Our own Brandon Klein send in a link to a blog by Nicolas Gregoriades about the benefits of training with and without a gi.

-Thanks Brandon

One of the coolest things about Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is the community that surrounds the sport. The people that test each other by playing human chess. Phil Migliarese has set up a Social Networking site for anyone who is involved in BJJ.

Check it out Right Here

The 22-year-old had the favored Josh Koscheck in trouble early at UFC 82: Pride of a Champion in March, as he dazed the four-time collegiate All-American with a head kick and then followed up with a knee strike in the first round. Hazelett later showcased his slick Brazilian jiu-jitsu skills as he tightened a triangle choke around Koscheck at the end of the opening stanza.

Then, for reasons known only to him, Hazelett strayed from the gameplan that had served him so well through the first five minutes.

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Triangles. How you feel about them usually depends on which side of them you’re on.

A lightweight bout pitting The Ultimate Fighter 5 cast member Cole Miller (13-3, 2-1 UFC) against The Ultimate Fighter 2’s Jorge Gurgel (12-3, 3-2 UFC) has been booked for UFC 86 according to the official fight card for the event.

UFC 86 takes place July 5th in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Mandalay Bay Event Center and features a light heavyweight championship main event between The Ultimate Fighter 7 coaches Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, the reigning 205-pound champ, and top-contender Forrest Griffin. Additional bouts for the pay-per-view event include Joe Steveson vs. Gleison Tibau, Frank Mir vs. Justin McCully, Patrick Cote vs. Ricardo Almeida, and Josh Koscheck vs. Chris Lytle.

After being eliminated by Joe Lauzon in the quarterfinals of “The Ultimate Fighter 5?, Miller defeated Andy Wang and Leonard Garcia inside the octagon before losing to Jeremy Stephens via round two TKO at UFC Fight Night 12 in January.

Gurgel was eliminated in the fifth episode of The Ultimate Fighter 2 by Jason Von Flue but returned to make his UFC debut at UFC Fight Night 5. Despite losing to Mark Hominick in his debut bout, Gurgel returned to secure back-to-back wins over Danny Abbadi and Diego Saraiva. Gurgel suffered his second UFC loss in October against Alvin Robinson at UFC 77 but bounced back with a unanimous decision win over John Halverson at UFC 82 in March.

With its mix of torturous and unusual exercises, CrossFit is a great way of general conditioning. We’ve been doing quite a bit of CrossFit-like routines in our BJJ classes. Another class of conditioning that has an unusual mix of exercises is the strongman competition. Strongwoman, Jalaine Ulsh is profiled in this video for the 2007 Second Annual Central Jersey Strongest Man competition. This is some crazy strong conditioning. (more…)

We’re giving the web site a little face lift, so you may see a few odd things happening from time to time over the next month or so.

-C

Assitant instructor Chris Crampton calmly prepares himself for a “demonstration” at the hands of Clint Crabtree. It will hurt. Chris will suffer. It’s an assistant instructor’s lot in life, suffering. Yet they willing make this sacrifice for us, the students of grappling, who year to learn so that one day we too may choke the unholy hell from our friends. We appreciate you Chris. Though we smile at your pain, mock your feeble attempts to maintain natural limb alignment, and laugh as your last, gasping breath gurgles from your throat before unconsciousness sets in, we do appreciate you. Not enough to take your place, but you know, enough to say something nice afterward, once we can stop laughing.

Thank you Chris.

Kurt lookin’ tough with a shaved pate and a Grand Rapids Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy crab patch, May 1^st 2008.

Tim Carvajal watches instruction at the Toyoda Center on a Thursday night BJJ class, May 1^st 2008. The dim light reflecting off the green mats makes his blue belt look purple. Good color for him.