Congratulations to everyone for their AWESOME performances today at “The Good Fight: New York Open“ in Nyack, NY. We had 5 students compete, bringing home a total of 8 medals (6 GOLD, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze)! There were many hard fought battles throughout the day, and our students showed a ton of heart and determination.

NJU continues to be the best gym for BJJ in Passaic County. Our NJ United Competition Team had a great 2012 and it looks like 2013 is going to be another great year. Our competitors ranged from beginner white belts to brown belt with the gi, as well as expert and advanced no gi jiu jitsu (submission grappling) competitors. We represented all around bringing home GOLD medals in every experience level.

Brian Wolfe won his white belt medium-heavy division after some hard fought battles. Brian showed some good takedowns and top control throughout his matches to take home his first GOLD medal. Hungry for more medals, Brian entered the white belt open weight (no weight limit) class and also took home the GOLD once again, this time using his half guard sweep game and guard passing in every match to win his second GOLD. In only his second tournament ever brian already has found his way to the top of the podium.

Kevin “Kev Jits” Buck had some amazing back and forth battles in the purple belt featherweight division, taking home the silver medal. Kev’s semi-final match was a back and forth affair with his relentless pressure and constant attacking finally overwhelming his opponent setting up his way into the finals, where he lost a tough match to a skilled opponent. In the no gi jiu jitsu advanced division “Kev Jits” showed why his no gi game is something to be wreckened with as he submitted his semi-final and finals opponents with a brabo choke and rear naked choke respectively earning the GOLD medal.

Steve Ficca‘s day was a long one as he went the distance in many of his matches taking home the bronze medal in the purple belt open weight class. The open division is often a “war of attrition” into the semis, finals, and consolation rounds. Not content with his bronze medal Steve entered the no gi advanced division and put his submission skills to use pulling off some nice submissions to put away some very game opponents. This GOLD medal was definitely well earned and won with heart being Steve’s #1 asset.

Brown belt Eric Luker, a featherweight, moved up two weight classes into the middleweight division to face more competition and won impressively as the lightest competitor in the division. Giving up 30 lbs against his opponents Eric submitted his first opponent with a one armed guillotine from the mount and dominated his finals opponent 13-4 to win the GOLD. In the expert no gi jiu jitsu division Eric won two more matches impressively once again toppling his middleweight opponents by submission picking up his second GOLD of the day.

I’m excited for the NJ United Competition Team to make some more big waves in the competition scene both regionally and internationally this year.

“If someone is going down the wrong road, he doesn’t need motivation to speed him up. What he needs is education to turn him around.” – Jim Rohn

Congratulations to friend of NJ United MMA, Dominyka Obelenyte for winning the GOLD at the 2013 Abu Dhabi World Pro Trials in Montreal. With her 1st place performance Dominyka wins a paid trip to the Middle East to compete in the Abu Dhabi Pro World Championships in April! In 2011 at only 15 years of age, Dominyka first starting getting attention on the competition scene after winning the 2011 IBJJF Mundial World Championships in the Women’s Purple Belt Open Weight class. More importantly than being a successful competitor, Dominyka is a great martial artist and a humble, respectful representative of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. As a scholar she also just got accepted to the prestigious Columbia University. Keep up the great work both on and off the mats!

Learn from one of the All Time Greats! Roger Gracie!!!

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
– Theodore Roosevelt, 4/23/1910

The beauty of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is that many times you don’t realize that you are caught until it’s too late. You get drawn into a false sense of security thinking that you have your opponent right where you want him/her, and then before you know it, the match is over and your opponents hand is raised. I remember the first time I saw this technique, the “Upside down baseball bat choke” at the 2006 Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Mundial World Championships. I was watching two athletes in a fierce battle, the athlete on top looked like he was in control and then all of a sudden, he was asleep. I didn’t know what happened, but I knew I had to learn this technique. The next time I stepped foot on the mats, I drilled the choke and instantly found it to be a very sneaky technique. Check out Magid Hage hit the same choke I saw 7 years earlier at the Abu Dhabi World Pro Trials in San Diego, CA against a very tough CLark Gracie. Estou impressionado!

During the early 2000’s Fernando “Terere” Augusto was one of the most dominant Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competitors in the world. He style was exciting, dynamic and was exactly what jiu jitsu was meant to be. Check out his match vs Cristiano Ribeiro from 2004. “Terere” is a 6x world champion, 2x World Cup Champion, Brazilian National Champion and Pan Am Champion. Enjoy!

“Losers visualize the penalties of failure. Winners visualize the rewards of success.” – William S. Gilbert

We had packed classes all week at NJ United Mixed Martial Arts. This month has been all about the closed guard on the ground and I’m very impressed with the progress of everyone that has been putting the time in to improve their jiu jitsu. Muay Thai and Boxing 101 classes have also been packed with everyone improving their striking. Keep up the great work everyone!

Check out our NJ United Mixed Martial Arts technique of the month, the Kimura from the closed guard! I think everyone is doing a great job lately working their jiu jitsu from the bottom.