Matchups Set, but who wins?

The weigh-ins for the Phoenix Strikeforce card are finished…and more importantly, the matchups for the 4-Woman Tournament are set: Meisha Tate vs Maiju Kujala and Hitomi Akano vs Carina Damm.

Before I tell you my thoughts…what are your picks?

Well, that is as much time as I’m going to give you, so here are my thoughts: I think Tate will take Kujala to a decision, but will advance to the finals. Akano/Damm is harder to determine. As Damm is normally a 125lber, I think she may give Akano a feisty fight, with Akano managing to outpoint Damm with throws.

That leaves Akano vs Tate for the finals. Depending on how the first fight goes, could change my opinion on who will win – but for now I’ll say Akano by submission (maybe even a leglock)?

// August 12th, 2010 // 7 Comments » // General

On my way to Phoenix!

I’m sitting in the Seattle airport, waiting for my connecting flight which is going to take me to Phoenix, AZ. Normally, I wouldn’t be too excited about going to a state that has a city deemed to be the “sunniest place on Earth,” by Guinness World Records; however, there are some fights that NEED to be watched.

Tomorrow, 4-135lb women (Hitomi Akano, Meisha Tate, Carina Damm, Maiju Kujala) are going to be fighting in the Strikeforce Women’s Tournament to decide who is in line to try and win the Welterweight Title…that’s the one I have!! As of right now, the pairing for the semifinal fights haven’t been drawn, so I can’t predict how the fights will go, yet. Once the weigh ins are completed tonight, I’ll post my opinion and ask yours, too.

If you are in the Phoenix area, I’ll be at the weighins – along with Cris Cyborg – signing autographs today around 4:30pm. Weigh ins are being held at the Dodge Theatre, so stop by if you want to say “HI!”

For now I’m just enjoying the free internet at SeaTac and trying to figure out what I’m going to eat for breakfast. Thank you to Adam Zugec for driving me to the airport at 4:45am

// August 12th, 2010 // 3 Comments » // General

Marcus Soares is coming for a seminar

Luckily for me – and the rest of the ZUMA team – Marcus Soares (7th degree BJJ BB under Carlson Gracie) is coming back to Victoria. If you have never seen or done a Marcus class, it is absolutely terrible (in a good way)! Marcus is known for his ridiculously hard warmups. In fact, I don’t know if anyone has EVER actually done every repetition.

Side note: Adam told me that Denis Kang was on his way to doing the ENTIRE warm up until Adam made him laugh and messed him up. I don’t know if I believe that story, as it definitely doesn’t sound like something Adam would do to his good friend!

Despite the crazy hard warm ups, Marcus is an encyclopedia of BJJ technique. His seminars will go for hours and hours as he will answer every question that people have. The general rule is that Marcus demonstrates the technique on the person who asks the question; therefore, I make sure to try and get other people to ask my questions

It is an honour and a pleasure to train under the highest ranked student under Carlson Gracie, and I would highly recommend anyone in or near the Victoria area on Saturday, August 14th to participate.

You can contact me at (250) 475-2885 if you are interested in registering. Hope to see you there!

// August 10th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // General

Kaufman Highlight

Thank you to Jason Durance from MMEh? for the making of this video

// August 5th, 2010 // No Comments » // General