GR Becomes an Officially Sanctioned School by the Thai Boxing Association!

We are proud to announce that GR is now an officially sanctioned school under Master Ajarn Chai and the Thai Boxing Association.

What this means is that we plan to add a little more structure to our already successful Muay Thai program.Current Muay Thai Instructor Jason Dent used to operate through the now defunct United World Muay Thai Association while GR Co-Muay Thai Instuctror Aaron Veverka has always been through the T.B.A. Since the U.W.M.T.A. no longer exsists we plan to make sure all instructors (Jason Dent, Aaron Veverka, & Mark Fredebaugh) are on the same page as far as technique, etiquette, history, testing students, and lesson plans in general. All three of GR's Muay Thai Instructors have competed and won in Muay Thai. Jason has around 17 fights, Aaron has around 13 fights, and Mark has 1.

Being sanctioned by the T.BA. has lots of perks for our school, one of those will be having access to bring in some world reknown Muay Thai fighters for seminars right here at GR and possibly one day we may actually get Master Ajarn Chai himself here if we are lucky.

The new certificate will be up in the front room as soon as we get a frame on it. Again this will be a slow process of change as all of our experienced instructors will be getting together occassionally to review, test, and train together. If anyone has any questions see Kru Aaron Veverka on thursday nights when he teaches Thai and he can best answer your questions and assist you since he is already a certified instructor under the T.B.A.

Thanks to everyone for your support of GR and as always we promise to work hard to improve the gym in as many ways as possible so that everyone gets the most our of what they are willing to put in.

Rob Vogler "Blue Belt Promotion"

Following tonights Monday night BJJ class GR Black Belt Jiu-Jitsu Instructor Jeff Starr proudly promoted student Rob Vogler to the rank of Blue Belt. Rob has showed the skill, attitude, and has been attending classes on a regular basis. Make sure the next time you see Rob you congradulate him on his accomplishment. If anyone else is looking to obtain rank make sure you attend classes somewhat consistantly and make sure you stick around to free after most classes when you can. Getting ranked requires you to be training and rolling in a gi during classes. Jeff looks at your skill but also your attendance. Obviously the more time you put on the mat the better you will most likely get.

Intra-Academy Grappling Tournament

This past Saturday marked the inaugural grappling tournament for all students within GriffonRawl Academy. It was the first time that all of GR's wrestlers, jiu jitsu practitioners, and members of the fight team could test their skills amongst themselves, using the techniques and ground work that felt most comfortable to them in a tournament setting. And although most of the students have trained together at one time or another and have become close friends, there was no shortage of competitive spirit come time for the match ups.

With over 40 students scattered throughout 7 different weight classes, the night turned out to be quite the entertaining event filled with close victories, narrow defeats and an all around great showcase of what GR has to offer come 2012.

And out of those 7 weight classes the following champions were crowned:

George Murphy - 135lbs
Paul Compton - 145lbs
A. J. Carl - 155lbs
George Comer - 170lbs
Tony Reel - 185lbs
Miguel Defina - 205lbs
Brett Snyder - 265lbs

Congratulations to all who participated, and train hard, because with a turnout like the one we had last weekend you can be sure that another tournament will soon be in the works.

Caged Fury 15: Dent v Straus & Burbol v Lastafka

Daniel Straus v Jason Dent
On October 15^th, 2011 Jason Dent ended his record setting NAAFS Lightweight title reign with a Unanimous Decision loss to Interim title holder Daniel Straus after 5 rounds of action.

The title unification bout was a long time coming. The Interim belt was created when Dent left NAAFS for the UFC after a successful run on The Ultimate Fighter resulted in a UFC contract. Shortly after winning the interim belt, Straus signed a contract with Bellator, and left NAAFS with the understanding that he would return and defend the belt in Dent's absence.

When Dent's time in the UFC ended, the unification fight was scheduled, then set aside in favor of a super fight between Dent and NAAFS Middleweight Champion Chris Lozano. Dent suffered a fractured arm in that fight, and the unification fight was again delayed, this time for over a year.

Straus has been called one of the best wrestlers in Ohio who never won a title. He showed those skills in this fight getting takedowns in every round and controlling the action with a strong top ride. Dent did a lot of damage to Straus from the ground, but not enough to convince the judges that he was in control of the fight.

Straus said in interviews before the fight that he wanted to test Dent's stand up and find a way to finish him. After the fight he said after eating some solid shots he decided to go back to wrestling and get the win that way.

The judges score sheets show the final total: 50-45, 50-45, 48-47. All judges favoring Straus.

John Burbol v Dave Lastafka

John Burbol's night ended early as he was dropped with a short right seconds into the first round. Sitting up to shoot he was caught in a tight guillotine, and was forced to tap.

The video (courtesy of Inside MMA) shows hightlights of the Caged Fury show. Dent v Strauss starts at the 1:00 mark

UFC Fight Night New Orleans 9/17/2011

The Fight Night in New Orleans was Donny Walker's second UFC appearance in 2011. This time he was matched up with strong wrestler Ken Stone.

The fight opened with Donny showing some standup advantage. A leg kick from Stone lands low and they restart. Walker continues to show advantage standing. They close and Stone takes the action to the cage wall. Stone traps Donny's arm and trips him. Donny briefly stands up and is tripped again. Stone gets his hooks in and secures a Rear Naked Choke . Walker refuses to tap and is choked out

Written by Bob Donaghy

Evolve Smoker Results

Fun and successful night at Evolve MMA's Kickboxing Smoker tonight down in Akron. Congrats to Matt Maio & Reggie Parks on getting W's and having good showings and and even bigger CONGRATS to Ryan Lose who had an all out WAR with a very dangerous and experienced fighter. Ryan's fight was declared a draw but it was AWESOME! Overall it was a good experience for our guys and fun.

Written by Bob Donaghy

NAAFS "Rock N Rumble 8" Official Results

On Saturday August 27th three GR warriors competed in Cleveland, Ohio at the NAAFS annual Rock N Rumble event. Reggie Parks & John Burbol both fought amateur while George Comer made his Pro debut. It ended up being a tough night for our team as all three of our guys ended up losing by decision this time around. On the flip side all three guys still have winning records and gained some good experience as each faced top level competition in there weight class.

We will lick our wounds and plan a come back as we always do if we lose. Thanks for all the support from those who helped these guys in training and or showed up to there fights to show your support. See everyone back in the gym.

Tim Hall "Blue Belt Promotion"

Following tonights Monday night BJJ class GR Black Belt Jiu-Jitsu Instructor Jeff Starr proudly promoted student Tim Hall to the rank of Blue Belt. Tim has showed the skill, attitude, and has been attending classes on a regular basis. Make sure the next time you see Tim you congradulate him on his accomplishment. If anyone else is looking to obtain rank make sure you attend classes somewhat consistantly and make sure you stick around to free after most classes when you can. Getting ranked requires you to be training and rolling in a gi during classes. Jeff looks at your skill but also your attendance. Obviously the more time you put on the mat the better you will most likely get.

GR gets its own Song produced - Compliments of GmonE!!!

GR now has its own song. The song turned out pretty cool and has alot of details pertaining to the gym in the lyrics. The song also name drops all of GR's head instructors Jason Dent, Donny Walker, & Jeff Starr as well as all of GR's Pro's in AJ Pulling, Paul Compton, Bryon McCroskey, & George Comer. This song should be released on the next volume of the NAAFS fight music Vol. 4 but we plan to also have a stack of singles produced to sell for an affordable price at the gyms pro sales shop as well. Thanks for the support everyone and here is a link if anyone would like the hear the song now.

Link to the GR song: http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_9680511

GR's Jiu-Jitsu Instructor receives his Black Belt!

Congrats to Jeff Starr on being promoted to Black Belt by Relson Gracie. Jeff got promoted at the grand opening or Robin Gieslers Academy in Columbus, Ohio on Friday July 29th following a seminar that was conducted by Relson. Everyone here at GR is extremely proud of Jeff for this awesome accomplishment. Make sure to congradulate Jeff next time you are at GR or in one of his classes. Jeff runs BJJ classes Mondays & Wednesdays from 7:45 to 9pm also on Saturdays from 2pm to 3pm.