Christmas Closure

Please note the gym closures over the Christmas period.

The last sessions will be:
Saturday 18th December 2010 for juniors
Thursday 23rd December 2010 for seniors

The gym will then re-open on:
Tuesday 4th January 2011 for seniors
Saturday 8th January 2011 for juniors

It has been a good year for our gym and our group in general again, had some great seminars, did well in competition and had some belt promotions too including another black belt, which is an awesome achievement in itself.

Everyone should be proud of the achievements this past year.

Thanks to each and every one for your continued support, long may it continue as we have more things planned for 2011 hopefully getting a competition team together again too.

Keep up the good work.

Tatami Fightwear Commercial

Patience Really Is A Virtue

To reinforce some of the stuff we have been doing in class especially the tournament stuff, here is one of my matches from a while ago. The main things from this match are to have patience and not to rush through things, improve position then consolidate before moving to the next thing.

00:00 - Can't see it very well as we missed first part of match but as I pull guard I immediately go to sweep, didn't get it as he based out and came back on top but I had my hook in place by now.

00:18 - got the sweep, don't try to do anything else yet just get control and points. If you try to rush you can end up losing position.

00:21 – now start to pass. Got good head control and am threatening with a choke that you can't see but mainly as a distraction so I can go to mount.

00:42 – got mount and time to stabilise position again.

00:45 – notice how I cross my feet so I have closed mount, excellent control against a bucking bronco upa escape.

Then total patience, don't feel as though you have to rush anything.

01:02 – shot of Helen coaching me, this was the competition where they asked her to move away from the side of the mat because they didn't believe she was a coach.

01:11 – get a high mount and start isolating the arm. Notice how ineffective the upa is against a tight high mount.

01:28 – attack the neck to make him bring his arms inside then set up triangle from top.

01:34 – this the bit that Haueter was telling me off about when I showed him, don't give up position for an inferior position. I didn't get it at first as all I could see was I was going to submit the guy. I appreciate now not giving up mount just in case.

01:38 – seeing as I had rolled off, now I have to finish the triangle. Notice how the left hand controls his gi pants at the knee so I can start to make the angle.

01:41 – I keep hold of his gi pants and lift his leg so he can't step over and finalise my position.

Can't emphasise enough how you have to be patient in tournament Jiu Jitsu.

Changes To The Gi Class

Up to this point I have always stipulated that people MUST have a gi before they attend a gi class but have decided to relax that rule a little.

To help promote gi training anyone wanting to come down and try a gi session can borrow a gi top to try before they buy.

So any of the open group classes are now truly open to anyone.

New 1/2 Hour Private Lesson For Beginners

I have decided to do a 1/2 hour private for beginners mainly but anyone really to try to plug the gap between people wanting to try Jiu Jitsu outside of the class environment but feeling that 1 hour is too long or costly for their first private.

Scheduling now so if you are one of the guys that asked, get in touch now.

How Do People Live With Themselves?

This past week as seen numerous people pull out from MMA fights and it was again highlighted that some people are still lying about what belt they are in BJJ.

The guys that call themselves fighters yet don't show up to fight!!

You can lie to promoters and fool people on Facebook but you can't lie to or fool yourself, you know inside that you have chickened out, how do you live with that?

And fake belts…..come on. The BJJ community is small enough to know that a UK guy doesn't suddenly get a black belt without everyone knowing about it especially when it is supposed to be from someone that I know well enough to actually ask. The web site says black belt coach; the reality is blue belt coach.

Just be proud to be the belt you are, don't start making crap up to try to get more business.

Fake BJJ black belts will always be outed.

So I ask again, how do some people live with themselves knowing they are liars!!

MAX 5, Wesleys, Pudsey

Saturday 20th November saw the 5th installment of the MAX MMA shows and still attracting a sell out audience.

First Combat Base fighter saw Nathan Quinn against 'Jimmy' from Gracie Combatives, both guys meeting either each other in the middle of the cage and trading before the fight went to ground. Nathan was caught in a tight looking leg lock that he eventually managed to escape then start throwing some shots from top. The fight pretty much carried on this way until Nathan passed guard and took mount near the end of the first round and stayed this way until the bell.

Second round Nathan came out and started to put pressure on his opponent, who was happy to play from bottom, throwing hard punches from the top and standing to kick his downed opponents legs at every opportunity making for a pretty one sided second round.

The fight was scored a majority draw yet I thought we had won convincingly, the fight is on YouTube so make up your own mind.

Next Combat Base fighter was to be Gaz Firm but his opponent must have changed his mind on his trip up from Wales and didn't bother turning up. So frustrating that Gaz trained his ass off and had 2 opponents pull out and 1 no show so thanks to Barry Bolton's no show, Gaz had no fight.

Finally, the main event, was between Pete Hill and Mark Aldridge from Allegiance in a title eliminator. The fight went straight to ground with Mark working to top before Pete rolled him and Mark took guard. He immediately threw up an arm bar attempt that looked to be sunk in but Pete gutted out of it and passed guard, throwing some shots to Mark's head. Mark turtled allowing Pete to take his back where he sunk in the choke for the submission.

Pete advances to a title shot at MAX 6 which is being held on 12th February, see you there.

Good work by Spenna, Pete and the team to keep producing quality shows and will continue to do so.

New Black Belt @ Combat Base UK

Huge congratulations on a massive achievement as Ryan Hunter was promoted to black belt by Chris Haueter on 2/11/2010 whilst at Factory BJJ/Combat Base Stockport.

Chris really excelled himself in the iron man division when he either had everyone start mounted or in Ryan's guard to take away his outstanding Judo skills. Then when he was wasted he had to have matches against brown and purple belts before going back to the mounted iron man. Brutal.

Ryan has trained Jiu Jitsu along side Judo that at the age of 26 he holds black belts in both and proves how well they complement each other.

Check out some of Ryan's Judo matches on the Archives page of my web site www.combatsport.co.uk

New T-shirts And Patches

For the guys that have not seen them yet, the new colours for the T-shirts, anyone want any let me know. Example as above.

Colours available for shirt: Purple, royal blue, navy blue, brown, white and black.

Colours available for logo: Green, yellow, white, black and blue.

Patches in 2 sizes, 250mm for the back and 100mm for the breast, patches are circular with usual skull and cross bones logo.

Grip Fighting Seminar

Sunday 5th December is a grip fighting seminar at Caged Steel being given by outstanding Judo black belt Ian Johns.

I would highly recommend attending this as I can't stress enough how important it is to be in charge of the grips, fights are literally won and lost at this point.

A must attend especially for the competitors but anyone will benefit.

Places are limited so please check with me if any places left.