Copa America Results

Roberto Torralbas started on the road to his 2nd Pan-American title with his first competition of the year. He has been practicing his cross-choke on his poor White Belts and much like Zoolander’s “Magnum”, he had been waiting for the right moment to drop it on the world.

Hunting for the "Holy Grail" of BJJ - The Mounted Cross-Choke

Roberto then entered the Gi Open which was open to all belts and weights. He defeated his first two opponents without being scored upon. The semi-final was a grueling gripping and takedown battle with ATT professional fighter, Esteban Ramos. The circuits came into play as Roberto was able to takedown his opponent late to earn a rematch with Moacir “Boca” Oliviera, the Black Belt who had defeated Roberto in the last Gi Open.

The rematch was not pretty! Boca jumped to his signature half-guard from where he swept Roberto and then proceeded to try 101 submissions (all unsuccessful). However, as Roberto says, “the match was worth more than 100 private lessons. ”

Roberto Exchanges Grips with Esteban Ramos

Squaring Off Against Boca

Roberto needed some more matches to get ready for the PanAms where he will most likely be competing in a 64+ man bracket, so he entered the Professional No-Gi division. His first match was against a lanky Gracie Barra Brown Belt. Roberto re-dragged off his adversary’s armdrag attempt and scored 2 points for the victory. He then dismantled a lighter fighter to make the finals against Mario “Big Hurt” Rinaldi. Rinaldi is a fighter from American Top Team and the winner of the Abu Dhabi North American Trials in the heaviest weight class.

The bulk of the match was fought on the feet. Roberto managed to secure a tight single leg but was unable to muscle the big man to the floor for the points. In the closing minute, Rinaldi finished his own takedown to win 2-0.

Roberto's First No-Gi Match

Big Hurt Rinaldi vs. Little Hurt Torralbas

Congratulations to Roberto on another strong performance and to Mike “Goku” Defurio, leading the charge for Team Lloyd Irvin in Florida!

Kids Program Launches

Our first Children’s class was today at 6 PM. The program will follow a Monday 6 PM, Wednesday 6 PM, and Saturday 9:30 AM schedule.

Mission Submission Results

Wayne “Emo” Johnson overcame a late rally by his Finals opponent to win another weight class Gold. Wayne was taken down but swept and passed his rival to win it all.

Kwami Mensah defeated two to triumph in the No-Gi although he competed in a higher weight class than his usual one. Unfortunately, Kwami fell victim to some shaky reffing in the White Belt division. Kwami secured a tight under-over pass position and was trying to rotate around his opponent’s legs. The other contestant kept pushing his head, attempting to free his trapped leg and lock on a triangle. It was a dead-even position but the referee felt differently, penalizing Kwami 2 pts and 1 advantage for “stalling”. As soon as the stalemate broke, Kwami immediately scored 2 pts but it was not enough since his foe had been given an additional advantage.

Jovie Soriano finally transitioned to the Adult age bracket after a string of successes among the Executives. Despite a quick scare from an armbar, he proved he belonged with the young guns, double-legging and then bullfighting his initial foe for the “W”. He also grappled in the Gi division where he fought a scrappy wrestler. It’s great that Jovie decided to go for the hard medal rather than the guaranteed one; they say experience is the best teacher, so look for an even better Jovie in the next competition.

A few wars were all it took to initiate Tim Stauner into the tournament scene. The officer of the law was completely unpredictable – changing up his gameplan on the fly and perfectly executing moves that he had been taught a few days before. Our teammate was pulling Greco-roman throws, slick armbar transitions, and half-guard sweeps out of his hat. We had no idea where these techniques were coming from, but they were working! Unfortunately, there was not an extra gas tank in there, and he began to slow down in the Open division after he won a Silver in the weight class. Stauner is just under 3 months of training, and he looks to mature into a serious threat as he gains more experience.

Phil Thorn crushed all his enemies who were before him. 4 matches, 4 submissions, 0 points scored against him. He used a Breadcutter to submit his first two opponents, and then changed it up with a Gi choke from the back, and then an Americana from side. Flawless performance by the Big man.

Lots of divisions were joined together so it is hard to decipher who won what.