The USA Jiu Jitsu 2011**ATLANTIC CITY** “Battle of the Boardwalk” GI & NO-GI Jiu Jitsu Tournament. Jan 21 & 22,2011.

$80 Gi OR No-Gi Double-Elimination and only $20 extra for Gi AND No-Gi.

REGISTER at www.jiujitsuinternational.org
tournaments@usajj.com or call us toll free 1-888-694-2335
Consider yourself invited!
Kids weight classes just added due to popular demand. Gotta support the future!

The tournament begins Saturday, Aug 7^th in sunny Las Vegas at the Las Vegas High School. Base pricing for USAJJ members is $40 for one division, and $60 for both divisions. For Non-members, base pricing is $80 for one division and $100 for both.

However if you pre-register online, you can subtract $10 from your total price, meaning members can compete for as low as $30! That’s unheard of. If you wait until after pre-registration ends on August 1^st, you’ll be paying an additional $15. So members will pay $55 for one event and $75 for both. What this means is, pre-register now for the awesome prices!

Weigh-ins are Friday, Aug 6^th from 4 to 9 PM and Saturday Aug 7^th from 6 to 7:30 AM in the Las Vegas High School Gymnasium Lobby.

And as a special bonus, there will be a seminar with GM Joao Alberto, the most senior red belt in the world! It’s being held Friday night before the tournament at the Las Vegas High School Wrestling Room. And the best part is it’s free to all competitors!

This is going to be a huge day in the history of USAJJ and Jiu Jitsu in general. We’re bringing another international caliber competitive event to the country, and we couldn’t be more proud! So register now for your chance to win the first USAJJ National Amateur Championship!

Special guest, Larry Shealy!

Hey everyone, good news! We’re going to have an Instructor Certification Course later this month. If you are an instructor, an assistant instructor, or just want to be an instructor eventually, you’re exactly who we want to help. Teaching Jiu Jitsu takes a certain set of skills that need to be just as developed as your skills on the mat.

We’re holding it over a three day period, June 25, 26, and 27th. It will be two full days of instruction on Friday and Saturday, then a partial day on Sunday followed by graduation and certification.  It will be at the USA Jiu Jitsu National Training Center, 7841 Rolling Road,Suite D. Springfield, VA 22153.

As a special bonus, we’ll be having a guest instructor, Larry Shealy! Larry has been a member of USAJJ nearly from the get go, and is renown for his involvement in th Jiu Jitsu community. He is also a black belt, and a member of the Black Belt Council.

In 2003, Larry began developing the “Kid-Jitsu®” program along with the “Kid-Jitsu® Values Program”. This trademark registered program teaches children the fundamentals of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, while weaving targeted values into each lesson within the “Kid-Jitsu®” Children’s Curriculum.

So come down to the NTC and learn proper techniques for teaching Jiu Jitsu to other people. It’s guaranteed to be fun, and it will help you become a better teacher. Register online or call the NTC to reserve your spot now. Cost is free to member schools for the primary instructor, $175.00 for individual members, $250.00 for non-members.

Matthew Barvo is the owner and head Jiu-Jitsu instructor at Team Beast Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He began his Jiu-Jitsu training in 1999, and has over five years of instructing experience.

Matt is currently training to compete in the No-Gi Panams and No-Gi World Championships. He has cross-trained in Muay Thai Kickboxing, Judo, and Mixed Martial Arts. He is also Boise State University’s only Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor.

Team Beast BJJ offers classes in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu, Fight Fitness and Self Defense. Their training center has over 4,000 sq. ft. of grappling mats and an assortment of over 20 punching bags.

So if you live in or near Eagle, Idaho, stop by and check out Team Beast BJJ & MMA. There can’t be too many people teaching Jiu Jitsu in Eagle, short of going into Boise, so if you want to learn Jiu Jitsu, learn from the best you can, and visit Team Beast.

Matt Barvo, Team Beast BJJ, welcome to USAJJ!

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06/12/2010 Edit

Mr. Barvo’s Brazilian Jiu Jitsu lineage is under investigation by our officials. Thanks to all of those that pointed out the ongoing Bullshido happening over at : http://www.bullshido.net/forums/showthread.php?t=95870

We’ll post our findings as we collect them.

Master Kazeka Muniz

Here is some great news if you live in Lancaster or Palmdale California. Master Kazeka Muniz, member of the Black Belt Council, has opened a new academy in Palmdale, CA.  The new school is named Premium Fitness and it is set to bring some much needed Jiu Jitsu love to the surrounding area.

Master Kazeka Muniz obtained his black belt in Jiu Jitsu from Carlos Gracie Jr. of Gracie Barra academy in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He has trained alongside such world class jiu-jitsu fighters as Renzo Gracie, Ryan Gracie, Roger Gracie, Marcio Feitosa, Draculino, Soca, Pe de Pano, Gordo, and the Machado Brothers.

Master Muniz has lived in Krasnoyarsk, Russia and Tbilisi, Georgia (former Soviet Union) training with world and Olympic champions Adam and Bouvaisar Saitiev under world-renown coach Alexander Karniashvili. Master Kazeka Muniz was the strength and conditioning coach for 4 Olympic gold medalists in wrestling from Cuba. He is still welcome to train with both the Cuban and Russian Olympic wrestling teams.

In 2004, Master Muniz helped create England’s number one MMA gym, the Wolfslair, and was the wrestling coach for former UFC Light heavy weight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Ultimate Fighter Season 2 champion Michael “the Count” Bisping.

The Kids Jiu Jitsu class at Premium Fitness

Premium Fitness is a huge gym with plenty of room and equipment for training. And there are a LOT of things to train in. Premium Fitness offers Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, No-Gi Jiu Jitsu, Freestyle Wrestling, Kickboxing, and of course, a combination of them all for the MMA program.

A lot of attention is placed on the childrens classes as well. Master Muniz offers a Kids Jiu Jitsu and a Kids Wrestling class. It’s never too early to have your child involved in a healthy form of exercise, and starting at a young age will set patterns and behaviors that last a lifetime.

So if you’ve been looking for a  Jiu Jitsu academy in Palmdale or Lancaster, CA, look no further. Master Muniz can teach you what you want to know, and he does offer a free week pass. There’s a reason he is such a highly respected member of the sport and one of the governing bodies for this Jiu Jitsu organization.

Did you HEAR it? That’s intense! And with the big gash from the surgery, it looks even crazier in person. The best part, though, is how he just walks off like it’s not a big deal. That’s tough.

Morrison was competing in Mission Submission 1.5 when it happened. When Morrison passed his opponent’s guard, Jay Speight a very talented 16 y/o, he set up a move called a Bicep Slicer. It’s called a Bicep Slicer; bet that’s a little worse than a Charlie Horse.

A Bicep Slicer is a painful move (no, really?)  that super extends the nerves in the bicep and the forearm, but it’s not intended to break any bones. No submission in MMA is intended to break bones – they are aimed at joints and ligaments.  What happened to Morrison was a really freaky accident.

An expensive one too. To the tune of $47,000. that’s a LOT more than a membership in USAJJ.

What happened to Morrison. Both bones snapped.

While we may practice and take precautions against injury, it can still happen to anyone. That’s why it is important to have the insurance. Here’s the breakdown:

General Liability -This program provides protection for your Martial Arts School its owners, directors, instructors and employees against claims of bodily injury liability, property damage liability and the litigation costs to defend against such claims.
Coverage is provided up to $1,000,000.00 per occurrence with a general aggregate amount of $2,000,000.00. There is no deductible and no charge for additional insureds.

School owners register for USAJJ here.

Accident Insurance - All youth and adult students and staff members of the Policyholder are covered while participating in sponsored activities. A member is also covered while traveling, directly and without interruption, to and from any Policyholder sponsored activity and his or her home or place of residence. Coverage is $100,000 per accidents with a $250 deductible.

Individual members register for USAJJ here.

So if you’re not a member, maybe you should reconsider. Unless you carry $47,000 in your back pocket.

USA Jiu Jitsu National Tournament Director, Chris Stolzman, has had a busy month doing a lot of really cool things for Jiu Jitsu.

In the beginning of March, Chris flew out to Los Angeles. There he worked alongside Johnny Ramirez, owner of New Breed Acadamy, rolling out a new series of staff development seminars for four of Johnny’s gyms. Staff from Portland, Chicago and, of course, the L.A. branch were in attendance. While Chris was there, Johnny also officially chartered his school.

While on the west coast, Chris also visited Kazeka Muniz, who has been Chris’s primary coach for the past several years, as well as his good friend.   Chris also made Kazeka an official member of the Black Belt Council. And while Chris was there, Kazeka also officially chartered his school. Kazeka Muniz is also flying to England this week in order to run the training camp at the Wolf’s Lair for Rampage, who will be fighting Rashad Evans in an upcoming UFC match.

After Chris finished on the west coast, it was back to D.C. to spend a week organizing the  National Tournament. He is trying to arrange airline and hotel sponsors, as well as finalize the venue location. USAJJ is very excited to bring another international level of competition to the U.S.

And while he was here was when we had our visit from Master Behring. Chris was honored to assist Master Behring with the seminar at Fort Meyer for the Level 2 Combatives.  Also, Papa John and Matt Larsen are initiating a program to certify all the Level 4 Combatives graduates as Blue belts in Jiu Jitsu, recognition they certainly deserve.

Mark Selbee, Laura Hart, Master Murgel, and Chris Stolzman

From D.C., Chris headed to Atlanta. There he was able to practice with Master Ricardo Murgel at KnuckleUp. Chris was very impressed with the direction Master Murgel has taken the Jiu Jitsu program. Master Murgel’s team has recently won the NAGA Nationals. Master Murgel is also a member of the Black Belt Council and we are excited to have him help drive the future of Jiu Jitsu in America. Master Murgel also agreed to hold a seminar at the NTC in the beginning of May and we are looking forward to that.

Then it was up to Cincinnati to meet with Jorge Gurgel who just opened a new academy in Westchester. They talked about the future of USAJJ and holding the Mid-West regionals in  Cincinnati. Now Chris is back in D.C. to finalize the National Tournament.

And with all of this going on, our Director, Chris Stolzman, STILL managed to train at least 3 days a week.

Donnie Tinsley and Students

We recently welcomed Donnie Tinsley to our Jiu Jitsu organization and he just sent us an announcement concerning a tournament coming up. Coastal Combat Circuit is hosting Mission Submission 1.5 in Elizabeth City, NC.

If you live in North Eastern North Carolina, you know that tournaqments are few and far between in the area, but Donnie is hard at work to change that. Mission Submission 1.5 is the highly anticipated follow up to the the successful Mission Submission tournament.

This event is a Nationally Ranked No-gi Jiu Jitsu tournament and is being held Saturday April 3^rd.  The tournament will be located at 300 E. Elizabeth St. in Elizabeth City on the corner of Elizabeth and Road St.  Don’t forget that a percentage of ALL profits go to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

If you live in the area, go check it out. There will be plenty of action and teams from all over. Plus you’ll be helping a great cause. For more info, go to the Coastal Combat Circuit homepage.

And don’t forget, if you have an event coming up, let us know!



Master Sylvio Behring and USA Jiu Jitsu

Master Sylvio Behring visited the National Training Center this week, and it was incredible! Hopefully you were able to come and meet Master Behring for yourself.

It was a busy trip for Master Behring. He and our National Tournament Director, Chris Stolzman, both took a trip to Ft. Meyer and to Ft. Belvoir. At Ft. Meyer, Chris was honored to assist Master Behring in teaching a class on Master Behrings Progressive System to the Army Combatives class.

At Ft. Belvoir, Master Behring was presented with a Challenge Coin by the base commander, Colonel Kevin McKenna.

We had a full turn out for the seminar!

Monday and Tuesday evening’s, Master Behring taught his Progressive System to over one hundred people over both nights. Everyone had a lot of fun, and learned a lot. For those of you who didn’t make it, we will be putting up a video shortly.

We would like to thank everyone who was able to come. But we would especially like to thank Master Behring, and we were honored he was able to visit our Jiu Jitsu organization.

Commissioner Papa John Gorman, Tournament Director Chris Stolzman, and NTC GM John Eidman have all been working long and hard to get this off the ground and in action. And while many of the details are still being ironed out, we are urging people to start pre-registering now. Many schools and teams have already committed, including New Breed Academy, Behring Jiu Jitsu, and KnuckleUp.

The location for the tournament in Las Vegas has been narrowed down to two venues, and once one is decided on, we’ll be sure to post it immediately.  Once we have a better idea of the number of people who will attend, we can work out all the rest of the details.

Also at the tournament, we will be posthumously presenting an award to founder Helio Gracie for his dedication and perserverance in making Jiu Jitsu what it is today.

Sorry for the scant details, but we wanted people to know this is finally happening. So mark your calendars for August 7th, and start training now. The first USA Jiu Jitsu tournament is now official!