Recently in jiu-jitsu Category

From Hettes' MMA Melee blog:
As our training is coming to an end it's gonna be weird heading back home. No more crazy-ass Derek waking us all up at odd hours of the night jumping on our beds, no more waiting for the bathroom and most important no more training in this crazy altitude. But the craziest part of all is...I am gonna miss it alot! Everyone here has been great. Not just for the fact that they're all great fighters but that they are all genuinely good people.

Just received this email from LionHeart Fighters in State College:
We are proud to announce Diego Coloma as our new Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts instructor at LionHeart. Born and raised in Brazil, Diego is a BJJ Black Belt under legendary instructor Leo Vieira and brings over 20 years of BJJ experience with him. He holds a professional MMA record of 6-1 with 3 KO's and 2 submission victories.

"We are thrilled to be aligned with Robert Drysdale and his BJJ organization which is one of the best BJJ schools in the world. Through this relationship we were able to land Black Belt Diego Coloma as our head BJJ and MMA instructor. Diego is a perfect fit at LionHeart. In addition to his BJJ and MMA experience that will help elevate our fighters to the next level, he is a passionate teacher who will continue to help grow our MMA and BJJ school. I am grateful to the guys at Drysdale that worked with us over the last few months to find the right fit." -Chad Dubin, owner of LionHeart.

For details regarding class schedule, private lessons, or special programs please contact Chad Dubin at (814) 280-1982 or chad@lionheartfighters.com

LionHeart has a ton of fights coming up, including Phil Davis at Ultimate Warrior Challenge, Paul Bradley at Respect Is Earned's Brotherly Love Brawl, York County's Biff Walizer at The Central Pennsylvania Warrior Challenge and Brotherly Love Brawl and Dave Sachs at BLB.


Diego Coloma

Phil is a Relson Gracie BJJ black belt and runs his school, Balance Studios, in Philadelphia.

Don't forget to visit the myspace of BJJ, jiujitsushare.com

from proelite.com:
After much speculation about who Kimbo Slice would be locking horns with on the October 4th CBS card, it has been confirmed that Kimbo Slice will be facing MMA legend Ken Shamrock at EliteXC "Heat".

Adding the high-profile, well-known name of Ken Shamrock to a card that already includes superstar Kimbo Slice and cross-over sensation Gina Carano creates an event that is certain to appeal to the casual MMA fan-- a group that help generate the record-setting viewership for a mixed martial arts broadcast back on May 31st.

Ted's Take: You can look at this from a couple points-of-view. It's a great fight for visibility, i.e., ratings, something EliteXC needs desperately right now. Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson's popularity is on the rise - as long as he keeps beating up cans - and Shamrock is a legend in the sport, definitely well-known to the casual fans.

Also, it's good for EliteXC because the casual fan is not going to consider Shamrock an over-the-hill can. To them, he's probably still the jacked, shootfighting machine from early UFC, or the massive high-flying ankle-locking psychopath from the WWF. But he's not either one of those things. Not anymore.

He was, at one time, a dominant groundfighter who left the sport when it entered its dark days to earn more money. You can't blame the guy for that. When he returned years later, he found the sport had progressed. And he tried to progress with it, improving his striking game. He had an all-out brawl with Don Frye in PRIDE, when both fighters were in the twilight of their careers. But in the past few years, he's lost, and lost badly. Even to virtual unknown "Buzz" Berry. So it's good for EliteXC, because Kimbo will most likely crush Shamrock - if not for a Haily Mary heel hook - and his growing "legend" will progress.

Who suffers is the hardcore fan. Most of them want to see Kimbo get exposed: either by a skilled muay Thai striker, or a jiu-jitsu wizard. It nearly happened when James Thompson had Kimbo up against the fence and rained down numerous - and unanswered - punches and elbows. Some said the fight should have been stopped there. But I could see it the other way - there wasn't a lot behind those strikes.

So the hardcores will have to wait a little longer for that to happen. In the meantime, Shamrock has my respect - he's entering a Lion's Den, a phrase he coined for his gyms -in Slice, who despite all his hype, is a powerful puncher.

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Tom Joyce and I give our picks for the upcoming UFC 88 - Breakthrough event, discuss the KJ Noons- Nick Diaz-EliteXC feud and break down steroids in MMA.

Catching up on Pennsylvania MMA news - LionHeart Fighters' Phil Davis submitted his opponent with an anaconda choke (Big Nog's signature move) at an MMA event - Extreme Fighting Challenge - in Ohio earlier this month. That brings Davis' record to 3-0 as an amateur. Word is he's planning to turn pro soon. We'll keep you updated.

Caught a few of the fights on saturday night. Here are some thoughts:

In Lesnar/Herring and St-Pierre/Fitch, we saw the polar opposites of sportsmanship. Lesar thrashed Herring for three rounds. Totally dominated him with wrestling, but didn't seem to know how to put the veteran fighter away, a la jiu-jitsu or ground-n-pound. We did see another vicious one-punch knock-down, like he did to Frank Mir, so people better start fearing his hands.

It was a great victory for Brock. I was happy for him, until he started taunting and laughing at Herring. Before the final bell rang. Nah. That ain't cool.

St-Pierre vs. Fitch went the full 25, and gets my nomination for Fight of the Year, but more on that in a minute. St-Pierre was the first fighter to pass Fitch's guard and also handed Fitch his first loss in the Octagon. Fitch proved to the world he deserved his title shot, absorbing punch after punch, elbow after elbow, takedown after takedown.

After the grueling contest, St-Pierre got down on his knees and shook Fitch's hand. If I were to guess, he was thanking Fitch for giving him the fight of his life. Fitch in turn got down on his knees, knowing that he gave St-Pierre his biggest challenge. He then picked St-Pierre up to display him to the roaring hoard.

That's the way MMA should be. That's what makes it so special. The camaraderie between fighters. There is some unexplainable bond that is forged when you push someone to their physical and mental limits. No matter what happens in the lives from that point on, St-Pierre and Fitch will never forget that night.

BJ Penn, who seems to be making a habit of post-fight cage appearances, materialized and yelled to St-Pierre to make a re-match between the two happen. St-Pierre, in a not-so-enthusiastic repsonse, said he would fight anyone who was worthy. "Eee can't andle my widdum," anyone?

Ryo Chonan beat Anderson Silva in PRIDE with a flying scissor heel hook. Hear what he has to say about that in this short, but hilarious clip.