Chicago International BJJ Open Brackets are Up!

Roberto Torralbas – Purple Belt Middle

Purple Belt Middleweight (1/1)

Brad Pearson & Jon Delbrugge – Purple Belt Medium-Heavy

Evan Gideon – Purple Belt Heavy

Purple Belt Heavyweight (1/1)

2010 Worlds Brackets Released (Blue Belts)

Blue Belt Rooster

“Lawyer” Dave Zwanetz set a goal for himself of placing at an International level Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournament last year after he missed the World Championships.  He has been competing regularly since then and recently took Gold at the NY Open.  Having defeated multiple past medalists in local tournaments, Dave has a strong chance to get onto the medal stand this year in Long Beach.

Blue Belt Rooster (1 of 2)

Blue Belt Light Feather

Clarence Melton came off a long Jiu Jitsu layoff with a vengeance, going to the BJJ Brazilian Nationals to compete.  He is looking to gain more experience at the World Championships with the intention of getting onto the medal stand next year.

Blue Belt Pluma (1 of 4)

Blue Belt Light

Keith “Trainspotting” Cebula is coming into the Worlds hoping to utilize his strong Umaplata game.  Keith suffered a few setbacks during the Worlds training camp but has a strong gameplan and technical skills that will hopefully get him into the later rounds.

Blue Belt Light (5 of 8)

Blue Belt Medium Heavy

A strong division for Team Lloyd Irvin with Evan “Oz” Gideon, Fred “Brad” Thomsen, and Timmy “#1 Stunna” Spriggs all separated throughout the bracket. Oz is a big medal threat, with 2010 wins at the Houston and NY Opens and also a Bronze at the Pan Ams. Also in the division are Jason Boivie (Marin MMA), Carsell Swain (BTT), and Marcus Sosa (Claudio Franca) who all placed at the PanAms as well. Jason Boivie was a medalist at last year’s Worlds as well.

Blue Belt Medium Heavy (4 of 8)

Blue Belt Medium Heavy (5 of 8)

Blue Belt Medium Heavy (7 of 8)

Blue Belt Super Heavy

Aung la Sang makes his IBJJF debut in the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Super Heavyweight division.  Aung la was almost denied entry to the tournament when he forgot to register but pulled off a miracle when the IBJJF accepted a late email registration.  Fortune seems to be smiling on “Ong Bak” and that coupled with his hard training should lead to good results in the division!

Blue Belt Super Heavy (2 of 2)

Blue Belt Ultra Heavy

“Big Sal” Washington came all the way to Long Beach for his 2nd tournament as a Blue Belt.  Big Sal has been working a lot on his judo throws as well as his guard and has been developing a game more akin to a lightweight than a 250 lb behemoth.  He is going for the close out with teammate and PanAm bronze medalist, Kenneth Brown.

Blue Belt Ultra Heavy (2 of 2)

Blue Belt Female Light Feather

Cathy Tran-Zwanetz and Kim Rivers going for the division close-out.

Female Blue Belt Light Feather (1 of 1)

2010 Worlds Brackets Released (Purple & Brown Belts)

Purple Belt Medium Heavy

Jon Delbrugge ends up on the “Page of Death”.  All the international Purple Belt medalists of the past year ended up on a single page, allowing only 1 to advance to the medal round.  Janne Autio (Alliance), 2X European Open Gold medalist, will face Pan-American Silver medalist, BJ Nelson in the first round.  Brazilian Nationals Champion and 2009 World Silver Medalist, Joao Gabriel Rocha will face the winner of that match in the Sweet 16.  The winner of this page should go on to win the whole thing.

Purple Belt Medium Heavy (3 of 4)

Purple Belt Heavy

Brad Pearson bumps up  a weight class to compete at the World Championships of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.  Brad is going to be utilizing his Go Go Go pace and strong top game to get onto the medal stand after a disappointing NY Open performance.

Purple Belt Heavy (3 of 4)

Brown Belt Heavy

Mike Atkin comes out to California for another shot at the Adult division of the World Championships.  Old enough to be the grandfather of most of the World Competitiors, Mike still has the heart of a young gun and will leave it out there!  Ous!

Brown Belt Heavy (2 of 2)

2010 Pan Am Brackets Released

Evan Gideon is on page 3 of a 4 page bracket (at the big IBJJF tournaments, each ring operates a page independently of each other and the winners of each page face off in the later, usually medal, rounds) for Blue Belt Meio-Pesado.  Guilherme Lima (Drysdale BJJ) is also on Evan’s page – Evan won their last encounter 2-0 at the US Nationals but it was hard fought!  Teammate Frank Camacho will be taking care of business on page 1.  Interestingly enough, Frank’s first match will be against Shiloh Roberts from Rafael Lovato’s school, a grappler that Evan has faced twice already.

Roberto Torralbas is on page 3 of a 4 page bracket as well.  The big challenge on his page is Alex Baulding (Alliance) who is the returning World Silver Medalist.  Before Alex Baulding, Roberto might face Jeffrey Shulze (Gracie Barra), who at Blue Belt won a controversial Judges Decision over Jon Delbrugge.  Purple Middleweight is a notoriously difficult division so we should get some good matches out of the Third Law BJJ coach.

Jon Delbrugge has 3 matches to get into the Medal Round and 5 matches to win the Gold in the Purple Belt Medium-Heavy weight class.  The only name I know on his page (2 of 4) is Elias Ramirez (Gracie Barra), last year’s Blue Belt Pan Am Silver Medalist.

Mike Atkin will be competing Senior 3 Brown Belt Heavyweight (he moved up from Medium Heavy because there was no one in his weight division).  There are a few guys in this bracket that Mike has not faced before and Willie Rodriguez who Mike has competed against a few times.  Should be fun!

2009 Grapplers Quest Northeast Grappling Championships Results

Muay Thai Smoker Fights Results

Crazy 88′s second foray into Muay Thai kickboxing was this Saturday up at Cherry Hill, NJ. We had three competitors at the event, all fighting Muay Thai (there were amateur MMA fights as well).

First up was “Big” Joe Dressel who went out there and gave it his all.   Coach Jason stopped the match when Joe did not seem himself during the match.  It could have been a blow to the back of the head or simply fatigue but the result was not what we wanted.  These kind of experiences can end up being positive in the long run so its back to the training room for a remotivated Joe.

Our second competitor of the day was Zak Perret aka SWAT.  SWAT had the toughest task of the day, facing an opponent with four previous fights, including one at the Muay Thai Nationals.  This was SWAT’s Muay Thai debut but it did not look that way as he was not intimidated and came out to bang.  It was a back-and-forth match that ended up being called a DRAW (perhaps the most frustrating result for a fighter)!  Awesome job by SWAT as he really stepped up to the plate against a far more experienced opponent.

Last up was BIG Al Washington.  Big Al came out of the gate, throwing big bombs and big kicks.  Not many human beings can withstand blows from a man Big Al’s size and his opponent was not one of them as Big Al scored the early KO. 

Great job guys!  You are leading the way for the other students who want to do Thai Boxing!

Big Joe gives some guy directions before his fight!

SWAT prepares for battle!

Muay Thai Jason with the Crazy 88 Kickboxing Team

Uncategorized Competition Results, muay thai

NAGA North Carolina Results

** = split division with teammate; no losses.

Zach “SWAT” Perret and Keith “Trainspotting” Cebula closed out <160 lb Blue Belt as well as Intermediate division.  Both guys were dominant in their performances, racking up big points, and getting submissions along the way in their 5 matches apiece. Look for both guys to make the big jump to Advanced at their next tournament.

Tye Ryan Murphy wins <170 Intermediate No-Gi with 4 dominant wins (this is only his 2nd time competing at Intermediate). Tough ref decision loss at Blue Belt.

Timothy “#1 Stunna” Spriggs entered 3 tough divisions, the Advanced Open, the Advanced weight class, and Purple Belt. Why would a Blue Belt enter the Purple Belt division? Well, the NAGA instituted a strange rule where Blue Belts were not allowed to fight in the Advanced division – so #1 Stunna would either have to fight Intermediate (which he already won) or Purple Belt (while wearing a Blue Belt). We decided to do the latter and were able to get good results! Hopefully, the NAGA will remove this rule in the future as the promoters of a grappling event should not have any say in what color belt an individual should wear.

Cathy Tran-Zwanetz entered her first Blue Belt division and proved she belonged with a dominating 16-2 then Ezekielle first round match. Because of her flight time, Cathy fought up a weight class and was a bit nervous but it obviously did not affect her too much as she was able to take second, losing 0-6.

“Big” Al Washington went out there and fought hard.  He is putting the time in, in the room and on the mats, and looks to become a top producer for the White Belt competition team.

“Lawyer” David Zwanetz comes back from North Carolina with a Gold and Silver.  Dave triangled his first No-Gi opponent but came out on the losing end of a heel hook battle in the Finals.  Dave then won his first match in the <140 lb Blue Belt division 7-2 armlocked his next opponent for the Gold.

White Belt Competition Team Fall 2009

The following are the 14 people who made it through the 3 hour 3 AM workout. Congratulations!

“Little” Matthew Burr
“Big” Al Washington
“Big” Joe Dressel
“G.I. Joe” Wade AKA “Gracie Barra”
Fady “Iron Maiden” Hijji
Stephen “Riddler” Riddle
“Medium” Frank Schittino
Tyrone Eaton
Westley Muhl
Juan Pontes
John “SouthSide” Johnson
Will “Smallville” Smallwood”
“White Belt” Chris Hyder
“Little” Joe Burkett

Don Achnick Childrens Grappling Seminar was Awesome!

Donnie on the mat teaching

Master Donnie works with Spike-a-Doodle

Aarae Alexander fixes up the kids' techniques

Mason training under Ryan Villogram's watchful eye

Gratuitous seminar pic

All seminar proceeds went to sending Aerae, Derek, Cedric, and Ryan to the World Championships next week!

American Cancer Society is May 2009 Charity

Julius was ambushed by children asking for donations to the American Cancer Society so that became May 2009′s charity of choice.  Cancer sucks!!!