On Saturday, August 11, Edson “Sururu” Jorge will host the first annual Marbella Submission Wrestling Tournament, to be held at Soul Beach, in beautiful Puerto Banus.
Details will follow soon. Please leave a comment on this article, to be informed by email when more details are available.
A number of SUPERFIGHTS are already being negotiated, including Edson Jorge vs Tito Beltran! Stay tuned…
Wow! WOW! Where to begin? I’m hardly recovered. What a night! So let’s just start at the beginning…
X Fight took place last night in downtown Granada, Spain in the beautiful bar Discoteca 10 just next to the historical Granada cathedral. The event featured one Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fight, two full-contact fights, and four Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fights — three of which featured Gracie-Barra Marbella Team Edson Jorge fighters making their MMA debut! So how did go? Well, in short, the team remains undefeated!.
Capoeira Guara!
The first fight of the night featured our newest import, Brazilian capoeira instructor “Guara” (Don’t ask. If he told you his real name, he’d have to kill you) facing off against Victor De Niro. The weeks before the fight, Guara was telling me that he really didn’t know much Jiu Jitsu, and planned to keep the fight standing up. Well, that didn’t go according to plan, and within the first minute, the fighters hit the deck. But surprise surprise, Guara must be a secret black belt or something, because in a flash he had De Niro mounted and was raining down punches causing a quick submission for the first GB Marbella win of the night.
Even more impressive than the fight was the double-back-over triple spin summersault thing he did after being announced the winner!
Paleta Power!
The next fight of the evening was a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu challenge match between our very own purple belt Pablo “Paleta” Cabo against the ever tough Ali Dinar of Granada. The fight started fast and furious with Pablo getting the first takedown. For 10 minutes, Pablo demonstrated why he’s one of Spain’s top BJJ talents as he passed Dinar’s half guard to side-control and north-south, back up, and back down again. Dinar put up a great effort, but Pablo fully controlled the fight, earning the judges’ unanimous decision for the win. It was a great win for Paleta and we look forward to continue seeing him dominate the BJJ competition scene this year.
Leo, The Argentinean Sensation, Galati!
In the second MMA fight of the night, our very own Leo Galati, put on a show! Seeing the fight, you’d never guess this was his MMA debut, as he demonstrated the cool control of a seasoned MMA professional. I’m not sure anybody has prepared harder for their fight than Leo. Seeing the transformation he has made over he past few months through hard work and training, going from slightly overweight to ripped, lean and mean athlete, has been, for me, inspirational. When Leo entered the ring last night, you could see on his face that his opponent had little chance.
As the fight began, Leo and his opponent, Urtzi “Wanderlayla” Bilbao, circle a bit, feeling each other out and judging the distance. After a quick kick exchange, the fighter’s clinched and Leo worked a spectacular take-down. Leo quickly gained side control, and then the mount, where he was perfectly position for some top end ground and pound. After about 30 seconds, Bilbao couldn’t take any more pounding, and called for the submission, giving Leo his first in what will likely be a long stream of MMA wins!
Mike “The Shark” Rios!
Marbella Submission Fighter Co-Founder, Used Car Salesman, Maker of Fine Kimonos, Publisher of Glamour Magazines, and now… Ultimate Fighting Warrior!!!, Mike “She Knew from Day One I Was a Surfer” Rios, has truly become an Urban Legend.
I can’t begin to tell you how worried I was warming up with Mike for his fight. I could tell he was nervous, and knew that having waited around all day and all night for his fight could take its toll. Then, entering the ring and seeing Mike’s tough, pit-bull-looking Brazilian opponent Bethoven de Castro, I almost threw in the towel before the fight started. (I had a ring-side view, as I was working the corner in Mike’s fight with Edson, and my job, as always, was the single task of periodically screaming, “Breathe!”)
When the bell rang to start the fight, Mike and Pit Bull circled for a moment, until the Brazilian charged in to attempt a take-down. Mike did a good job with the sprawl, but managed to get hit squarely one time during De Castro’s barrage of initial punches. Mike then got under the Brazilian’s leg for a reversal take down, and the momentum of the fight changed. The fighters ended up on their feet again with the Brazilian behind Mike. Mike, a purple belt in Jiu Jitsu, took his opponents left arm and jumped down for a kimura, but the Brazilian escaped, but in the process Mike ended up in full back mount. Man oh man was the tide turning in the fight!
Round one ended squarely in Mike’s favor. Between the rounds though, I got concerned seeing how tired he was. But he’s got the heart of a warrior and stood up to face the pit-bull for round 2.
Round two started with Mike landing some solid jabs. Da Castro, starting to wear down, tried again to shoot, but Mike’s wrestling skills were just too much. Mike managed to reverse his opponent again, throwing him to the mat, and into position to attempt a foot lock. Several audible cracks came from his foot, but the tenacious Brazilian wasn’t about to tap. The two fighter rolled, and Mike ended up in his opponent’s guard, where for the remainder of the fight, he scored ground and pound punches to the face of Da Castro.
The bell rang, and Mike “El Tiburón” Rios has his first MMA victory.
Hopefully I’ll get the videos of the other fights soon. My little digital camera only had enough time in memory to record Mike’s fight, so here it is for download:
VIDEO: Mike Rios – X Fight (38 MB)
Edson “Sururu” Jorge, Fighter and Coach Extrodinaire!
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Submission Wrestling, and now MMA champions. It’s quite amazing what Edson “Sururu” Jorge has done since arriving in Marbella and establishing his Gracie-Barra academy! If you’re looking to train BJJ, grappling or MMA in Spain, you’ve got a wonderful opportunity in beautiful Marbella to train under one of the top professionals in world.
Congratulations to all the fighters, and a big thanks to Luis Zarate for putting on a great show, and to our friends Pablo Espejo (promoter of KO Arena), Luis Quiñones (undefeated MMA fighter), and Rodrigo (BJJ pioneer) for the excellent jobs they did refereeing and judging the event.
It’s springtime here in Marbella, and that means, in addition to more girls working out in the gym trying to distract us from our BJJ training, it’s about time for a website update.
Having created one of the most competitive BJJ/grappling teams in Spain, and having dominated MMA fights in route to his Middleweight Championship belt in Spain’s premier MMA event, KO Arena, Professor Edson Jorge’s Gracie-Barra Marbella academy has been growing by leaps and bounds. We’ve got new academies opened in Malaga and La Linea, and here in Marbella we’ve welcomed a ton of new students. (One of whom, “Peachy Boo” — that’s Brazilian for “Pit Bull” — tossed me around like a rag doll last Monday…) We’ve now got guys and girls training, people young and old, and even our very own Cro-Cop replica, with equally devastating knock out ability.
In an upcoming news, we’ll be reporting on a recent graduation, where Professor Edson awarded yellow, blue and purple belts to several students. Congrats to all those! (Somehow, though, um, he, uh, seemed to have forgotten one particular Brown Belt promotion… I’m sure it was just a slight oversight that’ll be corrected soon… ;-)
Anyway, the big news is that five of our BJJ/grappling students are making the transition to MMA, and preparing for their first fights in Granada, on the 22nd April.
So, in summary, things have been going great, and Professor Edson continues to build one of Spain’s premier BJJ, grappling, and now, MMA academies. On behalf of all the students here, we can just say, “Thanks Professor Edson, for your hard work, and dedication!”
So that’s about it folks for this update, but not, of course, without a final Tip of the Week:
Never follow Professor Edson into the Turkish Bath after class, wearing only the pink silk underwear that you forgot you were wearing (given, of course, as a present from your father in law), when he claims, “C’mon, don’t worry, there’s no girls in there this time of night.”
First of all, Thank you very much to professor Edson “Sururu” Jorge for his help and support of FUMETSU and for allowing me to present my products on www.gbmarbella.com.
Ante todo quiero agradecer a mi profesor Edson “Sururu Jorge por todo su ayuda y apoyo para FUMETSU y por permitirme presentar mis productos en www.gbmarbella.com.
If you train in BJJ, grappling or MMA, you already know why you need kneepads and headgear (ear protectors). You can now buy high-quality headgear and kneepads from me at:
My first priority was to provide the essential protection needed in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Grappling. Headgear and Kneepads should be relatively low-cost items and every time I had to order them from the U.S. the shipping was more expensive than the price of the goods. I will continue to add products including Kimonos, Fight Shorts, Rash Guards etc. as I can, for now thank you very much for your support and please visit my website for more information and to contact me.
La prioridad para mi era rodilleras y protectores de oreja porque son las piezas de protección esenciales para BJJ y Grappling y no compensaba pagar mas para los portes que el precio de venta cuando los traÃa de USA. Iré aumentando la lÃnea de productos tan rápido como puedo pero por ahora espero que os gusta estos dos productos y estoy muy agradecido por su apoyo. Muchas Gracias
-Mike Rios -Gracie Barra Marbella-
Hey everybody, we’ll have a couple pictures up soon, but just wanted to make a quick announcement about the great news– Edson is the new KO ARENA Welterweight Champion! In last night’s event, he fought Manu Garcia, considered one of Spain’s top fighters. It was incredible– Edson, one of the world’s top Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Grappling athletes, put Garcia on the floor with a first-round jab, and quickly followed up with strikes on the ground for the TKO, one minute into the first round! Few people realize that Edson is also a devastating stand-up fighter, as seen last night, and his recent KO kick-boxing victory.
Congratulations Edson, the new KO ARENA Welterweight Champion!
(And a big thanks to Pablo Espejo, KO ARENA producer and promoter, for putting on another great event!)
Lots of exciting things happening this summer:
Our very own Pablo Cabo is heading off to Brazil to compete in the BJJ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP. This is big time stuff. Pablo’s been training mano-a-mano with Edson for a month or so. He’s totally ripped, and ready to go. Good luck, Pablo– we’re all hoping the best for you, as you represent Spain and Gracie-Barra.
Jude (above left) is down from the UK to train with us for a few months. He’s a recent Roger Gracie black belt, and a long-time buddy of ours. He always claims to be “out of shape”, but we know the truth.
Bruno (above right) a BJJ purple-belt from Portugal, came down to Marbella for some quality beach time and training with us. Bruno is one-tough-dude, let me tell you (he submitted me in about 10 seconds with some kind of weird handlock from the guard), but is one of the nicest guys we’ve met. Was great having you Bruno, and we hope to see you back soon!
Our Swedish buddy Andreas Tjärnberg came down for a week a sun and training, and showed us a few “Goshindo” moves. Great seeing him again!
The club just keeps growing and growing. Just last night, we had three new Brits join up and a new BJJ purple belt from Brazil recently moved to Marbella. Edson has been showing us a great series of attacks and counters from the spider guard.
We’ve got a HOT NEW CHICA DEL MES. Check out Olga, From Russia with Love.
Last, but not least, we’re all looking forward to heading down to the Rota military base on 22 July, for a BJJ and grappling tournament hosted by the US Navy & Marine Corps. Be sure to contact Vinnie Carlucci at CarlucciV@nctams.rota.navy.mil if you’d like to participate, or signup online at:
Un monton de cosas excitantes estan pasando este verano:
+ Nuestro compañero Pablo Cabo está planeando ir a Brasil para competir en el campeonato mundial de Bjj. Pablo ha estado entrenando mano a mano con Edson durante un mes aproximadamente. El está preparado para ir. Mucha suerte Pablo. Estamos todos esperando lo mejor para ti, como representante de España y de la Gracie-Barra.
+ Jude (a la izquierda de la foto) ha bajado de Inglatera para entrenar con nosotros durante unos meses. El es un recien cinturón negro de Roger Gracie, y un viejo conocido de nosotros.
+ Bruno (a la derecha de la foto), cinturón purpura de Portugal, vino a Marbella a pasar unos dias de playa y entrenar con nosotros. Dejame decirte que Bruno es un tio duro (el me finalizó aproximadamente en 10 segundos con una llave de mano desde la guardia), pero es uno de los mejores tios que hemos encontrado. Fue bueno el tenerte Bruno, y esperamos verte pronto de vuelta!
+ Nuestro Buddy sueco, Andreas Tjärnberg, viajó por una semana de vacaciones y entreno, y nos enseñó algunos movimientos “Goshindo”. Fantastico volver a verlo!
+ El club continua creciendo y creciendo. La pasada noche, tuvimos tres nuevos miembros británicos y un nuevo cinturon purpura de Bjj de Brasil que recientemente se desplazó a Marbella. Edson nos ha estado enseñando una magnifica serie de ataques y defensas desde la guardia araña.
+ Tenemos una nueva chica del mes. Olga, desde Rusia con amor.
+ Para el final, pero no lo menos importante, nos estamos preparando para el campeonato de Bjj y Grappling organizado por la US Navy & Marine Corp, en la base militar de Rota, el 22 de Julio. Si quieres participar, contacta con Vinnie Carlucci, en Carlucci@nctams.rota.navy.mil o realiza la inscripción en:
http://www.teamchoco.carluccifamily.net
Our Swedish friend Andreas Tjärnberg, who visits and trains with us from time to time just wrote in to let us know he recently won the Swedish team-championship in something called Goshindo a few weeks ago.
Be sure to check out the website:
http://www.brandbil.se/goshindo.htm
On the website, he writes:
På väg från Jakan med vinnarbucklan. Livet leker men bulorna i fejset börjar kännas.
Being almost fluent in Swedish myself, I can translate that for our readers:
I would like to thank all my friends at Gracie-Barra Marbella. Thanks to what I learned there — how to pass the guard, and how to give the opponent a mean look before the competition — I was able to win my Goshindo Championship.
Or something like that, anyway…
Congratulations, Andreas! We’re all looking forward to your next visit to Marbella.
Just a quick reminder about the seminar coming up weekend after next, here in Marbella, with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu legend Vinicius Draculino.
Format: Two hours in the morning (with gi), short break of 30 minutes, two hours in the afternoon (no-gi, MMA)
Costs: 100 Euros per person.
For those traveling into town, the following is a list of hotels you might want to consider (descriptions in Spanish):
http://www.hotelpyr.com/index_e.html
Tres estrellas.Este hotel está situado en Puerto Banus, a 100 metros de nuestro gimnasio. Creo que es la primera elección, tanto por situación como por precios. Aproximadamente 90 Euros habitación doble.
http://www.hotelsancristobal.com/ubicacion.php
Tres estrellas. Hotel situado en pleno corazón de Marbella en Ricardo Soriano, en frente del parque La Alameda. Tiene una parada de autobus a 50 metros por lo que las comunicaciones con PuertoBanus son muy buenas. 60 Euros + tasas habitación doble.
http://www.hotelbaviera.es/
Dos estrellas. También situado justo en el centro de Marbella, a pie de Ricardo Soriano. a menos de 50 metros tiene parada de autobús para coger la linea que llega hasta Puerto Banus. 82 Euros habitación doble + 15 Euros cama suplementaria del 1 de Abril al 31 de Mayo.
http://www.hostalsanramon.com/
Este es un HOSTAL. Está situado en la plaza de los naranjos, en pleno corazón de Marbella. Tiene precios muy competitivos para las personas que no necesiten servicios propios de un hotel. 40 Euros habitación doble desde Octubre a Mayo.
It is utterly appalling the levels to which some people will sink. The above left is an original photo of me, just after one of our Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training sessions. (And it’s even a bad photo; I’m actually a bit more muscular than that.) The image on the right, however, which I’ve heard is being circulated and sold on the male photography sites on the Internet, is a Photoshop manipulated creation made by one of my very own training partners — Augusto!
I’ll give it to him, it’s a pretty darn good imitation, but then again, it’s well known that Augusto is an expert at Photoshop image manipulation. But this time amigo, you’ve been caught out! So let this embarrassing moment serve as a lesson that that there are no shortcuts to the discipline, hard work and hours of gym time that I put in to achieve this look.
La foto superior izquierda en una foto original mia, justo después de uno de nuestros entrenamientos de Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (e incluso es una foto ‘mala’; actualmente estoy mas musculado). La imagen de la derecha, que segun lo que he escuchado está siendo difundida y vendida en las páginas de fotografÃa de internet, es una manipulación de Photoshop creada por uno de mis compañeros de entrenamiento, Augusto!
Se la daré, es una muy buena imitación, pero otra vez, es por todos conocido que Augusto es un experto en manipulación de imagenes digitales. Pero esta vez amigo, has sido cazado! Asi que te sirva este momento embarazoso como lección de que no existen atajos para la disciplina sino trabajo duro y horas de gimnasio que he usado para alcanzar esta imagen.
Hey everybody, it’s been a while since the site’s been updated. That doesn’t mean nothing’s going on, just that your humble author’s been real busy. So, here’s the news from this month:
Sensei Edson awarded Matt Henderson (yours truly) the coveted Purple Belt, after his tremendous accomplishment at the European Championship, where he single handedly executed what may well be the worst takedown in the history of all martial arts.
The academy continues to grow, with the addition of two new Finns and another Spaniard. (All girls!)
We’re back to training No-Gi on Friday nights.
Last but not least, we know, we know — we’re missing a February “Chica del Mes”!
That’s about all for now. Hope to see you soon at training!
Hola a todo el mundo. A pasado un tiempo sin que la página haya sido actualizada. Esto no quiere decir que no esten ocurriendo acontecimientos; simplemente que vuestro humilde autor ha estado realmente muy ocupado. Asi que estas son las noticias para el mes de Febrero:
- Nuestro sensei Edson Jorge concedió, a Matt Henderson (yo), el cinturón purpura, después de una tremenda participación en el campeonato de Europa, donde ejecutó lo que se puede considerar el peor takedown de la historia de las martes marciales.
- La academia continua creciendo con nuevas incorporaciones.
- Reanudamos el entreno de NoGi los viernes por la noche.
- Y por último, pero no lo menos importante ¡ Nos está faltando una chica del mes de Febrero !
Esto es todo por ahora. Espero verte pronto entrenando!
The Gracie-Barra BH Marbella school continues to grow at an exciting pace, and is set to become one of the premier Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academies in all of Europe. The school now counts not one, but three black belts! Led by Edson “Sururu” Jorge, he’s now supported by two new Draculino black belts — Thelmo Calmon (above right) and Caloquinha (above left). Thelmo has many years experience competing and instructing in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and was most recently teaching in Portugal. Caloquinha is a recent black belt, after having won the world championships as a brown belt. Furthermore, Caloquinha will be fighting in the superfight against top European lightweight Thomas Hytten at the upcoming KO Arena 4 vale tudo event.
It’s really exciting to see the school growing and expanding like this. Gracie-Barra BH Marbella now offers its students the possibility to learn and train in the fastest growing martial art in the world, with a world-class unequaled team of instructors, at an unbelievably nice gym, in one of the highest quality-of-living places on the planet.
This week the student group has grown by five new members. Javier is back from Madrid (and looking fit!), we’ve got our first two women students, and two young guys from a combat karate background. I hope to have all their pictures added to the student gallery soon.
La escuela de Marbella Gracie-Barra continua su crecimiento con un paso excitante, y se va a convertir en una de las principales academias de Jiu-Jitsu Brasileño de toda Europa. La escuela ahora cuenta no sólo con uno, sino con tres cinturones negros!. Liderados por Edson “Sururu� Jorge, ahora tiene la ayuda de dos cinturones negros de Draculino – Thelmo Calmon (a la derecha) y Caloquinha (a la izquierda). Thelmo tiene muchos años de experiencia compitiendo y dando clase de Jiu-Jitsu Brasileño, y estuvo hasta hace poco dando clase en Portugal. Caloquinha es un recien cinturón negro, después de haber ganado el campeonato del mundo como cinturón marrón. Además, Caloquinha luchará en la superfight contra el top Europeo del peso lightweight Thomas Hytten en el próximo evento de valetudo KO Arena 4.
Es muy excitante el ver la escuela crecer y expandirse de esta manera. Gracie-Barra Marbella ahora ofrece a sus estudiantes la posibilidad de aprender y entrenar en el arte marcial de mas rápido crecimiento actual en el mundo, con un equipo de instructores inigualable a nivel mundial, en un precioso gimnasio, en uno de los lugares de mayor calidad de vida a nivel mundial.
Esta semana el grupo de estudiantes ha crecido con cinco nuevos miembros. Javier ha vuelto de Madrid, tenemos nuestras dos primeras alumnas, y dos jóvenes chicos con antecedentes en karate. Yo espero tener sus fotos añadidas en la galeria de estudiantes muy pronto.
Tonight was a special session of the Gracie-Barra Marbella training, filled with happiness and disappointment.
The training focused on defending the back position, with some special training for about 20 minutes.
As part of our training we then did some tournament simulated fighting, beginning on our feet (we do this from time to time). The first match-up was yours truly (me) against Pablo Cabo. Unfortunately, my undefeated record came to an end, as I lost to Pablo 2 points to 2 points, with him winning by advantage. It was a tough fight, with both of us getting a takedown (2 points).
The great news of the day was our first belt graduation! The following students received awards:
Blue belts:
White belts:
Congratulations everybody. Let’s get ready for the Europeans!
Ah, be sure to frequently visit the students photo gallery as we add student photos weekly.
Plaza Gym has reached a new agreement with our club. As of December 1, 2005, all paid members of the Gracie Barra BH Marbella martial arts club are now full members of the Plaza Gym, entitled to visit as often as they wish, and make use of all gym facilities, including weights, training machines, aerobic classes, etc. A one-time 15 Euro inscription fee will be required. This is great news!