Gorilla Press Issue #15 - Winter 2006

WOW! What a busy year we have had! Since the last update Matt has taught seminars in Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, the UK, Canada, Singapore, & Iceland.

In addition we have welcomed four new groups to the SBGi family. With new ATG's and Gyms in Malaysia, Scotland, and Munich Germany.

Numerous SBGi athletes from all around the world have done fantastically in competition. By now you all know HCG's own Forrest Griffen won the TUF television show, with what has become known as an all time classic UFC fight. And has since had his second UFC victory where he displayed some very technical BJJ skill.

John Kavanagh of SBGi Ireland won gold this Year at the European Championships. SBGi athletes from Oregon, FLA, Georgia, Alabama, Denmark, and the UK... (and many-many others parts of the USA & world)... have all gone on to win impressive MMA victories. And others have done very well in a multitude of grappling and BJJ comps.

Some new Instructors have also been welcomed into the Gym, including Paul McVeigh from Scotland who has a fantastic all around game, Indrek from SBGi Estonia, and Vic from Sweden.

On a local level the Portland and Beaverton Gyms have been happy to host a whole bunch of out of town guests. There has not been a week that has gone by where we have not had a visitor from outside the USA training at SBGi headquarters in Portland. And this Years new ICC class (ICC 05) is showing itself to be perhaps the most dedicated, and certainly some of the most talented individuals the program has seen so far. We are also in the process of starting a large re-model of the Portland Gym. . .so for those guests visiting after this Summer, be prepared for a new, improved, SBGi PDX!

We are leaving so much out, because it has become so hard to keep track of. But we have a new solution to this listed further down in this announcement.

So yes... it's been a busy at SBGi, and we are just getting started!

SBGi is headed for bigger and better things. You aint seen nothing yet.

-Matt Thornton

Announcing our newest DVD series: SBGi BJJ 2005! (aka: The Berkeley Seminar)

This series features the newest innovations to the SBGi curriculum as taught by Matt Thornton, and was shot at a seminar in February 2005. The set was edited by Rex Biteng, and he did a fantastic job in making sure that it is highly entertaining, while at the same time keeping the instruction sections front and center, and the class time/demonstrations, to a minimum. The entire series focuses on how to train BJJ in the most technical way possible... and how to make it fit and work for all types of bodies. It is broken down neatly by detailed chapters for the viewer. For details on the set, to read reviews we have received, or to order this product, please check our our secure online store!

Seminar Gallery!

Seminar in Singapore

Matt offers a Q & A

Clinch drills

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Matt and Michael Chapman in Germany

Munich Germany

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Interview with SBGi Oregon's Keisuke Andrew

Among the talented young fighters to come out of Straight Blast is Keisuke Andrew, an electrifying lightweight currently tearing up the Northwest amateur circuit.

Over the past year, Andrew has gone undefeated and most recently captured the FCFF Lightweight Championship, which is considered one of the most prestigious and recognized amateur MMA championships in the US. Upon his title victory at the recent FCFF July 16th show, Andrew spoke to MMA Weekly to discuss the victory and his future plans.

Read the entire interview here!

SBGi Scotland

The home of Hume		Roslyn Chapel

Paul McVaigh becomes an SBGi Coach

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Denmark trip

Copenhagen public transport*
*(note the mass of graffiti)

Christian Graugart

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Competition Results:

1/29/06: For the sixth time so far, both One Dragon's kids and teens took the North American Grappling Association's US Nationals! Thanks to T3, Aaron, Jimmy, Leo, John, Jonathan for all the help coaching. Congrats to the NAGA 2006 National Team Champs!

1/21/06: Team SBG had a solid night on Saturday at the Roseland Theater. Four athletes and a loud crowd of supporters made their presences known.

Bill Bradley (from the Portland Gym) started the night with a quick, dominant match. Bill started off with some probing hands, clinched, arm dragged, worked to his stunned opponent's back, jumped up and began setting on a rear naked choke while his opponent was standing. His opponent came crashing to the mat and then quickly tapped -- all in 26 seconds. It was a solid display.

The second match was Mike Harman. It was a BATTLE. As always, Mike showed tons of heart. The match went back and forth, with Mike throwing good hands and a few kicks while his opponent was set on shooting in for a take-down. After two action packed rounds (10 minutes in all) of battling back and forth, the final bell rank. Going to the judges' decision, they determined it to be a draw. No shame. Mike really showed great spirit and determination.

Daryl was up next. Fighting a tough opponent out of Curt's gym. Daryl found himself fighting off his back in guard bottom for the better part of 2 - 3 minutes. His opponent fended off a few sweep attempts and a potential triangle setup -- all while throwing down some solid shots to the body. Unfortunately, Daryl turned to his belly in his attempt to get off the matt and suffered a tough loss by RNC after a real battle against the fence. No shame.

Andy Lukesh had a title fight with Elijah Faye out of Team Quest. Andy has been training very hard, and came in for the title fight. Andy came out to show his ability with strikes ... instead of relying on his excellent wrestling / ground skills. And completely dominated the fight in every aspect. It was 10 minutes of punishment. It was amazing that Elijah was able to walk out of the ring at the end of the match - he dealt with a lot of heavy hits from Andy. The fight went to the judges' decision ... and it was Unanimous. Nothing short of FANTASTIC!

12/22/05: SBGi UK had a great end to 2005, with yet another MMA victory in December topping off a year of great performances.

SBG Manchester athletes Tom Laycock, Rosi Sexton, Hywel Teague, Anna Mayne, Andy Miles and Will Burke all stepped up to fight in octagons across the country, with no small measure of success.

Rosi, who not only defended her title as UK Women's champion in the promotion CageWarriors, but came back only 8 months after giving birth, went on to win against a much bigger opponent in a gutsy and classy performance.

Tom Laycock, with three contests under his belt this year, even fought twice in one night, losing his first fight, but stopping his second opponent with ground and pound.

Will Burke and Hywel Teague both notched up impressive wins on the show CageWarriors, with Will winning in a flawless TKO victory in little over 2 mins., and Hywel defeating a long-time nemesis and BJJ purple belt by verbal submission in one of the best fights of the year.

12/22/05: SBG Scotland have had a remarkable year in both MMA and Thaiboxing. With a stable of fighters active in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland, they have been picking trophies and titles left right and centre.

One such guy is SBGi Scotland coach Paul McVeigh, who successfully defended his CageWarriors Bantamweight title on Nov 26th. Paul is the former CageWarriors Featherweight Champion, the Extreme Brawl Featherweight Champion and the former TKO Scottish Welterweight Champion. He relinquished all three belts due to university commitments.

12/20/05: SBGi Oregon athletes go 5 for 5!

James Davis, out of the Portland gym, was the first on the fight card. He was all business and dictated the entire match from bell to tap. James came in with a few strikes, body locked his opponent, mounted him, maintained position, and finished his opponent with an americana armlock. It was textbook. Great Job James.

Second up was Andy Lukesh. What can be said except Andy always comes to compete and let his best game shine. Saturday night was no exception. His opponent was Bobby Wilson, a familiar face for the Sub-League events last year. All props to Bobby, he gave Andy a handful in the first 90 seconds - though he was clearly in control. It was extremely exciting to watch - great clinch, great work off the fence, strong standing-up moves from both athletes, but Andy just had too much for Bobby to contend with. At the 2 minute mark, Andy was working a knee ride position, striking when appropriate, and finally settled into a beautiful armbar. It was a great match. Super Job Andy.

Daryl Cutler's match was a good win. Daryl came out looking to work his hands and move his opponent around. Daryl quickly took his opponent to the fence, arm dragged him, jump to his back, and held on as his cemented in his rear naked choke. Nicely Done.

Omar Santiago, from the Portland Gym, had a very aggressive, action packed match - though it was pretty short. Omar completely dictated the tempo and was in control the entire time. He worked from one submission attempt to another. It was impressive to watch. Ultimately, Omar tapped his opponent out with a very tight armbar. Great Job Omar.

The final SBG match of the night was Armand Debruge. Armand has been training very hard over the last 3 months in preparation for this match. He has come a long ways in his standup and clinch games ... it has been inspiring watch someone work so hard and make such significant gains. To say that Armand looked ready to go as he came out into the ring is an understatement - he was possessed. Armand was mentally and physically more focused than I've ever seen him. As his match began, he pushed the tempo, moving his opponent around the ring ... actively pursuing him and setting him up. On the first exchange with Armand throwing a hand combination, his opponent went to move off - and somehow dislocated his shoulder. It was a freak accident ... and a travesty. The fight was over before it really began. Many say that they saw relief in Armand's opponent's eyes ... I think he knew he was in way over his head and it was going to be a one-sided night. Even though Armand didn't get to finish the match the way he would have liked, it was a great night for him. In speaking to the crowd, he commented on how this had been one of the best experiences of his life -- go through the preparation process and facing the challenges that come with getting ready for an MMA match. Congrats Armand.

11/20/05: Scott Atkinson of Wolverine Martial Arts won a gold medal in intermedate cruiser weight no-gi at the Great Lakes BJJ Championships on Nov 20th.

11/12/05: Chad Angelocci from VT1 Gym defeated Russell from Qld via RNC in RD 1. Chad played a perfect MMA game, almost KOing Russel in a scramble with a knee right cross combo, shooting in a taking him down. Mount…GNP…Rear naked choke. Russel was greased up with baby oil but it didn’t help in the end I guess. Go to Ausmma.com to check out the pictures (look under Kumite).

10/24/05: Team SBG went 3 and 0 on Saturday with EXTREMELY convincing victories by all three athletes: Andy Lukesh, Keisuke Andrew, and Thomas La Cour.
All three athletes showed complete dominance while executing tight, technical games. All three matches ended with submissions via rear naked chokes. Andy's match was 57 seconds, Keisuke's was 54 seconds and Thomas' fight lasted only 1 minutes 20 seconds. All the guys did an amazing job. Keisuke was defending his title. Thomas won the Middle Weight Title by beating the previous Champion, Team Quest's Scott Trayhorn.
And let's hear it for the SBG Crowd! You guys rocked. It was impressive to hear the support and volume that you guys made. It was truly FANTASTIC.
It terrific night for Team SBG big congrats to everyone!

You can check out more pictures from the event online.

09/18/05: SBGI Instructor Louis Pilato won his debut MMA bout late in the first round by KO. He hit his opponent with a knee to the chin and dropped him. The match was non-stop with amazing action with takedowns, strikes and a triangle that almost worked our for Lou.
Special and huge thanks to Adam, Rory, Forrest and the rest of the amazing people at the HCG in Georgia for letting Lou and two more of my guys work with them for a week. The fantastic training and stable of athletes really, really gave Lou the confidence to go in there and sprint the entire round out with a very game opponent.
Lou is the guy in the ISR-PM video doing the CM and in the So Flo 2 clip. He has the bug now... after the fight he was asked to fight in two other events later this year and was all smiles.

09/06/05: One Dragon (SBGi Florida) Judo's Christian Perez is now the number one ranked Judoka at his weight class and age in the US! Way to go Christian!

08/09/05: Congrats SBGi East Coast's ODMA athlete Christian (Jigaro) Perez.He is now the number one ranked kid in the nation in Judo. All 25 kilos and 9 years of him. He is the kid in the PAW videos hitting all the takedowns at Naga and Grappler's Quest.

Huge congrats to Forrest, for winning the TUF contract after his amazing fight. What a display of heart and soul. In addition, huge congrats to Adam for being the great coach that he is (check out that clinch work!) and to Rory and all the Georgia crew... I am sure their bodies are sore from the training.

Congrats SBG-UK for taking home two golds and one silver from 5 brackets entered, one athlete per bracket. At the Gracie Invitational on Saturday , over 300 competed. Well done SBGi UK!

Congrats SBG-Ireland's John Kavanagh on taking home the Gold at the European BJJ Championships!

Congrats Team SBGi Oregon. Thomas "the viking" won Saturday night via arm triangle at just under 2 minutes of the first round. Keisuke won via armbar around two minutes rd 1, and Darryl won via triangle. They all trained hard, and were at HFL when I spoke with them Sat. Great job guys.

Congrats team DMA! Dynamic Martial Athletics' Team DMA entered our first grappling tourney yesterday. We took 5 competitors to the NAGA in Fall River Ma. and had a great showing.

Men's over 40 (This is open level, open weight, 9 competitors) Almost swept this one!
1st Sandy Lasa
2nd Rob Lodice
Unfortunately, I lost 3rd on points to a very jacked Team Elite MMA fighter with 35 lbs on me.

Men's 30-40 Beginner Heavyweight
2nd Jason Martin

Men's 30-40 Beginner Middleweight
2nd Karim "the Peach" Gabriel

Congrats Rory! I just wanted to say Major CONGRATS to Rory Singer who I just found out defeated Josh Tamsen at Full Throttle in Atlanta last night by triangle. Way to finish the drill my brother! Also, huge congrats to Chris Connelly for also scoring a win.

Congrats SBGi Denmark's Carina Jørgensen who won won both her weight class and placed second in the open class and the Kaisho Cup tournament in Sweden. Go Carina!

SBGi Promotions:

2/16/06: I talked with Eric Hemphill yesterday when I got home (from Ireland), and I am happy to announce he finally recieved his black belt (from Chris Hauter). Those of you who know Eric know this is a well deserved promotion. Eric is a beast on the mat.

Also big congrats for Andy Ryan. Some of you may remember Andy from the 2005 Spring Camp where he taught a section on Judo. Andy has been one of the top Judo competitors for Years. On this last trip I saw that Andy's BJJ game has grown leaps and bounds. His passing, and escapes are all really technical and well timed, and he is a legit monster on the mat at the moment. So, I was proud to give him his well deserved purple in BJJ while there. The kids at his club were also pretty amazing. SBGi Northside is a tough-talented crew!

2/1/06: Congrats to SBGi business manager Mike Sweeney... he just received his BJJ brown belt from from Nova Uniao Co-founder, and longtime Coach Wendell Alexander.

12/21/05: Congrats to Cody Houston. I was proud to put Cody's purple belt on him in class last night. He has done great at local competitions, and has also shown himself to be a an excellent Coach. A very technical, and tough SBGi athlete.
You can find Cody coaching day classes at the Portland Gym.

12/5/05: I am proud to announce that my friend, and longtime SBGi Coach Adam Singer has been given his BJJ brown belt by Coach Chris Haueter.
I have had the joy of watching Adam's game skyrocket over the Years, and there is no doubt that this is well deserved. Congrats Adam!

11/03/05: I just returned from Florida. I was extremely happy to give Luis Gutierrez his black belt this last weekend. As of now he is the only person I have awarded a black belt to. Luis has demonstrated not only the high level of personal performance skill required, but also an uncanny ability to Coach people of all levels, ages, and needs, from competitive athletes to children. He has developed his own unique and personal style, and has a mature, detailed, and refined understanding of the complete Art of BJJ. All of which I consider pre-requisites for a solid black belt. I am very proud of him.

To date I have only awarded two brown belts, John Kavanagh, and Jonathan Wright (from Luis's ODMA), and now one black belt. These people represent the standards I have for SBGi's BJJ in every sense of that word.

In addition to Luis, 3 other athletes received BJJ promotions. Christian Graugart from Denmark, Mick kelly from Ireland and xxx xxxx from Florida were all promoted to the rank of Purple Belt. Great job guys!

Also... I was very proud to give Rebecca Sweeney her Instructor/Coach certificate at Camp this past weekend. Rebecca has the complete game, stand up, clinch, ground, the ability to coach athletes of all levels, and an extremely high level of all around performance skill. Rebecca is now the second woman ever to receive an Instructorship with SBGi, but she is the first woman to receive Instructor/Coach level!

09/28/05: Huge congratulations to Rich Beaupit and Jim Grove who were both awarded their BJJ Blue Belts at the SBGi seminar in Kingston on September 25, 2005. Rich, who owns Rich Beaupit's Personal Performance Gym in St. Catherines and Jim, who owns Real Combat in Cambridge have been working hard to improve their ground games. We had them both work hard to showcase their skills and they both looked great!

09/05/05: I just returned late last night from Marvin Diem's Gym in Flint, MI. I just wanted to say that I had a great time. The trip helped to once again remind me about what a cool group of people we have assembled at SBGi. It is always just like home.
We worked primarily stand up on Day 1, going through the SBGi 101 & 201 curriculum, and guard surfing, and top game for Day 2.
Also, congrats to Marvin and his guys for training hard, and smart. Two of them recently entered a local no-gi comp and placed very well. And all of them were rolling technical. I was very happy to award Marvin Diem, Scott Atkinson, Sean Donahue, and Christopher Reed well deserved blue belts while I was there.

08/25/05: Congrats to Travis Davison who received his purple last night at the Portland Gym. Travis has been a Coach with us since graduating from the ICC in 2001. And he has always had a great no-gi, and MMA game. He recently took a Year and a half off or so to take care of his kids and family. This last Year he has been back, and training very hard. He has been working both in no-gi, and gi, and he has put a lot of effort into improving his technical Jits game. His purple is overdue, and well deserved. He has also been a big help to our athletes who are preparing for comps and fights at our Gym. Way to go Travis!

08/20/05: Another new Purple Belt! This time congratulations are due to Thomas La Cour of Denmark! Way to go.

08/16/05: Congrats to the guys from the new 2005 ICC program. Three of them received their blue belts from me last night. Including Jonathan, Dallas, & James. All of them have done a great job. Jonathan has a total of 5 Months training time, and just won the intermediate division of the no gi tournament last weekend, beating 4 opponents, three from TQ who had extensive previous experience. Great job!

Also big congrats to Cane Prevost, who received his purple belt last night, after a pretty grueling series of rolls. Cane has added a lot of value to the PDX Gym as a Coach and we are all happy to have him there.

08/09/05: Big congratulations to John Kavanagh & Jonathan Wright. Both men received their brown belts from me in BJJ this Year.

John Kavanagh, and Jonathan, along with Luis, are the only brown belts I have awarded since I have been a black belt. And I think the quality of all three athletes speaks volumes about my standards. John's recent wins at the European championships where no surprise as John's game is smoking right now. And Jonathan continues to dominate the competition down in SO FLO. We are all very proud of them.   -Matt

12/05/04: On my recent trip to Africa I awarded two purple belts, and a number of blue belts to our students there.

New Purple Belts:

• Wikus Swart
• Bobby Karagiannidis

I met Bobby and Wikus on my first trip to Africa about six Years ago. Both men have been training hard ever since, and have technical, competitive purple belt performance. Congrats to both!
Interesting side note, I met John Kavanagh for the first time when he visited Africa for a cage match with Bobby. Time flies!

New Blue Belts:

• Nuno De Gouveia – Blue 3
• Mark Herbert – Blue
• Steven Bazzea – Blue
• Kenneth Yeung – Blue
• Cheri Steenkamp – Blue
• Monique Savage – Blue 1
• Joe Raath - Blue
• Nathan Raath – Blue

Congrats to all the new African blues!

Joe, Nathan and Cheri have fantastic games for the time in, just about a Year! This is a credit to their dedication. . .they are all on the mat 5 days a week. And also to Rodney's coaching ability with BJJ. I am very proud of Monique, she is moving really well and I was very happy to award her an overdue blue belt. Kenneth and Mark have great games. I was especially impressed with Mark's relaxed rolling style, all that's needed for some serious growth in performance over the next Year or so. Steven Bazzea runs the Capetown ATG, and I was also really impressed with his overall game, and ability to remain composed on the mat. Nuno! Nuno is very close to a purple, BUT... get on the mat more Nuno! If he does that there will be no stopping the 60k Portuguese machine.

Congrats to the African crew. . .well deserved.

11/14/04: Big congratulations to Alan Condon who was promoted to Purple Belt by BJJ Black Belt Rob Kahn. Alan runs a SBGi ATG in Albany, NY. Way to go Alan. We are all very proud of you!

11/04/04: Many of you know just how high our standards are organization wide for the staff at SBGi. When I consider these things it is true that for me no position demands more integrity and ability then that of a Regional Director. I have chosen all the RD's for SBGi very carefully because I know that they will determine the tone, growth, and future of the Gym in their area. They also have a huge influence on the students, and are truly the real leaders and mentors within SBGi. Having said that, due to the growth of SBGi in Canada over the recent two Years, and the interest there, it was obvious we needed to appoint an RD for Canada. The choice for that was self evident in picking Mike Sweeney. Not only was this my conclusion, and the conclusion of Luis, but also the unanimous conclusion of all the RD's, and the SBGi Admin Team. So I would really like to welcome Mike Sweeney on board as the official RD for SBGi Canada!

10/27/04: I just wanted to say that recognizing Paul as an Instructor was one of the best things I have been privileged to do in a long time. It's obviously well deserved, and we are all very proud that is is with us as part of SBGi.

09/21/04: Congrats to Christian Graugart of Denmark, aka: The VIKING, for becoming one of only four overseas Instructors in SBGi. Christian has a great game and we are proud of him. Congrats Christian!

09/19/04: HUGE congrats in order for a LONG overdue black belt to SBGi founding member Tom Oberhue. Tom's game is on fire, and those of you who have rolled with him know what I mean. In addition, he is an amazing BJJ Coach. So having said that, it was great to see him receive his black belt this weekend from long time SBGi Coach Chris Haueter.

Pictures from the Iceland trip!

"No words can describe the incredible beauty."

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Capetown in South Africa

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