Helio Gracie Dies.

At the good old age of 95, the father and creator of our sport and MMA passed away. A great man without whom we would not all be doing what we love now!

From Graciemag.com :

“I created a flag from the sport’s dignity. I oversee the name of my family with affection and nerves of blood,” said the Professor, as his last worlds.

Everyone from Gracie Barra Newcastle sends there thoughts and best wishes to the Gracie family.

Ground control grappling comp - Feb 22nd

A few people were talking about this at class tonight, I think Lee, Paul and Simon are going and I am thinking about it. The web site is http://www.groundcontrolgrappling.co.uk/index.html but the most important details are:

Weight/Age/Skill Divisions

Beginners Division

12 months experience of less. Competitior must be ranked White Belt (no Blue Belts allowed). Men’s Weight Classes
- 68kg
- 73kg
- 80kg
- 87kg
- 98kg
+98kg

Legal Techniques
Any kind of choke (except for using the hand to close the wind pipe) without the use of the uniform.
Any armbar, shoulder lock, or wristlock
Straight leg locks: Ankle lock or Knee bar
Illegal Techniques
No neck crank submissions (can be used to open the guard)
No twisting leg locks: toe holds, heel hooks etc.
No striking / kicking of any kind
No eye gouging or fish hooking
No grabbing the ears
No hair pulling, biting
No finger or toe holds
No thumbing
No scratching and pinching
No touching groin area
No hands, knees or elbows on face (you can only push the lower jaw, forehead or side of face)
No slippery substances allowed on body or clothing
No “full nelsons” or “crucifix’s” which do not allow the opponent to tap.
No guillotines using the opponent’s chin, which puts pressure on the upper spine of the opponent, but will not
allow them to escape.
NO SLAMMING to escape submissions or guard (hard/elevated throws are allowed)

Points
2 -Mount position
2 -Knee on stomach
2 -Sweeps (ends Guard or Half Guard)
2 -Takedown (ends Guard or Half Guard)
3 -Back mount with hooks
3 -Passing the guard
4 -Clean Sweep (ends passed the guard)
4 -Clean Takedown (ends passed the guard)
Advantage points
1- At any point you get the opponent to turtle position, eg attempted guard pass but the opponent turtles up.
1- Submission attempts.
• Each position must be established for 3 seconds or more in order for points to be awarded.
• When changing multiple positions points will be awarded only for the position that has been established for
3 seconds or more.
Reversals from mount position are not considered sweeps.
In the event that the points score is equal at the end of the bout. The winner will be decided by the advantage
points. If these are also equal the bout will be extended by 2 minutes. In the event that the points are equal
after this time the referee will decide the winner.

Time Limits
• 5minute bout
• 2 minute overtime in the event of a draw

you can register online now, cost is £10 if you pay online using paypal or £15 on the day.

Tickets for MMA

Well, theres 4/5 weeks left til the MMA fights start next month.. If you want to go ask the guys who are fighting for tickets..

Theres me on 14th Feb (hardly any tickets), Steve Stringfellow on the 15th Feb in Scotland and Ingolf at Total Combat on the 21st (got loads) Make sure you let whoever know if you want one because they tend to dissappear quickly.

Dave Elliott gets black belt!

Today at the Mauricio Gomes seminar, Dave finally got his black belt!!! Well deserved and a long time coming, he is one of very few 'home grown' British black belts and the first ever BJJ black belt in the North East.

The whole club is proud of him and look forward to seeing it in action at the next class.

Well done Dave!

Triple clap pushup..

For anyone thats seen me messing around with 2x clap pushups in the gym and almost faceplanting.. this is what I'm eventually trying to achieve lol. Its a guy called Ross Enamait and has some phenomenal conditioning!

Elswick Pool closing - 22nd Feb

Well, after a long stay of execution (September!) Elswick Pool has finally decided to close for their refurbishments for an extended period of time. Initally looks like 6 months but to be honest could be more! - So the club is moving to Wallsend again.

Keep an eye out on the site for updates on class times, I will be updated in the next couple of days.

Don't forget we have fights coming up this month though, a good way to ring out the time at Elswick!

SENI Cancelled!!

Well the organisers of the SENI show, Fighters Inc. have decided that in 2009 with the current financial climate they are not going to run in, which means no major BJJ tournament for us!

There are still other big tournaments on the way:

Bristol Open - Feb
Disneyland Paris Open - Feb 26 and 27th
Welsh Open - 22nd March
Northern Open - July 4th and 5th

The full statement about SENI can be read at :- http://www.fightersinc.net/Seni2010.htm

Friday nights class

Friday night was a fantastic night had by all I think, Dave took the fighters off and tortured us with a horrible (but awesome..) warmup, then a night of MMA positional sparring and standup too..

Meanwhile Ian took the other half and delivered an excellent nogi class with some great techniques.. looks like everyone's eager after the holiday season break!

MMA Next month..

Well, after last months mess around with MMA fights we got a few lined up for next month!

First off we've got myself with my semi-pro debut fighting on Pride & Glory in Scottswood, Denton on the 14th Feb fighting Mike Wilkinson from Evolution MMA in barrow.

Then on the 15th Feb on Cage Kombat in Edinburgh Lee Howes is having his 2nd semi pro MMA fight agains Mike Mccullen from team Unity in Fife. Steve Stringfellow is fighting on this card too against John Jamieson from Alba Dornadair MMA club.

Next on 21st Feb both Ingolf and Mark Platts are fighting on Total Combat at the Rainton Meadows arena in Houghton-le-spring. Mark is fighting semi-pro (i think) against Adam Steele, Ingolf is having his 2nd pro fight against Anth Grecian from Sunderland Jiu-Jitsu and MMA club.

Promises to be a busy month!

Don't forget.. training back on tomorrow!

Yep it's finally here, training starts back tomorrow at Wallsend 10-12 then normal service resumes at Elswick, Monday 6.30 - 8.30 .... bring it on!

I've been getting a few texts off people they are excited so it should be good!