FokaiUK:Creg Creel Q&A.PedroBessaBJJ.UK

Garra:

Hi Greg, thanks for taking some time out for the Q&A bro.  Can you give us some back ground on you martial arts history, how long you been training and what got you into Martial arts, BJJ and MMA?

Greg:

hey no probs bro, yeah I started BJJ late 2004 with no previous martial arts history what so ever ha ha, I had never seen a dojo until I started BJJ, I gave up rugby when I was 19 and I was looking for something else to do, funny story really one of my mate got into a little trouble and to cut a long story short they meet up to get it on ha! I went along to watch the fight and after around 15 mins of running around they hit the ground I looked over and this guy was shouting out advise to the one guy, I looked at him thinking what the hell is this guy on about, after the fight finished  I  went home did some research and discovered  BJJ ,  I  started training  with my mate Adrian (blue belt) once a week which just wasn’t enough, one session a guy call Simon Rossiter(purple belt) came to train and he became a massive influence in my  BJJ forever,

Garra:

Who were the first people you trained under in BJJ?

Greg:

The first main Academy I trained at was Gracie Barra,   I went there with Simon and Adrian after pestering Adrian about extra training, they took me along where I met Chris Reece who was a purple belt at the time under Braulio Estima ( brown belt now) , we  were  travelling to Gracie Barra in Swansea 2-3 times a week a 100mile round trip to train there because there  was no BJJ in my home town , after that a black belt opened a class in  Bristol, England (Carlos Lemos), me and Simon started to travel to  Bristol  to train with him, the dream was to train with a black belt regularly at the time so this was a awesome opportunity, things didn’t work out the way we planned with Gracie Barra Bristol, Carlos upped and left, me and Simon were left without a club until we heard of a new black belt still in Bristol Pedro Bessa we started there in 2006 and the first session I did there I knew this would be my home for life!!

Garra:

You are one of the Youngest (if not the youngest) Brown belts in Wales and one of only 3.  How does it feel to be at the very top of BJJ in your country?

Greg:

I think I’m the youngest at 25, it’s a massive honour to be one of only 3 in wales at the moment, Wales has a massive pool of talent here with guys from Pedro Bessa BJJ like Kevin Cox ( brown belt)  Ross Nichols European champ at blue , Craig Ewers the welsh national judo coach and BJJ purple belt, Simon “mush Davis the list goes on all theses guys train hard fight hard, and the new blues Jamie Hughes and Scott Morgan,  and white coming through the competition scene it’s exciting times ahead for Pedro Bessa BJJ and BJJ in Wales.

Garra:

What are your biggest achievements to date in and out of BJJ?

Greg:

The most important thing to me is my family Amy and Roman, I had a brilliant upbringing and this set me up for life, cheers Mam and Dad. In BJJ my biggest achievement is getting my brown belt, as mentioned I’m one of only 3 in wales 2 for us belong to Pedro Bessa BJJ this was a massive mile stone for me. When I got the belt I felt on top of the world, as Pedro put the belt round my waist he said “time to train harder now Hippo boy” this filled me with motivation to be the best I can and to improve my BJJ and take it to the next level,

Garra:

What do you look to achieve in the next 2 – 3 years for yourself and also Pedro Bessa BJJ and Celtic Pride MMA?

Greg:

For myself I want to be the best out there fight the best guys in the UK and Europe and prove a guy from the Valleys of Wales can make something of himself, for Pedro Bessa BJJ I would love to help developed young fighters to compete on the UK BJJ circuit and build the club not in numbers but in quality, as for Celtic pride MMA the goal is to continue to built the team up form the grass routes fighting armature MMA semi pro and then professional MMA on the big shows, we’ve got a quality team with me and Lee Stingemore the Thai coach putting in a lot of time and effort into making sure our guys are in the best hands possible, the young guys coming through like Jamie Hughes(6-0-0)MMA  Ryan Williams at only 16 fighting and beating men in the cage ,Steve Gifford (2-0-0) semi pro all these guys have came from no MA background at all into very good MMA fighters,

Garra:

Who do you respect and admire in BJJ and in day to day life?

Greg

In my day to day life my girlfriend Amy puts up with A LOT, all the training I do away on weekends with the MMA team she supports me 100%, and my brother Matthew who’s a massive support to me,

In BJJ Pedro Bessa I respect and admire this guy 110% he’ll fight when ever where ever laying it all on the line every comp, fighting anyone to test his ability’s he’s been a massive influence in my BJJ and continues to support me and the team all the way,

Kevin Cox is another guy I respect he came from some dark times in is life fighting an illness which attacked his joints to come out the other end and back to full fitness with a little weight added on HA HA a lot of people would have given up if they was in his shoes.

I admire and respect Jacare de Souza and Andre Galvao, both guys fight to finish, looking for the submission win. Both guys are hugely entertaining in their approach to BJJ. Something I think that can get lost in the stall and win by advantage strategy we see in some competitions.

Garra:

Prof. Pedro Bessa has a reputation for giving people he likes interesting Jiujitsu nicknames, something that was apparently quite common in the days of TT back in Brazil. He has Espantalho (Scarecrow), Anao (Midget) why do you think he calls you Hippo?

Greg:

ha ha yep he calls me Hippo ha ha I don’t know why but I do know a Hippo is the most dangerous animal in Africa so I’ll cling on to that fact ha ha ha

Garra:

Thanks Greg for taking the time out of your busy schedule of training and family life and Congrats bro on the gold medal at the Hereford open and belated congrats to you and Amy on the arrival of little Rome.

Greg:

Cheers bro, can I give a couple shout outs??

To the big man Pedro Bessa thanks for all the training and support, my misses Amy for all the crap she puts up with, Simon Rossiter I wouldn’t be where I am now if it wasn’t for him, all the guys at Celtic pride MMA, Lee Stingemore my partner at Celtic Pride, Black Eagle Kimonos for the sponsorship, Garra fight wear, and all the guys that help me out Scott Morgan and Jamie Hughes

If I missed anyone I’m sorry

Cheers

Hippo in action

http://www.youtube.com/user/CelticPrideMMA#p/u/3/gVF92_yKP2E

http://www.youtube.com/user/CelticPrideMMA#p/u/4/bPzgUXQ5HvE

FokaiCombatUnit:IrelandAndPedroBessaBJJ

Fokai360:MunsterOpen,Ireland

FokaiIrelandBJJ:ViaTheMendesBrothers

“We would like to invite the entire jiu jitsu community of Ireland to Munster Open Jiu Jitsu Championship, it will be a great phase for jiu jitsu in Ireland and will be really good if everyone supports this to raise the level of the event. We were in Ireland last year, and we could say that we learned a little about the people, the beauty of the country and the jiu jitsu of Ireland. It was an incredible experience, we liked a lot, the country is very beautiful and the people were very kind and were very interested in learning jiu jitsu. We hope that we can come back to learn more about Ireland, we would like to send a hug to everybody and to remind everyone that rivalries are a part of sport but we cannot let this hinder our progress in our jiu jitsu. We always need to find importance through evolution. Big Hug to everybody.” Mendes Bros. TRANSFORME SUAS FOTOS EM EMOTICONS PARA O MESSENGER. CLIQUE AQUI E VEJA COMO.

Onra:June17th,2010

For any grapplers interested in competing, for any spectators interested in watching, and for those travelers interested in exploring, the Art of War 5 All-Island Grappling and Submission Challenge is this Saturday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gym in Saipan.

It’s June in Guam and a number of our students in off-island studies are returning home for a summertime of fun, catching up and — training?

Summer always seems to be an exciting time for training with many students of the martial arts because it’s an opportunity to share techniques and strategies from academies abroad and, in effect, improve our collective skills as an island and industry with its horizons now focused on the larger arena in world martial arts competition.

Even with the speed bumps that we might be finding in mixed martial arts, it seems that our Brazilian jiu-jitsu community moves forward unaffected by issues that challenge its professional partner.

The 2010 Brazilian Jiu-jitsu World Championship was just two weekends ago and we should be proud to see, despite our small population and even smaller island, how visible Guam has become in the sport and martial art of BJJ that is fast sweeping the world.

For those of us who might have caught a look at the first-ever live broadcast of the BJJ World Championships, it was a proud moment to not only catch frequent glimpses of Guam-based clothing company logos, it was also a pleasure to watch Shoyoroll and Guam’s own Vince Quitugua in a lengthy interview and give fight commentary at such a widely broadcast event. And a salute to the Carlson Gracie Academy and a host of other Guam representatives for carrying our island into that prestigious arena.

We’ve got a CBJJ blackbelt card holder now in Stephen Roberto from the Purebred/Lloyd Irvin Jiu-jitsu Academy.

And, last but definitely not least, let’s give heartfelt congratulations to a name not unfamiliar to the Mariana Islands’ fight and golf fans, to a young athlete focused on the positive promotion of competitive martial arts, and to a fighter who boasts one of our island’s most impressive MMA resumes. Ladies and gentlemen, (winning five matches for the title) our third Brazilian Jiu-jitsu World Champion –Frank “The Crank”Camacho.

Cuki Alvarez said it well two weeks ago when he mentioned we’d be gaining world championships.

As an athlete or competitor, world championships seem to be the ultimate goal. But how often do we question oursleves on our goals as martial artists?

Guam has really grown and is really proving itself an asset to world BJJ. As time unfolds, our island seems to be well connecting itself to world major events and world top athletes. And, in effect, bridging those that surround us to a vibe of positivity.

As islanders, this gives us pride; as industry it gives us credibility; as competitors it gives us accessibility; and as spectators it gives us entertainment. All the while, as students of the arts, it gives us education.

Which came first?

So, was it the code of our martial arts training that gave us opportunity in sport? Or, was it the opportunity in sport that gave us our code in martial arts training?

We can sit and think about that for hours, but while we ponder these thought, we can agree on one thing — Brazilian jiu-jitsu has been very positive for the island of Guam, and Guam is giving back by being positive to Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

We have grown from a dark corner of secret training to becoming a beacon of industry intelligence for other islands, a crossroad for opportunities for traveling professionals, and an internationally respected destination for quality training packaged in golden sunsets and platinum Hafa Adais.

Congratulations to Mariana Island BJJ, not just for the World Championships, but for good composure, for healthy competition, for a thriving youth atmosphere, and for a job done well and most humbly –forever a work in progress.

Thanks for dropping by.

Respect:MikeFowlerAndJTTorres

FokaiCombatUnit:GuilhermeAndRaphaelMendes

Welcome to the Family! And Congrats Rafa on your WorldChampionship…again. Very honored to have both of you on board.

You offer alot of game and evolution to BJJ as sport and offer all the respect of BJJ as Martial Art.

FruitOfHard Labor. SeedOfWisdom.TheGivingTree,

FortesInFide

Congratulations:FrankCamachoAndTracyGoodell

for their world championship victories in the2010 WorldJiujitsuChampionships.

FokaiCombatUnit:AThingOr2AboutJTTorres

Words of Wisdom byMasterLloyd

***********************************
JT’s Complete Black Belt
Match List Is At The Very
Bottom Of This Email

********************************

If you were a part of my email list a couple of years
ago you remember when I first started to tell you
about JT “Spiderman” Torres.  Some people got
angry at the way I spoke about JT.  In case you
weren’t on my list then, I basically said a couple
years ago that JT will go on to become one of the
Greatest American BJJ Players of all time.

Some people were angry, but as always I
like to introduce the World to some of my
students so you can follow their journey.

For the last couple of years people have
been following JT’s journey to become
a Black Belt World Champion.

Since only 2 other Americans have ever
accomplished this feat you can see
how difficult of a task this is.

Not only that, NEVER has a American
Black Belt from a American team ever
gotten a medal in the Black Belt Division
at the World Championships Adult Division.

No American BB from an American
team has ever received a medal at
Brazilian Nationals before JT did it
last month either.

Will this be the year? Can JT do it?

Well below are the results of every
match that JT has had since he
received his Black Belt 11 months
ago.

Since receiving his Black Belt JT
has had 40 matches.

His over all record is 31-9

He won 17 matches by submission

Out of the 9 losses he was only
submitted twice.

JT has only been submitted twice
and that was in the Open division

JT has never been submitted in
his weight division as a black belt

In his last 19 matches JT only
lost once by points and the rest
by advantage. JT was able to
submit the person that defeated
him by points in a match a month
later.

One thing to note is that JT has
never lost twice to anyone that
he’s lost to in the gi before.

He always comes back stronger
in this second match.  He’s lost
to Langhi by advantage and lost
to Gilbert by advantage.

I expect him to be much more
focused his second time around.

I can’t begin to tell you how excited
I am about his division. The World
will be watching, even our haters have
to ‘kinda’ route for the kid.

I believe that JT has what it takes to
become a Black Belt World Champion.

Can you do it, well we leave tomorrow
for the Worlds, the count down has begun.

If you’re going to be there, I would love to
meet you, please make sure that you
say hello.  I love meeting people
on my email list.

Talk to you soon

Lloyd Irvin aka The Grappling Renegade
Forever The King Of Leglocks

PS.  Below is the complete list of JTs matches
since black belt

1st Match was against Wesley Gann from Nova Uniao and won Via  Back Choke (Grapplers Quest June 2009)
“¢    2nd Match was against Danilo Cherman from Nova Uniao and won by 2 points. (Grapplers Quest June 2009, Open Class)
“¢    3rd Match was against Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu from Fight Sports and lost by 2 points. (Grapplers Quest June 2009, Open Class)
“¢    4th Match was against Felipe Mota from Akxe BJJ and won via advantage. (Rio Open July 2009, Open Class)
“¢    5th Match was against Leonardo Nogueria from Alliance BJJ and won 6 point to zero. (Rio Open July 2009, Open Class)
“¢    6th Match was against Antonio “Braga” Neto from Gracie Barra and lost Via Choke. (Rio Open July 2009, Open Class)
“¢    7th Match was against Unknown and won by an Advantage. (Rio Open July 2009)
“¢    8th Match was against Augusto Mendes from Soul Fighters and lost via referee decision. (Rio Open July 2009)
“¢    9th Match was against Renan Borges from Brazilian Top Team and won via Back Choke. (South Jersey Grappling Championships, Super fight, August 2009)
“¢    10th Match was against Andre Montiero From Carlson Gracie and won 15 points to zero. (American Nationals, Open Class, September 2009)
“¢    11th Match was against Joao Assis from Check Mat BJJ and lost by 2 points.(American Nationals, Open Class, September 2009)
“¢    12th Match was against Chris Westfall from Nova Uniao and won via Kneebar. (American Nationals, September 2009)
“¢    13th Match was against Marcos Torregrosa from Cassio Werneck and won 9 points to Zero. (American Nationals, September 2009)
“¢    14th Match was against Rodrigo Freitas from Gracie Barra and won Via Armlock. (American Nationals, September 2009)
“¢    15th Match was against Daniel Tavares from Santos BJJ and won via rear naked choke. (No-Gi Pan ams, October 2009)
“¢    16th Match was against Leonardo Leite from Gracie Barra and won by 4 advantages. (No-Gi Pan ams, October 2009)
“¢    17th Match was against Lucas Lepri from Alliance and lost via 2 points. (No-Gi Pan ams, October 2009)
“¢    18th Match was against Vagner Rocha from Pablo Popovitch BJJ and won by 2 points. (Miaminternational, October 2009)
“¢    19th Match was against Alexandre Ceconi from Rillion Gracie and lost via armlock.(Miaminternational, October 2009)
“¢    20th Match was against Philipe Della Monica from Gracie Barra and won 9 points to zero. (No-GI Worlds November 2009)
“¢    *21th Match was Lucas Lepri from Alliance and lost by 2 points. (No-GI Worlds November 2009)*
“¢    *22nd Match was against KAKIZAWA YOSHINOBU from PUREBRED OMIYA and won by 3 advantages (Tokyonternational Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Open November 2009)*
“¢    23nd Match was against HOSOKAWA AKIRA from ALIVE and won Via Back Choke. (Tokyonternational Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Open November 2009)
“¢    24th Match was against Makoto Aramaki from Honk Kong BJJ and won Via Back Choke. (Tokyonternational Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Open November 2009, Open Class)
“¢    25th Match was against Dan Cherubin from Peter de Been BJJ and won by 2 points. (Tokyonternational Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Open November 2009, Open Class)
“¢    26th Match was against Matheus Serafim from Alliance BJJ and won Via Rear Naked Choke. (World League BJJ December 2009 Sao Paulo, Brazil Open Class) *
“¢    *27th Match was against Unknown from Check Mat BJJ and won Via Back Choke. (World League BJJ December 2009 Sao Paulo, Brazil Open Class)*
“¢    28th Match was against Samuel Costa from Alliance and lost by One advantage. (World League BJJ December 2009 Sao Paulo, Brazil Open Class)
“¢    29th Match was against Helder Medeiros from Check Mat BJJ and lost via Referee decision. (World League BJJ December 2009 Sao Paulo, Brazil Open Class)
“¢    30th Match was against Jonatas Eliaquim from Gracie Barra and won via Triangle Choke (European Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championships Jan. 2010)
“¢    31th Match was against Michael Langhi from Alliance and lost via 2 advantages (European Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championships Jan. 2010)
“¢    32nd Match was against Dustin Hazelett from Jorge Gurgel and won via armlock (Ohio Grappling Challenge 2010)
“¢    33rd Match was against Marcio Sato from Godoi BJJ and won via Back Choke (Pan Ams Brazilian Jiu-jitsu championships 2010)
“¢    34th Match was against Joao Sobrinhno from Gracie Barra and won via Brabo Choke (Pan Ams Brazilian Jiu-jitsu championships 2010)
“¢    35th Match was against Lucas Lepri from Alliance and lost Via 2 points. (Pan Ams Brazilian Jiu-jitsu championships 2010)
“¢    36th Match was against Paulo Henrique from Eofcntegracao and won via Back choke (Brazilian National Championships 2010)
“¢    37th Match was against Luiz Eduardo Rosa from GF Team and won via Toe Hold (Brazilian National Championships 2010)
“¢    38th Match was against Lucas Lepri from Alliance and won via Back Choke (Brazilian National Championships 2010)
“¢    39th Match was against Vitor Henrique from GF Team and won via Back Choke (Brazilian National Championships 2010)
“¢    40th Match was against Gilbert Burns from ATOS and lost via 2 advantages (Brazilian National Championships 2010)

Fokai360:PurebredOmiya

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