you are fortunate enough to learn from Coach Matt Thornton, he never fails takes your game up a level! I isolated mount for six months after Spring Camp in Athens to improve my game there and Matt easily taught me more, in eight hours mind you, than I had gained in that half a year. He added an edge to my mount that is invaluable and he amazes me at how easily he can confer information in such a precise way. Thank you for the knowledge Coach. Thank you Chris and the Elko gang for the hospitality. Last but not least, thank you to my travel companions for their commitment to Jiu Jitsu and for their friendship!”

 

Haley Tenbarge had the following to share after Matt’s visit to SBG Alabama:

“After watching Matt Thornton‘s seminar on mount, the following passage came to my mind.

“Learning how to endure your disappointment and frustration IS part of the job of the creative person. If you want to be an artist of any sort, it seems to me, then handling your frustration is a fundamental aspect of the work – perhaps the single most fundamental aspect of the work. Frustration is not an interpretation of your process; frustration IS the process. The fun part (the part where it doesn’t feel like work at all) is when you’re actually creating something wonderful, and everything’s going great, and everyone loves it, and you’re flying high. But such instances are rare. You don’t just get to leave from right moment right moment. How you manage yourself BETWEEN those bright moments, when things aren’t going so great, is a measure of how devoted you are to your vocation, and how equipped you are for the weird demands of creative living. Holding yourself together through all the faces of creation is where the real work lies.”~ Elizabeth Gilbert.

Frustration can come from so many places … the position (mount), having to watch instead of participate due a cold, missing class due to work, failed attempts at a submission. Hold yourself together, keep going and live creatively!”

Matt’s tour continues into June, coming to SBG Buford on June 17th, among other dates. This is a seminar not to be missed! Contact your SBG gym today and have your BJJ taken up another level. The wealth of knowledge and teaching ability of the SBG President truly is second to none, and worth your time, every single time!

 

SBG Elko Challenge Match!

 

Prior to BJJ’s acceptance as one of the most effective and functional martial arts on the planet, as well as an incredible way to build relationships and improve mental health, its earliest practitioners had a tough time convincing skeptics of it’s legitimacy. The birth of the UFC, and Royce Gracie’s famous dominance of the earliest events, soon allowed the world to see the art for what it was, but before that, the Gracie family and early BJJ students often hosted “challenge matches”, where outsiders would visit their gym and test BJJ against their own preferred fighting style. Youtube is still home to many of these early videos, but despite it’s position at the top of the martial arts world, apparently some still have questions.

Last month, SBG Elko received a challenge from a man who declared that “jiu jitsu didn’t work”, and SBG Elko’s Tommy Babb was happy to set him straight. Above is the video of the three minute match between the pair. Notice how Tommy remains calm throughout while his opponent erroneously attempts to squeeze his head off, and once Tommy patiently controls the man and puts him into an armbar, he has the presence of mind and good will to let it go and not injure his opponent. Tommy Babb not only demonstrated the superiority of BJJ, but also both stepped up to the challenge, and showed mercy when needed. Excellent job, Tommy. The whole tribe is super proud!

Next Generation Coaches At SBG Niagara

As SBG’s founder travels the country teaching ground-breakingly simple BJJ fundamentals in SBG’s 25th year, the next generation of SBG’s elite coaches are just starting out on their BJJ journey. Here is an awesome video of one of Rich Beaupit’s young “Junior Gorillas” demonstrating the technique behind the arm bar from close guard:

“One of my 9 year old “Junior Gorillas”, demonstrating and explaining the arm bar from closed guard after escaping the mount, during our Kids Leadership Team session this morning.

Confident, articulate, poised, and not shy of the camera. SBG Kids learn more than just functional self defense at SBG Niagara. They learn life skills that they will use in their everyday routines to be confident and successful people.

Hell yeah!

#SBGKidsRock #ConfidentAndStrong #GrowingGorillasLifeSkills”

Started by Travis & Kisa Davison at SBG Montana just a few years ago, the Growing Gorillas program has made an enormous impact on every SBG that has implemented it since. The program builds not just young BJJ athletes, but builds better young people, teaching them valuable life skills, and allowing them to build confidence through pushing and challenging them in a fun and safe environment. Great job to all the Junior Gorillas out there!

New brown belts at SBG Elko

Alongside the Matt Thornton seminar, and their challenge match, this month has been notable at SBG Elko for another reason, their tribe celebrated two new brown belts.

Coach Chris Myers and Tom Hakin were both promoted as part of the Matt Thornton seminar, from purple belt to brown. The two men were put through the customary SBG ironman; the process of rolling with every student present, from white belts to black, as both a display of their technical skill, but also as a celebration of the role every tribe member plays on the development of those promoted.

Congratulations to both athletes for their well earned promotions! It is great to see the tribe growing in strength every day!

 

New Light Weight SBG Gis

Brand new gis in a brand new light weight design are going to be making their way to an SBG near you! And they’re arriving just in time for summer!

But before they hit the shelves, SBG Montana are taking votes on which color will be chosen. The black gi will come with either silver or maroon designs. Cast your vote before its too late! Once they arrive, be sure to pick up yours and wear it with pride. SBG is expanding its line of BJJ and fight gear more than ever, meaning there is something for every taste at the SBG store!

From gis, to rash guards and fight shorts, casual tees and hoodies, there is basically never a reason to NOT be wearing an item of SBG clothing, regardless of season or occasion! Stock up today!

-Click Here For SBG Gear Online-

 

SBG Buford Athlete Wins MMA Title

Last month, SBG Buford’s Alen “M1” Mulahmetovich had his hand raised for the second time in his professional MMA career. Fighting on the card of Georgia’s National Fighting Championship, he defeated Rusty Crowder to earn himself the NFC bantamweight title. Mulahmetovich has an impressive wrestling background, competing throughout high school. Add to that a BJJ brown belt and ever increasing stand up skills from coaches Phillipe Gentry and Pat Barger, and its easy to see why “M1” is quickly becoming a truly exciting MMA prospect! Congratulations Alen on your title! We’re sure this is only the start of a long and impressive MMA career! After the contest, Alen said:

“I never imagined myself getting a pro title that early… but I knew I was talented. When I was 0-0 and 1-0, I’d watch guys that have several fights under their belts and I knew I could beat them.”

For a full article and interview with Alen, check out this article in the Central Gwinneth Daily Post.

Meanwhile, the SBG Buford tribe where busy making the month of May a great one for other reasons. The gym held a canned food drive for a local charity, the North Gwinnett Co-Op.  They collected several hundred food items that will go towards feeding displaced and under-privileged families in the community. Once again, SBG shows it is not just about BJJ and MMA success, but building better individuals off the mats, a strong tribe, and aiding the greater community by supporting those in need. Great job, SBG Buford!

Paul Sharp on Being Inquisitive

Our prime directive should be to be inquisitive. Always be curious. Never allow our quest for a deeper understanding to wane. 

SBG’s Paul Sharp wrote in his Sharp Defense blog last month about the importance of always remaining inquisitive. Whether we speak about self defense, BJJ, or other aspects of life and career away from the mats, the importance of an inquisitive nature in all that we do is made evident in Sharp’s latest piece.

A BJJ black belt and highly regarded expert in all things self defense, it is easy for Paul, like all of us, to believe he knows all there is to know about his chosen discipline. But when he looks to even the pioneers of US BJJ, the likes of Chris Haueter, who still today talk about keeping an open mind and learning, he is reminded of the importance of curiosity, and the need to always be seeking a deeper and fuller understanding throughout life; the fact that there is no end-point where a complete and whole understanding of a discipline can be reached and instead we must ignore such ideas and search for more. Read his blog post, and take it to heart, to truly understand our art, and ourselves…

SBG Idaho Success at FSF 12

Front Street Fights returned to the CenturyLink arena in Boise, ID last month, and along with it, a host of SBG Idaho fighters came to make up another exciting card! Five of SBG’s top MMA athletes took to the cage, and four of them had their hands raised in victory by the end of the night. Jesse Brock, Matt Jones, Brandon Todd and Noah Shultz all won, while Ben Hollier was unfortunate to get caught by a guillotine early in his contest.

Jesse Brock confirmed himself as the FSF bantamweight champion with a unanimous decision victory over Noah Ali, extending his pro record to a staggering 23-9! Matt Jones won with a spectacular spinning elbow knock out in round 3. Brandon Todd’s victory came by way of knee bar in the second round, and Noah Shultz scored the win by RNC in the first round, at just 18 years old!

Once again, SBG Idaho confirm themselves as the absolute leaders in MMA in Idaho, if not the PNW as a whole. The team’s record at these regional events is absolutely remarkable, always coming away with the vast majority of their athletes victorious. Congratulations on another amazing evening to the SBG Idaho tribe!

For full fight reports, and fight videos, check out the SBG Idaho page now!

The Black Belt Tree Grows!

The month of May saw the SBG tree of black belts grow two more branches, as SBG Estonia’s Head Coach Priit Mihkelson rewarded black belts to Ronald Stimmer and Harto Vallimagi.

The promotions take the number of SBG black belts to a staggering 33 athletes! SBG now has black belts from the Pacific Northwest to Ireland, to Estonia and everywhere in between.

Congratulations to Ronald and Harto on their incredible achievement! Truly amazing!

 

It’s Aliveness – Still…

After 25 year of teaching BJJ, and spending that time continuously simplifying and boiling down the fundamentals of what makes the art work, Matt Thornton is still having to repeat the message of Aliveness in his latest blog post. In the post, Matt talks about the essential element of Aliveness in all that we do at SBG. Timing – Energy – Motion that tests everything that we learn and ensures it’s effectiveness. However, despite preaching this message for two and a half decades, videos still appear online of other martial artists selling their own ineffective brand of fighting.

Why is Matt Thornton still talking about Aliveness? One would think, with a globally recognized organization built on the back of his principles, and organization that includes BJJ champions and one of the most successful MMA athletes of all time, he would no longer have to worry himself with convincing people of the importance of Aliveness. However, despite already having proven his point to most, this is not a question of ego or just ‘being right’. Instead, it is because other, fantasy-based martial arts are actually dangerous. They give a false sense of security to the weakest people; the people who need a functional martial art the most, and they also steal money and time from these people along the way. Be sure to read the whole post for yourself.

SBG Ladies Camp One Week Away!

The always-popular annual SBG Ladies’ Camp is now just a week away. Last years camp at SBG’s HQ in Portland was a huge success, with two days of specialized training from some of SBG’s top female coaches. This year, SBG Ladies’ Camp will be held in beautiful Berkeley, California.

Head over to sbgcamps.com for all the information on registration fees, location details, and suggestions for lodging. Registration through sbgcamps.com also allows for awesome special SBG Ladies’ Camp t-shirts and gi patches to be purchased. SBG members and non-members alike are welcome to attend. Don’t miss out on this incredible annual event!

SBG recently put together a video podcast specifically about Women in BJJ. In the hour long video, some of SBG’s highest ranking BJJ women talk about their experiences in the art. SBG Head Coach Matt Thornton has long been of the belief that women are better at learning BJJ than men:

Taken as a whole, women are more coachable than men. And in what we do and in how we do it, more coachable means better – faster. 

The SBG Ladies’ Camp is a hotbed of women learning from each other and receiving coach from some of the best BJJ coaches in the world. If you have the change to attend, do it! You definitely will not regret it!

Leah Taylor On Women’s Only BJJ Classes

Leah Taylor, SBG Montana BJJ Coach and Montana’s first female black belt, recently took to her blog to argue the case for women’s only BJJ classes. Responding to comments made about a similar article, Leah addresses some of the major misconceptions that arise when people discuss women’s only classes; that they are less difficult, that they aren’t proper jiu jitsu, that they are held to a lower standard than a men’s class, and that such classes will fail to push the best female practitioners.

Taylor goes through each argument and dissects them individually to prove that if anything, the opposite of each of those arguments is true! There can be little doubt that women’s classes have a place at all BJJ gyms. They allow for the art to grow in new ways and benefit more people who may not gain from the art if forced to train in less comfortable or more intimidating environments. The growth in popularity of the SBG Ladies’ Camp is prove that there is definitely a place for it, and it allows for incredible learning and friendships to develop as a result. It is not too late to register for this year’s SBG Ladies’ Camp in Berkeley next week end, register at www.sbgcamps.com now!

In other news, Matt Thornton has new shoes!

…or are they slippers… Nobody is quite sure! Head Coach Matt Thornton caused quite a stir when he took to Facebook to debate his new choice of footwear. 91 comments later and I still don’t think a decision was reached!