Joe Duffey, co-owner of Academy of Combative Arts in York, took one of his most promising fighters, James "Shrapnel" Chappell, to the MMA try-outs at American Fighter in Philly today. Just after 7 p.m., Joe emailed me, saying that despite the limited information available on the try-outs, they were for real, they were professional and time will tell how Chappell did, although preliminarily, it appared those in charge were impressed, Joe said. I'll have more on this as it becomes available.
Here's an email from Larry Novak, owner of Tattoo Fightwear, a New Cumberland-based mma clothing company:
Tattoo Fightwear is sponsoring James "Shrapnel" Chappell, here are a few of his stats:
-Green Belt USMC Martial Arts
-High School Wrestling
-Blue Belt BJJ
-1yr. Boxing/Muy Thai
-Competed in NAGA, UGC and took a gold medal at the PA.State BJJ Tournament
-Ammy record: 3-0
-Light weight title holder for the Central PA. Warrior Challenge.
To see one of Chappell's fights, click here.
Ted's Take: Jimmy's won all of his fights by armbar - which, don't get me wrong, is a great thing - but I can't wait to see it when he lets his hands go.
Daniel Tavares
York's Academy of Combative Arts, a full-service MMA school featuring BJJ black belt Daniel Beleza and Muay Thai instructor Kham Ngondara, is holding a seminar tomorrow (Sat.) at 10 a.m. at their location, 53 E. North St., in the same building as the Greyhound bus station. Cost of the seminar, which should last between 1 1/2 to 2 hours, is $60.
The seminar features Daniel Tavares, a BJJ black belt and NAGA champion. Tavares is a close friend and training partner of Beleza. "He's an incredible BJJ practitioner and instructor," said ACA co-owner Joe Duffey.
In addition, because Tavares, who is 5'10" and about 165, is a bit bigger than Beleza, he brings a different perspective to the table, especially for anyone who has trained with Beleza, Duffey said.
Here's an email I received from Joe Duffey, co-owner of Academy of Combative Arts in York City:
Daniel (BJJ champion Daniel Beleza) took Jimmy Chappell up to the Poconos for the WKU Warrior Challenge for a fight. Jimmy won in the first round via armbar. Also, Daniel took a team of guys(Team Beleza is the fight name) to Scranton today (6/27) for the PA Brazillian Jiu Jitsu tournament and all of our guys placed. We had 2 in the kids division, Chaz and Jordan, both winning gold, 4 in the adults white belt division(in 3 different weight classes), Tom(gold), Jaysin(bronze), Josh(gold), Tux(silver) which equated to 2 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze medal, and 2 in blue belt division(2 different weight classes), Jimmy(gold) and Mike(Bronze) resulting in a gold and bronze medal.
I'm very proud of them so I wanted to share the news. Joe Duffey
Daniel Beleza
