BJJ @ Fight Factory, Heywood!

It's business as usual at Fight Factory, Heywood, where I am back teaching BJJ at Ken Richardson's awesome gym; Ken has an impressive number of coaches at the gym, including Thai coach Baz White, UFC star and very good friend of mine Tom Blackledge, teaching MMA, Ali Arish, current Cage Contender Welterweight champion, teaching wrestling and another very good friend of mine Ste Sharples is in charge of the boxing.  Quite a formidable coaching staff, if I say so myself.

 

Had a great dinnertime session today, teaching BJJ to the guys, showcasing as always, the Galvao side control drills and a couple of side control drills from the Mendes brothers, bringing Brazil to Heywood.  After that, I showed two high percentage guard passes that really pile on the pressure and leaves your opponent in a twisted mess and the passes were tailor made for MMA.  Pass the opponent's guard straight into a commanding top position, ready to finish the fight with some heavy G+P, as the opponent's arms are both pinned, leaving one hand free to rain down some heavy leather.

(Back l to r) Joel, Andy Devent and Ben Thompson.
 (front l to r) Tom, YT, K-Force and Baz White

Ken, Jason Jacques and Amir Ghasemi are fighting on March 16th at Full Contact Contender 5 at the Reebok in Bolton, Andy Devent is set to face Karl Noon at Cage Conflict on May 18th and Ben Thompson is set to fight on the GPUK event March 9th.  More fighters are set to enter the arena on future shows, more news on this as it happens.

 

Looking forward to help prepare all the lads for their upcoming fights and showcase Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in the cage; I'll keep you all posted on events and more breaking news over the coming months, some very exciting things in the pipeline at Fight Factory!

Combat Base Bolton - Mat Ratz!!

Once again, a HUGE thank you to Tim Wilson, who designed the new logo for the junior classes at the club; tshirts and patches will be available to the juniors over the coming weeks.  Classes are held every Monday 5-6pm, £4 per Rat, so spread the word and bring your little Ratz down to the gym and let them join in the fun!

New tshirt and hoodies!

Huge thanks to student Tim Wilson, who designed the new club logo, which is a Tibetan death skull, keeping in line with the skull and crossbone Combat Base UK logo, which is a nod to our head coach, Chris Haueter.

 

The hoodies and tshirts have been ordered and will be with us soon :)

On the road!

Had a very enjoyable afternoon in Coalville, Leicester this afternoon, taking a jiu jitsu class for my good frind Rob Phelps and his students.  Rob and his students are from a Trad JJ background, but Rob is an open minded martial artist and this was my second visit to see Rob and the gang.

 

After a quick warm up, I showed the group four side control transition drills that can be found in the excellent 'Drill to Win' book by Andre Galvao; this section took up quite some time, as I wanted to make sure that all the students were really comfortable with the drills before moving on.

 

After a short break, I covered the Brabo and Anaconda submissions and showed a number of ways into the Brabo from the sprawl and side control and a nifty Brabo/Anaconda combo, that really is a joy to teach and drill out.

 

I ended the session off with three pointers on sharpening up the kimura, which went down well and after a thorough cool down and stretching, I was back on the motorway, homeward bound.

 

Huge thanks to Rob for inviting me back to teach and to all the students who gave up their free time to join in the fun; look forward to returning back to Leicester real soon :)

New black belts for Combat Base UK!

Darren and Helen Currie were over at Newcastle at the weekend on seminar duties at Steve Muckle's gym and at the end of the session, Ed Drysdale and Graeme Allsopp were promoted to black belt by Darren and Helen, on behalf of Chris Haueter and Chance Wanlass.

(l to r) Darren, Ed, Helen, Graeme and Steve

A massive well done to both guys on such a momentous occasion in their jiu jitsu career; there are many ups and downs along the path to faixa preta, many chances and excuses to give up, which we all have to battle against, so to make it all the way shows their commitment to jiu jitsu and to their club.

 

From everyone at Combat Base UK, well done guys!!

No Gi class @ HQ!

The no gi classes have been going for two weeks now and have been well attended, with new starters joining in the classes over the last fortnight.  Had a great session last night, covering the Brabo, which is a great submission to use in no gi; we covered setting up the Brabo from side control and from the sprawl position, when you have the body lock control on top position.

No gi session

The evening was rounded off with another masterclass in Judo from George Launders, who worked the lads hard, getting them ready for their next gradings.  Huge thanks to George for his continued support of the club and to all the students, who left the comfort of their warm homes to train in an ice cold gym.  Respect!!!

No Gi class @ Salford MMA!

Was back on the road last night, taking a no gi class for my very good friend Darren Sherlock at Salford MMA in Swinton; introduced the guys and gals to the Andre Galvao side control drills and emphasised just how important these drills really are, whether you train in the gi or not.  Drilling these no gi, you move a little bit faster than in the gi, so are ideal for no gi players and after a good hour on the drills, everyone did timed rounds and used all the drills in combination.

With Darren and the posse

The session ended with an introduction to the Brabo, showing an entry into the technique from side control, when the opponent starts to feed an underhook, which linked into the side control drills, making it a little easier for everyone to pick up the technique.

 

Thanks to Darren for bringing me over last night and to all the students, who braved foul weather to join in the class.  See you soon guys!!