is dummy, a contract. That’s called business. You have the option to go month to month. Why do you think a lot of these other gyms open up and then have to close down. Because they don’t know good business. Read the contract before you sign it. Once you sign it, it’s a contract and is not there fault if you can’t get to the gym and change your mind.

I am now back and working out there again. The only racial statement I have ever heard is Ray say something to me when I lost my GI bill for awhile about they will let illegal Mexicans live here. That’s not a racial statement that’s just the truth. They do let them live here and that’s wrong. We have black people and Latinos at our gym, if he was really racial do you think they would stay.

The guy who says his gym has Navy Seals and Rangers in it. A lot of people lie about being in the special ops units. I did it for a lot of years and I have paper work to show it. Although I don’t really care who believes me or not and probably will not be running back to my house in MO to dig it out. But if they are really here I would really like to see that. But having been in those units I will tell you it doesn’t make you some bad ass in the Martial Arts. You learn enough to survive in a combat situation if you absolutely have to and that’s about it.

As far as who Ray dates. Why would you care about that. You pay the man to teach you and give you a good workout, and that’s what you get. Who he dates is his business. If he were a celebrity and an older guy dating a younger women everybody would think it was cool. That has nothing to do with the value you get from his school.

As far as the equipment. I know personally he only orders the best straight from Thailand. I have personally seen where people have brought there own equipment in from some better known companies and it fall apart and have little beads rolling all over the mat, and we had to stop and try to pick all of them up. He just tries to get you the best for your money. The only analogy I can give to that is, you can pay for a cheap Beretta 9mm or you spend the extra on a custom made 1911. That’s up to you, personally I like to get the best for my money.

These people have always treated me with respect and I have never seen them treat anyone any different.

I continue to workout there and will as long as I am living here.

I don’t know about any Buddhist type ceremonies so can’t comment on that. Never has happened since I have been there. But I will say you use a word, “asked”. Meaning you were asked to participate in Buddhist type ceremonies. Which means you have the option. Well so what then.

Im a new student just started and i absolutely love the classes i have lost 15lbs so far!!! Its so much fun wish i started this in the summer time fit in to many skinny clothes back then…ohwell look forward to keeping up with my training here at indianapolis martial arts club and losing more weight and having fun thanks GUYS!!!

I trained at IMAC for about a year. It was fun at first, but the BS just kept piling on. The school would continually change the class schedules, the class requirements, etc. They made you buy $50 cheap nylon Muay Thai shorts, then they told you couldn’t wear them unless you earned them. Then they made you purchase 100’s of dollars worth of equipment and buy private lessons to move up to advanced class only to be told a week later that you weren’t eligible to move up. They make you buy their cheap equipment for prices higher than you’d pay for Top King.

It quickly became obvious that unless you were a good looking blonde teenager, you wouldn’t get any personal attention. And, if you were, he’d spend half the class fondling you under the guise of ‘instruction’..

Ray would then spend class time, for which you were paying ridiculously high rates, to talk about sex, politics, religion, or whatever else and he was extremely offensive. I remember one time someone saying to him that he was paying Ray to train him and not listen to his speeches. Of course that guy was never seen again, but he was completely right. We weren’t paying nearly $200 a month to listen to his political or sex jokes.

I’ve since trained at other gyms and even in Thailand by people who have actually fought in the ring and it was quickly apparent that what he was teaching was not Muay Thai. Look up his record – you won’t find any record of him fighting professionally or as an amateur. He used to brag at his gym’s smoker fights that he’d invite other gyms to participate and no one would even dare to respond as his guys would destroy them. I’ve talked to gyms in Indy and across the state and not one them has ever received an invitation to fight there. He even made one of his best fighters withdraw from an amateur tournament because he was matched up against a fighter that had beat him before.

Overall, the place is a joke. Just check out his F rating with the BBB..

yo with the ppl who think you are such bad asses just cuz u know how to fight means nutin id love to see u in a street fight home boy u get murked on another there is alot of trash talk im looking to train and im looking for sum1 good i wanna get big and adventually get into UFC u know any good places at a resonable distance from plainfield let me know

I trained at this school for several years. I kind of go back a ways and was there when his other trainers were there in addition to James. I fought in his smokers as well. This place was a great place to get in shape. I will admit that the workouts were brutal. I was a former Marine and had trained at other gyms and as far as the workouts themselves went, this place was the best. At the end of the day, Ray is running a business. All of the gyms are. And they all come with a certain amount of poison. You just have to decide how much of it you can take. With this gym, I stayed until I felt that I was no longer getting anything out of it. You will hit an amateur ceiling here. Despite all of the folklore, you are being trained by amateurs. If you want to be a good amateur fighter, this place is a good place to go, or if you just want to get in really good shape. Yes, you do have to buy their gear but that is because they want uniformity amongst the students. (Otherwise, people will come in dressed up like ninjas,etc. and it would look more like a halloween party than a martial arts class.) And yes, I am sure Ray makes money doing this but they do tell you this before you join. Everybody these days wants to run to the internet and see if they can find things cheaper. Regardless, it is his school and these are his requirements. The school itself is pricey so you have to ask yourself whether it is worth it or not. On Ray and his comments and opinions, yes he can be a little strong but I learned to keep quiet and not challenge him on anything. I wasn’t afraid of him but I needed the school to get in shape and I did not want to be removed for challenging him because he would ask you to leave if he felt you weren’t a good fit for his school. He is very tough on his students and yes I have seen him make people cry. He will call you out in front of anyone and everyone. Fair or unfair. I am not sure how he is today but I would think for those of you who are new and have not heard or seen him behave this way….you are new…give it time. Then again, he may have toned it down after seeing some of these comments. On the contract, yes it is a deal with the devil. Be careful. I had a tough time getting out of mine as well. To finish, I have trained at other gyms and all of these places operate the same way. The instructors all have big egos….and they should. Ray is no different. They don’t teach this stuff at the YMCA for a reason. I did not research Ray as some of the others have. It didn’t matter. I was getting the results I wanted and was learning a lot of new stuff. Whether he fought in Thailand or the UFC made no difference to me. I sparred with him. He would beat my ass every time despite being what appeared to be out of shape as some of you put it. He does know his stuff. If you want to go pro, move to California or spend a few years in Thailand. Otherwise, if you are stuck here, this is a good place to start.