US Grappling NC State Championships Results

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Phil Thorn rematerialized in North Carolina for the US Grappling event held in Morrisville.  Phil went undefeated for the day, winning three Gold medals including the Open division 1st-place medals for the Intermediate No-Gi and and Blue Belt Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.  In the Blue Belt weight class, there were no other Ultra Heavyweights so Phil was unable to get four!

It was a dominating victory.  Phil was unscored upon and won via Rear Naked Choke, 2 Armbars (1 from top, 1 from guard), and 7-0 in the No-Gi divisions.  His Gi opponents were also unable to score on him as he won there by Bread cutter choke, 5-0, 3-0, and 2-0 in the finals.  He exhibited good takedowns, taking all his opponents down that did not pull guard immediately, as well as a variety of different submission holds.  Eight wins to no losses – Not a bad day’s work!

Great job Big Phil!
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PS – We put up new SpyCam video of our Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Classes so make sure you check it out!

Jermane Mathis Promoted to BJJ Blue Belt

Crazy 88 Blue Belts

Congratulations to Jermane Mathis, Crazy 88′s newest Blue Belt! He has been an successful active competitor in both Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai competitions for the past few months and it was awesome to see him get promoted. Jermane had one of the best promotion tests ever, making it through the entire White Belt Roster without getting submitted! Great job from the 3x White Belt division Champion.

Good luck to Jermane as he enters the Police Academy in the coming months!

Celebrating the Promotion with a Few Glasses of Champagne

Copa America Florida State Championships Results

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2010 Houston International BJJ Open Results

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Three Competitors – Four Medals so far for Crazy 88 BJJ Baltimore Jiu-Jitsu Team. 100% Medal Rate for Team Lloyd Irvin so far.

Evan “Oz” Gideon dominated his two opponents, finishing his first one off with a triangle and then submitting his second with a bow-and-arrow choke.  Due to a bracketing mix-up, Evan received a bye into the semi-finals but like they say, “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”  The final match was especially sweet as it was against an opponent that had beaten Oz 2-0 at the US Nationals last year.  This time, Oz left no doubt as he passed, mounted, and finished his opponent from the back.

In the Open, Evan faced Daniel Robb (Gracie Humaita).  Super close match with a single advantage giving the “W” to Robb.

Evan Gideon Wins Blue Belt Medium Heavy!

Tye Ryan Murphy submitted his first opponent via triangle and outpointed the second by 20+ points.  In the quarterfinals, he faced one of Rafael Lovato’s blue belts who had taken 2nd at the American Nationals.   Tye submitted him with a Kimura and then caught the semi-finals adversary with another triangle to enter the finals.  In the finals, Tye was up 5-0 with approximately a minute left but fell prey to a Hail Mary armbar!  A tough learning experience but an easy mistake to fix.

Tye came back hard in the Blue Belt Open battling through some TOUGH early round matches.  He won his Elite Eight match 0-0 (3-2) and then gutted out a win the Final Four.  The score was 2-2 with two advantages for Tye.  Tye’s opponent locked on a tight triangle but Tye held out until the buzzer winning by one advantage!  In the Finals, Tye dismantled his opponent, mounting him and submitting him!  Congrats to Tye Ryan Murphy on a BIG win!

Tye's Muay Thai training really came through! Also, Third Law's Kevin Dalton with the Bronze!

Blue Belt Open Gold for Tye Ryan Murphy!

“Big” Al Washington defeated Orlan Lyle (Gracie Barra) by Ezekiel choke and then Edgar Perez (Gracie Barra America) via 9-0.  Final four – Al applies the Kimura to get a ticket to the Finals.  The Championship match was a war; Al gave it everything he had but came up one point short in a 7-6 barnburner!

BIG!!!

Also, congrats to Team Third Law (Florida Team Lloyd Irvin affiliate) – they had:

• Roberto Torralbas – 1st Adult Purple Middle, 2nd Adult Purple Open
• Kevin Dalton – 3rd Adult Blue Middle
• Kim Rivers – 1st Female White Feather
• Joey Ruggiero – 1st Adult White Light

It was an interesting rules meeting at the Houston BJJ Open.

US Grappling Submission Only IX Results

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Although most of the BJJ Competition Team was in Houston for the IBJJF tournament, two of the Crazy 88 White Belts drove to US Grappling’s Submission Only competition in Virginia to compete.  Travis Outten had another consistent performance.  Brian “Jacare” Clifton had an awesome performance for a 1st time competitor – winning his No-Gi division and going on to win the Open.  Great debut!

PS – We put up new SpyCam video of our Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Classes so make sure you check it out!

Crazy 88 Coaches Present at Career Day at St Mark School

Hello everyone, it’s Coach Rodeo again! For the second year in a row Crazy 88 BJJ Kids Martial Arts program instructors made an appearance at St Mark school of Catonsville’s Career Day. Last year, Coach Danny and I went in and gave a 20 minute presentation to three 1st grade classes. If you don’t know him, my son Tyler, is a student there.

This year Coach Jon and I would be the instructors to attend Career Day looking to find some future World champions. Last year, Career Day was such a success that they were completely booked and we were on the waiting list. Well, as luck would have it, a presenter had to pull out and we got the call to come in. This time we would be showing off our moves to the 6th grade classes. Apparently we made an impression last year as many parents and students remembered us. Even the assistant principal Mr. Carl Berger, said he was expecting us as wrestling season was winding down.

Coach Jon and I showed up at 8:15 in the morning and were in the classroom by 8:30. The kids were very excited to see us and very enthusiastic. It wasn’t hard for us to find volunteers for our moves. We started the day off with explaining who we were and what Jiu Jitsu was all about. We talked to them about some of the rules that we have here in the Kids Martial Arts program and what a normal class was like. We then asked for some volunteers to run through some exercises. We had them do jumping jacks, pushups, and fast feet (otherwise known as burpies). We decided to show them some Self defense moves. There wasn’t a problem finding eager students ready to impress their fellow students with their moves! The first thing we showed them was the 1-2 combo; which they picked up very quickly so we added in the round kick. Lucky for me, I drew the short straw and was the kicking dummy and let me tell you; those kids can kick hard!

We ran out of time quickly as we did a short question and answer session with the kids. They had some very good questions and were very happy to have us. I know I speak for Coach Jon when I say, all in all, it was a great experience and can’t wait to go back next year. Hopefully we’ll see some new faces in the Kids program soon!

Brackets for the Houston BJJ Open Posted…

Alfonso Washington wants to redeem himself after a 0-0 Judges Decision at the European BJJ Championships. Al also has a Muay Thai smoker bout next weekend so he is keeping himself busy in all areas of fighting!

Big Al's Division - White Belt Ultra

Tye Ryan Murphy and Kevin Dalton are both looking to get solid IBJJF tournament experience. Tye had a strong showing at the European BJJ Championships where he won 3 before losing on points to the eventual champion and will build upon that to get onto the medal stand in Houston.  In Tye’s way is US Nationals medalist Trevor Cowan, who should be the biggest challenge on that page.  On the other side of the bracket is Team Third Law’s Kevin Dalton, who is one of Roberto’s most active competitors and also a political activist.

Tye Ryan Murphy's Division - Blue Middle page 1/2

Tye Ryan Murphy Division - Blue Middle page 2/2

Evan “Oz” Gideon should have some good matches and is one of the favorites to win the division. Evan is looking forward to a rematch with Shiloh Roberts (Lovato BJJ) who defeated him by two points in the semi-finals of the US Nationals last year.  This is “Oz” first IBJJF tournament of the year and he is excited.  In 2009, with less than one year of training, he was able to make the Elite Eight of the PanAms and take double Bronze’s at the US Nationals – a solid foundation for the 2010 competition season.

Evan Gideon's Division - Blue Middle Heavy

Roberto Torralbas' Division - Purple Middle