Please read the great article on Nova Uniao below if you haven't already.

A few reminders:

Don't forget the tournament is August 8 and registration ends August 3. We've been training very hard in class for this event.
Bobby worked very hard and made a really nice podium! Thanks.

Our long awaited social event will be August 21! Please come to class to get the details!

BRAZILIAN JIU JITSU
I wanted to thank everyone for their hard work while we were gone. All the assistant coaches did a great job and everyone worked as a team to get things done. Preparing for a competition as a team is one thing that helps unite everyone and help them see the value of serving something greater than one's self. Tonight was our last hard session of GPP and we had a lot of teammates taking full use of their mat time tonight and also helping their teammates prepare. Unit integrity and team work are the keys to success. You can only go so far by your self. It takes a team to ensure you're fully prepared and generally victory is directly proportional to preparedness. No where else will you find a team of people from all walks of life working together to overcome their adversities. Next week we finalize and bring everything together.

SPECIAL THANKS
I wanted to give a special thanks to Master Dring for helping prepare the team for the IKF. He continues to produce champions from scratch every single year. Also a thanks to all the other coaches from the team. They put in a lot of work this past weekend and in the preparations leading up to the competition.

I wanted to thank Robinho and Anthony for all the support they've provided to the team. They've always gone out of their way to line up training sessions, places to stay or whatever else the team needed. They've demonstrated a profound passion and commitment for what they do. On a personal note, Robinho has never ceased to amaze me with the innovations he's brought to the game. Robinho on the mats is like Mozart on the piano. He's not just a phenom with great attributes but a genius that understands his methods. The transitions and techniques we trained from the Robinho No-Gi Cross Guard are another dimension of Jiu Jitsu. Nova Unaio continues to be the greatest team of individuals in the sport.

Well, we've finally returned from the IKF and training.
Grant lost a decision in his final bout, but looked great in the fight. It was unfortunate to see Abby come down with the flu on the way down there after such a long training camp and the doctors in Orlando are not so great. Eli from Cabot and Mariea from NC brought home titles, so congratulations to them.



After the IKF we went spent a couple of days training hard with Robson Moura where we had some gi and no-gi sessions. We always pick up some important details and cutting edge techniques to make our Jiu Jitsu even more effective. We made a very brief detour to the beach and of course we could not pass on some post training chicago style pizza.







Finally, please take the time to read the following Article regarding Nova Uniao. For those unfamiliar, Nova Uniao is our BJJ/ MMA affiliation. Andre Pederneiras (quoted in the article) is one of the founders of Nova Uniao.

When Pride Fighting Championships met its end, the value of mixed martial arts teams seemed to diminish, too, as athletes were emphasized more for their own value, independent of the team they represented.

This trend has increased even more in Brazil, as Brazilian Top Team and the Chute Boxe Academy suffered several cuts and stars such as Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Paulo Filho, Wanderlei Silva and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua left their respective training camps. The only team not to suffer any major losses during this period was Nova Uniao. Names like Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro, Thales Leites, Wagnney Fabiano and Jose Aldo -- born and raised on a team led by Andre Pederneiras -- continue to shine in international events.

According to Pederneiras, Nova Uniao has about 50 professional athletes on its roster, including Ribeiro and the young Eduardo Dantas, who fought Masakatsu Ueda for the Shooto 132-pound championship last weekend.

Made famous in the 1990s by the brilliant showings of its lighter weight athletes in Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitions, the team made a seamless transition to MMA, winning titles in major events like Shooto (Ribeiro), Cage Rage (Ribeiro), the International Fight League (Fabiano) and Pancrase (Marlon Sandro).

"Our team went from BJJ to MMA," Pederneiras said. "As we already had a very strong team in the lighter weights, basically my BJJ team migrated with the same success to MMA, so we just continued the work. But we've also proven that we can do it with heavier guys. Thales Leites is an example. The more that come here, the more we'll do it."

Although the recognition has come only in recent years, the team began to take its first steps more than a decade ago, with Pederneiras himself fighting in international events and Rafael Carino emerging victorious at UFC 9 in 1996.

"Rafael Carino was my first athlete who fought in MMA, then Joao Roque and some others," Pederneiras said. "Even when I fought, I did not have an MMA team. I called some people for training, but most of them had never fought MMA before. Only when Shaolin began fighting MMA could I bring in more people. Then we really had a team."

While drama surrounds other Brazilian teams, the same cannot be said for Nova Uniao, which has grown strong globally. Pederneiras explained how his team remained cohesive during the turbulent times in Brazil.

"The unity here is great," he said. "I think I have a bit of voice control here. I try not to take anything more than they think is right. I have no interest in exploring. Everyone knows how much I have invested in this team, and I keep investing. I'm here to help my team grow. My happiness comes from training champions and knowing they are making some money and changing their lives, especially the poor ones."

However, training athletes at such a high level has created an unusual situation for the team. Only a few MMA events exist in Brazil. The queue to participate in competitions on home soil has grown so long that it has discouraged fighters, perhaps even potential future champions, from trying to compete.

"We get desperate here in Brazil when the events crack; to me, it's terrible," Pederneiras said. "Many athletes come here with the dream of fighting in big events, but when the small events crack, I often lose those athletes who have that dream and help others to reach a higher level."

Complications are many.

"First, it involves exchange," Pederneiras said. "If a guy calls and gives me $200 for putting someone in the UFC, I don't have to put 'Shaolin' there. If a guy offers me a price in Shaolin's level of payment, he probably will be the first choice in his category. If the guy offers me a price for Jose Aldo to fight in Affliction, I'll tell him, 'No, because he does have a contract with WEC, but I have other athletes in this weight.' What I do is send a list of the athletes that I have. When it doesn't come with a pre-determined name, they look at the record and choose who they want."

Because the aforementioned teams have lost some of their luster, camp affiliation no longer serves as the main factor in a fighter being selected by a promotion. Belonging to the same team as Ribeiro or Aldo does not carry the same weight it did at the beginning of the decade, with the teammates of the Nogueiras or "The Axe Murderer."

"In the past, you used to see an athlete who didn't have all this potential, but he was from a great school, such as Brazilian Top Team or Chute Boxe, and sometimes he didn't have what it takes to be a great fighter," Pederneiras said. "The guy could get in big events, and, in the end, he wasn't good enough to be there. Nowadays, it doesn't happen anymore because just the athlete is important now. Unfortunately, we're at the top with this issue, and we can't put more athletes in other events."

Two stars of the international MMA scene and current UFC champions have their roots at Nova Uniao, including UFC lightweight king B.J. Penn, the first non-Brazilian to win the BJJ world championship as a black belt.

"B.J. is a black belt formed in our academy," Pederneiras said. "He studied with one of my black belts, Renato Verissimo. He trained with us since he was a blue belt, and I gave him the black belt. So his whole ground training came from us. He has his team, with his name, but he remains with us. Renato continues to give him classes."

UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre also has links to Nova Uniao. The French Canadian started jiu-jitsu training with Fabiano, one of the most technical athletes on the team. St. Pierre graduated to blue belt under Fabiano, who later moved away from Canada and lost his prized student. However, every time St. Pierre heads to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he visits and trains with his former teacher.

Despite so many athletes falling under the Nova Uniao umbrella, the school maintains a tremendous winning percentage among its fighters. In 2007, its fighters won 17 of their 21 bouts (81 percent). In 2008, they produced 50 wins in 61 fights (nearly 82 percent). Already in 2009, the numbers are even more impressive. In 85 fights, Nova Uniao fighters have posted 72 wins (85 percent).

The second half of the year could bring more success. Aldo and Fabiano are rising quickly in World Extreme Cagefighting. Leandro Silva and Willamy Chiquerim will fight for Shooto belts in October. Sandro has advanced to the semifinals in the Sengoku featherweight grand prix. Leites will return to the UFC cage against Alessio Sakara at UFC 101. Meanwhile, Jussier da Silva, Renan Barao, Chiquerim and Dantas will all defend their South American Shooto titles.

"The expectations are the best possible. Let's see if we can achieve it all and maintain our good percentage, thus ending another year as the best team in Brazil," Pederneiras said. "Nova Uniao is the team that has more athletes who have become champions. They started on the white-belt level here and became champions; they did not come from other teams."

Pederneiras pulls no punches about his team's current standing in Brazil.

"We are the best team in Brazil nowadays; we are a team that has more great athletes in jiu-jitsu and the most number of champions in MMA," he said. "I advise the promoters and managers of the world that if they want top athletes in Brazil, the first place they should look is here."

by Gleidson Venga

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Grant from REVOLUTION won his first match in a dominating fashion. Grant's first two fights on previous shows were against a former champ and experienced opponents. It proved to give him great experience for an event such as this. He was slipping punches, working his combinations and set a pace in his match that his opponent couldn't match.

Here's some of today's Pics.
Thanks to everyone for the support!

Here's a pic of the team:



And here's Grant and his fight:

Great training today! Thanks to the Hot Springs guys for coming to train.

Kids did a great job. We worked on a lot of kicks today. Jayden did a great job helping and everyone stayed focused. Hunter got the GPP or "Hard Work" camo belt to wear until tomorrow. Who will earn it next, or will Hunter retain his title? Come train in BJJ Tomorrow. We are working hard towards the next tournament in Kids class as well.

In BJJ we had 2 matches of the day today along with hard work towards the next competition. Josh, Wes, Bobby and Stephen all looked great in their matches. This is giving the new folks a great opportunity to understand the scoring and how "it all works". Everyone's doing a great job.

We worked a lot of defense in Kickboxing today. We also had a few folks stay late to do sparring. Everyone's looking better. Most of you all who take both programs will begin to realize how the principles of relaxation, fluid movement, combinations, etc are all the same whether you are doing BJJ, Kickboxing or MMA.

We have quite a few events planned out almost until the end of the year. Be sure to get on the LDMA site to see what's going on. We try to get them out as soon as possible so you can plan accordingly.

We have a few surprises coming not too long from now.
Tshirts are all but gone, we have just a few left. We have some orders (domestic and international) going out here soon so please let me know if you'd like to get in on them.

Got some good pics from last night's sparring.




Have a great day everyone and we'll see you tomorrow.

We had a really good time at the Kickboxing Camp today.

We worked a lot on defense, attacks, and sparring. Everyone did a great Job!
I got pics of a lot of folks from Revolution but didn't get everyone. Maybe next time. All the fighters got good sparring in, and the recreational folks were able to learn a lot of good techniques and get some sparring in at a comfortable space.

Wes will have some fun new drills for you Hot Springs folks on Monday! Be ready! Wes is doing a great job and we're glad to have him teaching.

Have a great weekend everyone and we'll see you in class Monday!

Great class in Hot Springs. Thanks to Johnny for bringing his friends in. I took a nice pic but left the camera in the car. We'll get it up tomorrow. Joe and Jordan had a great fight of the night. Michael is looking great in kickboxing along with everyone else. We worked hard on kicks tonight and I see a lot of improvement.

The new mats are much much nicer. I have something exciting worked out for heavy bags and something else in Hot Springs for later this year, but it's a secret.

It looks like our next Saturday BJJ workshop will be August 1 over takedowns. We'll have a lot of new stuff to throw in the mix, so join the fun. This will be a great way to brush up on stuff for the tournament, as we will also cover rules. We will also plan another striking event later in August to prepare fighters for the upcoming fights later this year. It seems like this year we're going straight from one event to the next. The LDMA affiliation continues to add schools and members, allowing us to have more and more events for you!

Tomorrow is the Kickboxing camp. We should have some good pics from that also.
UFC party after. Please remember to bring something to contribute to the eats.

Thank goodness Sunday is a day off! Next week we'll continue training hard. Mid-day sprints in the heat do well to get everyone in great shape.

With the exception of the heavy bag rack the Benton gym is back in order! After our disaster with the delivery folks yesterday....we're glad it's over and everything is laid out. But now both gyms look even better. We have even more mat space now and new equipment coming.

The new Benton Kickboxing schedule seems to be working well. Get your gear and get in the advanced classes. Get in better shape and have more fun. Grant looked great sparring this afternoon. He's been working hard training two-a-days a lot of days. Kickboxing Camp and UFC Party this weekend.

In BJJ we had a good fight of the night between Bobby and Ward! The fights and volume of training continue to climb.
I took some pics so that some of you can have them for your Facebook page and MySpaces.

Jake and Ward get their pics on the blog just for being some of the first ones to get their patches on! Thanks guys they look great! Most of you have your patches by now, make sure to get them on so that you can be stylin' too and show we represent a team! As the competitions approach, it's essential to have unit integrity and help each other prepare.




Dalton gets his picture on the blog just for working hard every class. We have a lot of promising teens in the program. Wes, Chris and the other blue belts continue to do a great job helping them and working with them in class.





I had a few other folks who I took pics of but they weren't blog quality. So if you pic isnt on here, well maybe next time.

Keep up the good work everyone!

Well, it was a lot of work today to get those mats done. Thanks Bobby and Tony again! They both helped load and move mats to the new locations. Please thank them for their hard work when you see them in class.
Also thanks David for helping last minute with the class when the shipment was behind. He and Grant do a great job with the kids!

I really like how the green mats look in Hot Springs. BJJ class will be a lot more fun with them there. We did get some extra GPP in in Hot Springs this evening. Jordan deserves some recognition. He's really doing a great job and has come a long way. We're proud of his progress. Keep training hard for the tournament.

The KICKBOXING CAMP is this weekend. I have a feeling it's going to be a lot of fun. We'll get the UFC and have a cookout after. LDMA offers world class striking instruction, and I am excited that we are able to attend these camps. The striking skill set is evident in our MMA fighters and Kickboxers. If you're looking to fight MMA you want to make sure you have a solid base and knowledge in striking and grappling. Luckily LDMA offers both!

Remember Tshirts are going fast! Get yours quick.
Something very exciting is coming next week!

Good training and progress everyone! I hope you all enjoyed your 4th of July weekend.

Thanks to everyone for helping get the old mats out of the way and re-arrange a few things. Tomorrow we'll be taking the Tatamis to Hot Springs! Bobby will be taking the mats to Hot Springs. Thanks Bobby! He always goes out of his way to help the team. Also thanks to Tony who has driven to Benton 2 days to help arrange things. Tony also always helps the team out.

KIDS
Kids did great today! We've been working on foot speed and I see everyone getting a lot faster.

KICKBOXING
This weekend is our Kickboxing camp and festivities. It should be a fun weekend of training, building, and preparing with the entire affiliation.
We did some new ab work tonight in class. If you weren't there you sure missed out!

BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU
In BJJ we're training hard for the upcoming tournament and events. We had a few matches to watch today. Bobby and Jake and Chris and Grant put on a show. This will help everyone familiarize themselves with competition format and scoring, which in turn will aide in your preparation.
Jake was first to show up with his team patches on. Remember the deadline is August 8! The back patches came out really nice, make sure to pick yours up if you haven't already. Pick up an extra one for your jean jacket, or if you're like Scott pick one up for your coveralls.
Congrats to Neil and Austin on receiving their first degrees this weekend at the BJJ seminar and we had a few people hit BOTH the Hot Springs and Benton Seminar to double their time working new technique.

Tony is also looking for a partner to do a private lesson on takedowns with. If you're interested, let us know.

COMING SOON
In the next few months we'll have a variety of events and huge happenings, more changes coming so stay tuned.

Tshirts are going quick. Get them while they last.

Lastly, the old camera has officially been put into retirement. I did have to take a few shots with the new one in class, in particular because Grant and Wes couldn't quit goofing off during the ab exercises. Who would think that dropping a ball on your teammates stomach could be so entertaining?!

Where has the week gone! We've been training hard this week. Hiking and running outside mid-day is getting tough, but it works. Bonsai encountered a box turtle on our run and it scared the crap out of him. I even tried taking him back to see and smell it but that thing hissed at him and the damage was already done. So now in addition to being scared of shadows and carhops he's scared of box turtles.

Yesterday it was packed and we hardly had any room. The new mat should be in soon which will give us a lot more space. I have a plan to make our heavy bags more efficient as well in both locations and provide even more Kickboxing equipment. We're working on chokes in BJJ and in Kickboxing we are doing some speed drills. Kids are doing a great job also, keep it up. Jake got the GPP belt today. Who will get it tomorrow?

This Sunday we have a workshop in Benton. Come get some training in over the holiday! We'll be spending a few hours reviewing guard passes and defenses. The BJJ tournament is approaching and we're upping the training each week. It looks like we have a few other competitions to attend later this year.

Also remember the LDMA Kickboxing Camp is July 11. It's only $50 and it's all day followed by a PARTY! As always, you don't have to be a fighter to attend, you just have to like training and fun. Please let us know as soon as possible if you want to attend.

In September we'll be having a strength and conditioning workshop. Details on that will come soon.

New Tshirts will be in tomorrow, Limited quantities. We also have gis, patches, gear and stuff coming in in the next few days.

We'd also like to thank Tony in Hot Springs. He came in despite his injury and helped the teens out with class. Be sure to thank him if he helps you out, he 's a great teacher. Also thanks to the high ranks in Benton who continually help out the new folks who come in.