SBGi go 1-1 at CageWarriors

Straight Blast Gym International fighters Paul McVeigh and Arni Isaksson both appeared on the UK MMA promotion CageWarriors last weekend (27th May).

McVeigh dishing out some love




McVeigh, who fights out of Scotland's most prolific MMA team the "Dinky Ninjas", defended his bantamweight title belt against the tough Englishman Neil McLeod. He stopped his opponent with strikes from mount in the second round of a very entertaining fight that saw him utilise a well rounded game. McVeigh fought extremely well in every range, and showed maturity and composure in his performance. Well, maybe not too much maturity!







Icelandic fighter Arni Isaksson (who fights out of John Kavanagh's SBG Dublin) lost to Swedish welterweight Diego Gonzales. Isaksson, who won an 8-man tournament in March, was left frustrated by Gonzales' lay and pray tactics. The Swede is a talented grappler who controlled Arni for the majority of the three rounds, but never put Arni in danger.

Arni lands the head kick
Arni almost stole the fight in the last half of the third round, where he found his rhythm with some great strikes. Having trapped Gonzales against the fence, he was moments away from finishing the fight with GnP when the bell went.
Gonzales is a tough competitor who holds victories over some top names, so considering Arni has only been training MMA for around 8 months, the 22 yr-old's performance was nothing less than awesome. Arni still has a guaranteed title shot due to winning the tournament earlier this year.

Portland's Ken Allen goes to Denmark

Ken Allen from the Portland gym will be going to Denmark from June 14 to teach MMA and BJJ in the SBGi Denmark gym. He will stay for at least a year to help lift the athletes there to the next level.

New BJJ Black Belt Coach at the Portland Gym!

We are proud to welcome a new Coach at the Portland Gym. BJJ Black Belt, and longtime SBGi Instructor Eric Hemphill.

For those of you who don't know him, Eric has been with SBG for Ten Years. He started way back when, and comes from a strong boxing background. He recieved his Black Belt earlier this Year. And without a doubt he is one of the best grapplers in the entire Organization. He has a unique and dangerous game. And he can also teach a great class.

He also has that Portland spirit, he will fit right in.

Portland SBGi Gym Social/ Guerilla cup was a blast!

This last Saturday the Portland SBGi held it's Monthly Gym social combined with a Portland Gym Gorilla Cup. Portland Teams competed against each other in the spirit of fun, both gi and no gi.


As usual for Portland the overall vibe in the room was fantastic. With everyone having a good time, and enjoying the atmosphere. Big congrats to the 'A Team' for taking first place. With Team Nutria, Team Chimera, and Team Toxic Monkey all making good showings as well.

I would also like to say a special thanks to Travis. His motivation and help with this event was superb. And also Jonathan, for being patient as I kept asking him if he knew what he was doing with the brackets. I am glad he did because its very confusing. All in all it was a great day.


You can find a list of the division winners at our free Portland Gym bulletin board located here.

http://www.thomasbrown.net/straightblastgym/forum/default.asp

Congrats to our newest SBG Instructor and ICC graduate!

I'd like to congratulate PDX Gym's Bill Bradley on his graduation from the ICC class. Bill has been a valued member of the Portland SBG tribe for the last several Years, and has also shown himself to be a good teacher. You can currently find him coaching the Monday and Wednesday day classes at the PDX Gym, as well as running our new children's program.

On a side note, this last Years ICC was our best ever. The skill, attitude, and performance of these athletes exceeds any previous generation. And that is exactly how it should be. I am proud of all of them, and the 'vibe' they help to create. That vibe is what makes the Portland Gym so special.


We will be hosting a large graduation party for them this upcoming December. See you there!

-Matt

Welcome another Scotland ATG!

We have added another ATG in Scotland to our SBGi family. Please welcome:

Aberdeen Jiu-Jitsu Academy
Banks O Dee Sports Centre
Aberdeen, Scotland
Contact: John Reid
Email: classes@brazilianjiujitsu.co.uk
http://www.bjj.org.uk/

Welcome our newest Scotland ATG!

Welcome our newest ATG in Scotland.

Some of you may have met Andrew Usher at the Spring Camp in Portland OR this last March. Andrew has also been training with Karl Tanswell.

We are very happy to welcome him into SBGi.

You can contact Andrew at:

Evolved Martial Arts And Fitness
Garadh Cantie
Dunbeath
Caithness, Scotland
KW6 6EA

Telephone: 0845 838 2791
Fax: 0700 340 1296
Website: www.emaf.co.uk
Email: info@emaf.co.uk

Welcome our new CA ATG. . .

Contact: Paul Pedrazzi
Prajna Sports - Functional Martial Arts 4500 PeopleSoft Parkway (Inside Oracle Offices) Pleasanton, CA 94588 Tel: 925-389-6645 Email: drazzis@mac.com Web: http://prajnasports.com

Paul and crew recentley visited the Portland Gym for some training and his attitude meshed perfectly with the SBGi model. Super nice guy, and we are happy to have him on board. If you are in his area please make sure you give him a hollar.

Congratulations SBGi Iceland.

We have just added three new SBGi Instructors to the roster. . .Bjarni, Arnar, and Jon Gunner. All of whom have done a great job building up their Gym. As such we have moved the Iceland Gym from ATG to an SBGi Gym and training facility. SBGi Iceland is a fulltime professional Gym now. They do a great job coaching stand up, MMA, BJJ, and the entire SBGi curriculum, and they care a lot about their members. I am proud to have them represent our Organization.


Two of their main Coaches Arnar and Bjarni will be back in PDX for a few more Months of training in a few days (Arnar was in Portland for much of last Year), and we are all looking forward to torturing them *cough* I mean training with them here : )


While there I also awarded three new well deserved blue belts to Gunni, Jon, and Bent. . .great athletes.

Congrats to new SBGi Head Coach/ Full Instructor!

In Twelve Years of SBG I have only recognized a few Coaches. We have exceptional standards for Coaching and performance that are required for our Instructors. That said I am proud to announce that I recognized Karl Tanswell as a Head Coach/ Full Instructor with SBGi. Which is the top tier for our Organization. I mentioned this surprise in Iceland a week or so ago.

Karl represents perfectly what I consider to be the highest level of coaching skill. He is one of the most well rounded Coaches and athletes we have, great boxing, great clinch, and technical jits. . .gi, no gi, mma, self defense, etc. He can Coach anyone at any level, from competitive athletes to brand new people, and he personifies the values our Organization has come to embody.


There is also an intangible quality that manifests as creativity which he has an abundance of as well. . .innovation and understanding that comes out when the lanes are clear.

Anyone interested in what a Head Coach and Full Instructor represents in SBGi need only train with Karl.