4th Stripe Brown Belt

Got my 4th stripe on my Brown Belt today after Advanced Class. Here's the class picture.

Demian Maia at ATOS

One of the perks of training at ATOS is sometimes we have someone famous drop in and teach a seminar.  Today's guest is UFC's Demain Maia.  His style of jiu jitsu is very old school compared to what's being taught at ATOS, which more of a modern jiu jitsu.  Demian Maia's style reminds me of the non-fancy GB stuff with a touch of fancy and self-defense.

I should really fix and re-tie my gi before photos, this picture makes me look fat.

Class photo taken from atosjiujitsuhq's instagram, I'm in the 2nd row.

Farewell To One Of Our Coaches

Lately, I haven't really been training too much because my left hamstring is injured. I also can't believe how long it has lasted and how it affects other parts of my body like my ankle and back. But when I found out that Alex Cone. was leaving San Diego, I had to throw on my gi and be there for his last couple days.

I first met Alex in 2010, when I was a white belt and he was a purple belt. Back in the day he was teaching Sunday classes. Those Sunday classes were the bomb! I remember those days, it would be me, Alex Cone (purple belt), Terence Mooney (purple belt), and Brian Leslie (white belt). I learned so much from those guys in that one day. It was basically my Q&A session of the week, and to clean up anything I didn't understand taught that week or troubleshoot problems I was having. The bonus was back then Alex was teaching some advance moves during those Sundays. I took those secret Sunday moves and used it on guys the following week. I made so much progress as a white belt because of Alex Sundays.

Now I'm a purple belt and Alex is a brown belt. I have learned a lot of my moves from Alex. What I have been learning lately from him are:

• the mental aspect of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
• be aggressive during rolls
• don't be afraid to try new things even if they don't work, just keep trying different things
• grips! He said my game would be SO MUCH BETTER if I have the right grips

I hope one day in the future to roll with Alex. He'll probably be a black belt next time I see him, maybe I'll be one too.

Baseball Bat Choke With Magid Hage

I wrote about getting Baseball Bat Choked from the bottom last week and how cool it was to see Magid Hage pull it off on someone in a big competition. Well... Magid Hage IV stopped by Gracie Barra San Diego to teach a Baseball Bat Choke seminar. It was awesome! Apparently, Prof. Dominic has known Magid for at least 8 years and keeps calling him "Little Magid". Magid is not very little anymore.

He taught us different variations:

• Starting with both people kneeling.
• From Half Guard bottom.
• From Half Guard top:
• Passing to North South
• Kicking over to Scorpion
• From opponent's Closed Guard

I also had the pleasure to roll with Magid during interval training. I got Baseball Bat Choked from everywhere!! Even knowing about the technique after the seminar I couldn't prevent it, his hands are huge, and this grip is deadly!

Of course my eyes are closed! :P

Master Nelson Monteiro

Master Nelson Monteiro came and taught the Wednesday's all-levels class at Gracie Barra San Diego. It was the largest class I've seen since I started here. Master Nelson usually teaches at Gracie Barra Encinitas, which I have visited once with Wayne when they had a seminar. At the end of class, we took a group photo. I also couldn't help but take a photo with the legend himself.