Team Lloyd Irvin sent a strong contingent of competitors to the Mundial (World Championships) in Long Beach, CA. This was the first year that the tournament would leave Rio de Janeiro, and it was an awesome event.

The ladies from Team Lloyd Irvin represented incredibly well, with all 3 female competitors from the main school in Camp Springs bringing home medals.

Nia Daniels fought 4 hard matches and ended up with the silver in the blue belt middle-heavy division.

Jen Flannery fought well, taking bronze in the blue featherweight division.

Nyjah Easton repeated as a World medalist, taking silver in her purple belt featherweight class.

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May 5/6, 2007

Trenton, NJ

Team Lloyd Irvin black belt, Mike Fowler, was out hitting the clubs in Guam when he got the last-minute call from the promoter of the most prestigious grappling tournament in the world, the Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling Championships. They wanted Mike to fly 3/4 of the way across the world to fight in the invitation-only tournament. Not about to pass up this opportunity, Mike hopped on a plane to lovely Philadelphia, PA and went to weigh in. It was there he found out he would be facing the legendary Renzo Gracie in the first round. It was simultaneously a huge challenge and an incredible opportunity, and Mike would make the most of it, defeating Renzo with a constant attack that earned him the referee’s decision. In the second round, Fowler faced off against an even more accomplished competitor, 6-time Mundial and 2-time ADCC champion, Saulo Ribiero. Saulo wasted no time in taking Fowler’s back in the beginning of the match, but Mike showed incredible heart, gutting out a choke, escaping the position, and submitting Saulo with a toe hold! With this, Mike was through the opening rounds and into medal contention…
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7/14/07

Marshall “The Worshiper” Thompson represented Team Lloyd Irvin at the Combat Sports Challenge amateur MMA tourney in Richmond, VA on July 14th and 15th.

Marshall had been training hard with the team for some time, and he did not disappoint in his Team Lloyd Irvin competitive debut. In his first fight, Marshall showed sharp stand-up skills, dominating his opponent on the feet and finally securing the TKO victory via strikes on the ground in only 1:20.

In his second fight, Marshall demonstrated his versatility and improved ground skills with a submission victory via triangle choke in only a minute and 30 seconds.

In the finals, Marshall again showed a well-rounded attack both standing and on the ground. He dominated the stand up and landed effective punches on the ground, eventually TKOing his opponent 6 minutes into the fight.

Congratulations to Marshall on the first of many great performances as a Team Lloyd Irvin fighter!

Here are the links to the videos. Enjoy…

Fight 1:

Fight 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FhlqWzcgzo

Finals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z25ewDXld3c

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Team Lloyd Irvin sent up a small contingent of competitors to one of the largest grappling competitions of the year, NAGA Battle of the Beach in lovely Wildwood, NJ. Missing were some of the staples of the L.I. competition squad, but those that did go represented very well. Read on to see how they did:

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7/28/07-7/29/07

In the final high-profile warm-up before the 2007 Mundials to be held at the end of August, Team Lloyd Irvin sent three members to Long Beach, California to face the best that the West Coast has to offer. Black belt, Dave Trader, brown belt, Mike Easton, and purple belt, Ryan Hall stepped onto the mats both gi and no-gi and showed the East Coast can bring some serious game.

The On The Mat.com BJJ Championships (7/28/07)
Saturday was the gi competition, and it would see both Mike and Ryan winning their divisions. Mike wowed the crowd with an awesome display of takedown prowess against his two opponents (including the always dangerous Sonny Nohara of Cobra Kai), and Ryan submitted two of his three opponents via triangle choke with some of his signature guard work.

In the black belt division, Dave Trader would lose a tough first round match to Johnny Ramirez of BJJ Revolution, but he fought back for 3rd place, sweeping his opponent, triangling him, and finally finishing with the kimura for the bronze.
U.S. Open of Submission Grappling (7/29/07)

Competing no-gi on Sunday, Mike Easton would continue his winning ways, defeating three opponents on the way to a featherweight title.

Ryan Hall would have four matches on his way to gold in the advanced lightweight division, and he would submit all his opponents (2 heel hooks, 1 triangle, and 1 RNC), including the extremely dangerous Alfredo Barum of BJJ Revolution in the finals.

Just as the trio of Team Lloyd Irvin fighters were on their way out of the gym, the call was made for the advanced Absolute (open weight) division, and word was that Baret Yoshida, 2-time ADCC runner-up, this year’s ADCC bronze medalist, and one of the best submission grapplers in the world, was entering. Upon hearing this, Ryan immediately ran over to the registration table, entered his name, and changed back into his grappling clothes to prepare to fight. As things turned out, Ryan ended up being matched up with Baret in the first round.

Ryan was definitely the underdog going in, but he was well-prepared. He executed his gameplan to a “T” and defeated his immensely talented opponent 6-0 with a sweep to mount (video coming soon!). In the next round, Ryan faced off against a giant who easily weighed in at 250 lbs, but Ryan would end the match quickly with a triangle to advance. In the semis, Ryan faced a larger opponent who had already defeated 2 black belts in the opening rounds of the tournament. After some crazy scrambles, Ryan was able to take his opponent’s back and then finish with the reverse heel hook to advance to the finals. There, he would face off against the always tough black belt from BJJ Revolution, Johnny Ramirez. It was a back-and-forth match between the two friends, with Johnny scoring an early sweep and leading 2-0 for much of the time. Ryan was able to reverse his fortunes, though, with an armdrag to the back with less than a minute remaining. He locked in the hooks in and scored the winning four points. With that, Ryan captured the Absolute Division crown!

Following the Absoltute division win, Ryan had this to say: “Man, it was incredible getting to fight so many tough opponents, but the match against Baret was very special. I’ve looked up to him for a long time, and I still do. It’s not often you get to compete against your heroes, and it’s even less often that things work out the way you want when you do. I really credit the Grappling Gameplan with giving me the mental skills i needed to stay in the match and do what I needed to do to win. It was a great experience.”

Between Mike and Ryan, Camp Springs made it an even 16-0 for the weekend. No time to celebrate, though, as it’s time to get back in the gym and make the final preparations for the World Championships at the end of the month.

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Due to some grumblings by a few other East Coast teams saying that Team Lloyd Irvin was only winning tournament titles due to superior numbers, U.S. Grappling promoter, Andrew Smith, set up a team tournament in which only one representative per academy would be allowed. Teams from as far as Atlanta, GA sent squads in hopes of taking the titles at weights of 150, 170, 190, and 190+ lbs. This was the tournament that would put an end to the speculation and, here is how things turned out:

Lloyd Irvin v. NJMA v. Yamasaki v. Alliance v. Capital JJ v. Gustavo Machado v. BJJ Revolution v. Maguilla

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