News
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December 29, 2007Year-End Award Winners Announced
» Most Improved Grappler - Keith "Trainspotting" Cebula
Trainspotting transformed himself from the "chubby guy you want to spar with when you're feeling down about yourself" to the "King of White Belts", even beating a few records on the conditioning circuits along the way.
Rookie of the Year - Kwami Mensah
Kwami had an amazing push at the end of the year, competing in five tournaments and performing well in all of them. He finishes up his sixth month of training in December.
Competitor of the Year - Joshua Plashckes
Was a close vote between Josh and Mike Atkin but Mike cast the deciding vote for the new Blue Belt. Josh started the year sidelined with a shoulder injury, and ended it, having submitted all his opponents in the White Belt Gi and the Intermediate No-Gi. No one can question his heart after his match at the NAGA where he broke his foot and continued to fight. He now competes Advanced and has already been in there with some of America's BEST grapplers (Bill Cooper). He is planning to build on that experience to move from the bottom step of the medal stand to the top in 2008.
2 of 3 Award Winners - Trainspotting, Malcolm, and Josh (all making funny faces)
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December 27, 2007Team Lloyd Irvin Kids Wow Audience!
» As we prepare for the launch of our own Kid's program in 2008, Don Achnick and Nyjah Easton, the head Childrens instructors from Camp Springs, were kind enough to bring up some of their very talented Kids for a demonstration. The Team Lloyd Irvin Kids program is THE BEST program in the country for realistic martial arts and the kids showed it tonight. I don't know what scared me more - the thought of how good these kids will be in a few years or how well-behaved they were.
Master Donny Explains the Character and Physical Education Principles of the Kids Program
Ryan Villogram, 14 y/o, Gives Bottom Game All He Can Handle
"The Intimidator" Ti-Jean (11) Working to Pass Carlo's (10) Guard
6 Year-Old Demonstrates a Flying Armbar
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December 20, 2007Ben Lipov Promoted to Blue Belt
» Ben Lipov is our sixth blue belt.
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December 18, 2007Great Turnout for White Belt Battle Royale 2007
» We had over forty competitors show up for the first White Belt Battle Royale. Grapplers from Ft. Meade BJJ faced off against those from Crazy 88 in sixty individual matches! White Belts were divided into total beginners and more experienced fighters and each group was given different rules so that everyone was able to compete. There were a lot of good matches and everyone had a lot of fun.
We ended up doing very well, with quite a few of our teammates going undefeated for the day. More importantly, it was a great opportunity for the white belts to roll against people from another school in a semi-competitive environment and take an intermediate step towards competing.
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December 15, 2007Mid-Atlantic Grappling Championships Results » Veteran squad outshines newbie members in last tournament of the year.
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December 8, 2007Mission Submission 2 Results
Age Skill Weight Result Keith Cebula Executive White Belt Lightweight (<160 lbs) 1st Adult White Belt Lightweight (<160 lbs) 3rd Mike Florey Adult Intermediate Cruiserweight (<190 lbs) 1st Adult Blue Belt Cruiserweight (<190 lbs) 1st Julius Park Adult Purple Belt Welterweight (<170 lbs) 1st
» Keith "Trainspotting" Cebula had a great tournament, racking up 5 wins to a single loss. In the 30+ Executive division, he passed and breadcutter-choked both of his opponents. He then jumped to the Adult lightweight division which had 17 competitors, the largest division of the day. In the Preliminary round, he stuck with tradition, employing another breadcutter choke for the submission. Using his strong passing abilities, Trainspotting defeated his next opponent 8-0. He would lose on points in the semifinals to the eventual division winner but came back to score the Bronze with an 8-0 victory.
Mike "Bottom Game" Florey finally earned the right to compete in the Advanced division by submitting all his opponents in the Intermediate No-Gi division. In his first match, Bottom Game fell behind on points early when his adversary took him down and passed his guard. Down 5-0, Bottom Game knew he had to submit his opponent and he did with a kneebar from the 1/2-guard. In the finals, the 88 BJJ grappler jumped guard and locked on a Kimura very quickly, ending the match in under a minute.
Next, Florey confronted the other Blue Belt cruiserweights. His first opponent, who had been warned for slamming earlier in the day, continued with his unsportsmanlike behavior, and slammed BG. The referee called a halt to the bout and admonished the other competitor but did not disqualify him. It might have been better for him had he been disqualified as Bottom Game clinched up an armbar and tried to take the arm home with him! The finals turned out to be relatively uneventful with our teammate getting the tap with another Kimura. Bottom Game maintains his 100% submission rate and can now remove the label of "White Belt Champ" that had been affixed to his belt to motivate him to win the Blue Belt division!
Julius Park won the Purple Belt welterweight division, tapping out his opponent from Capital Jiu-Jitsu with a cross-choke and then outpointing his finals opponent, 11-0.
Five medals (four golds) with three competitors - not bad! Remember that the final tournament of the year is next weekend. We've been on a roll the last two months, let's keep it up and end the year strong!
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December 6, 2007Third Law BJJ Expands to New Location
» Congratulations to Roberto and the rest of the Naples, FL crew!
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December 2, 2007Copa NoVA Grappling Championship Results
Age Skill Weight Result Chris Jaus Adult Beginner ??? 3rd Ben Lipov Adult White Belt Welterweight (<170 lbs) 1st Scott Miller Teens Advanced Gi (<160 lbs) 1st Teens Advanced Gi Open 1st Teens Advanced No-Gi (<160 lbs) 1st Teens Advanced No-Gi Open 1st Fred Ramie Adult Purple Belt Light Heavyweight (<205 lbs) 1st Dave Zwanetz Adult White Belt Bantamweight (<130 lbs) 1st
» Ryan "LadiesMan217" Corsillo competed in his first tournament this weekend. After getting guillotined quickly in his first match, he used the experience to reevaluate his gameplan and was able to do much better with his next two opponents. He faced a collegiate wrestler in his 2nd match and lost 2-0 off a takedown. LadiesMan had the wrestler in a fullblown triangle with posture broken as time was coming to an end.
In the gi division, our teammate faced off against a 4-stripe white belt. LadiesMan was passed early but managed to escape to his guard. His opponent then jumped a flying triangle on him but LadiesMan kept his cool and calmly escaped, getting a solid pass position. He earned an advantage but could not secure the side-mount to tie the match. Most white belts freak out their first tournament; I was very happy that LadiesMan kept his composure throughout the matches, never gave up, and actually improved throughout the day as he figured out what worked for him and what didn't.
Chris "Hawaiian Punch" Jaus had to win 4 matches to win his division. He defeated his first two but lost in the semifinals. In the Consolations, he took his opponent's back and choked him for the Bronze.
Ben Lipov finally got that Gold medal. Ben has been destroying people in the room but has had some difficulty bringing the full extent of his skills to the competition mat. This tournament, Ben was able to reveal more of his game, finishing his first opponent with an Ezekielle after racking up 9 points, then submitting his next with an armbar. Ben hit a bit of a roadbump in the semi-finals, winning only 5-0, but submitted his finals opponent with another armbar. A dominant performance!
"Little" Scott Miller beat up a lot of other high school kids badly. He is a bully!
Fred Ramie competed in two divisions: the No-Gi Absolute and the LHW Purple Belt. His first match was against Yamasaki Black Belt, Dave Jacobs. Although Jacobs is a lot lighter than Fred, he is an experienced student of the game, having competed regularly since 1998. Fred maintained a slight lead the whole match but you can never count out the veteran; Jacobs countered Fred's reversal attempt to win the match with only 15 seconds left.
Fred's first gi match was against a grappler from Team DeLaRiva. Fred executed his moves perfectly, using a beautifully-timed footsweep to bring his opponent to the mat, passing him, and then using a breadcutter choke for the tap. In the finals, Fred rematched Monroe Hall of Maguilla; Monroe had beaten Fred earlier in the year by DQ when Fred accidently slammed him to escape an UmaPlata. This time, Fred swept him, passed, and then again used his breadcutter choke for the submission. Great job against a tough opponent!
"Lawyer" Dave Zwanetz has been a triangle machine in the room and has been dying to show off his skills in tournaments. Unfortunately, Dave injured his ankle on Tuesday and had to go to the Emergency Room. It looked like he would not be able to compete this weekend but he just put on a brace and went out there. After all, "it's just pain." Dave pulled guard and went right to his Spider Guard where he was able to lock on a triangle almost immediately. His opponent resisted for a while but eventually had to tap!
One of the strongest team performances of the year even without the regulars.
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November 17, 2007NAGA: North American Grappling Championship Results
Age Skill Weight Result Mike Atkin Executive Expert No-Gi --- 1st Kwami Mensah Masters Beginner No-Gi Lightweight (<160 lbs) 1st Masters Beginner Gi Lightweight (<160 lbs) 1st Josh Plaschkes Adult Expert Flyweight (<140 lbs) 4th Jovie Soriano Masters Beginner No-Gi Welterweight (<170 lbs) 1st Masters Beginner Gi Welterweight (<170 lbs) 2nd
» Mike Atkin won another Championship Belt this weekend, dismantling his first opponent 14-0 (included in the points was a Japanese wizzer that left the crowd oohing and aahing) and armbarring his second. Mike loves giving his Championship Swords and Belts out as gifts so we commend Mike on beginning his Holiday shopping early this year.
Kwami Mensah has been competing like a madman the last few weeks. He fought in four divisions (Masters Gi, Masters No-Gi, Adult Beginner, and Adult White Belt), winning two Golds. They say that one tournament can be the equivalent of six months of training so we're anticipating Kwami developing into a dominant force in the coming year!
Jovie Soriano, now armed with 2 months of Jiu-Jitsu, took home a 1st and 2nd place (5-1 for the weekend). He submitted one opponent with an Ezekielle and racked up a host of points on the other four. In the finals of the Gi division, Jovie was up 8-4 but "got greedy" falling into a submission. Lesson learned... two Golds next time!
Also, thanks to Jovie for the updates from the tournament and this short writeup on Joshua Plaschkes!
"All of our medals were over overshadowed by Josh's inspiring performance. Not only did he compete in the Expert level No-Gi, but he continued to compete in lieu of braking his foot in during regulation time. Score was tied, Josh's foot broken, ref asked if he wanted to stop - THE MAN CONTINUED. Opponent could not defeat Josh in overtime even though Josh was obviously hurt and in pain. Each scored 2 pts. Overtime ended in a tie. They went into double overtime sudden death. Everyone was cheering on Josh. It was like the scene from The Karate Kid. Opponent got the takedown and it was all over. After all that, not taking defeat easily, Josh fought for 3rd place. Opponent immediately went for a heel hook on Josh's bad foot. Josh submitted."
Great showing by all involved and extra accolades to Josh who submitted his first Expert division (recommended for grapplers with 5+ years of experience) opponent before his great effort in the Semi-finals.
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November 11, 2007Copa Atlantica Results
Age Skill Weight Result Mike Atkin Executive Purple Belt Light Heavyweight (<200 lbs) 1st Kwami Mensah Executive White Belt Lightweight (<160 lbs) 3rd Josh Plaschkes Adult Blue Belt Flyweight (<140 lbs) 4th Fred Ramie Adult Purple Belt Heavyweight (<210 lbs) 1st
» Mike Atkin only had one other competitor in his weight division. Mike's opponent was 32-years old and disrespected his elder from the beginning by throwing him to the mat. Annoyed at his insolence, Mike used his half-guard to get back on top and then methodically began to put the points back on the board. Mike defeated the young whipper-snapper 8-4.
Josh Plaschkes came close to a medal in his first Blue Belt division. Josh's tapped out his first opponent with a rear naked choke. In the semi-finals, he faced the division winner and lost by a single advantage. There was some terrible refereeing in this bout - Josh came up with a single leg and his opponent jumps guard. No points were awarded. In the consolation round, Josh would again lose on advantages, this time two. Again very questionable refereeing. Video will be posted soon.
Fred Ramie used his great passing ability to secure side-mount twice on an experienced competitor from Alliance NYC. Fred followed up the 6-0 victory with a Bread-Cutter choke in the finals to win his first Adult Purple Belt division - Awesome Job!
Kwami participated in the Executive division and ended up taking 3rd. After losing in the semi-finals, he came back strong to take Bronze! Congrats to Kwami who has placed in every tournament he has competed in!
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November 10, 2007Grapplers Quest No-Gi Submission Grappling Challenge Results
Age Skill Weight Result Kwami Mensah Adult Novice Lightweight (<160 lbs) 3rd Fred Ramie Executive --- Heavyweight (>200 lbs) 3rd
» Kwami Mensah has been working a lot on his positioning despite being known as a finisher. If you've been to class, you'll notice that Kwami has been nursing an injured arm. The damage to his elbow has forced Kwami to develop new aspects of his game, specifically a systematic guard-passing plan. He used it to full-effect, winning 10-0 and 3-0 in his victories!
Josh Plaschkes drove all the way to New Jersey to be matched up with James Chiariello in his first match. James is a purple belt from Balance who had defeated Josh in June. The first match was a war with Josh losing on a single advantage.
The rematch picked up right where the last one left off with James attempting a flying armbar. Josh once again showed his impeccable defense and escaped what looked like an airtight submission. The two rivals traded sweeps, ankle locks, takedowns, until the final bell. The final score was 4-4 (4-3) with Josh losing again by a single advantage.
Dissapointed, Josh decided to enter the No-Gi Absolute despite weighing in at 136 lbs. Josh got the opportunity to compete against Bill Cooper, one of America's BEST grappers - an awesome learning experience for the new Blue belt.
Fred Ramie had a rough start to the day, missing weight by one pound and then losing in the first round on an advantage. He managed to gather his wits about him and submit his 2nd opponent by armbar to win 3rd place.
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October 6, 2007Jason Hanfman Promoted to Blue Belt
» Another blue belt joins the ranks. Congrats to Jason!
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September 29, 2007Mission Submission Results
Age Skill Weight Result Carlos Casanova Adult Novice Super Heavyweight (>210 lbs) 3rd White Belt Super Heavyweight (>210 lbs) 3rd Kwami Mensah Masters Novice Lightweight (<160 lbs) 1st Masters White Belt Lightweight (<160 lbs) 1st Jovie Soriano Masters Novice Middleweight (<180 lbs) 2nd Gil Yzaguirye Adult Novice Flyweight (<140 lbs) 3rd
» Kwami Mensah leads rookie-squad to 6 medals, winning two divisions himself. Kwami began training in June and has been itching to compete for a while. When he got his chance this weekend, he made the most of it, competing in four divisions (including the Open). He tallied five wins (100% tap rate with five different submissions) to only two losses. You can find always find Kwami after class jotting down notes or hanging off the Grip Dominator to develop his grips - his results are not a surprise.
Carlos Casanova got his first submission (guillotine) of his career in the first tournament of his career. Carlos showed no fear as he competed in three divisions, fighting hard, and gaining valuable experience.
Jovie used his three weeks of Jiu-Jitsu to maximum effectiveness, bringing home a Silver in the Masters No-Gi. He ended up 3-2 for the day.
Gil, Mr. Ezekielle himself, battled his way into the semi-finals in both his Gi and No-Gi brackets. He came close to two medals but unfortunately lost a 0-0 Judge's decision in his other consolation bout. He, of course, tapped someone with an Ezekielle on his way.
I firmly believe competition is the BEST foundation on which to build up your gameplan because it highlights exactly what is working and what is not. That's why it's great to see so many new students going out there to test their skills. In fact, Crazy 88 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu only had one person competing with any prior experience (average training time for participants = 16 weeks). I'm looking forward to the next few training sessions as I'm sure they will be ultra-productive for all you guys!
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September 15, 2007Brian Bouchard Kicks Butt in Texas
Age Skill Weight Result Brian Bouchard Adult Beginner Lightweight (<185 lbs) 3rd
» Brian Bouchard was in Texas and decided to head on over to the Annual Key City Karate Bash which was holding its first no-gi competition. Here is the rundown in his words:
"I competed in the beginners "light-weight" division - < 185 lbs. There was only a light weight and a heavy weight division for both the beginners and advanced.
There were 9 grapplers in my division. 4 minute matches.
I won my first match very easily and submitted him about a couple minutes into it. I got the double-leg takedown, to the side mount, to the north-south, to the side mount on the other side, to the mount and then submitted him w/ a cross choke.
I then went up against the guy who eventually won it. He was an obviously a very good former wrestler, but like me, not as experienced w/ BJJ. I got him down with a sloppy hip throw and we then wrestled the entire time going back and forth. He then caught me in an arm bar with about 30 seconds left. This was the first time I submitted in competition, so I was bummed.
The next match after mine lasted only 30 seconds and then I had to fight again. I was still exhausted. This was for 3rd place. I went against a Karate Black Belt who had been cross training into BJJ. He was young and very strong, but luckily I had 20 pounds on him. We spent a lot of time on our feet - I kept trying to foot sweep him, unsuccessfully, but it eventually set up a good hip throw. I got the takedown and I took the quick mount and rode it out (somewhat stalling) until time ran out.
And a note about the place I trained at in Texas. If you go to class about 2 or 3 times a week, you get your blue belt around the year mark. That is why there were so many. And they trained so lightly compared to most places. Too much talking, I think. They have one 4 or 5 minute randori at the end of class and many were exhausted before that even started (except for some military folks). I'm more tired after 15 minutes at your place than I was after an hour at that place. 'Nice guys and a knowlegeable instructor, but just a different mindset, I guess. At least I got to practice applying offensive/finishing techniques there, whereas I'm usually in a defensive mode here, trying not to get my butt beat too badly."
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September 4, 2007Brasa BJJ World Champion Stops By
» Felipe Costa, BJJ World Champion from Brasa, has been training with us at the Lloyd Irvin Association since last Saturday and stopped by Crazy 88 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to share his knowledge. He went over some defenses to bull-fighting and then did a Q&A session so students could go over their problem areas. Thanks Felipe!
Make sure you check out FELIPE'S WEBSITE HERE.
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August 23, 2007 - August 26, 2007Congratulations to all Team Lloyd Irvin World Medalists! » Full Mundials Report Here
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August 7, 2007Fourth Blue Belt Promotion is... » Josh Plaschkes.
Josh is one of our most dedicated students, driving all the way from Harford county, and has been on a tear in competitions. He is already competing at the Advanced no-gi level and recently submitted his way through the white belt gi division. Congrats to Josh!
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August 4, 2007Battle at the Beach Results
Age Skill Weight Result Mike Atkin Executive Advanced Gi Open 2nd Advanced No-Gi Open 1st Brian Bouchard Directors Beginner Gi Light Heavyweight (<200 lbs) 1st Beginner No-Gi Light Heavyweight (<200 lbs) 3rd Tim Spriggs Teens Beginner No-Gi Heavyweight (<200 lbs) 2nd
» Mike Atkin ended up winning 4 matches to bring back a Silver and Gold medal. He lost to a Brown belt in the Gi division by a single advantage (0-0, 3-2) but avenged the loss in the No-Gi bracket.
Brian had a solid performance in his 1st tournament, placing in both divisions. Brian comes from a judo background and used it well, throwing his opponent HARD and then submitting him while he was knocked senseless. Brian had a barnburner match in the finals of the Gi division: he fell back early, getting his guard passed twice (0-6) but fought back to pass and mount in the final fifteen seconds to win 7-6!!! Awesome job!
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July 21, 2007Tough Matches for Roberto at NAGA Florida Grappling Championship » Roberto Torralbas and students headed over to Ft. Lauderdale for the NAGA tournament. Knowing the level of competition down in FL, it was gonna be a fun day!
Roberto's first match in the No-Gi was against Edson Diniz. Edson is perhaps best-known for his match against BJ Penn in the finals of the Black Belt division in 2002. Roberto fought tough in there with the Brazilian, losing only 6-2.
The Gi division wouldn't be any easier. This time it was Brown Belts, mostly from Pablo Popovitch's team (currently the largest in the area). Roberto defeated his Brown belt opponent, 5-0; throwing him and then tight-passing him from the top of half-guard. The next bout would be against Wagner Rocha, who had defeated Roberto a few weeks ago. This match would be just as close as the first with Roberto getting to some good positions but unable to capitalize. It ended 2-0 again.
Roberto Working to Pass Rocha
It's very important to evaluate the matches in context. For Roberto to go in there and be battling with far more experienced competitors shows great promise for the future, despite the current results.
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July 21, 2007Wilson Reis puts on Great Seminar!
» Special Thanks to BJJ United's Wilson Reis for coming to 88 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to put a fantastic seminar. Wilson shared his advanced 1/2-guard attacks and back-taking series that he uses whenever he competes. Good luck to Wilson in his upcoming MMA debut next weekend!
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July 14, 20072007 North American Combat Sports Championships Results » Team Lloyd Irvin wins Team Tournament. Wayne Johnson & Josh Plaschkes Win Gold.
Team Lloyd Irvin - Still #1
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July 7, 2007Roberto takes Gold at Copa America
Age Skill Weight Result Roberto Torralbas Adult Purple Belt Open 1st
» Roberto Torralbas competed in the Purple Belt and No-Gi Open this weekend in Florida. Unfortunately, there was only one other Purple Belt there but Roberto took care of him handily, racking up a stack of points. In the No-Gi Open, he faced Wagner Rocha, a Brown Belt from Pablo Popovitch's school and the PanAm champion of the Brown Belt No-Gi division. It was a close match that ended up with Wagner defeating Roberto 2-0.
It was a historic day for Roberto's school in Naples, FL as it received it's first win courtesy of Roberto's student, Julian Rives!
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July 7, 2007Great Turnout for our 1st Women's Open Mat » Eighteen women showed up for our very first Open Mat. We had girls from Richmond BJJ, Ground Control, Paramount BJJ, Nova MMA, Yamasaki, as well as from Lloyd's Camp Springs Academy all training. It was a great session with Amie sharing a few of her favorite techniques and then all the women sparring. Stay tuned to our website for information about the next Women's Open Mat (probably in Richmond).
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June 23, 2007Diamond State Games Results » Roberto Torralbas and Fred Ramie clean out Advanced No-Gi Open. Josh Plaschkes medals in Advanced division debut.
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May 6, 2007Team Lloyd Irvin Shocks the World at Abu Dhabi » Mike Fowler, Lloyd Irvin Black Belt and head instructor of the Guam Academy, got the call early this week and flew in from South Pacific. He would have the toughest road to the finals ever (he would have to defeat Renzo Gracie, Saulo Ribeiro, and Marcelo Garcia just to reach the finals). In the first round, he faced 2X ADCC Champion Renzo Gracie. Fowler pulled guard and pushed hard for sweeps and submissions. Although neither fighter was able to score, the judges awarded Fowler the match based on his aggressiveness.
Renzo Defending Mike's UmaPlata
In the second round, he faced another 2X ADCC Champion in Saulo Ribeiro. Saulo took control of the match early, taking Mike's back but Mike escaped and eventually caught the 6X World Champion with a toe-hold!
Although Mike would lose to eventual Champion, Marcelo Garcia, his performance was the talk of the Grappling community. Fowler had not even started training Jiu Jitsu when Saulo and Renzo had won their first Abu Dhabi titles!
Lloyd Irvin and Mike Fowler
In the Alternate match for the Absolute division, Ryan Hall, spectator turned competitor, came back from a harrowing Kimura to submit Renzo Gracie black belt Gordinho with a heel hook. Congratulations to Hall who was heavily outweighed!
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April 28, 2007East Coast Grappling Championship 5 Results » Wayne Johnson brings back medals in Blue Belt debut. Mike Atkin wins ADULT Purple Belt division.
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April 24, 2007Local Area Men Brutalized, Beaten, and Promoted to Blue Belt! » Congratulations to Wayne "Emo" Johnson and Bottom Game on their promotions! They earned their belts the old way - on the competition mat! Of course, they still had to undergo the belt test which was great fun (especially for those not being promoted).
The journey now begins again!
Be Careful what you Wish For!
Recuperating!
The New Crazy 88 Blue Belt Team!
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April 21, 2007NAGA World Championship Results » Malcolm, Wayne, and Bottom Game beat Upper Belt competitors at HUGE tournament.
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April 1, 2007Pan-American Results » Medora Macie and Mike Atkin bring back medals!
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March 24, 2007Mike Easton Mixed Martial Arts Seminar a Success! » Big Thanks to Mike Easton who gave a 3-hour Seminar on Mixed Martial Arts. Mike is currently Reality Fighting Champion and just got back from Brazil where he KO'd Brazilian Top Team Black Belt Hudson Rocha. Look for Mike to compete again in California at the Pan-Americans in the Brown Belt division.
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February 15, 2007First Night at New Academy! » It took a little longer than we expected but I'm glad to announce that we held our first class at the new location tonight. The new schedule goes into effect immediately so make sure you don't miss class!