I’ve been involved with Mixed Martial Arts & Gracie/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for over 10 years. Where do I start?

The Gracie’s shocked the world in Nov 1993 at UFC-1. An average sized man from Rio de Janeiro took on what was billed to be “The best of the best” from several styles of Martial Arts.

Wow! Once and for all we get to find out which styles can stand by their claims. After all, I’ve read the magazines. “take on multiple attackers”, “generate chi-power for deadly explosiveness”, “I will use you’re your own energy to redirect your movement”. Boxers would usually say, “I’ll just knock em out if they try to take me down!”  You get the idea….

Remember the average sized guy I was talking about? He went on to win 3 out of 4 UFC tournaments. He would have to defeat 2 or 3 fighters in one night. It was Royce Gracie (pronounced: Hoyce) that dominated the field of all styles. He defeated bigger, meaner fighters AND made it look easy. Even more impressive was that nobody gets hurt.

The style was Gracie/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, one that doesn’t use strikes to bust up and knock out their opponents. It’s a submission system that gives your opponent the opportunity to accept defeat by tapping out without injury. Jiu-Jitsu no longer dominates like it used to. But, only because everyone has had to learn it well enough to defend it.

My two main teachers (Lowell Anderson & Craig Kukuk) have 20 years combined experience with the Gracie Family. They were teaching for the Gracie’s before the UFC existed. They are both Black Belts now but Craig was THE first American to get one from the Gracie’s. See dirty dozen  (http://onthemat.com/wiki/index.php/BJJ_Dirty_Dozen )

I started Jiu-Jitsu with the gi but soon realized that it wasn’t for me when Lowell would have us take them off in the summer. Technical as it was, I didn’t like people holding my sleeves and pant legs. It slowed everything down to a pace I wasn’t fond of. I liked the speed and flow without the gi.

Lowell stopped teaching for a while after he fought in UFC-22, but that’s another story.

I was at a local high school where my friends Dean Heileman and Jacen Flynn were fighting. As luck would have it, I see Craig Kukuk sitting a couple rows above me. I had previously met him at Lowell’s gym. He’s a famous Jiu-Jitsu instructor known for having the first set of Brazilian instructional videos on the market.

I invited Craig over to train in my garage. He accepted but only if I promised not to bring anyone else. What up now!

He was taking a big break from the sport but just wanted to train a little. Well… I finally helped convince him to teach a couple days a week and I assisted his class for a few years. He eventually got too busy to continue the classes. I was teaching private classes but had many people calling me out to teach group classes. They were all wanting (no-gi) jiu-jitsu. After I had about 20 people on the list, I decided to give it a shot. I was always good at filling the gaps in class to help the totally new students.

I started teaching group classes in the summer of 2003 and plan to be at it for many more years.

I also continue to manage fighters after negotiating UFC contracts for Lowell Anderson and Jens Pulver.

I’ve been fortunate enough to help several other fighters expand into the international market.

Oh by the way…. out of those 20 people on the list…. only 3 showed up. See how they are?

We are currently seeking talented individuals with great character, attitude and professionalism.