The Gorilla Press, Issue 108

Arthur Mpofu Wins Amateur Title

SBG East Coast’s Arthur Mpofu stepped into the cage for his third amateur fight last month, as he took on Fouad Shahin for the Cage Titans Amateur Bantamweight Title. In a tough contest stretching out for a full five rounds, Arthur was the man to have his arm raised! The win maintains the unbeaten start to Mpofu’s fledgling fight career, and with the incredible team at SBG East Coast in his corner, it will be exciting to see what heights he can reach in the future. Congratulations to Arthur for an amazing amateur title victory!

A SBG Vlog Q&A Session With Matt Thornton

The first monthly video podcast of 2019 arrived in January, and what better way to kick off the year than to sit down with SBG President Matt Thornton and tackle some of the burning questions from members of the worldwide tribe?

Matt covers an enormous amount in this podcast, with everything from coaching topics such as what defines fundamentals, and the place for strength and conditioning in your training, to the history of SBG, including the real story behind the anarchist’s A on the original SBG gorilla, his feelings about the Gracies, how SBG has evolved over the years, and his toughest challenges regarding SBG.

John Frankl In Nevada

SBG legend John Frankl made his way to Nevada to visit another corner of the SBG tribe in January. He hosted a seminar alongside fellow SBG black belt coach Ray Price. The topic of the seminar; Survive and Escape. As always, Coach Frankl focuses on the fundamentals at the core of BJJ, teaching in a way that ensures everybody comes away from his seminars with improved jiu jitsu, regardless of if you have a white belt or a black belt. If you have the good fortune to ever live within a reasonable distance of a John Frankl seminar, be sure to attend… Your jiu jitsu will thank you for it!

Peter Boghossian On The Martial Arts Journey Podcast

SBG student, Wimp2Warrior contestant, and prolific vlogger, Rokas Leonavicius sat down for another series of interviews in January. Among his guests this month was Peter Boghossian, an SBG student and philosophy professor at Portland State University, who has featured on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast and made headlines for exposing academic dishonesty in a number of recent papers. In this interview, Rokas and Boghossian cover the topics of critical thinking, how to develop it within oneself, how to test your ideas against reality, and much more. Peter Boghossian is always fascinating and thought-provoking, be sure to listen to the whole interview!

New Mural At SBG Manchester

SBG Manchester, birthplace of SBG in the United Kingdom, is in the process of renovating and unveiling a brand new mural across the interior wall of their facility. Pics were leaked in January and the whole tribe is excited by the new look. The work is inspired by the late Karl Tanswell, the founder of SBG in the UK, who tragically passed away just a year ago.

Stapleton and Sheldon Putting In The Work

SBG Coach and professional MMA veteran Martin Stapleton has been putting in the work to raise up the next generation of elite British fighters at his academy, the Full Contact Performance Center. In the above video, we can see Stapleton training with young pro Antonio Sheldon. After a career in the British Royal Marines, Martin Stapleton put together an amazing pro record of 19-6, with multiple titles to his name within some of the biggest promotions in Europe and the world. It will be fascinating to see what exciting young prospects come out of the UK gym in the coming years…

Kavanagh At SBG Spring Camp

That’s right, you read it correctly… Possibly the biggest announcement prior to any SBG camp in recent years was made in January, as it was confirmed that none other than SBG Ireland Head Coach, John Kavanagh, will be attending and coaching at the 2019 SBG Spring Camp. Best known for training MMA fighters at the highest levels of the sport, including the likes of Gunnar Nelson and double UFC champion Conor McGregor, John Kavanagh is a BJJ black belt and founder of SBG Ireland. His crazy schedule means it is very rare that he hosts seminars, and the chance to receive coaching from him should not be passed up. Sign up for the SBG Spring Camp now at sbgcamps.com.

SBG Portland’s Max Garrison Named Fighter of the Year

“Max Garrison of Straight Blast Gym – Portland, Oregon has been an unassuming tornado in the local MMA scene since his debut in September 2017 at #RUMBLE94 with a third round submission over Micah Mitchell. That fight and his unique personality caught the attention of many, earning him the 2018 FCFF Fighter to Watch award… And what a display he has put on for the fight fans in the FCFF SLAMMER!

Garrison kicked off 2018 with a unanimous decision victory against Khelsey Lyday at #RUMBLE96 and then stepped into the cage for #RUMBLE97 vs (now pro) Braydon Akeo for a Superfight belt. He would fall short, losing by the judges decision but it didn’t deter him for long. He would continue his pre-show press conference statements with an unapologetic confidence, remaining stoic until victory was his again.

For his 3rd appearance in our cage last year, he faced veteran MMA fighter Ivo Wallace, finishing him in the second round by TKO. With the FCFF Featherweight Champion Yan Kuvaldin unable to compete, Garrison stepped up for an interim division title vs another known prospect, Eduardo Torres at#RUMBLE99. Not only was Torres a former member at Garrison’s gym, but he was also undefeated currently at 3-0. With only 11 seconds left in the second round, Garrison delivered a multitude of blows to Torres…the first one sitting Torres straight down, and the flurry that followed would earn him the Interim Featherweight Title!

Yan Kuvaldin has since vacated the title to join the pro ranks, and as a result Garrison is now the FCFF Featherweight Champion. We are excited to see what he brings to our cage for 2019!”

SBG Montana Lauches New Vlog

Following the huge success that has been the monthly SBG Vlog, never to be out-done, SBG Montana launched their own weekly vlog in January. The vlog covers the daily happenings of possibly SBG’s most active and exciting gym. SBG VP Travis Davison has truly built something special in Montana. This first episode covers SBG Montana as it sees in the New Year, including their tradition of “rolling in the New Year”. This marks Travis’ 20th year of BJJ, while Kisa Davison marks the new year with her own yoga practice. 2019 promises to be an amazing year for SBG Montana, and SBG as a whole. Follow their progress, starting with the video above.

The Ultimate Advice for White Belts

This candid camera footage from the making of the SBG Montana vlog captured a piece of wisdom from SBG VP Travis Davison. In the video he provides encouragement, reassurance and advice to a brand new white belt struggling in the early stages of her BJJ journey. SBG Montana is home to one of this year’s Wimp2Warrior camps. W2W is a program that takes individuals with no prior experience of martial arts and puts them through an intensive boot camp so that they can step into the cage for their first amateur fight at the end. It is a tough but amazing personal challenge, filled with ups and downs, and there is no better place for such a task than under the tutelage of Travis Davison and SBG Montana.

Matt Thornton Seminar at SBG HQ

January saw SBG President Matt Thornton host his first seminar of 2019 at his home gym of SBG Portland. Every year, Matt embarks of a new seminar series, picking one area in particular to focus on and perfect for the entire year. In 2017, it was mount top. In 2018, it was the closed guard. This year, it will be the concept of Survive & Escape. This seminar represented the culmination of a year of work on the close guard. A two day seminar in which the SBG founder covered the fundamentals of the position, perfected over tens of seminars the world over during 2018. Suffice it to say, if you missed it, you missed out.

Not only that, but SBG VP Travis Davison was also in attendance for the weekend, hosting his own short seminar for adults, as well as providing SBG Portland’s first kids only seminar! SBG Portland; truly providing learning opportunities of the highest level for every member of your BJJ family!

New black belt and SBG Portland Coach, Chris Stearns, shared this about the weekend:

“Truly awesome weekend of learning. Thank you Coach Matt for such a masterful break down of the closed guard. On top of upping my own game, I can’t wait to pass this material down to our students and level up their games as well.

It was also really cool to see all of my old coaches from the MLK gym under one roof learning and training together. Along with Coach Matt, Cane Prevost, Travis Davison and Eric Hemphill all were hugely influential to me over the years and continue to be. Sharing a mat and watching them train, learn and have such a great time was just awesome.

Those that train a combat sport in a healthy environment will learn important skill sets, self defense mentalities and receive huge health benefits. Something that should never be understated are the bonds you will form with your training partners, team mates and coaches over the weeks, months and years. Watching Matt, Eric, Cane and Travis working together this weekend, alongside the fellow students/coaches of the gym truly showcased these deep bonds and was super special to me.”

Big MMA Wins for SBG Birmingham

Congratulations to all the athletes who took part at the recent V3Fights 72 event, in Memphis Tennessee. The card saw some of SBG Birmingham’s most exciting amateur prospects take on the regions best, and come away resoundingly victorious. In total, SBG fighters saw their hands raised on four separate occasions. Among those wins, 20 yr old Jacob Sandlin extended his amateur record to 7-3 with an impressive second round KO of his opponent Nathan Gilmore. Earlier in the card, Rodricus Dansby put to rest previous defeats with a comfortable unanimous decision win over Tee Cummins, to move his record to 3-2. Congratulations to all of the athletes who competed, and the whole SBG Birmingham team for the amazing work they put in prior to the event.

Paul Sharp’s New MDOC Announced

Paul Sharp, SBG’s resident self defense expert, has just announced the release of his brand new Multi-Disciplinary Optimization Course this March! Paul Sharp has decades of experience not only in the martial arts, but also on the front lines of real world self defense as a career police officer, and trainer in firearms. Over his years as a coach, Paul has developed a program that is designed to provide a full overview of everything the average person would need to know to protect themselves in a whole range of different self defense scenarios “from harsh words to hand guns”.

Up until now, that content has only been available in person at one of Paul Sharp’s seminars. But 2019 sees Paul Sharp bring his sought after MDOC knowledge to the internet, with a complete online course for all! Find out more here!

“I want to thank Travis Davison and Cane Prevost. ‪

We shot over 5 hours closed guard material today, without a break.

I couldn’t have done it without those two athletes, coach’s coaches, and elder statesmen. SBG”

The Gorilla Press, Issue 108