Rick Young is one of the worlds leading Martial Arts experts teaching in various countries world wide, he is also a 3 times Pan American & 3 times Masters + Seniors Champion in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Seminar will be held in:
The Queens PEC, Sat 9th June 11:30 to 4pm
Price £35 paid before or £40 on the day
Pay via paypal : jwbfit AT gmail DOT com

For booking or further info please contact Jonathan on 07546441847 or email: jswatson80@aol.co.uk

April 15th
Sportslink
Furry Park – Santry
Dublin 9
Tel – 01-862 1200
Register here

But I was waiting on Shooto Switzerland uploading the video. They very kindly posted me a dvd a couple of months after the event, but specifically requested I don’t put it online as they were planning to do it themselves… suffice to say, that never happened, so I’ve decided to put it up anyway.

So to rewind a bit. Shortly after the NI Open 2010 I had gotten the OK from my coach, then brown belt Graham Keys, to fight in amatuer MMA. I’d been wanting to fight for a long time so this was pretty exciting news – however we had a bit of trouble setting fights up. Because of my BJJ competition experience, a lot of coaches were understandably unwilling to put in their newer fighters against me – but at the same time my coaches and I didn’t want me to jump in the deep end against a veteran for my first fight.

We had a couple of false starts with opponents pulling out and getting injured, and I was starting to get quite frustrated about the whole thing. Then one day in August, Jonny Burrows called me.

“Mark, do you remember Augusto Frota?”
“Sure, the brazilian/swiss black belt?”
“That’s him. He’s running a show in Zurch in 6 weeks. Do you want to fight?”
“Hell yes!”
“Great, that’s sorted then.”

Six weeks later I was on a plane from Dublin to Zurich.

My Gracie Barra teammate Mike Reid was also fighting on the show, and Chum Sut fighter Lee McKibben had been booked for the headline fight. Along with the three of us, Irish MMA vet (and my former Wing Tzun coach) Tom Lamont came along to do Lee’s corner.

At the airport we were picked up in a flashy 4×4 and whisked to the hotel. After a couple of hours wandering around Zurich (or in Lee’s case, skipping in a sweat suit) we weighed in.

Note my flashy weigh-in underwear. It’s always important to take these things seriously.

The next day after grabbing some breakfast we had some time to kill. I went to the park near our hotel and just enjoyed the sunshine and cool breeze.

A few hours later we were at the venue. I had to show the bouncer my pass twice, because he didn’t believe I was a fighter the first time. We ended up in one of the larger rooms that were being used for several groups… where I spotted my opponent. 10 minutes after we arrived he started hitting Thai Pads as hard as he possibly could; I put my headphones on and listened to Massive Attack.

Shorts on, hands wrapped, stretched out, warmed up, hitting pads… then standing backstage waiting for them to call my name.

‘Take your time, we’ll play your music but you can go whenever you want.’

And out I went…

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!

A Fantastic Venue for this years BJJ OPEN, with 4 matted Area’s and IBJJF Certified Referee’s.  Adults/ Masters/Teens and Juniors Division.

Register here at the IBJJA Web page.

http://www.irishbjjassociation.ie/

Schedule update coming soon…

Purple Belt 80+

Purple Belt -80

Blue Belt -100

Blue Belt -88

White Belt -70

Braulio Estima Seminar:

This seminar will take place at the Valley Leisure Centre, Belfast on Sat 4th February and is open to all.

The cost is £25 for GBNI members and £35 for non-members, but £30 if you pre-register. Contact seminars@gracie-barra-ni.co.uk to register

Facebook event here

white -57
Sam mc Nally – Ribeiro
Matthew macauley – Revolution

White -64
Marcus Phelan – Ribeiro
Ryan Russell – Rillion Gracie
Mark Barrett – Ribeiro

White – 70
James Gallagher – SBG
Pauric Henry – Torres
Paul Pike – Rillion Gracie
Steven Byrne – Ribeiro
Paul Largey – Dogpound
Aaron Shim – GBNI
Andrew mc Gahon – Torres
John Bradley
Fergal mc arde – Torres
Finian Ferry – Aizeria Milford

White -76
Conor Boyce – Rillion Gracie
Gerard Smyth – Torres
Stuart Bickerstaff – Revolution
David Phelan – Ribeiro
David Tiernan – Torres
Pierce Walsh – Rillion Gracie
Darren Henderson – Torres
Joe Allen – Revolution
Alan Philpott – Next Generation
Michael o connor – Torres
Paul Browne – Revolution
Joe Clarke – FAI

White -82
Gavin Carlin – Rillion Gracie
James Donaldson – QUB De la Riva
David Doherty – Torres
Ian Harper – Ribeiro
Darren Chism – Torres
Arto Toomsalu – Alliance
Barry Peoples – Rillion Gracie
Ryan Hood – Revolution
Adam Johnston – Revolution

White – 88
Rowan mc Kernan – Torres
Dominik Szerszen – Alliance
Aaron Flynn – Torres
Shaun o Sullivan – Ribeiro
Gavin mc Naney – Gracie Barra
Ciaran Leavey – Ribeiro
Ciaran o Brien – Torres
Stephen Grayston – Revolution

White -94
Jason van der Berg – Revolution
Brendan Newbanks – Torres
Scott Dalglish – QUB De la Riva
Craig Ryan – Fight Sports

White – 100
Peter mc Clay – Revolution
Gavin Tully – Legion
Patrick o Neill – Torres
Darren Giles – Rillion Gracie

Blue – 66
Tom Halpin – Revolution
Adriana Gibadulinova – Ribeiro
Denis Chetari – Revolution

Blue -70
Sean Slane – GBNI
David Vallely – Torres
David Morgan – Ribeiro
Paul Campbell – Torres

Blue -76
John Sheridan – Ribeiro
Conor Collins – Revolution
Karl Redmond – SBG
Ray Yore – Revolution
Marty Quigley – Revolution

Blue – 82
Stephen mc Court – Revolution
Paul Gallagher – Rillion Gracie
Chris Leddy – Ribeiro
Matt Black – Revolution

Blue – 88
Robert Orlovsky – Revolution
Kyle mc Clurkin – GBNI
Matthew Mullan – Torres
Ciaran mc Fadden – Rillion Gracie
Gary mc Dermott – Ribeiro
Paddy mc Conaghy – Rillion Gracie
Eoin mc Cluskey – Ribeiro

Blue 100
Michal Crkon – Revolution
Joe Neeson – Torres

Purple -80
Mark Curry – GBNI
Ryan Smyth – Alliance
Darren Whelan – Revolution
John Eustace – Fight Sports

Purple +80
Waquar Ahmed – QUB De La Riva
Morgan Smyth – Alliance
Ciaran Toal – GBNI
Stephen Coll – Rillion Gracie
Colin Laird – Revolution
Mickey Downs – Alliance

Huge thanks go to Tom Dargle who very kindly filmed every single match for BJJ.ie. Thanks Tom!

The Final – Chris Bowe v Darragh O’Connaill