Crazy 88 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Wayne Johnson won his first blue belt title after being promoted on April 24th. He had medaled in his previous two showings but finally secured that yellow medal. Making the victory even sweeter was the fact that he defeated the same opponent who had beaten him in his first blue belt competition; this time the wrestler from Pedro Sauer (who had beaten Wayne on a judge's decision in their previous match) would be the one on the losing end. In the finals, Wayne swept his adversary twice and cinched the side-mount for a 7-0 victory! Congrats to "Emo" on the first of many victories to come.





Mikhail Onishchenko competed concurrently in two divisions, winning his 1st match in each division. He lost both his semi-finals on points. Unfortunately, he injured his leg during the later semi-final and was unable to compete for 3rd place in either division.


Julius Park finished his first opponent in 38 seconds. In the semi-finals, he defeated a very technical grappler from Alliance by a score of 8-2. He split the division with teammate, Ryan Hall.









Josh Plaschkes, World's Toughest White Belt, had a very close bout in the no-gi with a Purple Belt from Trident academy. Josh fell behind early on points when his opponent capitalized on Josh's takedown attempt and took his back. However, our teammate's defense was impeccable and he defended the choke until he was able to regain his guard a few minutes later. With only 2 minutes, Josh began to increase the tempo of the match, first earning two points for a sweep and then another two for a takedown. The score was now tied at 4-4. Unfortunately, the bell rang and Josh would lose again by a single advantage.








In the gi division, Plaschkes handily finished off all three of his opponents for the Gold (ezekielle, achilles lock, rear choke).






Fred Ramie had a rough day but faced off against some good competition. In his first match in the No-Gi Open, Fred was placed in an UmaPlata and accidently slammed his opponent. Although the infraction was unintentional, the rules state that such a situation mandates a DQ. A dissappointing way to go out for the returning No-Gi Open champion.

Fred then faced off against Ian McPherson of Alliance in the gi category. Ian is an experienced competitor who recently won the Purple Belt Open division at the Pan-Americans. The match was back-and-forth: Ian caught Fred in an UmaPlata and swept him. As the Alliance team member attempted to pass, Fred reversed him right into side-mount. Ian eventually regained guard and scored another two points for a sweep. This time, Fred turned to the turtle position and employed his patented roll to get back on top. Ian again went for his UmaPlata and cinched it up! Unfortunately, this time Ian transitioned from the UmaPlata to the triangle and picked up the submission.





Team Lloyd Irvin also won the Team Tournament! A few rival schools were claiming that Team Lloyd Irvin was only winning the Team title at tournaments because of greater numbers. The promoters decided that they would hold divisions where each team would be limited to a single competitor, thus balancing the playing field. Well, Wilson Reis, Ryan Hall, Ken Berger, and Dave Carter proved the doubters wrong with Wilson and Ryan taking 1st place, Ken Berger 2nd, and Dave Carter 3rd.

We also won the Children's Team Title and overall Team Title! Great job guys!





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