NEWS

Third Law BJJ decided to go medal hunting into different states at the same time in another weekend of Jiu-Jitsu competition. This time it was the 2-day US Nationals run by the IBJJF and the Copa America Championships. A total of 4 Team Lloyd Irvin competitors (2 Team Third Law BJJ)  went out to the US Nationals there with a shot at getting four medals apiece (Gi Weight, Gi Open, No-Gi Weight, and No-Gi Open).

Andre “White Shaq” Arata crushed three opponents to take Gold in his very first IBJJF competition.

 Andre “White Shaq”Arata Hand Raised After His First Fight

   Andre “White Shaq” Arata Looking for the Americana

Andre “Whiteshaq” Arata White Belt US National Champion

Michael Florey passed his first opponent’s guard, and then used an armbar to get the tap.  In the semifinals, he faced Dan Schon who was coming off a Gold medal at the Worlds this summer.  Michael went to sleep rather than tap to a clock choke and ended up with a Bronze medal.

In the Blue Belt Open, Michael submitted his 1st opponent again with an armlock but lost 2-0 in the next round.

Michael Florey from 88 BJJ American Nationals Medalist in the Gi

In the No-Gi division Michael Florey  submitted his first opponent from Gracie Barra with a triangle to enter the Medal Round. There he swept the opposing grappler for the W. In the finals, he faced Elias Ramirez who had beaten him by two points in the Gi Open. Ramirez did it again, this time in a 4-2 sweep-for-sweep battle.

Michael Florey from 88 BJJ American Nationals Silver Medalist No-Gi

Fred Ramie did not look like his normal self today.  Fred squeeked out a narrow 2-0 victory in the quarterfinals over a grappler from Roger Machado’s team.  In the medal round, he faced Fadi Khouri who outpointed him to enter the Finals.

Fred Ramie Attempting to Open the Guard

Fred Ramie 1/2 Gracie Barra &  1/2 88 BJJ American Nationals Bronze Medalist

Roberto Torralbas jumped up to Medium Heavy for this tournament.  He dispatched the Purple Belt in the quarterfinals with a bread cutter choke under the first 2 minutes of the match. In the semi finals Roberto  passed Chris Engle (Team Mica) to make the finals.  The Championship match was very even with Roberto trying to pass Matt Sloan’s (NW JJ Academy) guard constantly and getting very close at times but Matt defended well.  Despite his hard work, the scored ended up being 0-0 with zero advantages.  The officials awarded the Gold medal to Roberto thanks to his aggression.

Roberto Torralbas Passing Spider Guard

Matt Sloan was Silver Medalist of the 2008 Pan-American Championships and Bronze Medalist in the Open Division. Matt was also Bronze Medalist in the 2008 World Championships Open Division.

 Roberto Torralbas Purple Belt National Champion

Roberto continues his win streak into the Open division, with a 5-0 victory.  In the following round, Roberto again got up 5-0 and then used a bread cutter to get the tap.  In the Final Four, Roberto was up 4 advantages to zero when he was surprised by a sweep courtesy of James Puopolo (NW JJ Academy). Roberto ended up with the Bronze.

James Puopolo was Bronze Medalist of the 2008 World Championships and Silver Medalist in the 2008 World Championships.

 Roberto Torralbas American Nationals Open Division Bronze Medalist

Brad Court, one of our Black Belts, defeated Sam Joseph (Hollywood BJJ) in the first round, and then grappled Fredson Paixao.  Fredson is a multiple-time Black Belt world champion and Brad gave him all he could handle.  The final score was 7-6 in Paixao’s favor but Brad got everyone’s respect by taking the veteran to the wire.

Brad Court Sweeps and Mounts Fredson Paxiao

5 Competitors - & 7 Medals

Third Law BJJ decided to go medal hunting into different states at the same time in another weekend of Jiu-Jitsu competition.  In Lakeland, FL we sent two competitors Mike “Goku” Defurio, and Beker “JaguarPaw” Escalante

Mike “Goku” Defurio fought very smart and stuck to his game-plan in the White Belt Gi Division. Mike won 4 of 4 fights winning 2 via submission. In his first match Mike dominated on points.

 Mike “Goku” Defurio After First Match

Mike continued to dispatch his second opponent via armbar.  After that Mike won in the semifinals with a clock choke after racking up lots of points.

 Mike “Goku” Defurio Looking for the Armbar

 In the finals Mike found some though opposition. Mike jumped half-guard and manage to sweep and quickly passed his opponents guard scoring 5 pts. His opponent managed to scramble to the feet and followed with a double leg take down, making the score 5-2. Mike responded by bringing him into the close guard and doing a textbook bump sweep  to add to his lead, score was  7-2 . Quickly after that his opponet grabbed one of his leg and managed to sweep, the score was now 7-4. Mike found himself in a difficult position pinned in half guard but managed to replace his guard. It was a very close match but Mike ended up with the W!

 At last, Mike Defurio White Belt Champion !!!

Beker “JaguarPaw” Ecalante was in lala land and by accident  instead of doing the beginner division did the intermediate division. Nevertheless Beker swept his first opponent from the half-guard to go up 2-0 early in the match. Beker kept getting caught in the guys guard and struggle to pass, but managed to win on points.

 Beker Attempting to Pass Blue  Belt after Sweeping

In his second match against a  blue belt,  Beker once again managed to sweep, but was surprised by an arm bar from the guard. Third match Beker won once again thanks to his sweeping abilities and secured the Bronze Medal for the team. Beker has only been training less than 6 months and has already won two bronze medals (1 Gi -Whitebelt and 1 No-Gi - Intermediate) keep you’re your eyes open for this guy as he has an amazing future ahead of him.

 Beker Escalante Bronze Medalist  in the Intermediate Division

Every now and then Head Instructor Roberto Torralbas visits his teachers Lloyd Irvin, Danny Ives, and Julius Park to get some pointers, ideas and specialized training for upcoming tournaments.
This time he had the honor to be present to the promotion of Malcolm Vaughan. Malcolm is a true example of not letting circumstances get in his way of training and his passion for Jiu-Jitsu. Roberto met Malcom as a white belt who could not keep Roberto from passing his guard 2 or 3 years ago. This time around Roberto was amazed to see the progress his teammate and friend had made after a training session together it was Malcom who had Roberto breaking his head about how to pass.
Malcom who has had a lot of success in competitions since he was a white belt adds a lot of experience to Julius Team, but most importantly Malcolm is a great teacher who does not waste anytime in trying to explain and make those around him better. Congrats to a great role model.

Malcolm Vaughan, punisher of Blue and White Belts, receives punishment and a Purple belt. Great job!

Roberto and Teacher Danny Ives

Roberto and Team 88 BJJ

Fred Ramie, Purple Belt  Pan-American Bronze Medalist, and a long time friend of Roberto Torralbas ( Third Law BJJ Head Instructor) came down to visit the team Monday, 14  through Saturday 19 of August , of 2008.  Fred had a great time training and teaching classes.

Fred Teaching Class

 He volunteered to teach the White Belt Basic Class in which he disclosed his favorites and most effective techniques. Fred also had a blast doing our circuit training and regular jiu-jitsu training until the late hours of the night.

In his own words this is what he had to say about the Third Law BJJ Team:

I want to thank all the guys for giving the opportunity to show you my Jiu-Jitsu, everyone was welcoming and respectful. You guys have a very young, but strong team that I envision will be a force to be reckon  with in the near future.

Once again thank you,
- Fred Ramie

Fred Ramie and the class.

Roberto Torralbas kicked off the whole tournament in the purple belt division on the third mat. He dominated and controlled his first match finishing with a bread cutter choke. With a pretty much even fight in the second match, he came up on top with four points to two. Just goes to show that advantages are relatively important: Roberto won the gold medal by defeating his opponent with 2 advantages to 0.

Roberto Sweeping from the Half-Guard

Roberto with the silver and bronze medalists after winning his division

Andre “Whiteshaq” Arata showed outstanding performance in his first match, getting the takedown, passing his opponent’s guard to full mount, and finishing with an armbar in less than two minutes. In the second match, he was dominating but went for the t-rex choke instead of sprawling. As a result, he got mounted and lost the match. Keeping his head up high, he came into the No GI division defeating his first opponent with a reverse guillotine after passing his guard. Coming out fired up and knowing that he had his chance to redeem himself, he immediately got side control after passing his guard, from where he proceded to finish with an Americana and win the No Gi white belt division.

Andre finishing with the reverse guillotine

Mike ” Goku” Defurio wasted no time, jumped guard and within a minute managed to secure and finish an armbar from his guard. Showing confidence in his second match, he went straight into his half guard and then from there managed to sweep his opponent. Getting pulled into his opponent’s guard after the sweep, he was able to open the guard. But then he went right back into the guard and was immediately put into a triangle. “Goku” won the bronze medal in his white belt division.

Mike setting up effectively for the armbar

Greg “GT” Torres quickly hit the mat and defeated his first opponent. In his second match, he lost against a much tougher and more experienced opponent who had an all-out battle in the finals but ended up getting silver due to advantages.

Greg moments away from his first match of the day

Beker “JaguarPaw” Escalante went for the single-leg takedown but got caught in a guillotine and blew his knee while going down. Holding on tight he managed to break the choke but got arm barred while trying to open his opponent’s guard. His opponent went on to win the gold medal in both Gi and No Gi division.

Beker vs the division champion

Overall, this was an excellent tournament for Third Law, not only because of how some of the competitors performed, but also because of the experience that came with it. Make sure to congradulate Mike Defurio, Andre Arata, and Roberto Torralbas for bringing back home their deserved medals after great fights and Greg Torres and Beker Escalante for giving a great battle in the tournament .

Team Third Law celebrating!!!

Ryan Hall and Nyah Easton are Purple Belt World Champions!  The most important event of the year,  World Championships 2008 which took  place on June 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th in California State University, brought Team Lloyd Irvin  home two gold and one silver medals.

Ryan Hall finally get the title he had been working so hard for, and one more international medal to his collection, which include Purple Belt No-Gi Champion, and Puple Belt European Champion. After 6 matches and 3 submissions Ryan can finally call himself a World Champion. 

A Happy Ryan!

To add to this Ryan submitted his firts 2 opponents in the Open Weight Division and lost his 3rd fight 0-0(Adv: 0-0) to Referee’s Decision.

Nyjah Easton also added to her collection by winning her division.

Nyah Looking Into the Stands.

Ervin Brandon secured the silver medal with his usual aggresive judo style. In the finals he lost to Former Redskin  Professional Football player Michael Westbrook.

Congrats to Ervin on his Silver Medal!

Roberto Torralbas won his first match  9×0 and also won  a very closed second match. In the quaterfinals Roberto lost to  Gabriel Agular from aAliance who ended up wining his weight class and also the absolute division. 

In the Absolute Division Roberto faced the Silver Medalist from his weight class who lost to Gabriel Agular in the finals the day before. Roberto quickly scored two advantages after almost passing his opponent guard. In the final minute of the match his opponent managed to get the advantages back taking the match to referees decision and giving him the win.

Congratulations to all of them on these huge accomplishments and we wish them luck in their  future training .

Greg  “ GT” Torres  kicked off the whole tournament. Greg  passed the spider guard of his first opponent with a very nice display of bullfighting. From there he calmly proceeded to setup the arm bar which he executed perfectly by breaking of the grips as discussed in class.

Greg  Openning the Guard

Greg  Moments After Mounting His Opponent

Greg Torres was the smallest competitor in his division which was 139 lbs and under! Greg only weights 115 lbs and has been training for 3 months!In the finals of that division Greg found himself down 3-0 against an opponent that weighted 138.5 lbs.  Greg managed to get out of sidemount and take the back to go up 3-4. Unfortunately Greg was not able to keep the back mount and got his guard passed as time ran out. Greg ended up getting third place.

Second up to bat was  Becker Escalante. Becker defeated his first two opponents in very similar fashion:

Big Takedowns, directly passing the guard, and then submitting them after racking up over 20 points.

Becker Attacking From The Mount Position

Becker is another Third Law Rookie that has only been training for 3 months! In his semifinal match he ended up fighting a much more experienced opponent and lost via Guillotine/Jaw Breaker.  Congrats to his opponent, and congrats to Becker for an amazing performance.

Kevin Dalton   won his first match by perfectly executing his gameplan. Kevin looked very good attacking from the guard. On his second match he broke away from his gameplan and ended up losing to an opponent he should have beat. Lesson Learned!  Kevin managed to get third place in the No-Gi Division.

Kevin Working On His Cross Choke From the Guard

Do you want some drama?  Ok here it is,  Mike “Goku” Defurio won that Oscar. After defeating his first opponent with an Armbar. Goku was out jiu-jitsuing his opponents. In his second match he was up like 20-2 and in the final seconds (don’t ask us how because we don’t have any clue how one person can pull such a stunt) he gets his back taken and gets submitted with a choke.  In his final match in the Gi Division for 3^rd place he also out jiu-jitsu his opponent and finished with a submission.

Mike Almost Getting The Armbar

But that wouldn’t be the last we heard from Goku at Copa America! He would get a chance to redeem himself! In the No-Gi Division he defeated his first two opponents and  in his final match he got a chance to face the winner of the White Belt Beginner Division who had submitted him previously.

Goku quickly racked up a bunch of points and had him in a triangle choke as time was running out.Goku ended up winning the No-Gi Beginner Division! Congrats to him for his accomplishment.

Mike Gets Another Shot At the Gold Medal

Big Congrats to Mike!

In the No-Gi Absolute Division Roberto Torralbas fought a tough first  match against Black Belt Marcos Aurelio from Team Pablo Papovitch. Marcos was forced to be on the defensive as Roberto attempted to pass from the double under and under-over. At one point Roberto came very close to passing and Marcos used the momentum of the pass to come close to sweeping him, but Roberto was able to bride, unfortunately Marcos Aurelio got awarded the 1 ADV and even though Roberto came at another time close to passing his guard he was not awarded the advantage he needed to take the match to a Judge’s decision. Congratulations to Marcos Aurelio who is a great competitor and made that match very exciting for everyone to watch.

Roberto Almost Passing the Spider Guard of Marcos

Roberto ended up wining the puple belt division after defeating Trey Wiggins, larger purple belt (195lbs +) from Luis Palhares team in Jacksonville by the score of 5-0 after taking him down and passing the guard from half guard.

Roberto Passing From The Half Guard

Well the title says it all! There are a couple events through out the year that brings some of the Best BJJ Practitioners together to compete. One of these events is the Pan-American Championships of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu which took place March 28-30 of 2008 inLos Angeles, California. Team Lloyd Irvin took its battle squad as usual.

Mike Atkin added to more international medal to his collection after winning his weight class and division and taking home the silver in the Absolute Division.

 Mike and His International Bling!

Nyjah Easton also added to her collection by winning her Division. Professor Leo Dalla won the Master’s black belt Super Pesado + Open.

Congrats to Leo Dalla on 2 Gold’s at Panams!

Congratulations to all of them on these huge accomplishments and we wish them luck in their training for the 2008 World Championships.

Roberto Torralbas won his first match and lost the second one.

New Team Lloyd Irvin Black Belt, Danny Ives opened his school TONIGHT in

First Class at Annapolis’ Premier Academy

Team Lloyd Irvin held its annual team training today. It was over 4 hours of training with some of the most talented martial artists on the planet. The whole team was there, from UFC competitor Brandon Vera (sporting his gi) to

-Danny Ives (LIMAA)
-Don “SuperStall” Achnick (LIMAA)

-Sharon “Meow” Bonewicz (BJJ United)
-Brad Daddis (BJJ United)

-Ed Clay (Nashville MMA)
-Sean “Spyder” Pulizzano (Nashville MMA)

Congratulations to All!