Caged Vengeance Results

The fight between John Burbol and John Antanitis was fairly even on the feet. Burbol landed the bigger shots but in the end it was the takedowns that made the difference. An argument could be made that Burbol won round 2 having rocked Antanitis a few times. But the judges disagreed scoring the fight 30-27 x 3 for John Antanitis


Paul Compton's fight was a war. His opponent, Tony Castillo, came out with some very eccentric footwork, which kept Paul at bay for the first few minutes of the fight. Once Paul found his timing and range though and landed a few solid shots Castillo changed tactics to closing distance and wrestling. This worked better and the judges gave Castillo the edge in round 1.


Round 2 was Paul's. He worked the standup well, and did the necessary damage to take the round. Round 3 saw Castillo return to wrestling and control most of the round on the ground. Paul was very active from the bottom, but was not able to do enough to convince the judges. Final score on the bout was 29-28 for Tony Castillo

Written by: Bob Donaghy

Paul Compton NAAFS Trading Cards

First look at GR's Paul "Straight Outta" Compton's official NAAFS trading card that gets released this weekend at his debut Pro fight.

Paul joins GR Fighters Jason Dent, Donny Walker, & George Comer in having his own NAAFS card. Congrats Paul and bring GR home a W this weekend.

Wear your Intimidation and GriffonRawl clothing and cheer Paul on to victory.

Written by: Bob Donaghy

Three Belt Promotions

At the conclusion of the Relson Gracie Seminar, Relson took a few moments to acknowledge the hard work and progress of three of his students. Tony Reel, Paul Rehbergar, and Jason Dent were all advanced in rank.

• Tony Reel: 1 stripe Brown
• Paul Rehbergar: 2 stripe Purple
• Jason Dent: 1 stripe Purple

Congratulations to all three for their impressive work.

Written by: Bob Donaghy

Relson Gracie Seminar a Success

On January 20th Master Relson Gracie visited GR for a second time to deliver a seminar.  This one was a successful and memorable as the first.  In all 19 students benefited from his teaching over 3 hours, and all advanced their game.

GR brings in master teachers like Relson Gracie to expose it's students to advanced techniques not otherwise available without travel.  It's a good idea to take advantage of the opportunity when it's available.

At the end of the seminar 3 GR students, Jason Dent, TonyReel and Paul Rehbergar were all advanced in belt rank.  Congratulations to all three.  Details to follow.



Written by: Bob Donaghy

Jr MMA Sleepover A Big Success

Jr. MMA Sleepover 1-20-2012! Sleepover consisted of self defense/anti bullying training, games, pizza & drinks, open gym, video games, breakfast, and Saturday morning MMA class then released to go home. Lots of fun and good times. We will host another one sooner than later.

Written by: Bob Donaghy

Jim DeCredico "Purple Belt Promotion"

Following this past Saturday BJJ class GR Black Belt Jiu-Jitsu Instructor Jeff Starr proudly promoted student Jim DeCredico to the rank of Purple Belt. Jim has showed the skill, attitude, and has been taking private lessons on a regular basis. Make sure the next time you see Jim 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 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