Tuesday, November 7, 2006

Relson Gracie Seminar at GR Academy

Mentor, Ohio

A big thanks to Jeff Starr and Mark Stefanac of the Relson Gracie Lake County Chapter for getting Relson to our Academy to do this seminar. The seminar was great as it covered both Gi and no Gi techniques. Relson showed some of his own stuff and answered any and all questions that students had. Following the two hour seminar he was also kind enough to stick around and take picture with everyone. I'm not going to go into detail on any of the material that we covered as that would take way to long. Many of you will just have to witness it first hand as it is applied on you - LOL!If you were unable to make it you should definitly make the next one as it was well worth the money and then some. Enjoy the pictures below. Written by:Jason Dent

Thursday, November 2, 2006

NAAFS "Team Challenge"

Akron, Ohio
Chaparrell's Community Center

Below you will find the full results of this event as found on the PKW website. We actually only had three of our boys fight as our Lightheavyweight was a fill in from another team and are heavyweight pulled a no show. Overall we did pretty good as we went 2-1. Congrats to GR's own Chuck Schilling, and AJ Pulling as they both looked fantastic.The North American Amateur Fight Series made a triumphant return to Chapparell's Community Center in Akron, OH for the 2006 edition of the Team Challenge. The fans were treated an impressive night of MMA action, featuring Team Air-Gadfly, Team DNA, Team GriffonRawl, & Strong Style Fight Team all vying for the Team Challenge trophy and a $2500 gift certificate courtesy of Combat Sports International.The lightweights kicked off the competition in impressive fashion, with Team Griffon-Rawl's Chuck Schilling & Team DNA's Danny Balon going the distance in a phenomenal opener that went to the judges. Schilling won the fight by unanimous decision, earning Team Griffon-Rawl 15 points. Despite the loss, Balon still put Team DNA on the board with 5 points because the fight went to the judges' scorecards.Scott Bickerstaff, representing Strong Style Fight Team, took on Mark White, who was representing Team Air-Gadfly in the second Lightweight bout. Bickerstaff took control early and scored the all important 1st Round victory by TKO to earn 25 points for Strong Style Fight Team.Next up was a non-Team Challenge NAAFS Bonus Bout between NAAFS veterans John Rohn and Carl Dean Roff. The ending came in Round 2 when Rohn caught Roff in a triangle choke to earn the submission victory.The 2nd Round of the Team Challenge featured the Welterweights in action. In the first bout, Team Griffon-Rawl's AJ Pulling continued to his winning ways over Team Air-Gadfly's James Myers. With this win, Pulling improved his record to 5-2.In the second Welterweight bout, Team DNA's Grant Sarver took on the #1 Ranked Welterweight in the NAAFS "Smokin" Joe Heiland. These two competitors showed what the NAAFS is all about in this three round battle. The fight went to the judges' scorecards, who unanimously decided in favor of Joe Heiland. This now sets up the NAAFS Welterweight Finals on December 2nd at Seasons Beatings, where #1 Ranked "Smokin" Joe Heiland will #2 Ranked AJ Pulling for the National Championship.Up next was an NAAFS Bonus Bout between Mike Nesto of Shrader's MMA & Roff-Ryder's Fight Team's Matt Sanders. Nesto earned himself the victory by Guillotine Choke in Rd 1. With this win, Nesto has positioned himself for a highly anticipated rematch against John "Mongoose" Myers in the NAAFS Lightweight Finals at Seasons Beatings.The Team Challenge competition continued with the Middleweights in action - or not. Unfortunately for Team DNA, John Heynoski was unable to attend the event for unspecified reasons, thus giving Craig Wasik of Strong Style Fight Team the victory and 25 points.In the other scheduled Middleweight bout, Garrett Matheron caught Milan Welsey in a Guillotine. Wesley tried to free himself, but was eventually rendered unconscious. The win boosted Matheron's stock in the NAAFS Middleweight Rankings and gave Team Air-Gadfly 25 points.The Light Heavyweights were up next in Team Challenge competition. The first bout featured Team Air-Gadfly's Mike Darling taking on Team DNA's Mike Kelley. The crowd was full of energy as these two sluggers began to battle it out. The victory went to Mike Kelley when Mike Darling could not answer the bell for Rd 2. The next bout in the Team Challenge pitted Team Griffon-Rawl's Keith Smetana against Strong Style's Terry Davinney. The fight started off evenly, but once Davinney took control he didn't let up. He hooked in a side choke for the submission victory in Rd 1 giving Strong Style another 25 points.In another NAAFS Bonus Bout, "American Nightmare" Shad Conley made his return to the NAAFS to battle Jungle Fight Team's Nick Duell, who was coming off an impressive victory at Caged Vengenace 2. Despite giving up a considerable amount of size in this Heavyweight Bout, Duell caught Conley with viscous strikes to earn the victory by TKO. This win now puts Duell's name in the hat for a possible title fight at the NAAFS National Finals on December 2nd.The final round of the Team Challenge competiton came down to the big boys of the NAAFS Heavyweight Division. Unfortunately, Anton Jackson of Team Griffon-Rawl failed to appear for his scheduled bout against Strong Style's Stepe Miocic, thus forfeiting the bout and giving Strong Style another 25 points. This still goes into the win column for Miocic and he now can throw his name into the hat as possible combatant in the finals of the NAAFS Heavyweight Division at Season's Beatings.The Main Event of the night saw Adam Farrell of Team DNA battle Chris Howard of Team Air-Gadfly. Farrell got the job done early, scoring the submission victory in Rd. 1 to give Team Air-Gadly another 25 points.The winner of the 2006 NAAFS Team Challenge is Strong Style Fight Team, who recieved the 2006 NAAFS Team Challenge trophy & a $2500 Gift Certificate courtesy of Combat Sports.A special thanks goes out the NAAFS Event Staff and everyone who helped make this event possible: Bloody Buddy Fight Gear, 2XL SportsGear, Soundz Crazy Entertainment, Levinson's Family Chiropractic, Fat Boyz Pizza, SportstalkCleveland.com, & PKW Live.2006 NAAFS Team Challenge Final Scores1. Strong Style Fight Team ----- 1102. Team DNA ------------------- 553 . Team Griffon-Rawl ----------- 354. Team Air-Gadfly -------------- 25Found On: http://www.prokarateweekly.com/