My friend and student, Mauro Sergio, is staying with us for a few days while he's vacationing here in NYC. We didn't want to miss a training opportunity, so we hit the mat yesterday at Renzo Gracie Academy. Mauro is a black belt under myself and Ryan Gracie. Mauro has an academy in Costa Rica. Black Rob was also at Renzo Gracie Academy and took some time out of his busy schedule to pose for a picture! Of course, while Mauro is here we'll be doing all the touristy things - so look for more pics coming soon!

It was a few Saturdays ago, that both Dave Branch and John Cholish were victorious in their fights against Robbie Houston and Lloyd Baldwin, respectively. Dave and John fought in the Battle at the Capital. Dave won by submission and John by unanimous decision. On a side note, 'Black Rob' did a great job as the ring announcer! Way to go, guys!

Ariel Sexton won fight of the night for his battle in the Maximum Fighting Championship. While the win went to his opponent, Ariel did a great job. Looking forward to more training in 2009!

Congratulations to Sapo for his submission win over the Thanksgiving weekend!

Igor Gracie won his fight in Lou Neglia's Ring of Combat. Igor trained like a warrior for this fight and we are all really happy for him. Well done!!!

Many thanks to Mark DellaGrotte for another awesome training! While Ariel and I were at Sityodtong, we also had the terrific opportunity to train with UFC Fighter, Stephan Bonnar. It was great training with him and it's obvious why he is a champion! Kevin Kearns devised another strength conditioning session specialized for MMA. Just so you know, his nickname is Dr. Evil. It is well deserved. The training didn't stop there as Ariel and I headed to Renzo Gracie New Hampshire to train with Tim & Kevin. Tim is a great training partner, thanks Tim!

Many thanks to professor, founder, inventor Alvaro Romano. 'Alvinho' came to Renzo Gracie Academy to teach us some of the basics of his program, Ginastica Natural. Alvinho is a black belt under Rolls Gracie, and later Carlinhos Gracie & Rickson Gracie. He is also a brown belt in Judo and a proponent of natural health and fitness. We all enjoyed the strenuous training that Alvinho developed specifically for MMA fighters. Myself, Andre Gusmao, Rafael Sapo, Ariel Sexton, John Cholish, Pablo Silva all learned from Alvinho and most specifically his belief that explosiveness comes directly from a strong base! Thanks, Alvinho!!!
















As usual, our intense training continued! The sparring, rolling, takedown defense and more were all enhanced by our training prior with Alvaro Romano. Ali was timing our five minute rounds - but sometimes they felt more like 7 or 8 minutes. Ali is really tough on the stopwatch! Rafael Sapo got his fight and will be fighting in Texas. Good Luck, Sapo! John Cholish is also training for his fight in Washington, D.C. Good Luck, John! Ariel's training is continuing and today we head North to Sityodtong. More pics to come. For now, check these out...

It was another great UFC card with lots of awesome fights. Mark DellaGrotte of Sityodtong and Kevin Kearns of Burn with Kearns added another W to their win columns last night with Kenny Florian's submission of Joe Stevenson. Another Sityodtong & Burn with Kearns fighter, Jorge Gurgel, had a stand up battle with Aaron Riley. Gurgel and Riley went three rounds of intense stand up and I think Gurgel benefited greatly from his training at Sityodtong. I am proud to be training with Mark and Kevin and I'm looking forward to representing them at my next fight.

I couldn't believe it! Somebody installed malware onto my site. It's been found and deleted. The website is once again running perfectly.

Another great training at Renzo Gracie Academy. IFL and UFC fighter, Andre Gusmao was sparring, rolling and defending the take down against Ariel Sexton, Nieman Gracie and myself. Ariel is looking really tough and the next couple weeks will only get him better. Nieman was showing off his boxing skills, while coach Edgar Chutan looked on.

It was a great training session. Igor Gracie and Gregor Gracie were sparring under the watchful eye of boxing coach Edgar Chutan. Igor has an upcoming fight in the Welterweight Division with Troy Maxwell in Lou Neglia's Ring of Combat XXII on November 21st in Atlantic City. Igor is training hard and looking great! Good Luck!




Also, Ariel Sexton is here training for his upcoming fight. Ariel is a student of Mauro Sergio in Costa Rica. They are part of the Ryan Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Team. Ariel will be fighting at 155 in the Maximum Fighting Championship 19 in Canada on December 5th. I will be training with Ariel for the next couple of weeks and really looking forward to it. We will be training at Renzo Gracie Academy, Ricardo 'Cachorrao' Almeida's Academy in Trenton, as well as at Sityodtong with Kru Mark DellaGrotte. It's gonna be a tough couple of weeks!!!!






The training didn't stop there. Rafael Sapo and Gunnar Nelson, from Iceland, were training as well. Sapo is looking for a fight and his MMA record is 7 - 1. Sapo is a Gracie Barra brown belt under Draculino. Gunnar also fights and his MMA record is 5 -0. Gunnar is here training at Renzo Gracie Academy for a couple weeks. We sparred, rolled, did ground and pound, padwork, conditioning...

It was a great Summer and I trained with some of the best! Thanks to Mark & Kevin & TIm! I'm organizing MMA training here in NYC with the Renzo Gracie Team. Looking forward to getting back in the cage (or ring).

Back in NYC for a while to train with my cousins at Renzo's Academy. Everybody is here and training hard, Rolles Gracie, Igor Gracie, Gregor Gracie, Neiman Gracie, Augsto 'Tio Chico' and all of our friends. This year's Pan-Ams is no Gi and is in NYC. I came back from Boston for this awesome training. As always, Renzo is coaching all of us. Last night, Ricardo Almeida came by and Renzo presented him with a King of Pancrease belt. This was for his victory five years ago, he couldn't keep the belt (because it's made with platinum & diamonds) so a replica was sent to him from Japan. It was great to see him and he is training hard for his upcoming fight in the UFC against Matt Horwich. Good Luck, Ricardo!!!!!!

Kru Mark has taken my training to yet another level... the learning curve at Sityodtong is sharp! In addition to world class teachers, there are also some world class fighters training here now... (UFC)... more details to come.

Kru Toy has left for Thailand. His expertise was invaluable and I'm really appreciative for it. My training at Sityodtong has intensified quickly to the next level and I'm looking forward to learning more from Kru Mark.