Great Joint Workout with Top Flight Martial Arts

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.

Thanks to Mike Fowler for a Great Seminar!

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

Mike Fowler BJJ New Attacks Seminar this Saturday!

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!

Off to Leo Dalla’s for More Hard Training

The hard training continued on Sunday with a few members of Crazy 88 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu heading down to Woodbridge, VA for Leo Dalla’s BJJ class.  We almost never get to train with Leo’s guys so it was great to get on the mat with Leo, Nakapan, and some of their top students.  Lloyd Irvin sent a few of his killers from Camp Springs as well.   The training had a lot of positional sparring and also some visualization exercises at the end to close out the session. 

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!

Another High Level BJJ Training Session at Crazy 88

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!!!

A Visit from the Camp Springs Team –> AWESOME JIU-JITSU TRAINING!

Team Lloyd Irvin United!

Another great night of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training at Crazy 88 BJJ.   Tonight we had Mike Fowler bring up a killer squad from Lloyd Irvin HQ in Camp Springs, MD.  The group consisted of Tracey Goodell, Willie Leonard, DJ Jackson, and Frank Camacho.  Tracey is one of Team Lloyd Irvin up-and-coming female stars.  Willie took Gold at the 2009 World Championships.  DJ is the World and PanAm No-Gi champ and of course, Frank Camacho is one of Team Lloyd Irvin’s top MMA prospects, coming off a dominating victory in his last MMA fight.  Needless to say – the mats were on fire!

If you missed the Advanced class tonight, you missed out BIG TIME.  If you are not training with us yet and want to get serious with your BJJ, MMA, or Muay Thai training, give us a call now (443) 283-1450.

More Night Martial Arts Classes Added

Crazy 88 Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has expanded its schedule to include additional late evening martial arts classes. For all you night owls, we will now have Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes at 10 PM, Monday through Thursday!

If you have been reading our blog, you’ll know that one of our goals for 2010 is to expand to a 24 hours schedule so our clients can train at their convenience.  The BJJ classes are the first step toward that goal; we hope to add Muay Thai Kickboxing classes as well as Mixed Martial Arts classes to the late evenings and then to the early mornings to give the full spectrum of realistic martial arts training at any time.

Please give us call at (443) 283-1450 if you need to expand your training plan to include the additional classes.

Royce “Shoyoroll” Kerbow Promoted to Blue Belt

It was back-to-back promotion days at Crazy 88 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as Royce “Shoyoroll” Kerbow received his Blue Belt.  Royce (pronounced as in Rolls Royce and not the first Ultimate Fighting Champion) has been training regularly since he started over a year ago.  Because of his job, he trains when he can – sometimes at 7 AM, sometimes at 11:30 AM, sometimes at the 7 PM and other times at 10:30 PM but he stays consistent and has been steadily improving his skills.

It was a long and tough test with over 25 students in the White Belt class, each wrestling Royce for a minute but he made it through.  Near the end of the test, Royce hurt his knee but he insisted on continuing the test and when it was all over, the Crazy 88 students all clapped and congratulated the newest member of the Blue Belt squad.

All our videos will be compiled on our youtube channel page.

Crazy 88 Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Closes-Out 2009 (and the Ruth’s Chris Banquet Hall) in Style

“Steaks, Suits, & Champagne” was the theme last night as Crazy 88’s annual Holiday Regalia at Ruth’s Chris Baltimore. Who knew that fighters could be such ladies and gentleman? All joking aside, the night was a complete success from beginning to end, and each and every one of you deserves many thanks.

A Respectable Gathering of Ladies and Gentlemen!

Congratulations are in order to all of our annual award recipients. Keith “Trainspotting” Cebula, for the second time in three years takes the award for Most Improved. In 2009 Keith took his game from “good to great” and won a staggering three International Medals for the school. Rookie of The Year was awarded to none other than Al “Big Al” Washington. Big Al is a true inspiration to all. Despite a severe break to his leg in late 2009, Big Al still happily fought in almost every BJJ tournament available, had multiple Muy Thai matches, and even prevailed in his first MMA smoker fight. The award for Competitor Of The Year went to a humble and much deserving Jon “Devastator” Delbrugge. Jon went from blue-belt to purple-belt in 2009, and has since traveled the globe sweeping his competition. Jon spends day and night at the academy acting as a coach and role model to all. Lastly, Jason Smith was given the coveted Student Of The Year award. Jason is a proud father of six and credited most of his success and impeccable work ethic to his wonderful children and his supporting wife, of over twenty-years, Sarah.

Crazy 88 had a lot to be thankful for this year, which was evident as toasts, hugs, and laughs filled the Ruth’s Chris ballroom. Adult membership doubled in size in 2009, and the academy itself has gone from “warehouse to penthouse,” with the addition of three thousand extra square feet, a cage, and a completely revamped reception and waiting area. The children’s program grew from six students to a whopping seventy-five students. The white-belts won thirty-five gold medals and the upper-belts took home thirty-seven gold medals, seven of which were coveted international titles.

The strides that Crazy 88 has made since its inception in 2005 are simply astounding. Crazy 88 is much more than a Jiu Jitsu & Muay Thai team – Crazy 88 is a family. As the night was coming to an end and the last stragglers were leaving the ballroom, I was approached by the Manager of Ruth’s Chris. He said, “I had no idea that a sport could affect and touch the lives of so many people in such an emotional way.” I simply could not have said it better myself. Each and every student has a different story relating to why they started and how their training has affected their lives. One thing remains constant, however – Jiu Jitsu & Muay Thai improve upon daily life.

Sincere thanks go out to each and every student and supporter of Crazy 88 for helping to create an environment for all of us to thrive. Special thanks go out to Julius Park for being the mastermind behind all that goes on at Crazy 88, to Rodeo Brian Neal for putting together a spectacular slide-show, and to Ms. Cathy Tran-Zwanez for her hard work to make the holiday banquet and Crazy 88 truly special.

Things Begin to Deteriorate...

*The more incriminating pictures should be available on the Crazy 88 BJJ Facebook Page.

The blizzard was very fortuitously timed for all Crazy 88 staff!

2009 Holiday In-House Tournament Completed

We were able to close out the year by giving some good Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competition experience to the White Belts on Team Lloyd Irvin.

Danny Ives sent his Severna Park squad from Ivey League MMA. Ron Stallings’ Top Flight team with Ron himself came to the event as well as the big boss, Lloyd Irvin, with a big squad from Camp Springs. The mats of Crazy 88 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu were packed with competitors, spectators, and coaches.

We divided the White Belt squads into an Advanced division, Standard division, and Baby division as well as by weight so all the participants could get good tough matches in that they could learn from.  The Advanced division was won by Timothy Woods and JC Cuffee from Camp Springs, both who brought some serious takedown skills to the mat.

Overall, the event served its purpose of bringing the team together to meet each other and give the next generation of Team Lloyd Irvin competitors valuable experience.  We at Crazy 88 BJJ plan to hold 2-3 In-House Tournaments in 2010 at our Elkridge martial arts facility so if you missed this one, we have more coming up soon!

PS – If you have some good pictures from the event, please e-mail them to us so we can post them!