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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.

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

This Saturday, we had a joint Muay Thai Kickboxing workout session with our friends from Top Flight Martial Arts. Top Flight Martial Arts is the Lloyd Irvin affiliate in the Aberdeen area and is run by professional Mixed Martial Arts fighter, Ron Stallings.  Ron just won his fight at the Gameness Fighting Championships by 2nd rd KO and had a few of his students getting ready for MMA smoker fights and so he brought them down to get some different training partners here.  It was great for our guys as well as we have a few guys getting ready for Muay Thai matches.

The smoker fights will be March 13th, the same weekend of the Copa America in the Tampa, FL area.  Crazy 88 will be sending a squad to both events!  Please talk to the staff if you would like more information on attending either event.

First up was Seth Fillers, he had a five person bracket, so we needed two wins to take home gold. His opponent was from Coachella Valley.  The match started with Seth using what we’ve been teaching all month, he got his grips, snapped his opponent down and when he reacted up Seth shot in for the double leg…two point lead!  The next two minutes of the match was Seth trying to pass and his opponent trying for arm bars over and over. Seth was able to use the arm bar defense that Coach Danny has showed in the past and stepped over the head. Seth actually almost passed twice but the kid was taller than Seth and was able to return Seth to his guard. Seth tried the Coach Rodeo pass that we’ve been working on all month and let his arm slip up a little bit and the yellow belt was able to lock in the fight ending arm bar. While I admire Seth’s desire to continue fighting, as he didn’t tap to the submission attempt, the referee decided to halt the match with about a minute and a half remaining in the contest.

Next up was Brendan “Spike” Bill. Brendan’s bracket was a little larger than Seth’s with a total of eight competitors. This time we would need three wins to take gold. Spikes first opponent was from MMA LAB. The match started with both kids trying to get their grips. Spike and his opponent were engaged in a strong gripping battle; both kids showed great wrestling skills and attempted to take each other down with limited success. Spike shot in for a sweep single leg, his opponent was able to sprawl out, and Spike was forced to try and pull guard but was only able to get back to half guard. Spike was able to sweep his opponent quickly from his half guard using the half guard sweep. Spike fought the rest of the match on top with some great battles trying to pass his guard.  With about 6 seconds left in the match, spikes opponent starting crying from an apparent knee to the place you never want knees to go. The ref stopped the match to ensure that he was ok and allowed the match to continue even though it states in the rules that if a match is stopped for crying  that the match is over. Also, when they were restarted, they restarted back on the feet instead of with Spike on top passing. The ref restarts the match, the kid shoots in and takes spike down to win the match 2-2 2-1. Spike opponent was able to acquire his two advantages via close back takes while Spike was trying to pass.

While it’s not the ending that we had planned for, it’s a good experience for both the coaches and the kids. We picked up a lot of good information and are going to start putting it into the Childrens Martial Arts classes as soon as we get back!!

Lloyd Irvin Black Belt, Mike Fowler gave a seminar at Crazy 88 Brazilian Jiu Jitsu today.  Mike is one of America’s best competing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belts and has been one of mainstays for the team since he started training.  Mike covered his favorite guard positions including 3 variations of the bump sweep and lots of counters to counters to his “unstoppable sweep”.

The seminar was very well-organized with basic movements and concepts blending into more complex movements and concepts.   For example, Fowler would teach a simple mount escape at the start of the seminar and then by the end of the seminar, the simple mount escape motion would be used to finish a Brabo choke from the bottom of the half-guard.  Another great seminar at Crazy 88!

PS – We will be adding some techniques from the seminar to our facebook fanpage, so if you are not already a fan, please register!

Mike Fowler watches and corrects Evan's mount techniques

At the tournament, Seth had three matches, winning two (video below).  Seth used his solid takedowns and defense from on top to get the victories.

Due to the smaller size of the competition, the children’s weight classes were a bit more spread than usual so Seth also had a chance to wrestle a 110+ lb’er.  Even though Seth did not win that one, it turned out to be good experience for future Adult Open divisions!  Next week, Seth and Brendan “Spike-a-Doodle” will fly to Los Angeles for the first Kids Pan Ams so make sure you keep an eye on the site to keep up to date with the results!

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Team Lloyd Irvin made a splash at the Sixth Gameness Fighting Championships in Nashville, TN. We had thirteen fighters on the card (including many fighters making their MMA debut) and won eleven bouts (KO, Rear naked choke, Kimura, armbar, TKO due to strikes, triangle choke, tapout due to GnP, Unanimous decision, KO due to GnP, KO, and KO). It was a dominating performance by the team and also allowed showed the depth of the MMA skills being developed with fighters winning on the feet, on the ground, by strikes, and by submissions.

If you watch the highlight video above, you’ll get a chance to see some of the Camp Springs MMA guys in action.  Watch DJ Jackson mount and punish his opponent and Ron Stallings get the TKO with some vicious GnP following a flash knockdown.  Ron runs the Team Lloyd Irvin affiliate in Aberdeen, MD so if you are in Northern Maryland, make sure you check him out!

Lloyd Irvin Black Belt, Mike Fowler will be holding a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Seminar this Saturday at Crazy 88 BJJ. Mike is a Black Belt PanAm Medalist (silver) as well as a Final Four rounder at the Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling Championships. He is still super active on the competition scene, just coming off a strong showing at the European Open where he lost a close match to Open Division champion, Guto Campos on points (I think Lloyd will be uploading the full match to his facebook page soon so make sure you are a fan).  He has victories over some of the best grapplers in the world and has fought EVERYONE! 

At this seminar, you will benefit from his immense competition experience as well as get insights into his intense training regimen that allowed him to earn his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt in under 4 years.  He will be covering  a lot of his new attacks, including some new followup attacks to his half-guard and unstoppable sweep.  If you are interested in the seminar, make sure you reserve a spot with the front desk. 

PS – If you haven’t already, add Crazy 88 Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as fanpage on your facebook.  We post the latest events to the facebook because of the ease of the interface!

The preparation for the Houston International Open (BJJ), and the next round of Muay Thai and MMA smoker fights is going very well!

Happy Valentines Day!

The mats were hot at Crazy 88 BJJ as Lloyd Irvin brought his Camp Springs team up to the Baltimore area.  We had Mike Easton, Lloyd Irvin, and Mike Fowler representing the Black Belts and some of the Lloyd’s up-and-comers such as DJ Jackson and Frank “the Crank” Camacho.  For the ladies, Nyjah Easton and Tracey Goodell were training hard and helping out.  In the back room, we had JC Cuffee and Timothy Woods, drilling, getting ready for their MMA fights on Feb 20th in Tennessee.  We also had Kenny “Evolve” Brown visiting again.  Overall, a great day of hard training.

Remember, Mike Fowler New Attacks seminar next Saturday at 1 PM!  Make sure you pre-register with the front office!!!