The Gorilla Press, Issue 96

Justin Abbott Benefit Seminar A Huge Success!

The first weekend of 2018 saw SBG Portland achieve a huge first, in order to support one of the tribes most valued members. On January 6th, the SBG HQ live streamed a seminar across the world for SBG viewers online! The seminar featured five SBG black belts covering some of their best material for a full five hours! It is the first time ever that content from SBG’s best coaches was made available completely for free to every tribe member the world over!

This event took place because in early November SBG Portland coach, Justin Abbott, started feeling ill. The doctor’s narrowed it down to being a liver issue, and his toxin numbers continued to get worse until he was admitted to the hospital. Justin required a full liver transplant as a result of his liver being destroyed by an auto-immune disease. Since then, Justin’s recovery is going strong and getting better every day!

Thank you to everyone who donated to support the Abbotts. It will really help this young couple conquer this tough hurdle. Destiny Abbott shared this in response to the tribe’s generosity:

“To all my BJJ friends, 
My wonderful gym is putting on a seminar with 5 amazing black belts to help Justin and I with medical bills from his liver transplant(it was a success and he is making huge strides) if you love us and/or BJJ please go to this event. These stellar athletes are so rad for donating their time and knowledge. We owe so much to SBG and our tribe we love you guys 💙💜🖤#SBG #bjj #onetribeonevibe #myfriendsarerad #SBGTID #vivasbg“

 Last month’s SBG Vlog – Travis On Diet, Exercise & Competing as a Father in your 40s!

The twelfth installment of SBG’s vlog series is here, and this one is great! This month the vlog covers SBG Vice President, Travis Davison as he heads on a journey of self improvement on his way to lose weight, feel healthier and compete at the highest level of BJJ; at the IBJJF World Masters Championship as a black belt. Be sure to watch the whole thing – Travis imparts a ton of wisdom and lessons along the way as he discusses the reasoning behind his decision, his diet and exercise regime, and the things he learned as he got out of his comfort zone and pushed himself to achieve his goal – all while running his businesses and being a present father and husband! Truly inspirational!

 

This months SBG Vlog –

SBG’s video podcast the month, episode #13 – Street vs Sport, more than a fallacy? An in depth, 90 minute conversation with old school, original SBG coach, Paul Sharp. Very few people have the extensive, real world, martial arts and law enforcement experience Paul brings to the table. Topics include: – What if any differences exist in training when we switch to self-defense/ “street”. – How to properly maneuver in a self-defense situation. – Is Krav Maga worthwhile? – How to handle armed opponents. – Does BJJ hinder your street skills? – How to set up a self-defense drill. – When to go physical. – The predator mindset. – Macro level solutions. – The importance of mentors. – The proper survival mindset. – Self defense for older people. + Much more. As always please like, share, and subscribe.

SBG Belfast Grand Opening!

SBG Belfast – Grand Opening 2018 from Flixl on Vimeo.

 

Coach Whittier At SBG Idaho

Head of SBG East Coast, BJJ black belt, Muay Thai expert, and exponent of many martial arts in between, Stephen Whittier visited Boise on the 14th & 15th for a two day seminar.

The event, which included 10 hours of material across the two sessions, covered a full day of high-quality striking instruction on Saturday and a full day of BJJ on Sunday.

For an incredible price, students got to learn from one of SBG’s most respected and well-rounded coaches. If Coach Whittier is ever giving a seminar in your area, be sure to sign up fast!

“Day 1 with Coach Whittier in the books!!! Fantastic striking training today! Thanks Coach Whittier for the fantastic technique and level of detail and breakdown! Looking forward to the BJJ section tomorrow!”

Wise Words from Coach Cane Prevost

“Outside of competition attaching a win/lose value to a tap in BJJ is a huge mistake. In Jiu Jitsu we use an opponent process and resistance to learn what works and what doesn’t. The only job of the tap in training is to keep the roll honest. Without the tap you are missing an important feedback tool to let you know when you make a mistake. That is all. 
If you get the tap it’s feedback that you successfully took advantage of a mistake from your partner. (How did you do that? Can you replicate it?) If you got tapped then it’s feedback that you made a mistake (How did you do that? What could you do to prevent it?) If instead of being inquisitive when a tap happens you go to an emotional place you don’t have the right mindset. This is an easy lesson to understand and a difficult one to employ. We are ego driven creatures. 
It’s worth noticing where your brain goes when a tap happens in training. Using a tap as a tool rather than an emotional hit is something that can be learned and it not only makes you better at Jiu Jitsu but it also improves your enjoyment of the art.”

 

Congratulations to SBG Buford’s Drew Upshaw on his amateur MMA debut victory! Drew won with a first round submission, at NFC 103! Amazing!

Matt on Mindfulness and Non-Attachment in BJJ

“Learning to focus in your BJJ class, and being forced to focus when you roll, you’ll still find neurotic thoughts popping up when you’re under pressure. You’re trapped on bottom, you’re having trouble breathing, your opponent starts to drag a forearm across your throat; you struggle to even move an arm underneath him, to block it. The voice within you tells you to quit. You don’t. You ignore that voice. You defend your neck. You survive. Eventually your opponent moves, just a little, just enough. You find the space and moment to escape. You’re back to guard. You can breath. Your opponent is tired. You sweep. You hold. You submit. You’ve won.

Those moments will happen. Over the years, they will happen a lot. Likewise, you’ll have moments where you’ll lose the battle. You’ll be bested. That’s necessary. But what may get missed, if you’re not careful, is just how often you’ve overcome that little voice in your head in the process. That’s a huge part of the practice. That’s a huge part of the benefit to what we do. And as long as you don’t give up unless you have to, because you’ve tried and failed, as long as you don’t stop and walk off the mat before your opponent has imposed the win, or you’ve overcome the position – these lessons in mindfulness, in non-attachment to the negative sub-vocalization that echoes within our skulls, are inevitable. And that’s beautiful.”

 Coach Amanda On Local News!

SBG Portland’s very own world champion black belt made a return to the television this month, as she was asked to provide another short news segment on self-defense for local channel KATU. You can watch the full segment in the video above. On the show, Oregon’s first female BJJ black belt runs through some of the simplest and most essential tactics for remaining safe when feeling threatened. Coach Amanda continues to be a valuable voice for women’s self defense. Look out for more of her self defense seminars in the near future!

Coach Cane On The Essence Of Jiu Jitsu

More Amateur Wins for SBG Portland MMA

2017 was a big year for two SBG Portland athletes. Peter Lysenko and Max Garrison both began their MMA careers and picked up exciting wins at Rumble at the Roseland events. So impressive was the quality of their performances, that Max was voted the amateur fighter to watch for 2018 at the end-of-year FCFF awards. The two took to the cage once again in January, and, as is becoming habit, both walked away with impressive victories.

Max won after three well-fought rounds by unanimous decision, taking his record to 2-0, while Peter scored a split decision win, taking his record to 3-0 and earning the FCFF lightweight superfight championship in the process!

Congratulations to Max and Peter of their amazing wins and incredible progress!

Congratulations to Arthur Mpofu for winning his debut Muay Thai fight via unanimous decision!!!

SBG Spring Camp Comes to Athens, GA Next Month!

In April of 2016 SBG Athens held the largest US training camp in the history of SBG. Nearly one hundred and fifty tribe members joined together for an epic weekend of training, learning, teaching, and socializing.  Not only were the students and staff of SBG Athens extremely gracious hosts, they also packed the weekend full of events for the tribe; including three days of the highest level instruction, a huge ironman belt promotion, extra hours for open mat and socializing, cooked food on site, and much more!
Now a full two years later the tribe is returning to Athens for what may be the most epic SBG training camp in history! Sign up now, before its too late! This year’s SBG Spring Camp takes place from March 23rd to 25th, 2018.
Register now at sbgcamps.com! Early registration savings are still available, for a limited time!

John Frankl & Henry Akins Share Some Fundamentals

Check out the video above, in which SBG legend John Frankl teams up with Rickson Gracie’s fastest ever BJJ black belt, Henry Akins, share some tips on the critical idea of “connection” – an essential element of BJJ that Rickson Gracie himself has been preaching for many years, but is so often misunderstood. Henry and John show some simple techniques to leverage the idea of connection to its fullest here…

SBG Moray On Their IBJJF No Gi Worlds Success

Eryk Anders At UFC Fight Night Belem

Up and coming SBG talent Eryk Anders headed to Brazil last week for the biggest challenge of his career to date. On February 3rd, Eryk took on none other than UFC legend Lyoto Machida in the main event of a UFC card in Machida’s home country. Anders came up just short of the task on this occasion but should feel extremely proud of his effort in defeat, suffering just a split decision loss in a fight that could have gone either way, against the former Light Heavyweight champion.
The tough splite decision is unlikely to keep Anders down for long, and no doubt the exciting talent from SBG Alabama still has an awful lot more in store for us in 2018!

SBG Idaho Competes At FCFF and FSF

SBG Idaho undoubtedly has one of the most solid MMA teams across the whole SBG tribe. With the likes of MMA veterans Jesse Brock and Scott Thometz leading the way, it can be little surprise that each month, talented young fighters from the Boise gym show up in cages across the northwest and take home victories.
In January, SBG Idaho went 2-0 at the local Front Street Fights 15 event, with Almir Talic and Noah Schulz both securing big wins, meanwhile, in Portland, SBG Idaho fighter Riley Timmons scored a unanimous decision. David Akers and Stephen Stirewalt lost nothing in defeat at the same event, and can both be proud of brave performances on a tough night of fights. For full results and match play-by-plays, be sure to check out the SBG Idaho news page.
Congratulations to all the SBG Idaho fighters who competed this month!

Paul Sharp On Ethics

“In the circles I move in as well as at my academy there has been some discussion regarding ethics, associations, and responsibility as it pertains to Jiujitsu, training, and coaches. I talked about this for a bit on the Grapplers Union Podcast with Anthony Zito and Paul Moloney. Here is the bullet point version of my thoughts on this matter.

1) There’s an intimacy in Jiujitsu due to trusting our body/health to our training partner. A choke is a murder that’s avoided by tapping. A joint lock is serious bodily injury that’s avoid by tapping. If our training partner doesn’t honor the tap, or is a malicious person we could be seriously injured. After several months or years of this type of training we become closer friends to the people we train with than people we’ve grown up with due to this intimacy built on trust. As coaches we can’t allow anyone in our academy to violate this at any level.

2) Some of the folks that come to us have been victimized. They are trusting us to keep them safe while helping them take back those things the offender might have taken. They’re winning back their confidence, and their belief that they can fight back and defend themselves in the future. Knowing they will be safe in the future due to this training motivates them to go to the gym, and keep going to the gym. Jiujitsu can, and will empower them but it takes time and good coaching. This not the environment where an offender should be in a position of authority/power.

3) This is why every SBG runs background checks on all coaches. Also, most of our coaches are homegrown. We’ve known them for years, on and off the mat. Almost every SBG coach has kids, and is trusting their coaching staff to train their own children as well as the children that are enrolled in the academy. We’re not going to allow anyone around our tribe/children that has even a hint of an issue.

4) There is a difference between someone that got into some trouble versus someone that victimized women and/or children. I firmly believe Jiujitsu is the most powerful reformative tool we can apply to someones life. A person that took a wrong turn, got caught up, and paid their dues to society could use some Jiujitsu in their life. A person with an addiction or similar challenge could use some Jiujitsu in their life. It will make them better. A person that victimizes women or children? Jiujitsu is not for them. That type of offense is not “just” or “only” once or a few times. The damage from those acts stays with the victim for a life time. I have nothing but love and acceptance for someone that wants to transform their life after screwing up. However, someone that beat/raped women and/or children? There’s no place for you in Jiujitsu, particularly as a coach or person of authority.”

SBG Buford Makes It Into Voyage Magazine

Atlanta based magazine Voyage ATL did a full interview with Phillipe Gentry and Jim Sheppard, the owners and coaches at SBG Buford, on their website this month. Jim and Phillipe have turned SBG Buford into the number one martial arts gym in the region, and in the interview the two share the story of how it came to be, and the winding road that got them to the success they are seeing now.

Congratulations to Phillipe Gentry and Jim Sheppard on all the hard work that has got SBG Buford to the point it is at now. Keep up the amazing work representing the tribe!

Decades of knowledge, years of friendship. Tribe matters…

SBG Podcast In the Works

 

Karl Tanswell…

Finally, it is with immense sadness that we have to announce the passing of Karl Tanswell. Karl was the Head Coach of SBG Manchester, and the founder of SBG in the UK. One of Matt’s earliest BJJ black belts, he was one of the smartest and most talented coaches SBG had to offer. But far more than all of that, he was an amazing human being who touched the lives of thousands of people over the decades. Tributes for Karl online are beyond counting but here are just a few; a sample of just some of the impact he had on the lives of those around him.