Our Team

Rich Rodriguez - Founder, Head Striking Coach, Director of Operations

Rich began boxing when he was still in middle school under his father in Poughkeepsie, NY. After joining the now defunct Snoops Boxing, Rich trained at numerous Hudson Valley gyms before discovering mixed martial arts and joining Precision MMA in 2005 under head coach Brian McLaughlin. After returning to his childhood home of New York City, Rich began teaching private lessons to support himself while enrolled in The New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music, where he fell in love with teaching. Over the past several years, Rich has taught boxing and MMA in public schools throughout NYC to students that would otherwise be unable to afford martial arts training. In addition, he has used youth training as an opportunity to provide mentoring and counseling to students, ultimately leading to him creating HFFA. Rich is currently a blue belt under Alex Ecklin and Van Flores at Masterskya.

Jose Carlos - Assistant Coach

With 13 years of collective experience, Jose has trained with numerous instructors throughout New Jersey & New York. Jose began his martial arts journey with Tae Kwon Do in middle school. He went on to find his passion for martial arts & combat sports through joining the wrestling team in high school and starting Brazilian Jiu Jitsu shortly after. At the age 20, Jose began his striking training under the tutelage of Muay Thai legend, Kaensak Sor Ploenjit. Jose would go on to make his amateur Mixed Martial Arts debut in 2014. 

Jose obtained his B.S. in Business Management from Ramapo College of New Jersey in 2015. Jose left the real estate industry after a decade working in sales, marketing, recruitment, coaching, & education positions, to devote his full-time efforts towards martial arts.

A member of the LGBTQ+ community, Jose resides in Harlem, where he is working to help create a more inclusive space for people to be able to partake in martial arts. Jose is currently a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under Weiss Sakhizada of Sucker Free Jiu Jitsu, & trains Muay Thai under Danny Millet & Maggie Rickman of Kings Combat Williamsburg.

Ashley “Dragon” Dunn - Board Member

Ashley began her martial arts journey in November of 2012. Initially focused solely on Striking, she started Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in late 2013, training in MMA for a year or so. After a short layoff, she came back to the mats and solely focused on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from 2015 on. She is currently a purple belt and trains Gi and No-Gi BJJ at Chop & Chops MMA.

Off the mats, Ashley has worked in the field of philanthropy for more than ten years, and is currently the grants manager at the Heckscher Foundation for Children.

Seth Schraier - Board Member

Seth Schraier first got involved with boxing when his wife was tired of him always playing video games at the end of the day. So they found Rich in August 2017 and started training with him for boxing each week. Seth is the founder and primary attorney of the Law Office of Seth D. Schraier, P.C., a family law and matrimonial law firm located in Harlem and representing clients in the New York City area. He is also part of the Manhattan 18-b panel of family law attorneys, helping represent low income individuals in matters involving custody, visitation, paternity and orders of protection. He is also assigned to represent children in custody disputes. Through his practice he has been able to form relationships with members from communities all across Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. Having seen firsthand the trauma that broken families can have on children growing up in the city, he hopes that Harlem Free Fight Academy can serve as an important source of stability and positive reinforcement for youth in our communities.