New SBG brown belt, Camp & UK exceptionalism!

SBG Portland welcomes a new BJJ brown belt!

Long time SBG Portland coach Chris Stearns received his BJJ brown belt from SBG founder Matt Thornton, last Saturday July 14th. It’s cliche to say “well deserved“. And when it comes to SBG we also know it is redundent. Our standards have never been compromised, and Chris meets them all. When Chris brought his gold medals into the academy, he literally brought a large shopping bag full. As a competitor he’s proven himself as one of the best purple belts on the planet. As a coach, he represents the high teaching standards demanded by the SBG organization; his consistent class size and the success and joy of his student, proves that. As is the SBG tradition, Chris worked his way through a 40 person + ironman, demonstrating his superb technique throughout; a ritual no true SBGr would take a belt without. Purple belts across the Northwest gasp a sigh of relief; brown belts, get ready. On the same trip Matt taught a succesful seminar on the topic of BJJ for self defense. The students were fortunate as Matt demonstrated some very “old school” movements and tactics that he hadn’t taught publicly in more than a decade. And as always on this date, the SBG family celebrated the birthday of one of it’s best black belts, SBG VP Travis Davison, a coaches coach who has created a thriving community in Montana. Happy birthday Travis!

Camp sign up has begun! You've heard the rumors, you've seen the poster, NOW it is time to SIGN UP! SBG's biggest, baddest and most rocking camp of ALL TIME is coming soon! Space WILL BE limited, and is first come first serve. You can sign up NOW here: http://www.straightblastgym.com/camps.htm Note: The camp fee increases on Sept 1st, and we are anticipating that the event will be SOLD OUT prior to that, so sign up NOW: http://www.straightblastgym.com/camps.htm To keep up with camp info, hotel info, travel info, and general information check out our Fall Camp FaceBook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/SBGi-Straight-Blast-Gym-Portland-Oregon/101362492303#!/SBGiFallCamp2012 See you there!

SBG_UK MMA Team defines exceptional! Some SBG_UK MMA results, 3 fights on one night. results = Pro 84kg: Alex Minogue def. Mark Jones – submission (guillotine choke) – round one (0:08). Am A: Paul Douglas def. Niall Machinnes – submission (rear naked choke) – round one (0:44) Am B: AJ Akande def. Adam Bates – KO (punch) – round one (0:04). So just to clarify, three wins, total fight time with all three fights, 56 seconds. SBG.

See you at camp!

SBG International July News

SBG's BIGGEST Camp ever headed your way!

This will be the largest, best organized and best attended Camp in SBG history! There will be more details coming in future emails, but space WILL BE limited, and the pre-registration price ends on Sept 1st. Pre-registration opens next wednesday, have your payment ready. Special hotel rates for the beautiful downtown Niagara Falls area have been secured by Coach Rich for as little as 60. a night! This will be a family friendly event, with tons of activities and sites to see for non training family members, not the least of which is the unbelievably beautiful Niagara Falls! You can stay updated on all Camp info and news at our special Fall Camp 2012 FaceBook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/SBGi-Straight-Blast-Gym-Portland-Oregon/101362492303#!/SBGiFallCamp2012

SBG has an AMAZING competition season! Conor McGregor new World title! McGregor of SBG Ireland claims vacant featherweight belt. In the night's co-headliner, Conor McGregor brought the first major MMA championship to Ireland. And he did it in rather easy fashion. In a fight for Cage Warriors' vacant featherweight title, McGregor dominated English fighter Dave Hill before submitting him with a rear-naked choke in the second round. The 23-year-old Dubliner fed off a partisan crowd. After some early scrambles and exchanges, McGregor stuffed a takedown and ended up in top position, where he ignored potential submissions to dish out a sustained and often-brutal ground-and-pound attack. Once back up, he seemingly taunted Hill, who circled around the perimeter of the cage while tying to dodge head kicks and powerful right hands. After again taking the fight to the mat, McGregor's rear-naked-choke attempt was cut short by the end of the first round. But after rocking Hill with a head kick in the second round, he got the fight to the mat again, briefly worked from the mount position, and ultimately took Hill's back. He cinched a body triangle and then secured and torqued another rear-naked choke. With his grip secured tightly, and plenty of time remaining in the round, Hill was forced to tap out. The end came at the 4:10 mark of the round. Immediately after the stoppage, McGregor hopped the cage and celebrated the victory with a raucous crowd. "I felt like I had this belt from day one," McGregor said once he got back into the cage. "I just visualized it in my head, and here I am." McGregor (11-2) now has won seven consecutive fights and moves closer to his goal of fighting in the U.S. with the UFC. Hill (10-3), who opened his career with nine consecutive victories, is now 1-3 in his past four.

Joshua Jarvis takes the FCC Featherweight title! Joshua Jarvis brought another title back to SBG Mainline on Saturday night defeating Ben Dearden for the FCC featherweight title. Much to the surprise and pleasure of the crowd, it took Josh just 1 minute 10 seconds of the first round to finish his opponent with a standing guillotine against the cage. This fight takes Josh to 8-1, even though this was his first NSAC fight... Congratulations to Josh! Also,Matt Inman defeated local favourite Kyle Redfearn in just under two minutes at Total Combat 47 on Saturday 12th May 2012 to become the new British Welterweight champion! Taking the fight on ten days notice, after Redfearn's original opponent pulled out, this was Inman's first MMA fight since 2010 having spent the last year focussing on his coaching career and having back rehabilitation. Obviously a little cage rusty, Inman found himself in bottom mount after shooting a double leg early in the first round. Weathering the storm from Redfearn's ground and pound, Inman kept his composure and sunk in a triangle choke, taking the W in 1:50 of round number one.

SBG Portland & Montana prove once more why SBG is #1! Team SBG, composed of athletes from the headquarters gym in Portland, and Portland's first BJJ black belt, head coach for SBG Montana & SBG VP Travis Davison and his Montana athletes, ROCKED Grapplers Quest Las Vegas this last weekend. Travis won GOLD in advanced no-gi, defeating two other BJJ black belts for the win. The next day Travis took SILVER in black belt gi, losing a close match on points to old school BJJ legend Cleber Luciano. Also from SBG Montana coach Gus took GOLD in his weight, AND in the absolute, winning a sponsership. Also, Dakota GOLD, Avery double GOLD, Traic GOLD, Tyrun GOLD. From SBG Portland, coach Amanda won GOLD no gi, then turned around and won GOLD in bother her weight AND absolute in gi. Amazing achievement! Coach Diggins took GOLD after beating several BJJ black belts to close out the advanced no-gi division. The next day he took SILVER in his weight and SILVER in absolute! All total SBG rocked the tournament with only a handful of competitors, winning a box full of medeals. This after producing Oregon's first home grown BJJ World (Mundials) Champion, Leah Taylor, just a month earlier. Just to be clear, when we say SBG has the best BJJ competition team bar none in the Pacific NW, we mean it, but, only factually speaking.

SBG's Gunnar Nelson signs UFC contract! BJJ phenom Gunnar (Gunni) Nelson has just signed a contract with the UFC! Gunni's undefeated record and reputation for amazing Jiu-Jitsu was without a doubt responsible for this amazing oppurtunity. Look for Gunnar to make his debut at the upcoming UFC held in Nottingham UK. SBG head coach John Kavangh (seen left) is currently in Iceland helping Gunnar prepare. Look for him in the corner, and look for Gunnar to bring his brand of flawless fundamental BJJ, SBG style, into the UFC. You can bet the SBG gyms will be hosting parties on fight night.

Empty slogans versus intelligent training Some words of wisdom from an SBG gold medalist, and coach of champions. It is funny to read what some people seem to think effective training is all about. Silly slogans like: “Pain is just weakness leaving the body.” “Go hard or go home.” “Ya man I lifted until I collapsed.” Let me give you a secret, all the top fighters I’ve trained and all the top athletes I know, the ones who reached a very high technical level, they all train at a moderate pace most of the time; but, only in every single case. One good session a day, medium pace with some bursts of intensity, and then ‘maybe’ one lighter session in the evening; in fact the best guys will avoid spazzy guys that just want to go nuts, it is of no benefit to them, and they are an injury risk. Skill attainment aint a sprint folks, you’ll be ‘jogging’ for many years; take it easy and look after your body, don’t buy into BS slogans. Flow with the go. - John Kavanagh

Mundials results, Portland has its first EVER BJJ World Champion! Plus, Matt's world tour...

Matt completes world tour

SBG President & Head Coach Matt Thornton (seen to the right arm wrestling the Finnish) has had a busy 2012! In the last several months he has travelled from one side of Canada to the other, visited Ireland, the UK, and finally Long Beach CA for the BJJ World Championships. In Edmonton Canada Matt promoted two new SBG purple belts from Calen Paine's SBG. James Pugsley and Anthony Stauffer both earned their well deserved purples, having met all of SBG's high standards. Anyone looking for rock solid SBG style BJJ on the west coast of Canada need look no farther than Calen's gym! In Ireland Matt had the privilege of being there as SBG_Ireland Head Coach John Kavanagh promoted two new SBG brown belts, Tom King and Maciek. Both of whom endured a grueling and impressive ironman, in the finest SBG tradition. From left to right, John Kavangh, Tom, Maciek, and Matt, post ironman. From Ireland Matt headed to the UK. There is no doubt that Karl Tanswell is running one of the top MMA teams in Europe right now, and his pro team workouts were something to see. While there Matt also taught a succesful coaching clinic, and had the pleasure of promoting Ella Yee to an over due and strong even by SBG standards blue belt. After returning home for the states, and resting for about 12 hours, Matt was once again on a plane to Long Beach CA for the worlds toughest BJJ tournament, the Mundials. The results, two new WORLD CHAMPIONS, a SILVER and a strong showing from all our athletes! Here are the results for SBG from Head Coach & SBG BJJ Black Belt Travis Davison: SBG had its strongest showing to date in total athletes, total wins, and medals. Competitor list and results are as follows: Coach Leah Taylor-Gold 4 wins at weight World Champion! Hunter Gomel- Gold Both Pan and World Champ. Ahmed White- Silver 6 wins 1 loss also Pan Champ this year. Gus Nolte 3 wins 1 loss Coach Chris Stearns 3 wins 1 loss Coach John Diggins 2 wins 1 loss Coach Amanda Lowen 1 loss by a advantage to the gold medalist. SBG, that's just how we roll! And we are just getting started.

SBG does it again at SubLeague From Coach Travis Davison on this last weekends SubLeague results: 11 gold, 8 silver, and 5 bronze! 15 competitors 24 medals out of a possible 30 at the championships. Just another day for SBG. Oh, also Portland Coach John Diggins entered no-gi advanced at the last minute, and once again took gold!

Prepare for Fall Camp! Where: Niagara Falls Canada! When: the weekend of Oct 19th - 21st Who: tons of coaches to be announced, however, a rumor is floating around that all SEVEN of Matt Thornton's black belts may be in attendance for this event! Details coming soon, stay tuned and mark you calander under the heading of AWESOMNESS now!

A new DVD series, the guard passing blueprint! From the desk of SBG President & Founder, Matt Thornton: I am very pleased to announce the upcoming release of Ultimate Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Guard Passing featuring me and SBG East Coast Director / Head Coach Steve Whittier. As many of you know, I've been asked to do a full-length BJJ guard passing set for years now, and I'm happy to say Steve and I teamed up to create a DVD set that really takes you through the steps to create a complete guard passing BLUEPRINT. Everything from the core fundamentals of posture for every type of pass, to concepts to simplify all the passing positions, training methods and of course a lot of high-percentage techniques with great details. I'm happy to say that the final product is really something special .... But only if you're interested in getting really good at Jiu-Jitsu ;-) Even more important, in this set we provide you with a "formula" that takes you beyond just guard passing so you can apply it to every facet of your game. Nowadays people get techniques from tons of sources... YouTube, the latest DVD sets where a famous grappler shows you his personal game, other black belts, etc. Well there's nothing wrong with that per se, but as our own Karl Tanswell said recently: "Join the crowd because that is what everyone is doing... welcome to the world of 'average.'" As you know SBG has never been a fan of being average. So along with some great techniques Steve and I are going to go deep into the principles that underlie any guard pass and share information that's of MUCH greater value to you than anything we could have shared on a technique-by- technique basis alone. Best of all, we made sure that the set is suitable for grapplers of all levels, from beginners to experienced upper belts. Look for the first video tomorrow... It's about the #1 thing you need to do to stay safe inside an opponent's closed guard. Don't miss it! -Matt Thornton P.S. Remember - you'll be getting a some extra BONUS emails and videos in your inbox about this set as we ramp up to release it.

Camp news, Pan Am results, SBGi managment news, + FREE videos

Spring Camp 2012 our biggest & best yet! Spring Camp 2012, held at Travis Davison's beautiful, newly renovated facility was a massive success. This was our biggest camp in decades, and ran like clockwork from start to finish. Friday began with a round robin session featuring six SBG BJJ black belts, teaching six rotating groups some of their most innovative material. This was followed by several hours of rolling & socializing. Saturday began with a fantastic crossides top section from SBG BJJ black belt & Head Coach Karl Tanswell, featuring a brand new top game call out drill that took everyone's performance to a new level, and will be a feature at all the Gym's which were smart enough to be in attendance. After that SBG East Coast Director Steve Whittier taught some new, and very interesting BJJ half guard. And the day finished with SBG founder Matt Thornton taking everyone through the critical points of crossides top, including the ever popular "death mount". At the end of the day participants were fortunate to witness the graduation of the first ITP (Instructor Training Course) for SBG Montana. A course which is now a regular feature at SBGi, and takes our coaching and staff to an even higher level of professionalism and teaching ability. Sunday featured Judo takedown with SBG BJJ Black Belt Lily Pagle. Lily brought out high percentage fundamentals, and I've since seen several of our own Portland members hitting these same throws in live rolls here at the gym. This was followed by what was probably the best Muay Thai class I have ever seen taught, and I've been doing this for twenty Years. Steve Whittier managed to capture not just the key points of striking, but also a fantastic, low impact way to train stand uplive, with timing, without having to take hard shots to the head; brilliant session. The day ended on a high note as Karl Tanswell taught his STAB program (Self defense Training Against Blades) for the first time in several years here in the States. I want all SBG coaches to be exposed to STAB at some point. Over the last several decades I've observed, been asked to review, and had contact with virtually every blade orientated system on the planet. Believe me when I tell you not only is STAB better, it isn't even a competition. There is nothing even CLOSE to this program on the planet. This was without a doubt one of the most successful camps we have had, due in no small part to Travis, and the SBG Montana family. Look for our next Fall Camp to be held mid October in Niagara Falls! It will feature the same coaching staff + MORE surprise guests. Details to be announced in the coming week. Stay tuned! - Matt Thornton

SBG Pan Am results    Once again ALL our competitors demonstrated the quality fundamentals that SBG in known for. SBG Mod Coms Ahmed White, after a long lay off due to knee surgery, once again took GOLD at blue heavyweight. Look for Ahmed to come out strong at the Worlds next month. SBG Portland's Coach Chris Stearns won three matches in a row via submission, before losing his fourth match to an "advantage" point, and taking home the BRONZE. In a field dominated by full time professional athletes, Chris put on an amazing performance of SBG APE guard, and went the entire tournament without having a single point scored on him. We are very proud of him. And who can forget SBG BJJ black belt Travis Davison's first match, winning with...yes, a flying triangle. BJJ hot rod style, nobody does it quite like Travis. This after suffering a knee injury just a week prior to the tournament. Again, we are proud of ALL our competitors, and we will have a detailed list of the other results in the coming newsletter. Look for Team SBG to represent in the Worlds next month.

Exciting changes to SBGi management In our ongoing efforts to improve SBGi for its members and Academy owners, I've decided to makeTravis Davison SBGVice President of Operations. This choice makes perfect sense for a number of reasons. First, Travis was the first BJJ black belt who came from my own Portland Gym. As such he understands my values, and what we are about as well as anyone within the organization. Secondly, Travis has shown himself to be a doer, a go getter over these last several years. Since he opened his first gym in Montana just a few years ago he has managed to produce a team of world class blue belts, purple belts and brown belts. A world class MMA team, a world class children's program, and an academy which welcomes and serves people of all interests and levels. He has grown his gym to the point where it is now one of the largest in the org, it has doubled just within the last year alone. And he still manages to continue competing and growing himself in the Art he loves. The addition of someone else to help with operations is important. I plan to continue playing a role in SBG. However, as my writing and interests have expanded, my own time has become more scarce. I realized SBGi needed someone fully dedicated to the art, sport and business ends of what we do to be there for our members. As such please welcome Travis as the new SBG VP of Operations. What does that mean to you? If you are a student, look for weekly video updates on the SBG members forum: http://www.sbgiforum.com/ Travis will also be online there to answer questions you may have about BJJ, training, coaching, or anything SBG related. As a gym owner look for posts and info by Travis in our private platinum section, where we are all dedicated to helping you grow, and meet your own personal business goals. This is just one more step in making SBGi the worlds leader in functional Martial Arts training. -Matt Thornton

Women's Martial Arts training & the SBGi Vibe Portland Gym member Masha talks about her experiences at SBG. This is a great video: http://sbgi-pdx.com/news/2012/04/20/functional-martial-arts-women-portland/

Coach Cane's top training tips: Everyone knows what an amazing Coach Cane is. Here is a recent list he put up for "hobbyist" grapplers, which applies to everyone interested in improving in this sport: http://sbgi-pdx.com/news/2012/04/23/canes-list/ Be consistent.Training 2 times a week every week is going to pay off more than training very intensely for short periods followed by stretches of time off. Of course I have no scientific data to back this up but I’ve seen it play out over and over again at the gym. Enough to confidently make this claim. Focus on fundamentals. At it’s core fundamentals can be broken down into Posture, Pressure, and Possibilities.Building a library of techniques is not a great or efficient way to get good. You only have so much room on your bookshelf. At a certain point the shelf will be filled and you’ll have to throw some out to make room for new ones. In my personal experience I’ve rarely seen anyone who is good at more than about 5 submissions at one time. They may know way more than that but their A game is mostly limited to the top 5. Adding 50 more moves won’t help your game much. Focus on Posture most of all.I tell students that the posture should do about 80% of the work for you. You should always be asking yourself “Am I in posture?” If the answer is no then you know what you have to do. If posture does 80% of the work then you should be spending most of your time either working to get posture, improving the posture you have, or fighting to keep it. If you are doing this then BJJ will be way easier.Focusing on posture means getting the best possible posture you can get WHILE putting the other person in the worst possible posture you can. If you create this posture imbalance then you don’t have to be good at BJJ in order to beat the other guy. Remember, the posture does 80% of the work. Don’t roll above 70%.(Link to post on 70%) I you go all out all the time then you will be building a game that requires that you go all out all the time. That’s hard to do if you aren’t young and in super shape. Instead try building a posture based game that REQUIRES that you move slower and concentrate on simply building good posture along the way. A good goal is to build efficient postures that use leverage and structure instead of muscle strength. To use efficient motion that requires less intensity of movement. And to use fewer movements in your overall game. My goal is to win by moving less and less until eventually you won’t even notice that I’m moving at all.  Focus on breathing.If you can’t devote lots of extra time to conditioning exercises you need to be very mindful of your breathing. Stop and check during a roll. Are you breathing heavier than the other guy? If the answer is yes then you need to slow down and focus on posture. Catch your breath before you exert too much energy. Breathing heavy is a sure sign that you are not attending to posture effectively. Simplify the game.Can I use the same posture in mount bottom that I use in cross sides bottom? How many ways can I use this triangle submission? Finding multiple uses for things that you already do well is a great way to improve your game without having to put a tremendous amount of extra time in. As you learn new things try to relate them to things you already know and look for commonalities wherever you can. Don’t keep score. The worst thing you can do for your game is to keep track of who you tapped and who tapped you. It’s counter productive and probably the worst way to measure progress. If you focus on the tap you miss most of the joy of BJJ. You won’t notice the beautiful guard pass, the gorgeous butterfly sweep, the perfectly timed escape… All the things that happen in a roll that show mastery of the game. A gym where nobody keeps score is a healthy gym. If you are in a gym where there are a lot of side conversations about who tapped who you’ll find the atmosphere unhealthy. A tap should only be treated as an event that happens in grappling that tells you when to stop. Nothing more. There are many better ways to measure progress. Enjoy the journey. In only every case those who enjoy it more are better at it. Train in a way that is healthy, smart, and most of all fun. Will power will get you a year of training at best. If you aren’t having a blast on the mat you won’t stick around or train in a way that will allow you to make much progress. This is perhaps the most important rule. It’s certainly not about “dedication” or “work ethic” as some will describe. Look around you. What looks like dedication is actually someone following their bliss. They are doing it because it’s the most enjoyable and rewarding thing they can think of to do. This is only always the case. -Team SBG

Trav's flying bow & arrow choke:

Excited about Fall Camp in beautiful Niagara? You should be! Stay tuned for details in the coming weeks.