Hey Guys, I'm excited to share with you Charlie's Blog from the World Championships! He was so kind enough to write about his experience for us. Charlie has been a dedicated student of Revolution for quite some time. He is not what you might consider your typical "fighter". Charlie trains, but he isn't quite 19 anymore, and he also has a "real" job, working full time for the Army National Guard serving our country. He trained very hard for this competition and we are very proud of him for reaching his goals! Charlie is more proof that you can do anything you set your mind to do!

So Abby and Jory asked me to write a little bit about my trip to the Worlds this year. It’s been a great year so far and it can only get better. After taking about 3 weeks off in January for an injury I started training hard in February for the Arkansas Championships. I would make as many classes as I could sometimes training 3-4 nights a week when work would allow and was even able to get in a couple of Robson seminars in Tampa and Corpus and Houston.





At each seminar I would learn something new every time I hit the mats from everyone I trained with. Every class I would try and roll with Jory at least once with the goal of lasting a little longer or defending that one position that I would get caught in the night before. Every time I would defend one he would pull out another.

April was a tough month. I had to go to South Carolina for a course in the military. The great thing about the course was it was a Combatives (hand to hand combat) course. I spent 14 days training 8-10 hours a day. We rolled forever it seemed like every morning and every afternoon.



It was a great experience to train with the instructors there and the students. I learned to do something that everyone I have ever trained with told me I need to work on and that was controlling my breathing. I got back from there and had a week of light training before the Arkansas tournament. I finished the Arkansas tournament winning gold in the gi division finishing all my matches by submission at the same time breaking 2 bones in my foot and my pinky toe.





It was worth it. After my injury I had to take a back seat to hard core training but still made as many classes as I could just to get in the technique portion. After a week or so I started some light training still wondering if I was going to be able to compete at the worlds. The final full week before the worlds I hit the gym hard, training as much as I could possibly get in and working technique and takedown defense with anyone and everyone. One thing I wanted to take away from this training was to just progress my knowledge of the art. Working with Bill, Ward, Andy, as well as everyone else just got me more motivated for the next level. The weekend before the tournament I took it kind of easy working take down defense in the morning hanging out and watching the fights with some of the guys on Saturday night. Waking up the next morning to drive to FT Worth for the NOVA MUNDIALS Training camp was rough. But after I got there I was shocked by the number of people preparing to go. Training with that many black belts and just the atmosphere of camaraderie is the reason that I and many others love this sport. Bruno, Rodrigo, and Robson put on an excellent camp; I am sad I could only make the last day.



After training Sunday I drove back to Arkansas to sleep and get up the next day to pack and start the drive to Long Beach. Like any trip I take I planned on leaving early in the morning at like 6-7 but with the way the morning started we didn’t get to start till 10. I got to Malvern when the first obstacle hit me. Literally a rock hit the side of my windshield on the passenger side and in 10 minutes it was almost half way across the windshield. After a small stop in Dallas to see my dad and take a quick nap we were back on the road. For some reason instead of taking me north to I40 the GPS decided it would be more beneficial to take me across the great state of Texas. We made it as far as Abilene before sleep over took me and it was time to stop. Tuesday morning at 6 am we were back on the road and making great time. We pulled into Los Angeles to stay with my brother about 6-7 that night Tuesday night and it couldn’t have come any sooner as I was totally drained.





I woke up Tuesday morning and decided to take it easy getting ready for my matches on Wednesday. I just went to the Farmers Market had a light lunch and relaxed. Then I went and saw Prince of Persia, which was pretty good and just kind of put the future out of my mind. Wednesday morning I woke up and had a REALLY light breakfast of fruit and packed up and headed to the arena. Once I got there it actually hit me. Man this is a HUGE tournament.



After walking in and looking for the rest of the team I watched a few matches. The competitors seemed to be on a completely higher level than I was. The main thought in my head was I know I trained hard but did I train as hard as I could or as hard as I should. Once they called me down I started sizing up the competition, and it wasn’t looking like I was going to catch to many breaks. During the weigh in, it was apparent I was the smaller guy in the division, not something I am really used to being. A post one of my coaches left on my facebook page made me think and smile.

"Courage is fear holding on a minute longer." –Patton.

After remembering this, it was time to get down to business.
I was lucky and privileged that Bruno was there coaching some of his students and that he was able and willing to coach me. My first match went pretty well to start. He went to shoot for a takedown which I was able to avoid and put him on his knees. As I went for his back he grabbed my gi pants so I pulled guard. Working from my guard all year I had gotten pretty comfortable and in my mind at that point I wasn’t at the World Championships. I was back in Benton at the gym rolling with the guys. That probably was not the best thought, but it just popped into my head. I was able to maintain good sleeve control and set him up for a scissor sweep, and all the guys at the gym know that’s my favorite. After achieving the mount I worked a couple of different choke attempts and never could get one sunk in. Not paying attention to my posture he was able to reverse the mount and rolled me back over into my guard. Then it was back to work trying to get back on top. I was able to get double sleeve control again and for the second time in the match I was able to get the scissor sweep and was back in the mount. It was time to start looking for submissions again. This time he was more cautious of what he would give me and defended the choke attempts very well. At one point I started to go for an arm bar but as soon as I started a single phrase shot through my head and I could hear Jory go “why give up top position for a submission that might not work”. So I quickly abandoned that idea and went back looking for chokes. At the whistle I stood up and looked at the score and had won the match 12-0 and my hand was raised. It was a great feeling. I got a break between matches since the two guys behind me were going. I don’t know how much of a break it was since I was watching knowing the winner would be my next opponent. It was a great match and a nice come from behind win for the guy I would meet in the finals.

Right before the finals match Bruno had to go to a different area to coach one of his students and I got kind of nervous. I noticed that another Nova coach, Gustavo Dantas, had just arrived and I quickly went over and asked if he would coach me in the finals. The final match started with both of us pummeling for under hooks and working for a good takedown. He ended up getting the first shot going for a hip toss and missing. I stepped around on the same exchange and was able to get the hip toss and make it into side control. After working from this position for the last couple weeks I went straight for the lapel using it to control his head. Every time I went to control his legs he would lock my arm. After a minute or so the ref gave me a warning for stalling which I completely didn’t understand. Luckily for me Gustavo was able to and relayed the message that we were about to be stood up. I was able to control his legs long enough to transition from side control to full mount. I began working on submissions and was able to lock in an Americana. I heard his elbow pop and stopped in order not to cause any more damage or so I thought but he said he wasn’t hurt so I went for the next submission not wanting to hurt my opponent. After about 30 seconds or so the whistle hit and the match was over. I won 6-0. The reality didn’t really set in that I had just won my division, and it was about 15 minutes before it did. There was nothing that could ruin that day for me. All the training and all the sweat and work was worth it.





I spent the rest of the afternoon watching matches and celebrating and cheering on all the nova competitors that were there. That night we decided to have a big meal to celebrate and refuel so my sister in law took me to my favorite Indian Restaurant called appropriately The Star of India.

It's been a month since our last post, longer actually. But we have been so busy here at Revolution!

May 15 and 16, Jory and Abby traveled to Snyder's LDMA in Highpoint, NC to train with Robson. Jory also gave a seminar on the X Guard. We had a great time training the day before the seminar also in a high ranks training session. We covered some great things that we brought back to the program here at Revolution. We also gave a contribution from the funds to the Nova Uniao community project. The Non-profit program is focused on teaching Jiu-Jitsu to underprivileged youths. By getting them off the streets and into an environment where they can learn discipline and build confidence for their future, the Nova Uniao community project is focused on helping those youths in need. Organized by Nova Uniao Co-Founder, Andre Pederneiras, the program is currently operated in two locations: “Morro Azul” with classes taught by Black Belt, Fabiano “Babu” Freitas, and “Morro Santo Amaro” with classes taught by Sengoku fighter and Black Belt, Marlon Sandro.
Finally, we introduced a new Nova Uniao patch for the tail of your gis. This patch will be available mid June. So far it's a huge hit!

Pictures from Robson's Seminar can be found here: Robson's Gallery

Pictures from Jory's Seminar can be found here: Jory's Gallery

We have several videos on YouTube about the Seminars, Please check out our Channel at: TheRevolutionMMA. Click on the "View All" Link to view the most recent Videos.











May 22, Jory taught the X Guard workshop here for the students at Revolution. Congrats to Ward and Charlie who earned their green belts after over a year of dedicated training. Several of the white belts from Revolution also earned tips on their belts. We had many students from other gyms come, and it was great training!




May 28-30, Jory, Abby and Jennifer went to the Nova Uniao training camp in Dallas, TX to train with Robson, Bruno Bastos, and over 11 other BJJ Black Belts. On Friday, we attended a good training session at Octagon MMA with Bruno and the black belts. Saturday was an intense training session with even more black belts as they upped the grappling intensity in a final preparation for the worlds. Saturday night we had a good time with some tasty Brazilian Barbeque and the UFC!!!

Sunday we attended a great seminar taught by Bruno Bastos, Rodrigo Feijao, and Robson Moura. We learned some most excellent lapel chokes and half guard passes! There were 11 Black Belts at this seminar! We spent 30 minutes at the end rolling with all the colored belts who attended! It was a lot of fun!

Pictures from the Training sessions can be found here: N U Training Camp 2010

Pictures from the Seminar can be found here: NU Seminar















As a reminder 6x World Champion Rodrigo Feijao will be here at Revolution MMA June 13 for a seminar for all of you. Do not miss this! He is a phenomenal coach and competitor. Most of you had the opportunity to learn a lot from Marcelo in January. Rodrigo is his coach. I have no doubt that he will share his passion for BJJ with us!
Please sign up in class to reserve your spot!



Finally, Kickboxers you are not left out. I'm excited to say we've been working hard and be looking for our new curriculum coming soon! We have some really exciting and great things coming for you in class and in the future!
Also custom gloves are coming tomorrow! Our new 100% leather gloves with wrist support are looking good! Pre sales start now so get yours for a discount!





All in all it will be great to have a few weekends home! I look forward to working with you all on the things we've been learning. I'm sure our friends will be glad we're home too!