Rick and his brother Travis

A note from Matt: “I was very proud to award Rick his well deserved black belt. Rick’s game is top notch, and his technical understanding of the game is equally refined. I know he will continue to represent the highest standards of excellence that SBGi is known for.”

Fri, Sat, Sun March 26th – 28th
At SBGi NV Team Reno!
Contact: Ray Price
Tel: (775) 530-8518Reno, NV
Email: rxjits@sbcglobal.net
Web: www.teamrenobjj.com

The Instructors roster is still growing, but so far we have John Kavanagh, yes the Irish legend himself will be back, this time teaching the Vulcan vs Gumby curriculum! John will not be teaching in Portland on this trip, so you will want to make sure to make this camp. . .there are also some special surprises in store!

In addition to John will be BJJ black belts & head coaches Matt Thornton, Steve “the mangler” Whittier, Travis Davison, and many other SBG Instructors from around the globe. We will also be covering different themes at this camp, including some MMA, and self defense material…see you there

Portland's first homegrown BJJ black belt

Big congratulations due to long time Portland student, and Instructor, Travis Davison. After eleven Years, Travis became the first student from the Portland Gym to recieve a BJJ black belt from head coach Matt Thornton.

Portland's newest brown belt

Also, big congratlutions due to Portland’s own James Davis. A week after winter camp James recieved his well desreved BJJ brown belt from Matt, prior to heading to SBG Iceland to coach for a year.

SBGi winter camp!    coming soon!

       
   Fri, Sat, Sun December 4th-6th 
    At ModCom Berkeley SBGi 
1713 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94703
Tel: 510-540-828 

We have the following instructors scheduled: 
      
     John Kavanagh, SBGi Ireland’s best and brightest BJJ giant on defeating the BSG (big strong guys) 
     Karl Tanswell – SBGi UK’s Coach genius on (Jits for MMA) 
     Brian Walsh - teaching a (standup for MMA) 
     Chris Haueter – Gi BJJ 
     Matt Thornton - (release of the brand new simplified SBGi BJJ curriculum!) 
     Travis Davison - BJJ gi and no-gi (competition preparation and Gi Jits) 
     James Davis –(Cage surfing), new drill designed to prevent the takedown stall against the cage. 

Also included will be some guest Instructors from around the globe! 

Cost: The cost for this year’s camp will remain the same as in 2008. 
All three days:   Pre-registered by Oct 20, 2009:   SBGI Members: $212.00 non members: 275.00 
This will be a very special camp, with some important surprises. Matt has requested that everyone within SBGi try to attend this event. 
            
Pre-Register now:   www.straightblastgym.com 

one of  SBGi’s top BJJ black belts

               John Kavanagh

   Is coming to Portland for a seminar!

John will be covering BJJ for a smaller athlete against a larger athlete, the BSG (big strong guy) curriculum. This will be a weekend long seminar specially set up for our Portland Gym members.

The times will be noon to 3pm Sat & Sun Dec 12^th & 13^th. And the cost will be 80. for SBGi members. For non members 110. And only 25. For all weekend for those who attend the SBGi winter Camp the weekend previously. (For the one day rate subtract 25%)

Check out The Portland Gym’s Facebook page, daily updates, videos + more!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/SBGi-Straight-Blast-Gym-Portland-Oregon/101362492303

Oh, also Portland won the Gorilla Cup back, by a large margin ; )

Big day for SBG Saturday, July 11th.

Travis Davison competed in Grapplers Quest Vegas. On Friday Travis entered the absolute division (Travis weighed in around 160), with his first opponent being 260, Travis went on to beat him, and towards the end of the day narrowly lose on a 2 point sweep to world champion black belt Cleber Luciano. Travis went on to win a bronze in the absolute. At 160lbs that is quite an achievement!

The next day Travis competed in his own weight class and brought home a gold medal in the brown belt division! 

That same weekend we had three athletes from the Portland Gym drive up to Seattle for the big Pac NW championships. Jonathan Lee and Chris Stearns entered in the purple belt division, and Tim Edman entered in the blue belts. Jonathan beat of his opponents for a gold medal. Chris Stearns (who was awarded his purple just two weeks previously) beat all of his opponents, and faced long time Impact purple belt Andy Wong in the finals. Chris won that match, winning the gold medal. And Tim swept his matches, also winning gold. Three athletes entered, three golds won! 

Another good day for the SBG.

And in more good news. . .due to popular demand we have added two new Boxing for MMA classes, both taught by long time SBGr and former golden glove fighter Josh Sachs. In addition to this there is a new Clinch and takedown class on Monday nights at 5pm, just before Cane’s ever popular BJJ time slot. This class will be taught by SBG morning coach Brookes. And last but not least SBG coach Chris Stearns has added a Gi BJJ Competition class on Sundays at 5pm.

You can keep up with all these updates at the new Portland Gym Facebook page located here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/SBGi-Straight-Blast-Gym-Portland-Oregon/101362492303

And finally please stop in welcome the new Portland Gym business manager Stefani Porter. We know Stefani will be doing great things with the Portland Gym!

With just under two years at SBGi, Shane started his MMA career with his first fight at the Roseland theater in June. Shane worked very hard to prepare and wound up winning by RNC in just over 1 minute of the first round. It doesn’t get any better then that! Look for Shane to be very active on the local fight scene in the coming years.

Shane helps his opponent up post fight

Following Shane’s win in June, SBG fighter Tom Matijacik took a   fight at the EWC in Vancouver WA on June 27th. Tom finished the   fight with strikes on the ground, winning by TKO in just under        two minutes of the first round. Way to go Tom! Look for Tom to  make his pro debut sometime within the next couple months.

That same week some well deserved promotions took place at the Portland Gym. Big congrats to Brooks, Drew, Anthony and Justin Evans on earning their blue belt. Also, huge congrats due to SBG’s own Chris Stearns on earning his purple belt. Chris went through a 30 person, hour long ironman session in the finest tradition of the Portland Gym.

On a final note, despite the lagging economy we are happy to announce the Portland Gym has been rocking in terms of both classes, and new members. With a record number of sign ups for this Summer, and some exciting news to announce soon. See you in the gym!

Congratulations to Portland’s own Cory Roska, who defended his title for the fourth straight time by scoring a tap out from mount in the first round. Also congrats due to Jake Oyler from SBG Montana who captured the 170lb title belt. Way to go! Portland’s Hamilton Ash suffered an injury in the first round of his fight which will put him out for a few months, but we are all sure he will make a strong comeback soon.

Also congratulations to long time Portland Coach, and now head of SBG Montana Travis Davison. Travis took home a silver and a bronze at last weekends grapplers quest. The silver was in the absolute division, and with Travis being under 160lbs at the moment, and the division having plenty of black and brown belts in it that was an awesome achievement! Following the absolute Travis took bronze in his weight. Both losses in the absolute and his weight were to points, while his wins all ended in submission. A pretty cool achievement.

In our ongoing effort to add more benefit for our members we have added three brand new classes to the Portland schedule! There will be a new open mat time from 9am - noon on Wednesdays, followed by Matt’s noon class. And on Thursday and Friday morning from 8-9:30 am is a brand new MMA and BJJ class with Hamilton Ash. 

Have a great May.

When: Saturday March 21st
Spring Camp Weekend (post roseland fight 9ish)

Where: Republic Café 222 NW 4th ave (downtown/chinatown)

Who: All SBGr’s and their family

 Competitors arrived from across the Northwest, including Pendelton and a very strong team from SBG Montana. Team Montana drove 11 hours each way in order to participate and train. The gym was packed with both spectators, and athletes. The morning started with a gi division (using Mundial rules), followed by a no-gi division (using Karls creation the Submission League rules). The grappling competition was at the usual SBG high standards, with several purple belt and brown belt superfights.

Much thanks to Travis Davison and Chris Stearns for ther help in running the event. Look for the next GC coming sometime in May.

Remember the new Saturday schedule with Matt teaching all afternoon, and our gi competition team practice at 2:30. Nathan’s class is still going strong, moved to Sundays at noon. We now have over 60 classes a week with the Northwests top coaches.

SBG, Oregon’s first and best BJJ & MMA gym. See you on the mat!

The new Portland schedule is out, with many cool additions.

There is now a brand new 7-8am conditioning class on Mon and Wed morning, MMA classes every weekday from 8am - 9:30am, two new intermediate BJJ classes with Matt Thornton on Wed and Fri evening from 7-8pm, Rick’s MMA classes on Mon & Wed at 5pm, a brand new noon time BJJ class on Sunday afternoon with Nathan, and finally a brand new Saturday afternoon schedule with Matt teaching BJJ from noon to close, 12:30-1:30pm, a blue belt and above class from 1:30 - 2:30, and a gi competition team practice starting at 2:30.

We now have classes 7 days a week, from early morning to late in the evening, with the Northwests top coaches, and BJJ black and brown belts. Come see why SBG has been one of the worlds best Gyms for over 14 years!

See you on the mat.

Don’t forget the Gorilla Cup, this Saturday Feb 7th at the Portland gym!

And also . .

Spring Camp 09 coming in March to Portland!

and finally. . .

New BJJ gi’s available now!

SBGi coach Lily Pagle has a new company producing top quality BJJ gi’s. The gi’s can be ordered online at:    www.DogfightGear.com

Click on the SBGi gym you are affiliated with, all SBG Portland members will recieve a gi with the embroidered SBG logo on the back!

Order yours today.