Chris Haueter seminar at Portland Gym!

Chris Haueter will be returning to SBGi's Portland Gym for a two day seminar on BJJ. Chris was one of the USA's first Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blackbelts, and a longtime Coach and friend to SBGi. The seminar will cover both gi, and no gi.

Time:
12 - 4pm Saturday May 31st
12 - 4pm Sunday June 1st

Cost:
75. both days for SBGi members / 60. for 1 day
105. both days for non members / 85. for 1 day

ICC members pay 60. for both days.

See you there!

Pics from Rick's fight, and Comp Team update

Here are some pics from Rick's fight last week.




We have 7 SBGi athletes fighting this next weekend (April 26th) in Montana. John Diggins from the Portland Competition Team will be fighting again, after his recent win in the advanced and absolute divisions of the Sub League *(TM Karl Tanswell ; ). And making his MMA debut will be Portland Gym's Hamilton, aka: scrambleton.



In addition there will be five other fighters from the new SBGi Montana (Travis Davison's Gym) competing as well, giving us a total of 7 athletes on the card.


I will driving down myself for the event, along with many other PDX members traveling to show their support for their team mates.



Should be a great time! Updates will follow after the 26th.

Competition Team updates. .

There have been so many fights, and so many results to post since last time it's getting hard to keep up. Here are some results from this weekend (April 5th).

Rick Davison from the Portland Gym won his MMA match this Saturday in 2:13 of the first round, by armbar. This was a big fight for Rick, and sets him up for a title fight for the 170 belt in 4 weeks on May 10th. It was also good to visit with Randy Couture again, he was backstage with his wife who was making her MMA debut on the same card.


Rick remains undefeated and you can look for him to take home the title next Month.



On the same day we (Portland Gym) had 3 athletes compete in the large Submission tournament. John Diggins won both the advanced heavyweight division, as well as the absolute division!


Chris came in 2nd in his division, and Dennis also placed after several great matches. Great job everyone!


The weekend prior Travis Davison had three athletes from his new Montana Gym enter for their first MMA fights, held in Montana. All these athletes had about 7 Months of training (since Travis moved there), but were already looking like solid SBGi blue belts at Camp. All three won by TKO or submission, making the Montana SBGi 3-0. Names, pics, and fight details will be posted later, as well as in our members forum.


Awesome job!

Spring Camp 08 was awesome!

Haueter and Hemphill rolling at Camp.

On the weekend of March 21st people traveled from all over to attend our 13th annual Spring Camp, held this Year at the world headquarters in Portland OR.


Brian Walsh Coaching some world class boxing.

The camp turned out to be a great success. The talent on the mat was incredible, as was the overall vibe. With segments taught by wrestling phenom Eric Jetton, BJJ black belts Eric Hemphill, Steve Whittier, Matt Thornton, and Chris Haueter. As well as fantastic segments by SBGi Coaches Cane Prevost, Lilly Pagle, Brain Walsh, and others.


Jetton working takedowns.

Topics included MMA standup, Boxing, clinch/Wrestling for MMA, gi & no-gi Jits, Coaching methods, drilling, and more.


Hunter Thornton, Salome and Chris Haueter.


Matt, Steve Whitter and Rick Davison.

There is a detailed thread listing notes from this Spring Camp available in our members forum: www.straightblastgym.com


Scrabmbleton plays the guitar.

The next Camp will be in October, with the dates and locations to be announced shortly. See you there!

New SBGi Portland blues & Camp preparation:

We had three new blue belt promotions this week at the Portland headquarters. Congrats to Mike and Tim pictured below from day class.

And also Chris from ICC, who received his blue after a grueling Friday night iron man session. There won’t be any sandbagged white belts when the Annual Spring Camp rolls around in a couple weeks in Portland.

Chris ironmans the Friday night class.

The newly re-modeled Gym is ready to receive what looks to be it’s biggest crowd ever. With people from around the world already pre-registered. Teaching at this Years Camp will be: BJJ black belts Karl Tanswell, Eric Hemphill, Chris Haueter, Steve Whittier and Matt Thornton, SBGi boxing Coach Brian Walsh, and SBGi Coaches Travis Davison, Lily Pagle and Cody Houston.

See you there!

SBGi's female athletes rocking the competition:

On Feb 23rd (sat) Lisa Higo won the European title belt by way of 2nd round TKO against a very tough and game Dutch opponent. Lisa is the latest in a long line of awesome SBG female athletes, and I'm sure she's got a great future ahead of her in MMA.

Karl with Lisa.

A few weeks earlier the very talented MMA athlete Aisling (Ash) Daly received her purple belt from Matt Thornton, while Matt was on tour in Ireland. You can check out her fight against Nadia Van Der Wal at www.sbgireland.com under 'videos'.

From Matt: "Aisling has a very technical and solid BJJ game, and I am very proud to add her to the list of SBGi purple belts."

Matt completes Ireland & Sweden tour:

This February Matt spent a little over two weeks touring all over Ireland, and finishing up at the SBGi Sweden locations. Matt did 12 separate workshops and seminars including three separate locations in Dublin, as well as Galway and Belfast.

From there Matt went to Norrköping for a weekend seminar that included SBGi Coaches & BJJ black belts John Kavanagh, and Karl Tanswell. Matt finished off the tour at SBGi Stockholm, before flying back home to Portland.

Karl, Matt & Kavanagh

It was a real pleasure to have old SBGi friends Pritt from Estonia, and Vic from Sweden. . .both of whom have lived for several Months in Portland in order to train in Years past.

John, Karl & Vic.

Matt with Pritt from SBGi Estonia, and Karl. Pritt was a welcome member of the Portland SBGi family for several Months when he visited us here in Oregon to train.

Matt finished off the tour at SBGi Stockholm, before flying back home to Portland.

Matt teaching in Norrköping.

From Matt: “This was a great tour and there are a lot of people to thank for helping put it together. But special thanks goes to John Kavanagh and Daniel Bäckefelt for their help, and also Karl Tanswell for helping out in Sweden. I don’t want to leave anyone out, so I will leave it at that. But I am really looking forward to seeing everyone again soon. I had a really good trip.And I am consistently impressed by the real technical quality of all the SBGi family members around the globe!”

Matt & Travis complete SBGi NY City seminar!

Matt was once again in NYC at SBGi NY for a weekend seminar.

Matt recently underwent major knee surgery (ACL), so he took along with him SBGi Coach Travis Davison. Travis taught some great sections, and rolled with everyone at the event. Much thanks to Christian Montes for once again hosting a really fun event. It was good to see the talent on the mat, as well as some old friends like Paul Myatovich, who made the commute from Jersey to attend the event.

Travis seen center here.

Congrats to new SBGi Instructors!

This last Saturday night the Portland Gym held it's annual Christmas party and ICC graduation ceremony. The ICC is the official & only Instructor/Coach course for SBGi, and this class was part of the 13th Year for the ICC!

ICC graduates were Dallas Van Winkle, and JJ Hewitt.

Other Portland Gym Instructors were also awarded their Instructor certification, this list includes Brian Walsh (the Portland Gym stand up Coach), Casey Barkmeir, Cane Prevost and Will Vaughn.


The Christmas party was fantastic, and a good Year is in store for SBGi!

Congrats to new BJJ black & brown belts!

Congrats due to SBGi Regional Directors Mike and Rebecca Sweeney!

Mike just received his BJJ black belt, and Rebecca received her brown. Both very well deserved. Mike and Rebecca have been training for many Years under Wendell Alexander & Wagnney Fabiano.

Those of you that have attended classes taught by Mike or Rebecca know that they not only have the solid performance skills associated with these belts, they also have the solid teaching skills and deep understanding of the fundamentals that really marks what SBGi is all about.

Big congratulations from everyone at SBGi!

www.sbgi.ca

New SBGi Purple belt!

This last weekend SBGi President Matt Thornton traveled to Edmonton Canada to teach a three day training seminar. He was assisted by longtime SBGi Coach Travis Davison. Also in attendance and assisting was SBGi Coach & friend Rich Beaupit from www.beaupitsmixedmartialarts.com. While there Matt promoted Calen Paine to a well deserved BJJ purple belt, as well as Andy Campbell and Anthony Stauffer who recieved blue belts. Here is a write up from a student who attended the event:

Matt Thornton Round 3:

At the moment I am just recuperating from an insightful and physically demanding weekend. As with all Matt Thornton and Straight Blast Gym International seminars, we are put through the paces with the latest training innovations in MMA and Brazilian Ju Jitsu. Some of the topics covered were spider guard, guard surfing, insuring the rear naked choke, MMA stand up, and some very cool anti clinch tactics that can be used against the wall or cage.

We also had the pleasure of Travis, a BJJ brown belt who has trained under Matt for 8 years, he assisted the seminar and shared his own BJJ specialties with our group.

There are typically 5 belt levels with 3 stripes within each level. It starts with white, then blue, purple, brown and then the last one being black. In BJJ it is performance based, and the only way to advance is if you can functionally perform the tactics. Straight Blast Gym International BJJ ranking standards are very high so if you receive a belt promotion from this organization rest assured, you earned it.

Congratulations to Andy Campbell and Anthony Stauffer in their blue belt promotion and to our Mr. Calen (Major Paine) in getting his purple belt.

SBGi Puerto Vallarta Camp success!

The 10th annual SBGi Fall Camp, which took place this Year at a deluxe resort in Puerto Vallarta Mexico was by all accounts . . fantastic. The Camp included three BJJ black belts, five SBGi Coaches, and took place over a 5 day training period.

*(note these sections did not occur in this exact order, and details are subject to change upon recollection)

Section #1: Started with a free roll with all the members, and the preceded into a Q and A section with all the Coaches. Topics included the definitions of a fundamental, things to look for when evaluating material (core principles, details on fundamentals, and something that directly affects your game), as well as many specific questions asked by Camp participants.

Scuba diving, snorkeling, pool volleyball, and a large dinner banquet followed.

Section #2: Featured SBGi Coach & BJJ black belt John Kavanagh's new "spider web" Guard material. This is a call out drill that acts as a counter to the well known SBGi "guard surfing" passing drill. This drill became an instant classic, and is sure to be passed on at all the various SBGi locations.

Swimming, lizard hikes, tequila bingo, and a large dinner banquet followed.

Section #3: Was taught by SBGi President Matt Thornton, and featured the breaking the line drill. Followed by a sweep, and the counter to the sweep which involved a very careful method of opening up the closed guard. Followed by rolling and another Q & A section.

Lounging by the pool, shopping in downtown PV, spider hunts, and a large dinner banquet followed.


Section # 4: Featured SBGi Coach & BJJ black belt Karl Tanswell teaching his latest innovations as they relate to BJJ and MMA. These included a comprehensive section on finishing from back control, as well as the new move known only as "pelican bay".

Laying in the pool, pina coladas, and a large dinner banquet followed.

Section #5: Was taught by Portland SBGi Boxing Coach Brian Walsh. Brian brought his creative and fun training methods to the camp, with some very unique drills that helped the athletes in development of proper position, footwork, balance, power, shifting weight, getting into the clinch, sparring safely, and "golf strokes".

Brian brings a lighter and more enjoyable vibe to the stand up game, which allows the athletes an environment where they can explore and learn in a fast, fun and effective manner. As Brian stated, "It's all about cutting angles, and getting the leverage to punch to hurt. . . .it's about movement and distance . . . good stand up is about lay ups, not free throws."

Dancing, scuba in the pool, a night time pirate raid, and a large dinner banquet followed.

Section #6: Was taught by SBGi Coach & BJJ brown belt Travis Davison. Travis focused on clinch with cloth, and covered some great competition set ups for starting matches. These included grip fighting, sleeve control, using the overhook and collar, and attacking from the guard.

Activities that followed to remain confidential, due to National Security.

Extra training session #7: On the last day of the Camp an extra training and rolling session occurred outdoors, and provided an additional opportunity for some final questions of the Coaches.

All in all a great time was had. . .look for the Spring camp to be held at the newly re-modeled SBGi Headquarters in Portland OR, sometime around March. Exact dates and sign up info should be available in the coming weeks. See you there!