• What: BJJ seminar, with Jude Samuel
• Where: Algeciras
• When: Saturday, August 1, 10:30h to 13:30h
• Cost: 15 Euros
• More Info: Cai-Club Website

This year GB Marbella sent 10 people to compete, who returned home with seven medals:

• Vinicius Moura took bronze in his black-belt category.
• Jose Antonio Merida (of our partner school in La Linea) was the star of the team, winning gold in his category, and silver in the brown-belt open class.
• Matt Henderson took bronze in his brown-belt category.
• Augusto Aloisio took bronze in his purple-belt category.
• Miika Mehmet took gold in his white-belt category.
• Brendan Slade took bronze in his white-belt category.
• Last but not least, DD took silver in his white-belt category.

In addition to these, Brandon and Javi Bombero had really good showings in the white-belt category, and Leo Galati had the misfortune of being paired with the current world champion in his first purple-belt fight. (In fact, Leo had an excellent fight with the world champion. It could have easily been the final!)

As always, our favorite photographer, designer and BJJ tough-girl Caroline Azzi was there to take photos. We hope to have them up an online soon!

In other news, our good friend Jude Samuel, a black belt from Roger Gracie’s gym in London who frequently visits Marbella and trains with us, had an amazing performance at the European’s, winning gold in his black-belt category, and silver in the open class, losing only to the legendary Fabio Gurgel!

All in all, it was a fantastic event. We had a lot of fun, got to see our BJJ buddies from around Spain, and even had a chance to take some photos with Rickson and Kron Gracie! Looking forward to next year!…

The rains and cooler weather bring wintertime to Marbella, and that means intensified training as we get ready for some local tournaments and the European championships in January. While focusing on training, we’ve been lazy in updating the blog, so here’s a big article with the latest news.

Welcome guest instructor, Vinicius Moura!

While coach Edson is back in Brazil, we’ve got a great guest instructor taking care of the class, Vinicius Moura. Vinny is a black belt under legendary maestro, Soca, and is proving to be a fantastic trainer. His speciality is standup/judo, and so every Monday we focus on that. I have to say standup has always been the worst part of my game, and so I’m pretty happy to be improving those skills.

Vinny’s been doing a great job filling in while Edson’s awaw, and as a result the club continues to grow to almost 20 people per class!

Augusto takes warmups to a professional level

One thing is for sure, our guys are going to arrive at the upcoming tournaments in great shape!, as our warm-up sessions have been taken over by our very own Augusto Aloisio. Augusto is a professional personal trainer, and has taken charge of the pre-class warm-ups. He’s been structuring the 30-minute session to include explosive duration exercises, core strengthening, and abdominal work.

Describing the warm-ups as intense would be an understatement, but we are all really happy that Augusto has stepped up into this role, as it’s making a huge difference in our physical preparation.

Best wishes for coach Edson with his injury.

Coach Edson “Sururu” Jorge has been down in Brazil the past couple of months, involved in a number of activities such as helping UFC champion George St. Pierre prepare for his (winning) fight against Jon Fitch, and preparing to fight André Chatuba in the sixth edition of the Juiz de Fora MMA event.

We were all really looking forward to Edson’s fight. Chatuba is a very tough competitor, and a win for Edson in this fight could have easily paved the way to participation in headline MMA events in the USA or Japan.

But last week we got the terrible news that Edson has suffered a serious knee injury in training. In addition to missing the fight, he’s going to have to have surgery and a period of recovery.

We know that Edson is terribly disappointed about this. We just want to say,

“Keep your head up, Edson. You’re a great person and athlete, and we’re all behind you!”

Preparation for upcoming tournaments

We’re currently training for three possible upcoming tournaments.

• Barcelona (December 6-7). The Vulcan tournament last year was a huge success. Many people said it’s the best organized tournament ever in Spain.

• Rota (December 13). The US soldiers are preparing a tournament in at the base in Rota. It will be a Gi tourney, with two weight classes, and all belt categories. Contact David Turner on djturner11@yahoo.com for details.

• European Championships (January 30 – February 1). As always, we’re preparing to go defend our medals at the Europeans!

Be sure to check out the following highlight reel from Augusto Tio Chico:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaFga4SDPRs

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Champion, Rômulo Barral, is coming to Marbella, Spain to give a one-day seminar, on January 19, 2008.

The cost will be 50 Euros for Gracie-Barra Marbella students, and 100 Euros for everyone else. Registration/payment will happen on the day of the event. The seminar will take place at the Platinum Gym, in Puerto Banus (i.e. our normal training center).

We will update the page soon with the precise seminar times.

1. e ai (eh-ay-ee) What’s up?

2. ta? (tah?) Did you see that? Example: “You trap his arm, ta? You shift your base, ta? You pass your leg over his head, ta? You subymit him with a triangle! Ta?”

3. Subimit (Su-bee-mit) Submit.

4. Cara (Ca-dah) No, it’s not Spanish for “face”, it means “dude”.

5. Fica (Fee-ka) Stay or stand. Combining with the above: “Si cada fica em pe…”, meaning “If the dude stands up…”

6. Chão (Shaum) Ground.

7. Po (Poh) Butt.

8. Cudo (Koo-do) Elbow.

9. Pé (Pay) Foot.

10. Nuca (Noo-ka) Neck.

11. Mão (Mohn) Hand.

12. Pow (like “wow”) The sound you make when you apply an armbar or other finish holds. Example: “So, you climb your legs up, pull his arm across, and POW, slap on the armbar!”

13. Porra (Po-ha) The most apparently versatile word in the Brazilian language. It can mean anything from surprise (“You met THREE girls Friday night? PORRA!”) to an exclamation of emotion (“PORRA! I just broke your left foot, now I’m gonna break the right! PORRA!”)

So, there are you students, all you need to know for successful participation in a real BJJ class. Until next time…

Presented below is a list (in no particular order) of those who have achieved a nickname in our academy:

• Sururu – Edson Jorge
• Matturu – Matt Henderson (Matt also goes by “Spaniard” when in the United States)
• Tiburón – Mike Rios
• Pit Bull Argentino – Martin
• Pit Bull – Reza
• Picachú – Danny Nagore
• Rotweiler – Antonio Garcia (also known as “Sin Cuello”, no neck.)
• Toro Bravo – Jose Antonio Merida
• Pescadito – Agusto
• Paleta – Pablo Cabo

This list will be expanded and updated soon.

Hey everybody, great news!– we’re really happy to be able to provide you with a downloadable video of Edson’s TKO win against Manu Garcia at the recent KO Arena 5 event. See for yourself why Edson “Sururu” Jorge is one of the world’s top welterweight/lightweight fighters, and remains undefeated at 5-0.

Click here to download the video (28 MB)

A really big thanks goes out to our friend, and KO Arena producer and promoter, Pablo Espejo, for giving us permission to provide this video from the event. Be sure to regularly check out Pablo’s sites:

• FightSol.com

• KOArena.net

Also be sure to check out Pablo’s photo gallery of the event:

• KO Arena 5 Photo Gallery

Edson “Sururu” Jorge quiere agradecer a todos los entrenadores y competidores que acudieron al evento y tambien los patrocinadores Pink y Platinum por su apoyo. En el año que viene Sururu organizará un campeonato de Grappling (sin kimono) en Junio/Julio y la segunda Copa de Marbella en Octubre. En este sito web informaremos sobre estos eventos y los de mas eventos en España proximamente.

White Belt /Cinturon Blanco

65 a 75 kgs 1. Jesus Velasquez (TNT) 2. Ismael Cordoba (TNT) 3. Tete Garcia (GBM)

76 a 85kgs 1. Enrique Marin (CS) 2. M. Nisteroy (TNT) 3. “Aleman” (GBM)

86 a 95kgs 1. Carlos Ona (TNT) 2. Antonio Cordoba (TNT) 3. Leo Galatti (GBM)

+96kgs 1. Antonio Garcia (GBM) 2. Reza (GBM) 3. Adrian Correa (LZ)

Absoluto 1. Carlos Ona (TNT) 2. Reza (GBM) 3. Cesar Honduras (TNT)

Blue Belt/ Cinturon Azul

Por de bajo de 75kgs 1. Raul Velazquez (TNT) 2. Juan Jose Pozo (TNT) 3. Pablo “Paleta” Cabo

Por encima de 75kgs 1. Mike Rios (GBM) 2. Ben Johnson (GBM) 3 Antonio Sanchez (LZ)

Absoluto 1. Ben Johnson (GBM) 2. Mike Rios (GBM) 3. Raul Velazquez (CS)

Team Cup / Copa de Equipos 1. Team New Team Madrid 2. Gracie Barra Marbella 3. Crazy Sevilla 4. Luis Zarrate Granada

Congratulations to everyone!!/ Enhorabuena a todos!!