Chris has been training from 9 AM – 10 PM during the summer and exemplifies the attitude that we are looking for at Crazy 88.  For his first tournament (2010 Grapplers Quest US Nationals), the coaches wanted him to do Intermediate and despite some personal and familial misgivings, he entered the tournament, and won all his matches by submission.

A few weeks later, Chris was asked to move up to the Advanced division, despite falling at least 2 years below the training time recommendation, and he again challenged himself, winning a Gold and Silver.

When not winning tournaments and training, Chris can be found aggravating David Zwanetz re: the Process.

** = split division with teammate.
space
The Kids Martial Arts team was down in Virginia today competing at US Grappling’s Junior Championships. The competition was for children and teens only and offered both Gi and No Gi divisions.  It was also one of the few tournaments that was double-elimination, allowing the competitors to get at least 2 matches per division.

As the results indicate, all the kids fought really well but special recognition has to go out to Chris “Short Round” Tran who stepped up to the Advanced divisions without complaint and grinded out his way to two finals – winning one and losing the other.   Also, Austin “American Idol” Moore got onto the mats and fought hard despite his circumstances; Austin is a former Crazy 88 BJJ student who moved to Texas where he has not been able to do BJJ.  He asked to spend the entire summer training at Crazy 88 and got a full week in before going into the competition.

Great job everyone!

(l-r) Shawn Suser, Seth Fillers, Chris Tran, Coach Jon, Mason Hollis, Brendan Bill, Trystan Balderston

** = split division with teammate.
space

We had a few Crazy 88 BJJ rookie competitors head up to US Grappling’s Diamond State Games.  The event had both Gi and No Gi divisions.  Travis Outten was the star of the show, winning his White Belt division and taking 2nd in the Absolute despite being a lightweight.  Great job guys.

space

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

space

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!

Today was the third straight weekend of grappling competitions for Crazy 88 Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. This time, we sent a few of our grapplers to US Grappling’s event in Boothwyn, PA.

Russell Atkinson won his first tournament match ever via triangle choke before losing in the following round.  Great job by Russ who has made tremendous improvement in his Jiu-Jitsu.  When he first started, he struggled through the warmup and now he is doing multiple classes a day and competing!

Scott Heindl rebounded from a first round loss in his weight class to win the Beginner Open division: 12-0, 9-2, and  7-0.  This was Scott’s first tournament!

A Hat Trick for David Zwanetz as he won his third blue belt division in as many weeks.  Dave received a bye in the 1st round, flash-triangled his 2nd opponent, and then defeated the 2009 Blue Belt Galo World Silver medalist in the Finals.  Great job by Dave who weighed in at 123 for the 123-135.5 lb weight class.

Are you on Facebook?  Become a fan of Crazy 88 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu!

** = Split division with teammate; no losses

** = split division with teammate; no losses.

Zach “SWAT” Perret and “Big” Al Washington drove their crazy butts to Richmond, Virginia from New Jersey after their Muay Thai fights on Saturday to compete in the Submission-Only Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu event run by US Grappling.   Because of their participation at Brad Daddis’ MMA and Muay Thai smoker event, they were unable to compete in the No Gi but they had a great showing in the Gi and didn’t seem too much the worse for the wear for having been involved in fisticuffs less than 24 hours earlier.

It’s not easy to do a No-Time-Limit grappling tournament PERIOD, much less after a Muay Thai fight, so make sure you give these guys a hand and some ibuprofen when you see them.

** = split division w/ teammate; no losses.

Looks like another strong performance from Crazy 88 BJJ Competition Team. We sent 6 competitors to the grappling event. Notable performances were given by Evan “Oz” Gideon who won the Blue Belt Open and Will “Smallville” Smallwood who did the same in the White Belt Open.  Next up is Grapplers Quest Las Vegas on May 9th.