NEWS

Roberto Torralbas applied his takedown abilities to outpoint both his opponents in the No-Gi Open. He used the exact techniques that he taught in Friday’s No-Gi Class. At Team Lloyd Irvin, we don’t show BS moves that look good but don’t work! He met Fred in the finals and they closed out the division.

Roberto then jumped into the Purple Belt Open division where he threw Ricardo Almeida student and IFL Fighter Hazim Ibrahim with a beautiful UchiMata to create a Lloyd Irvin shutout (all top 8 finishes in the Purple Open were from Team Lloyd Irvin). Roberto then outgrappled his Middleweight foe to close out the weight class with Julius.

Julius Park competed in the Open, defeating his 1st opponent by DQ. He was winning 4-0 with multiple advantages for near-passes and submissions when his opponent disqualified himself by going for an illegal technique. Gotta learn the rules! Julius then bowed out to fellow Lloyd Irvin teammates and went onto the Welterweight Purple Belt division where his opponent did not show. Finally, he moved up to Middleweight (<180 lbs) where he defeated Monroe Hall of Maguilla’s 4-0 with two sweeps. Julius and Roberto then split 1st place.

Mike Atkin returned to the mats with a win in the Masters division. Mike controlled the match from the top position and earned multiple advantages for near-passes. Afterwards, Mike once again entered the Adult division and beat competitors almost half his age! He faced Chris Schindler from Maguilla’s. The match was close with Mike having difficulty passing but Schindler unable to attack from the guard. In the end, Mike would win on advantages. Mike then split the division with another Lloyd Irvin fighter. Another great Victory for Mike who plans on going to the World Championships in August to compete in the Adult division!

For more pictrues visit the Photos Section

May 6, 2007

Team Lloyd Irvin Shocks the World at Abu Dhabi » Mike Fowler, Lloyd Irvin Black Belt and head instructor of the Guam Academy, got the call early this week and flew in from South Pacific. He would have the toughest road to the finals ever (he would have to defeat Renzo Gracie, Saulo Ribeiro, and Marcelo Garcia just to reach the finals). In the first round, he faced 2X ADCC Champion Renzo Gracie. Fowler pulled guard and pushed hard for sweeps and submissions. Although neither fighter was able to score, the judges awarded Fowler the match based on his aggressiveness.

Renzo Defending Mike’s UmaPlata 

 

In the second round, he faced another 2X ADCC Champion in Saulo Ribeiro. Saulo took control of the match early, taking Mike’s back but Mike escaped and eventually caught the 6X World Champion with a toe-hold!

Although Mike would lose to eventual Champion, Marcelo Garcia, his performance was the talk of the Grappling community. Fowler had not even started training Jiu Jitsu when Saulo and Renzo had won their first Abu Dhabi titles!

Lloyd Irvin and Mike Fowler

In the Alternate match for the Absolute division, Ryan Hall, spectator turned competitor, came back from a harrowing Kimura to submit Renzo Gracie black belt Gordinho with a heel hook. Congratulations to Hall who was heavily outweighed!

» For the 5th weekend in a row, 88 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has had students competing. This time it was at the Abu Dhabi North American Trials. Amie Turton and Roberto Torralbas received invitations to the qualifier tournament for the Abu Dhabi tournament. The winners of this tournament get a spot at the international Abu Dhabi competition and a chance to compete alongside such greats as Marcelo Garcia, Jacare, and Leo Viera. The best No-Gi grapplers from Canada, California, New Mexico, and all of North America were there, fighting for this great opportunity.
Amie Turton competed in the under-55 kg category. In her first match, she faced Kanoka Inaba, PanAm silver medalist in the Brown/Black Belt division. Amie was able to use her dangerous closed guard to keep Inaba at bay. Unable or unwilling to pass, Inaba fell back for Amie’s foot and Amie followed her up but was not awarded points. Luckily, Amie scored an additional 3 points and entered the semi-finals.Her semi-finals opponent was Yael Young from Toronto BJJ. Yael is a very tough competitor and has had a few battles with Amie in the past, with each of them splitting the wins so we knew this match would be no different. With a minute to go in the no-points period, Amie pulled Yael into her guard and was working aggressively. Amie locked on a TIGHT triangle. With about 90 seconds left, we thought the match was over - there was too much time in order to just “tough it out”. Amie was squeezing with all her might, transitioned briefly to the mount, and even locked on a tight armbar but Yael would just not submit! Finally, the bell rang, and Amie had to release the submission. Like their last few matches, this match was heading into OT!
 

Amie vs. Yael Young #5

In Overtime, Yael hit a quick takedown. Amie worked hard from bottom but was unable to get her 2 points back. This was another war in their competitive series and hopefully there will be another in the near future.Roberto Torralbas jumped up to 88 kg category despite weighing 24 lbs. less than the weight limit. His opponent was Justin Garcia, 2005 Trials Finalist. Garcia is extremely explosive with powerful takedowns. We suspected that Garcia would not engage for the 1st half of the match since there was no points at that point. When points finally started, Roberto managed to stuff a few of Garcia’s shots and get a few of his own. On one of these attempts, Garcia attempted a guillotine and Roberto pulled Garcia into his guard. We thought that this would be a -1 point for Roberto but they gave Garcia 2 pts for a takedown. Roberto worked aggressively and Garcia disengaged, receiving a -1. The match ended 1-0 for Garcia.

Roberto vs. Justin Garcia

It was great seeing such a high level grappling competition in the United States. To see guys like Xande, Marcelo Garcia, and Dean Lister at the tournament as spectators when our own teammates were on the mats was rewarding. Amie and Roberto are both very young (18 and 21 respectively) and to have competed in the toughest no-gi tournament that early will only help them in the future. Congrats to both!

October 16, 2006

Good Job Mike!

» As the year comes to a close, I’m glad to announce that Lloyd Irvin has promoted Mike Atkin to Purple Belt. Mike has won every competition possible, bringing home Gold at the Worlds as well as the PanAms, and has also amassed a huge collection of plaques, samurai swords, championship belts, and whatever else the local promoters have been awarding for 1st place. Congrats on this well-deserved promotion

August 26-27, 2006

Mike Wins!

» Well, the title says it all. Mike should have competed at Senior 4 which is for grapplers between age 51-55. Unfortunately, Mike would get only one match in that age division. The situation at Senior 3 was the same - only one match! Rather than settle for an “easy” Gold, Mike exhibited his competitive spirit when he decided to drop down to Senior 2 in order to get more matches. His opponents would be 41-45 years old, almost a decade younger than Mike.

DAY ONE: Domination

We arrived early to the Tijuca Tennis Club. We had some paperwork that needed to be taken care of and we wanted to get it out of the way and focus on the matches. With Guigo’s help, we took care of the administrative stuff pretty quickly. Mike had 6 other people in his division.

His first match was vs. a grappler representing Carlson Gracie Team. After a few moments of gripping, the Brazilian realized he would not take Mike down and he jumped guard. From there, Mike was able to use his heavy-hip passing style to get up 3-0. He added a knee-on-belly for good measure and won the match 5-0.

His 2nd opponent was from Royler Gracie’s school. He had received a bye in the 1st round and seemed very nervous. As soon as the match started, he pulled guard but it was sloppy. He essentially pulled Mike on top of him into side-mount. Well, you never look a gift horse in the mouth so Mike wrapped up his arm and Kimura’d him. Very quick match!

In the finals, he faced a grappler from Renzo Gracie NYC. I was pretty confident going into the final because I saw how tired Mike’s opponent was. After his semi-final match, I had seen him hanging over the fence, head down, exhausted. I knew that Mike had been doing the Circuit for a few months now and could break his opponent’s will just with conditioning at that point. The match started and his opponent jumped guard. Mike struggled to pass but his opponent controlled the grips very well. Just when it looked like Mike would lock his opponent down in 1/2-guard, the NYC grappler hit a nice sweep, unbalancing Mike and coming on top!

Thanks to the 30-second drills, Mike countered immediately, coming out the back door, and driving his opponent off the mat with a double-leg! No Points! After the restart, his opponent wearily began gripping and pushing into him…bad idea. Mike hit a beautiful Seio, sending his opponent right to his back. Later during the day, Brazilians would come up to Mike, making the Seio motion with their arms and congratulating him - it really was a great throw! Once on the ground, Mike passed his opponent’s guard, winning the final 5-0.

DAY TWO: Mike *Earns* The Medal

Filled with confidence, Mike entered the 16-man Open Division with high expectation and he didn’t dissapoint. He faced off against a European first and won on 2 advantages. Although the score was close, Mike remained in control of the match from beginning to end.

In the quarterfinals, Mike used an outside-trip takedown and a pass to outpoint his opponent from DeLaRiva BJJ 5-0.

I’ve always heard it said that the semifinals are the toughest matches in tournaments. It definately was in this case. Mike faced off against a Brazilian Giant and had the fight of his life. Outside of Mike’s finals match at the PanAmericans, this was the roughest match I’ve seen Mike in. Mike would jump over his opponents leg and would get rolled right over. Both fighters would scramble back to the feet. During one exchange, Mike managed to get what seemed like a fight-finishing armbar but his opponent just stood up and swung Mike off his arm like an insect. Mike even tried his Seio but even when Mike went under his opponent, nothing happened - his opponent was too strong. The Giant put his hooks in on Mike but Mike hustled and managed to escape rear mount before points were awarded. When the whistle blew, Mike was ahead by a few advantages and would go to the Finals! With Gi burn covering his face, Mike told me he was exhausted, that he had nothing left. Lucky for us, the officials misplaced the tournament bracket sheet, giving him ample time to recover. Most of the time, this type of nonsense is better avoided, however in this case, we were quite happy with the lack of organization!

Almost half-an-hour later, Mike walked onto the mat for the Finals of the Open division. Ironically, it would be another East Coaster that he would face in the finals. Both fighters brought strong takedown skills and the match was uneventful, each one countering the attacks of the other and neither affording the other any opportunity to score. Mike remained aggressive throughout and the referee would award him a decision! Very close match!

Mike, newly crowned World Champion, already has a list of things to work on and is planning to come back to training after a short break (one day).

Getting Better with AGE!
 

August 26, 2006

 Roberto has been staying active during his stint in Michigan and won two divisions at the Chicago Grappling Championships put on by NAGA. He beat a brown and black belt there.

On the way to the Finals

Fighting the Black Belt from the 1/2-Guard

Working to Pass

Roberto Dominating in the Purple Belt Division

Congrats to Roberto on two more medals swords for the collection!

August 1, 2006

Congrats to Teammates at Camp Springs » A HUGE Congratulations to our friends down in Camp Springs, MD.

Mike “Hulk” Easton, PanAm Silver medalist, to Brown Belt
Don “Superstall” Achnick to Brown Belt
Ryan Hall, triangle extraordinaire, to Purple Belt
Nyjah Easton, Mundial Bronze medalist, to Purple Belt

Good Work Ladies and Gentlemen!

July 28, 2006

Amie Promoted to Purple Belt » Amie Turton finally receives her purple belt! As a blue belt, Amie collected four international medals (Silver PanAms 2005, Gold PanAms 2006, Silver World Cup 2006, Silver Mundial 2006) making her one of the most decorated female competitors in the USA. Congrats on a well-earned promotion!!

    Finally!

July 26, 2006

» Amie Turton defeated Davina Maciel (Carioca Team), last weeks World Cup winner, in the 1st round 4-0. This was a big mental jump for Amie as Maciel had defeated her in last week’s final. Amie then faced a tough girl from Sao Paulo in the semi-finals. Amie handily defeated her 6-0 by taking her back and sweeping her. In the finals, Amie’s opponent scored an early advantage and held Amie down from the top of 1/2-guard to win a 0-0 victory.

A frustrating final match but Amie still brought back a World Championship Medal!

Nyjah Easton, Lloyd Irvin, Julius Park, and Amie Turton

July 21, 2006

Amie’s 3rd International Medal

» The World Cup (Copa do Mundo) takes place a week before the World Championships (Mundial) and brings in a lot of competitors looking to get some good matches before the following week. Amie competed in the Pluma Blue Belt division, taking second.

Amie defeated Yasmin Sewgobina from Yamasaki Holland by points in her first match before losing on points in the finals. Davina Maciel, an MMA fighter from Amazon, took the gold. Although there were only four girls in the division, it was a taste of the competition level in Brazil and a good warmup for next weekend’s bigger competition.