Great White Belt In House Tournament

Crazy 88 Brazilian Jiu Jitsu held another In House Competition for Team Lloyd Irvin White Belts – this one was with the Gi.  Over sixty grapplers from Ivey League MMA, Top Flight MMA, and Lloyd Irvin Martial Arts Academy (and about forty spectators) all made the trip to the mats of Elkridge, MD in order to get competition experience.  As a team, we make an effort to plan out our training and competition schedule to peak in June, the month of the World Championships so this was the opening ceremonies.   The tournament was run in a double-elimination format and seeded in order to give as many matches as possible to each grappler regardless of skill or size.  Everyone had a lot of fun and hopefully, gained some feedback about what they need to work on!

Special thanks to Stephanie Reitmeyer for the photos.  You can find more photos on the Crazy 88 BJJ Fanpage.

NOVICE RESULTS

Womens (novice) : Monica Barlow

Light (novice) : Tay Virgin

Ultra Heavy (novice) : Kevin Sellers

STANDARD RESULTS

Feather : Danny Johnson

Light : Travis Outten

Middle : Nick LaSalle

Medium Heavy : Danny Heath

Heavy : Josh Kuykendall

Ultra Heavy : Brian Clifton

Open : Brian Clifton

Womens AA : Heather Allen

Womens AAA : Avene Wynn

Short Round Continues "the Process" in the Open

Brian Clifton AKA "Jacare" won 2 Golds

Travis Outten Won the Lightweight Division

Jon Takes a Break from Reffing to Share Techniques with the White Belts

Heather, Erin, and Helen Battled It Out in the Womens Division

NAGA VA Beach Results – Jon Wins No Gi Advanced Open

Crazy 88 BJJ Team at NAGA VA Beach

** = split division with teammate.
space

Nathan Allen Took 3rd in His First Tournament!

Josh Almost Went into Cardiac Arrest from Nervousness but Still Won Gold!

Our Up-and-Coming Womens Team!

Lakita Wins the Blue Belt Division as a White Belt!

Big "Sal" with the Man Who Named Him, Kurt Ratcliffe - Lots of Gold b/w the Two of Them!

Devastator Wins Purple Belt Gold and Advanced No-Gi Open Belt

Five Medals after BJJ World Championships Day One

space

“Lawyer” Dave Zwanetz became Crazy 88 BJJ’s first World Medalist this year with 3 wins and 1 loss. Dave submitted his first two opponents relatively easily and won a tough semifinal match on points.  Great ending to a long competitive season that began last year with the AZ Open.

David was just one of Team Lloyd Irvin’s Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Medal Winners:

• Anene Wynn: BRONZE @ White Female Lightweight
• Kim Rivers: SILVER @ Blue Female Light Featherweight
• Rachel Demara: GOLD @ Blue Female Middleweight
• Sijara Eubanks: SILVER @ Blue Female Medium Heavy

BJJ World Champ, Rachel Demara, Gets Some Last Minute Coaching

The Blue Belt divisions will restart, beginning with the Middleweights, tomorrow; our strong Purple Belt team will also be competing with new additions, Tracey Goodell and Willie Leonard!  Check out some of the footage from the PanAms below and make sure to join the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fanpage for even more videos!

Kim Rivers, Team Lloyd Irvin World Silver Medalist

NY Open Results – Team Lloyd Irvin Wins Silver in Overall Team Standings!

space
Tyrone Eaton went 4-1 for the weekend, submitting his first three opponents with breadcutter chokes after passing their guards.  He won a close referee’s decision in the semifinals and lost on points to another very tough grappler from Team Lloyd Irvin; Tyrone came out on the losing end of a takedown scramble and spent the remainder of the match defending his back.  Strong performance from Kwami’s brother.

Evan “Oz” Gideon won 6-0 (4-0) in the Sweet 16 vs. a BJJ’er from Yamasaki Academy.  Oz then tapped the next two opponents with chokes from the back to close out the bracket with Frank Camacho.

Fred “Brad” Thomsen won a slobber-knocker first match 10-9 but fell victim to the eventual champion in the next bout.  Fred bumped up to Heavyweight in order to be “A” team and it was good to see how competitive he could be with the weight disadvantage.

Cathy Tran-Zwanetz submitted her first two opponents from the mount before losing in the semi-finals.

Team Lloyd Irvin Ladies - Kim Rivers (1st) & Cathy TZ (3rd)

Alfonso “Big Sal” Washington had a tough first match but dominated  his final three opponents, submitting all of them to win Gold!  Big Sal didn’t get a chance to work on his new quarter guard techniques but did manage to employ the footsweep he has been drilling.  Not bad for a guy who was having surgery less than a month ago!

“Lawyer” Dave Zwanetz won his first match 6-2 (back take and sweep), defeating the 2009 World Silver Medalist, and then submitted a tough grappler from Gracie Humaita in the Championship round.

2 of Crazy 88's Gold Medalists - David Zwanetz & Evan Gideon

Also,

• Jake “Bro Man” Huffman – GOLD @ White Belt Feather  *Jake is 15!*
• Jeremiah West – SILVER @ Blue Belt Feather
• Kevin McMullen – BRONZE @ Blue Belt Light
• DJ Jackson – 2x GOLD @ Blue Belt Middle & Open
• Kenneth Brown – BRONZE @ Blue Belt Ultra
• Kimberly Rivers – GOLD @ Female Blue Belt Light Feather
• Tracey Goodell – 2x GOLD @ Female Blue Belt Light & Open
• Rachel Demara – GOLD @ Female Blue Belt Middle & SILVER @ Open
• James Harbison – SILVER @ Brown Middle & Open

Team Lloyd Irvin ended up taking second place overall!  Ouss!

NY Open Brackets Posted

Team Lloyd Irvin is sending a killer team to the NY International Open Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournament. The squad consists of quite a few Pan Am medalists including Tracey Goodell (2x Gold), Kim Rivers (Gold), Evan Gideon (Bronze), DJ Jackson (Bronze), Jim Harbison (Bronze), Kenny Brown (Silver), among others.

Its phenomenal that we are able to send such a strong group to NYC despite having the Brazilian Nationals the following week (had to split the team). Should be an exciting weekend and Crazy 88 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is happy to play its part. Ouss!

David Zwanetz faces 2009 Jiu Jitsu World Silver Medalist Son Duong for the fifth or sixth time.  Dave has managed to win each of their encounters but they have always been tough and this time promises to be no different.

Blue Belt Rooster

Kwami Mensah on page 2 of the bracket.  The ageless Kwami Mensah will be building off momentum from a strong performance at the Copa America BJJ tournament.  The plan is to meet the other 2 Lloyd Irvin competitors who are on page 1 of the bracket.

Blue Belt Feather (2 of 2)

Keith “Trainspotting” Cebula in a BIG division.

Blue Belt Light (2 of 2)

Eric Palmer will be making his IBJJF tournament debut.  Eric has made some big improvements in his game since he decided to “get serious” and the NY Open is a good chance to test the waters!  2009 No-Gi World Champion and 2010 Pan Am Bronze Medalist, DJ Jackson is Team Lloyd Irvin’s mainstay in this weight and he hopes to win the NY Open for the 2nd time.

Blue Belt Middle (1 of 2)

Evan “Oz” Gideon is continuing his run to a World Medal in June and will be facing a familiar DC area competitor in his first bout.  Team Lloyd Irvin has two very strong competitors in this bracket; Frank Camacho will be leading the charge from the other side!

Blue Belt Medium Heavy

Fred “Brad” Thomsen‘s first time competing for Crazy 88.  Looking forward to seeing how he does in a higher weight class than he usually competes in.

Blue Belt Heavyweight

Phil Thorn rematerialized a few weeks onto the Crazy 88 mats and even went to North Carolina to win a bunch of Gold medals at a US Grappling tournament.  Hopefully, he will rematerialize again – this time to the top of the medal stand.  The other Team Lloyd Irvin member is the very talented and hard-working Kenny Brown from Evolve Academy; Kenny just took Silver at the PanAms last month and is probably the odds-on favorite for this division.

Blue Ultra Heavy

Cathy Tran-Zwanetz won this tournament as a White Belt last year and hopes to repeat this year at a new belt.  Helping her out will be Third Law BJJ’s own Pan Am Champion Kimberly Rivers!

Female Blue Light Feather

Brad “Fred” Pearson also competes for the first time since joining Crazy 88 and will be in the Purple Belt Medium Heavy division.  A 2nd-round match vs. Thomas Beach poses an interesting challenge but he will have to win the first before we worry about that!

Purple Belt Medium Heavy

Womens Jiu Jitsu Seminar – Team Lloyd Irvin Ladies Training Session!

Nyjah Easton was at Crazy 88 Jiu Jitsu today to run a Team Lloyd Irvin Womens Martial Arts Day. All the ladies from the team were invited for more than 3 hours of serious BJJ training.

Oftentimes, women who train in BJJ are limited by their lack of training partners or are treated as non-serious students. Judging by the level of training at the session this is obviously not the case at Team Lloyd Irvin!  At the recent BJJ PanAms, Team Lloyd Irvin won the Womens Team Gold medal for the entire event which means we have the Best Womens Grappling team in the country!  (check it out here!)

Thanks again to Nyjah Easton for coming up to Crazy 88 for the seminar and also good luck to her as she prepares to start her own Jujitsu program in Capitol Hill!

Check out some of the photos from the seminar below and make sure to join the Baltimore Martial Arts fanpage for even more pictures!

2010 BJJ PanAms Day Two Results

space

Jon “Devastator” Delbrugge came back strong with a Bronze medal in the Purple Belt Medium Heavy division and became Crazy 88 BJJ’s second Pan Am Medalist (only 1 more competitor to go – Mike Atkin tomorrow in the Brown Belt division).  Jon dominated his first two opponents and then had a close match with last year’s Silver Medalist, Elias Ramirez (Gracie Barra).  Jon took the narrow victory to enter the medal round where he lost on points to a tough Brazilian grappler who then went on to win the entire division.  With the Bronze medal, Jon gets a berth into the Purple Belt Open division tomorrow (only the medalists from each weight class are permitted to compete in the Open).

It was another AWESOME performance from Team Lloyd Irvin BJJ team as we went onto dominate the Blue Belt Open divisions!

• Tracey Goodell: GOLD @ Blue Female Open
• Sijara Eubanks: BRONZE @ Blue Female Open
• DJ Jackson: GOLD @ Blue Open
• Willie Leonard: SILVER @ Blue Open

Check out some of the footage from the PanAms below and make sure to join the Baltimore Martial Arts fanpage for even more videos!

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!!!

Womens Jiu Jitsu Team Grows – Ann Pratten Promoted

Bruce Hoyer, Jon Delbrugge, Keith Cebula, and Brian Neal with New Blue Belt, Ann Pratten

Hard work pays off as Ann Pratten becomes our 2nd female Blue Belt ever.  Ann is proof that you can balance family, work, and training.  She has won the White Belt division as well as the Beginner No-Gi almost a year ago.  With a positive attitude and strong work ethic, Ann Pratten will continue to improve and develop into a well-rounded mixed martial artist.

Biggest Women’s Open Mat Ever

Thirty Team Lloyd Irvin women showed up for a hard day of training at Crazy 88 BJJ! It was our largest Women’s Open Mat ever with girls from all the affiliates driving here to train.

Special Thanks to Jeanette Flannery for organizing and to Lloyd Irvin for coming up to teach at the event!