Monday 22 October 2007

The Kirbys win again

Following on from father and son victories in the Pan Ams earlier this year, my good friend and E-sensei, Leo Kirby took to the competitive mats again, followed closely by son Matt.

Follow the links to see them in action.

Leo

Matt

Ultimate Force 7

Congrats to Danny Mitchell on his win at Ultimate Force in Doncaster this weekend against Team Machine fighter Lee Wedgewood.

Both Danny and Lee stepped up to fight each other after their original opponents pulled out on the day. Danny's opponent weighed in then disappeared.

Credit to both.

Wednesday 17 October 2007

Leeds Mixed Fight Night


Congratulations to Pete Hill who continued his winning streak with a TKO early in the first round, due to ferocious punches that left his opponent unable to defend himself.

Pete has been working a lot of his stand up game with Combat Base Doncaster coach Danny Mitchell, obviously time well spent.


Caged Steel Gym



Just visited the new Caged Steel Gym to visit my old friend Neil Hall. What an excellent gym, looks like the Ultimate Fighter facility, cage, ring, fully matted grappling area etc.







Another one of my old friends, Spenna, is teaching the BJJ classes so you need to get over there.

Hope it's a massive success, these guys deserve it.

New brown belt @Combat Base

Congrats to one of my longest serving students and long time training partner Ryan Hunter who deservedly just got promoted to brown belt.

Blast from the past

Seni 2004 highlights

Interview with Helen Currie at On The Mat web site

Check out Helen's interview here.

Smash The Junk

Pass guard the Haueter way

New stuff on Articles page

New articles on www.combatsport.co.uk by BJJ black belt and ADCC silver medallist Felicia Oh, Roger Gracie brown belt Nicolas Gregoriades and Ireland's first BJJ black belt John Kavanagh.

Plus a preview of the recent interviews with the first UK female BJJ black belt.

Go read them now!!

Enjoy.

Check out this web site

My friend Matt Kirtley has more techniques, information and detail than is healthy for you. Click here

Grappling and Submission Challenge @ Oakwood, Derby 20th May 2007- report, thoughts and strategies

Combat Base junior and senior athletes travelled to Derby to compete in the Grappling and Submission Challenge.

The junior girls team were unlucky so far as the promoters decided to combine males and females together so all the girls had to fight boys but not to be put off by this, the entire junior team competed superbly. The boys had the edge strength-wise but the girls excellent technique just about made up for it and pulled off some excellent wins. The girls team comprised Mia Gill, Stella Doyle, Beau MacLean, Bethany Tudor and Inka Doyle.

The senior team comprised Darren Currie, Andy Krlic and Anthony Doyle. Whilst Darren and Anthony are fairly seasoned competitors this was to be Andy’s first foray into grappling competition following earlier competition success in Thai boxing.

Darren was up first and dispatched his opponent fairly quickly with a shoulder lock submission. Darren’s view of it was “This was my first competitive match in a couple of years so I didn’t want to rush in and make mistakes especially as I did not have a game plan. We tied up, I got the position that I wanted and got a takedown into a dominant position. I attempted a side choke but the guy defended it well so I had to switch to a shoulder lock to get the submission”

Next match saw Anthony get a dominant top position on his opponent after a lengthy feeling out period, patiently took the guy’s back and secured a submission win via rear choke.

Round 2 saw Darren submit his next opponent with an arm lock to get through to the semi finals. Darren’s view of it was “my next opponent looked very good, he was very quick and showed some good submission skills so my first thought was to get a position where he could not use any of that against me. I got the position that I wanted then systematically attacked until I caught an arm lock for the submission. I made the right decision as I saw him choke out a couple of guys later in the tournament who didn’t kill his movement immediately”

Anthony’s second round match went the full time limit with Anthony being dominant and getting the win on points.

Next up was Andy who had a back and forth match with a much more experienced competitor before getting caught with a take down in sudden death overtime, losing by the narrowest of margins.

Andy’s next match saw him submit his opponent with a shoulder lock after a really good match. then stepped aside to let Anthony go through to next round as teammates from our gym do not fight each other in competition.

Darren’s semi-final match started with a battle for grips then Darren pulled a half guard position, attacked with a triangle, when his opponent defended he got the sweep then switched to an arm lock for the submission. Darren’s view of it was “my opponent in the semis looked and indeed was very strong. He was representing Gracie Barra, which is a very good Brazilian Jiu Jitsu organisation so I knew he would have some skills. I knew I had to catch something early and put the pressure on him, which I did. I got a triangle choke position and attacked his arm but he defended well. I waited for him to stand so I could get my sweep and transition to the arm lock. He was a tough guy!”

In the next match Andy worked his full repertoire of skill before getting the submission with a triangle choke.

Next match saw Anthony get taken down so wasbehind on points then had a real back and forth match with his opponent, Anthony trying to sweep but his opponent had great base. It was a close match with Anthony losing on points, his opponent advancing intothe finals to face Darren.

Darren won the final with a foot lock to take the gold. Darren’s view of it was “my opponent looked to have a very strong Judo background as well as training in Jiu Jitsu too so I knew I would have to be careful. I did enough Judo to know what it feels like being thrown on your head so I was obviously keen to avoid that. I decided to attack his leg and go for a foot lock, as these techniques are not that common and would have surprise value. I guessed right as I managed to lock the foot quite quickly.”

At this point, as per club policy of team mates do not compete against each other, Andy graciously decided to step aside so Anthony could compete in the 3rd place play off. The match started off fairly even then went to ground with Anthony working from underneath. His opponent worked patiently to try to get a more dominant position, just as it looked as though he may have got it the match ended giving the opponent 3rd place and Anthony taking 4th place.
Everyone did really well and represented the club excellently, I’m sure that we will be at many competitions to come.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=YorkieBen

Belt promotions June '07

Congratulations to our new black belt, Helen, who was awarded her new belt from Chris Haueter on his recent visit. Helen is the first UK female BJJ black belt, only the 2nd in Europe and the first female that Chris has ever promoted to that grade anywhere in the world.

Combat Base forum

Check out our club forum, feel free to sign up and join in. Combat Base forum
Our resident Floridian, Leo Kirby, continues to post technical information from his ever expanding game.

Allsports International Limited features

Couple of articles on our sponsor's, Allsports International Limited, web site
http://www.allsports-int.co.uk/allsportsinternational4/allsports.cgi
My pre-competition training diary

OnTheMat web site

Check out my interview, click here

Leo's Page on Combat Base web site

Just added a new page to the website that is authored by my good friend Leo Kirby. Leo is currently training with ex-World Champion and ex-Shooto Champion Edson Diniz in Florida as well as training with BJJ phenom Marcelo Garcia whenever possible. Leo has sent me training tips, techniques and other information for the last few years so I decided it was time for him to share them with you too.In the coming months there will be step by step techniques, video clips and more.

Welcome to the Combat Base blog

Check back real soon, in the meantime check http://www.combatsport.co.uk/