Warriors Collide 6 - Results

Anybody got better pictures? Please share them with me - email me at bbat50@gmail.com
















Last night, Warriors Collide 6. It was great. And I quote KC's email:

Daniel Walsh and Melissa Haley kicked BUTT last night at the Warriors Collide! The both had matches that went the full 3 rounds. It was such a proud moment for all of us. The support team on the sidelines and the number of LaVallee's shirts that were walking around was so cool This was Daniel's and Melissa's first time in the ring and they shined. Congratulations to both of them!!!




Mr Dan's - Daniel Walsh - fight was about the sixth on the card. He fought in the 152 weight class debuting against Juan Hernandez of Bears Den MMA. This was Juan's third trip into the ring. Juan stayed in the ring with Mr Dan all three rounds but Dan out-matched him. Great tough fight. Dan had more technique, good combinations, poise and cardio; Juan held his own, stood up well against a lot of combinations and delivered some punches with zing.


The other Lavallee fighter was Miss Melissa Haley (Sensei Haley's wife). It was her first time in the ring and she was up against Savannah Cavin of Inferno MMA in the 134 weight class. She triumphed also also showing superior technique across the board. She chased her opponent around the ring for three rounds. Her technique and combinations were straight out of a the textbook. Sharon Robbs Sun Sentinel article features her specifically and the growth of women in MMA generally.

If you have better pictures, send them to me or links to them. If you are posting any of the fights on youtube, tell me and I'll link to it. You can tell me in the comments or email me as bbat50@gmail.com

Youtube video of Brandon Akers VS Dario Camuzzi

RESULTS (I didn't get them all. If you can help complete this, please add it to the comments or just email me)

150: Bruce Lutchmedial ATT Wolfpack 5-0 dec. Alex Caceres Young Tigers 2-2, unanimous;
155: Denis Hernandez FFA 3-1 dec. Steven Chin South Florida MMA 2-1, unanimous;
190: Mike Delapava Carrolls MMA 0-1 def. Dario Comuzzi , TKO, second; (he was taken out by a shot to the knee which ended the match) - Anybody know the rules or have a view here?
162: Raul Irizarry Inferno MMA 1-0 def. Jarrod Arndt MHMMA 1-0,
152: Daniel Walsh USABBC debut dec. Juan Hernandez Bears Den MMA 0-2, unanimous;
149: Shani Frazier ATT Wolfpack debut dec. Luz Guiterrez UMAA debut, split;
165: Raul Irizarry Inferno MMA 1-0 def. Jarrod Arndt MHMMA 1-0, TKO, third;
170-185 grappling: Aloan Herrera dec. Matt Modist ATT Fort Lauderdale, 4-0;
125: Tecia Torres of Wing Lung MMA debut def. Alysia Afonso of xtreme martial arts 0-2, TKO, first
212+: ? Alister Wilson 2-1 Mejiro Gym vs
135: Melissa Haley debut USABBC dec. Savannah Cavin Inferno MMA 1-2, unanimous
212: Nick Hruda EMFT debut def. Jerry Daniels, TKO, third;
185: Alan Arzeno SFLMMA 1-0 def. Eli Zen MHMMA 1-0,
Super heavyweight: Alister Wilson Mejiro Gym 2-1 def. Adonis Avington, TKO, third.




And here is the LeftHook Productions own blog.

Living the dream.....

Tonight, the sparring went great. I had five rounds, two minutes each, and I was fully "in the game". In short, it's time to admit that I've been exaggerating about how much I had slacked off. I was scared that I had lapsed in the vacation and that I was way off track. I'm now thinking that I was just jet-lagged the first night back when I whined about the hard class. Since then, I've had a great week of workign out. Conclusion, I did work out enough on my vacation which I took with the kids and my fiancee. I'll go further, I am managing to hit a balance that really works for me. I'm more than just pleased. I feel it's time for me to admit (not in any particular order): I'm staying in shape and moving forward in the dojo, I've got a great family life, I'm happily engaged, and I have a most interesting/satisfying job. I'm living the dream....

Moving on....Thursday (today) was bugo kumite. This translates as fighting with armor. A good description in that we wear foot guards, shin pads, cup, chest protector, 16 oz gloves, mouth guard, and head guard. As I said, five rounds and not fully exhausted.

Also Thursday night in class, it was announced that two of our classmates, Melissa and Mr. Dan, are training to go into the amateur MMA ring for the Warriors Collide 6 in Ft Lauderdale's War Memorial Stadium on September 13. Very exciting. Of course, I worry for them but then, that goes with me being 50 and they being in their 20s. And you can be sure that I'm going to attend.

Some news for you blog techie types. I've wondered how many people read this blog and how they find it. I have long had this blog hooked up with a service called Feedburner which is supposed to provide statistics (and subscription services). But, the stats haven't ever worked. Today, after months of intermittent fiddling with it, I finally got it to register some visitors. So far, since I got it working at 10 am this morning, there are 7 visitors (6 from google, 1 who typed in the site URL), I'm pleased that it's working. Next techie project: try to get the blogcatalog widget working so that it stops showing that my most recent post was March 2008.

Heh visitors, leave a comment.




del.icio.us

Warriors Collide 5

Left Hook Productions has another big evening this Memorial Day Weekend. It's amateur MMA right here in Ft Lauderdale at the War Memorial. Coop, who is about one third of Left Hand Productions, was back in class at the dojo this week. She's really making a go of these productions.
I love these evenings. Highly recommended. Buy your tickets through ticketmaster 305-358-5885.



del.icio.us

More MMA - Answers to questions

I just received some questions about the shift to MMA.
- Are the kenpo instructors competent to teach MMA?
- Do we like it?
- Will all the Lavallee schools shift?

In terms of competence, I think they are. They certainly know alot more than we students do and since they train many days / week with Kyoshi, I think they are strong. With that said, I have noticed more than on the old katas, that some details are not quite worked out among them.

I like it. I've never minded wrestling. I got my practice through my older brother who wrestled in high school and use to practice on me.

I have no idea how much this shift is just an experiment and how much it is a trend that will radiate out to the other schools. I know that they are using us a guinea pigs to get a sense of how much we can learn and how much we like it.

And learning submission moves is just so cool. It's very technical but when you slip in to the right position and everything clicks, its great.

This post sponsored, like much of this blog, by Time4Learning with has great third grade math lessons, fourth grade math activities, and fifth grade math printable worksheets.

More Mixed Martial Arts

The Friday night adults class at our dojo is known as Happy Hour. Monthly, there's a special BBC (black belt champion) Happy Hour when new material is introduced. Last night, we did some new jitsu work including some submission moves. The jitsu techniques appear to be dominating MMA (mixed martial arts) today.

BTW - a few people have told me that I was using too much jargon so I'll try to spell out the acronyms more systematically.

We learned to clinch, a sweep take-down, and two submission moves once you were on the ground. I believe that this is all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu which Kyoshi (Steve Lavallee) has been learning from Gracie Academy in Miami. The Gracie website has a great history of jiu-jitsu.

The clinch was executed by blocking a jab, approaching with a jab and then clinching. You held with your right hand on the persons tricept, your left arm under the person's arm and up his back.

The take down was by stepping out with the right foot, leaning forward (and the other person back) at the waist, and then with your left leg, sweeping back. The main point on the sweep was to hit behind the opponents knee (to avoid injury) and to do a full high followthrough with your leg going bakc and you leaning forward to counterbalance. Weird. You finish by maintaing your grip on their left hand, going low into a horsestance, and slowly going to your knees. One knee should be on or very close to their body.

Once down, you got down low. Your opponent is on his back. Right now, you are close to his head lying on your chest with your weight on him. The goal is to shift so you can sit up on him. To start, you have one arm behind his neck, the other around him under his far arm. First step, you move your right hand from behind his neck to where you have your right elbow on the ground in his neck on the far side. Your left hand stays across his body but moves lower. Second you shift your lower body from face down to having your on your right side, right leg extended down, left leg bent, With your left hadn, you push his knees towrads you facilitating stepping over him with your left knee. You place it up as high as you can. Your objective is to get your knees under his armpits. His objective his to keep his elbows in and you sitting low on him near the stomach. When you are down there, it's hard to strike his head and easy for him to oompah you off (an oopmah is when you back up and try to throw him off).

Submissions. We learned two. One, grab one of his arms with both hands with both your hands facing the same way and lean on it so you pin the arm down. Two notes: keep your thumbs with your your fingers like a claw, don't put your thumb on the other side of your grip. Two, don't be trying to push his arm down tih your arms. Keep your arms alomst stright and just lean using your weight. Once one of his arms is down, lets say his left, you've got him. Your position now is your sitting on his chest leaning forward to the right with both arms pinning his arm to the ground. You release with your left hand (closest to you), snake it under arm and grip your own right arm. To apply pressuse, you lift up with your right elbow until he taps out.

WARNING - Be sure your training partner understands tapping out. You are applying pressure here which, if you over do it, will break a joint. Easily. You need to apply it slowly and be ready to release. He needs to know that he taps out as soon as he knows that you have found the correct position.

Second submission. From the chest ride, you lean forward and work your right arm under his head and reach under and across until you have finger or so under his armpit. Your head is down low to the left of his. He is holding you off with his right hand. At the right time, you shove his arm out of the way so you can put your head right next to his and you can reach your left bicep with the right hand (the one that was reaching under him). With your left hand, you reach up to his head or your own and then flex your right arms bicep. This will apply pressure to his neck and he'll tap out. Unless he wants his neck broken.

I bet all these moves have names. I'll try to learn them. Anybody?



del.icio.us

Warriors Collide

Post by BlackBeltat50.

It's that time again, another set of Ft Lauderdale amateur fights. Saturday night, March 22nd, 2008 at the War Memorial Auditorium. As background, look at my descriptions of Warriors Collide 2, & 3 . Also, here are the ISKA Rules, including the Oriental Rules which are used for most of the Warriors Collide bouts.

Here is what I want to know:

1. Who is fighting? Last time, I knew three people from our schools who were fighting. All were pretty high level: Stephanie (4th degree), Sensei Hewitt (5th degree) and Trish Cicero (not sure what belt, maybe 2nd dan). This time Damien Scott is going into the ring. He's a first degree black belt.

2. Any women? I think most people agree that the girls fights are the most popular. The Answer from Coop's email shows a Vanessa & Aliana on the ticket.

3. Is Steve Lavallee's school going to buy and resell a big block of tickets? Last time, we had a great time sitting as a group. This time, I might go with a block of people who buy tickets through my honey's hairdresser (All About Choo - I'm not kidding, they have a friend who fights and they go as a group. Looking fabulous!)

4. Is this age appropriate entertainment for kids? I have my kids next weekend (I don't have them every weekend). They're ages 9,11, & 14. The 9 & 14 year old both take karate. Is this an appropriate show for them? Last time, I noticed maybe a dozen kids in the audience. Tough question which I've been wrestling with.

5. Question: How do I find out who is fighting in advance?
Answer: Send an email to coop and she emails back the line-up. Here it is (plus the questions below, some of which have been answered)

Not in order of lineup - card subject to change
Eric Loscalz (American Top Team CC) Debut vs Juan Hernandez (Bears Den MMA) Debut OR 153
Al Brown (Hammer) 1-0 vs Corey Hanzow (Trian's Kyokushin) Debut OR 235
Ross Yabut (Zentao Martial Arts) Debut vs Manoel Cespedes (Champions Factory) Debut OR 165
Leondro Matos (US1 Fitness) Debut vs Eric Garnif (Carroll's MMA) Debut OR 175
John DeSiena (American Legacy) Debut vs Vitor Delgado (American Top Team Ft.L) Debut OR 170
Steven Chin (South Florida Boxing) 1-1 vs Damien Scott (USA Black Belt Champions) Debut OR 155
Peter Thomas (Inosanto/Hammer) Debut vs Mike Kaiser(Inferno MMA) 0-1 OR 156
Mark Trillas ( American TKA)1-2 vs Alberto Rojas (Hammer) 7-10 OR 155
Rob Rodriguez( Freestyle Fighting Academy)debut vs Mike Delapava (Carroll's MMA) debut OR 205
Joe Ray (Freestyle Fighting Academy)3-0 vs Darren Malyan (Fizogen Xtreme Couture) Debut OR 191
Carlos Garcia (Young Tigers) 3-1 vs Aca Tempow (Zentao Martial Arts) 4-0 OR 144
Mike Ozuna (US1 Fitness) 2-0-1 vs Mike Newman (American Top Team FtL) Debut OR 168
Vanessa Jaramillo (Jp's Team Martial Arts) Debut vs Aliana Morris (Inferno MMA) 0-1 OR 130
Co-Main Event: David Okenka (Inferno MMA) 2-0 vs Anthony Longsworth (American Top Team CC) 2-0 OR 169
Main Event: ISKA Heavy Weight Champion Eric Rivera (American TKA) 4-1-1 Vs Challenger Alan Yvones (Bears Den MMA) 3-2 OR 212

I've looked at the URL listed on the promotional flyer (LeftHookPro.com) which gives not-much information other than this link to buy tickets. I've also searched around on myspace and found one of Heather's pages which has some cool graphics, but no more info. There is also Left Hook Productions page on Myspace, not updated since Oct 2006. Then I found another Myspace heather page which is active but still, no info that I could find on the upcoming event. And while I'm sure there will be last minute changes, it would still be cool to know who is planning to fight.

In searching, I just found an old video promoting Warriors Collide 2.




del.icio.us

Warriors Collide III

Warriors Collide 3 was a total blast. While Warriors Collide 2 was my intro to attending live fights, Warriors Collide 3 was a much bigger deal for me...it was the first time I saw people that I know step into the ring.

First of all, there was the anticipation. In my classes at the dojo, we were all checking with our 19 year old instructor (Stephanie) to see if she felt ready for her debut in the ring. She seemed really excited and a little nervous. I was terribly nervous (anxious, terrified etc) for her and also excited. Check out the Sun Sentinel's interview of the Hammer Gym crowd which does a good job of showing the excitement of training for a fight. ."Warriors Collide" Sun Sentinal Story on HAMMER GYM'S FIGHTERS!*

Secondly, as I said, I knew some people fighting. One of my instructors...Stephanie was in the ring. My next article will cover her and sensei Hewitt (also from Lavallees USA).

There were two fights that particularly interested me which I've found on YouTube. Both were girls fighting. Somehow, they were cooler than the guys fighting. That's not just my personal evaluation, the noise-o-meter in the auditorium showed that they were the crowd's favorite.

Nicole D'Aiguillion of Hammer Gym vs Jenn Goodall of Ghost Fighter



Trish Cicero of Lavallees vs Tara Moore of Griffonrawl