Crazy 88 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Mike Atkin returned to the mats with a win in the Masters division. Mike controlled the match from the top position and earned multiple advantages for near-passes. Afterwards, Mike once again entered the Adult division and beat competitors almost half his age! He faced Chris Schindler from Maguilla's. The match was close with Mike having difficulty passing but Schindler unable to attack from the guard. In the end, Mike would win on advantages. Mike then split the division with another Lloyd Irvin fighter. Another great Victory for Mike who plans on going to the World Championships in August to compete in the Adult division!







Paul Davis jumped into the tournament despite his once-a-month training routine and managed to place! He finished his 1st opponent and was dominating his 2nd opponent, before gassing out, and losing on points. Once he starts training again, look for big things from Paul Davis.





Mike "Bottom Game" Florey continued his 100% submission rate, finishing three opponents this weekend, including a school-record Fastest Tap (19 seconds)! In the No-Gi finals, Bottom Game had his opponent nearly tapped with both a straight ankle lock and a TIGHT triangle but the guy just would not give up! BG would lose on points but damn if the submissions weren't close!







Chris Jaus defeated two competitors and received his first Competition medal this weekend!


After getting upset in his weight class, Wayne "Emo" Johnson decided to do the Blue Belt Open. He dismantled his first opponent, forcing him to the knees and keeping him defensive with constant back attacks. He then faced off against a giant from Balance. Despite being outweighed by at least 40 lbs, Wayne managed to keep the match scoreless. You could see the strain on his face as even simple movements like shrimping were difficult on the much larger opponent. Down on advantages and with a few seconds left, Wayne locked on a straight footlock (one of the main techniques we have been working on in the Advanced classes) for the submission! One of the most memorable finishes in school history!









Wayne's next opponent was a HUGE blue belt from Evolve Academy. As big as the last guy was (210-ish), he was dwarfed by this new opponent (300+ range). Wayne had a textbook guard pull but once the guy flattened him out, it was over - Big guy by Smooshing. Still a great performance from Wayne who showed a lot of heart and demonstrated the importance of proper conditioning. In his own words, "There is no way I would've been able to beat that big guy without circuits." We're not sure if Wayne placed because of bracketing changes - however he did win 2 matches which would've put him into the Medal rounds in the 16-man division.







Ben Lipov received a bye in the first round. In the quarterfinals, he used his acrobatic guard passing to get North-South and the points victory. Unfortunately, Ben made a technical error in his 2nd bout, forcing him into the Consolation bracket. He split the 3/4 position with teammate, Paul Davis.


Mikhail Onishchenko returned to competition with a fury, finally getting that Gold Medal! He had won 2nd and 3rd in his past divisions so he was due for that 1st place! He defeated both his opponents via points.


Julius Park competed in the Open, defeating his 1st opponent by DQ. He was winning 4-0 with multiple advantages for near-passes and submissions when his opponent disqualified himself by going for an illegal technique. Gotta learn the rules! Julius then bowed out to fellow Lloyd Irvin teammates and went onto the Welterweight Purple Belt division where his opponent did not show. Finally, he moved up to Middleweight (<180 lbs) where he defeated Monroe Hall of Maguilla's 4-0 with two sweeps. Julius and Roberto then split 1st place.





After winning the Intermediate No-Gi a month ago, Josh Plaschkes moved up to the Advanced division. He fought hard, losing to a Purple Belt on a single advantage and then submitting his next opponent, to earn a respectable 3rd place. Not bad for a White belt!







Fred Ramie faced off against Tommy Yun from BJJ Revolution in the 1st round of the Open. Fred racked up advantages for his near-passes but could not stabilize Yun for the points. A win is a win, and Fred went into the semi-finals where he took on a tough (and heavy!) grappler from Balance. Fred was down on advantages and was unable to score on the big man! With only a few seconds left in the match, Fred rolled under his opponent for the kneebar and transitioned to the toe-hold for the finish! Congrats to Fred, and his first Adult Advanced division Championship!





Phil Thorn scored 13 points to his opponents 0 to win his 1st match. He had a back-and-forth battle in the semi-finals but came out on the losing end of a Kimura. In the consolation match, Phil came back to win on points!





Roberto Torralbas applied his takedown abilities to outpoint both his opponents in the No-Gi Open. He used the exact techniques that he taught in Friday's No-Gi Class. At Team Lloyd Irvin, we don't show BS moves that look good but don't work! He met Fred in the finals and they closed out the division.





Roberto then jumped into the Purple Belt Open division where he threw Ricardo Almeida student and IFL Fighter Hazim Ibrahim with a beautiful UchiMata to create a Lloyd Irvin shutout (all top 8 finishes in the Purple Open were from Team Lloyd Irvin). Roberto then outgrappled his Middleweight foe to close out the weight class with Julius.





Special recognition goes out to Keith "Trainspotting" Cebula, Mark Parella, Derek "Derelicte" Petty, and Dave Zwanetz who all competed for the 1st time this weekend. Learn from the experience and come back stronger!


Of course, a special Thanks to Medora for all the great pictures!