Christmas holidays

Just a reminder, the gym will be closed Dec 25-26 and Jan 1-2 for the holidays

Grand Portage fights

Congratulations to Mike O'Neill for winning his fight last night. Mike won via tko late in the first round. After a takedown Mike secured the mount position and finished his opponent with strikes. Mike's opponent was the very tough Sai Tremblay who allthough caught in the mount refused to quit. Both fighters have bright futures in the sport.
Thanks for the Fight Centre army who all showed their colours, and a special thanks to George and Mike D for there help in the corner and backstage.

New vid

Hey guys, put up a new vid. This month is on attacks from the mount. I'll try to put one up every month.Enjoy

sambo punching

Here is a great clip showing how to "cast"your punches. Eugene is very good at this technique and it's required for his testing. At the first seminar at our club he went over striking from the sambo arsenal. Try a double hook, have your partner weave under the first and nail him with the second, he'll never see it coming.

Igor Kurinnoy

Hey guys here's a sweet vid of Igor one of the best sambists of all time. Not only does he have amazing throws but his submissions are incredible, check out the kimura he gets with his legs. Igor is good friends with Pat Miletich and is in Iowa sometimes. Road trip!!!!

Oct gradings/Upcoming tournaments

There will be Oct(date pending) grading for those wishing to test in 4th or 3rd class mma. Randy Ferguson will be coming to Thunder Bay in October, so maybe with any luck i can get him to sit on the grading panel (Randy is a technical advisor for FC mma).
Also upcoming tournies
Nov 15th submission wrestling in Kingston Ontario hosted by Grizzly gym.
Last week of Jan(date pending) combat sambo, beg and adv divisions. Hosted by Club Kozak

Fights in Hinckley

Congratulations to Jordan Allen for his unaminous desison victory in his second mma bout held this past weekend in Hinckley Minnesota.Hopefully we can convince Jordan to compete in more mma fights in the future, as we all know from rollin with him he picks up things fast. Also on the card was Chris Schorrock who won a three round kickboxing match, congrats.


Just a reminder that classes start this Tues, so dont forget to register with Heather.

Fedor

Couldn't resist putting this one up. Fedor practicing with mma star Gerard Mousasi. Check out the beautiful throws without the kurtka.

Sasae tsurikomi ashi

Best footsweep ever, period.

Fall schedule

Sept is coming up fast. Registration is open for the fall.Class times will be the same. Tues night 7:30-9 grappling( gi or no gi), Wed 7-8:30 bjj(strictly gi), Fri 7-8:30 mma(bring your kurtka to do combat sambo) and Sat 12-1 sambo.

Wrestling throws

Tonight Andrew was asking me how to incorporate the sambo throws we practice into our wrestling and mma. The only difference will be in the grip, rather than a hold on the kurtka you might have a collar tie a two on one or a underhook or overhook.
The principles of the throw are all the same. Shoulder, hip, elevators and fireman carries are common to all forms of wrestling from creco, freestyle,judo, sambo, kurash, bohk, koch, schwingen. Here are some great examples of some world class wresting.

Sanda(sanshou)

Who says kung fu guys cant fight? Here's a clip of sanda or sanshou, loosly translated as free fight. Sanda is full contact with the goal being to knockout or throw you opponent. Sanda is one component of wushu(kung fu),allthough most traditional kung fu schools dont do sanda, at least from my experience. Eugene spent two years in Taiwan and is a certified sanda instructor.

Outdoor class

Hope everyone had fun training outside, I know I did. Found a good video from Erik Paulson about turning towards the hand to escape chokes. Erik is a former world champ in shooto and my buddy Randys coach.

Outdoor class

this Sat we will be doing an outdoor class on self defense sambo(providing the weather is nice).Bring clothes that you dont mind getting a little dirty. I'll remind everyone this week.
Here are two clips of self defense sambo the first is a combat instructor from Mississauga and the second are a club from Slovakia.

Firemans carry vid

Hey guys, finally got some music for the video that wasn't taken off. Have a look

Summer hours

Just a reminder to everyone that the gym is closing for summer holidays. The last class will be July 11th. The grappling/mma class will return Sept 1st. Because of the long weekend the sambo class will return on Sept 12th.
Keep this in mind if you are renewing your membership this month.

I will open up on Tues nights same time for anyone who wants to workout, roll or hit the bags etc.

Sambo history videos

check this out, it's a two part video showing the history of sambo. Two of the founders of sambo Oshepkov and Kharlampiev are shown in the videos, it's in
Russian but you dont need to understand whats going on just enjoy the techniques.

Isao Okano

Here is a video of one of the greatest Judoka ever, Isao Okano the only middleweight to ever win the all Japan championship. Its amazing how fast he enters into his throws also check out the ground work and how he chokes a guy unconcious at the 64 olympics.Also a video of judo great Mark Huizinga of the Netherlands and how he prepared for the 2008 olypics. Enjoy.

summer holidays

Starting on July 11th we will be on summer holidays until Sept 1st.However i will still open the gym on Tues night for anyone who wants to work out, roll or whatever. This will be an open practice only.
Also just a reminder that some of your memberships are overdue, please see Heather on Tues, we still have the special two months unlimited classes for $99 plus tax, that will take you right up to the summer break.

I'm back

Just got back from the combat sambo comp. In case you haven't heard i got silver in my division. Really happy how the comp went, it's been a long time since i've competed.
Thanks to everyone who helped me get prepared, special thanks to Armando for getting in the gym with me almost every afternoon. I'd really like to see some of you guys compete in this tournament or the pancrase amatuer mma in the future. Hope to have some videos up soon.
There will be some changes to the schedule as well, I will have some brochures on Fri.

New Prices

Membership for two months is now only $99 plus tax. This offer is for new and old members. You must register on or before May 1st. The gym will be closing for the summer holidays in July so register now.
Training for the combat sambo Canada open was going really well for me until this week when i was sidelined with the flu. Friday was my first day back in a week. Unfortunatly i wont be in top shape for the competition but, i'll do my best. There is still a week to get some of my wind back hopefully it will be enough.

Oleg Taktarov

I found a old video of Oleg Taktarov in some early mma matches. Oleg was a world sambo champion, ufc heavyweight champ as well as European jujutsu champ several times. The European jujutsu is very similar to mma in that strikes throws and submissions are all legal, oh ya its also bare knuckle.

New gym

Well it's been a month since the last post. We're finally settling down at the new gym. Most of the equipment is up, Mitz is still putting up one more rack for two more heavy bags and another speed bag. Should be finished in a couple of weeks. Sorry I had to cancel the sambo class this week (two much work). Hope everyone enjoyed their March break,now back to the gym. All classes will resume this week including Ryan's bjj on Wed nite.
Armando and I were working some chokes the other day and I thought I would share this with you guys, great for combat sambo.
An exellent example by one of Renzo Gracie's bb.

Hip toss

For those of you that missed Fridays workout we worked on a hip toss with a deep back step(Georgian).The Georgian sambo players were the ones that perfected the deep back step and eventually brought it into the judo scene. By stepping deep you can generate a lot of speed and power into the throw.
Here's an example by Hiroshige Adachi(sambo Japan). Hiroshige has a great book out on sambo and conditioning that I highly recommend. It's in Japanese but is easy to follow. It's available at budovideos.com

sambo class

Today we worked on more combat style grips. In order not to get caught with punches you must stay outside or clinch tight to your opponent. The over the back grip is very effective for this. From this grip you can go to the traditional hip throw, the sweeping hip throw(we worked on this today) and also the outside trip. You must be quick with the throw so as not to be countered with a pick up or foot sweep as you reach over for the belt.
Here is an example of Igor doing the hip toss. I also found a nice clip of Igor Yakimov doing some combat sambo/self defense. Great throws. Enjoy.

Fight Night

I'd like to thank everyone for their help last nite. Mike , Steve and Joe fought like warriors, great job! I'm proud to call each of you my students. To everyone who helped out backstage to cornerman you did an outstanding job. I think the crowds reaction to our fights was the best of the night. Hopefully we can do it again.

To Mark Krentz and his wife I wish you guys all the best, it was a real pleasure to meet and train with you. I know that I speak for all the guys when I say you'll be missed. Keep in touch and dont forget to look us up when you come to town.

shooto drill

Here is a clip of Yori Nakamura demonstrating the lock flow that we started on Tues. We'll continue to add a few moves each Tues.

Fedor baddest man on the planet

There was a documentry on Fedor the other day showing his training home life e.t.c. here is the first part. If you go on youtube you can access part2-5.

Submission wrestling Japan

Here is an exellent example of submission wrestling in Japan. A little different than no-gi jiu jitsu, the strategy is different also the speed and explosiveness. Mix the two arts together and you'll have a very dangerous ground game. This tournament was won by Rumina Sato, in the last match he chokes out Imanari the "tenth dan of leg locks". Also look for the speed he has with the ankle picks.

Satoko Shinashi and Megumi Fujii

If you missed Megumii fighting on bodog the other day here is a sambo demo with her and Satoko Shinashi, damn there good!
Also a video of Imanari. The japanese mma is so much more exiting to watch, who says leg locks dont work in mma.