1914 BJJ Kimono's Proud Sponsor of Jake Burroughs, Zach & Nate Adamson

I am honored and humbled to announce my first sponsor for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu; 1914 BJJ Kimono's!  Alongside Zach and Nate Adamson of Seaside Jiu Jitsu in Seaside, OR. we will represent 1914 here in the Pacific NW with pride and honor.  Blake Kerr and his partner started 1914 in May of 2011 with the intention of producing kimono's that are both stylish and functional.   Yet it is not 1914 products alone that inspired me to pitch them for sponsorship, it is the attitude and willingness to share and help the art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu grow that has drawn me to the company.  Check out the announcement from 1914 on Facebook late last night:

"1914 is proud to announce that we have made a couple additions to the family! We have found the Northwest to be an amazing place for BJJ. 1914 BJJ is very proud to support Zach and Nate Adamson of Seaside BJJ in Oregon and Jake Burroughs of Three Harmonies Martial Arts out of Seattle, WA! These guys are not only fantastic BJJ practitioners, but great examples to their communities! We cannot say enough how blessed we feel to have them in the family! 1914BJJ OSS!"




This is an exciting beginning of a relationship that is intends on helping strengthen the local, national, and global community of grapplers from all walks of life.  Make sure you bookmark "The Ground Never Misses" and check back for updates and details of some great things to come such as:

• Kimono & Gear reviews  
• Tournament coverage
• Training opportunities with world champions (cough*Tanquino*cough) here in PAC NW
• An exclusive interview with Mike Fowler
• Seminar recaps
• Much, much more.  All brought to you by 1914!  

The guys are working feverishly to flush the final kinks out of the website before the launch, but we will announce the launch along with a gi review in the coming week or so!  

I wanted to thank 1914 for their sponsorship of me fighting in the Arnold Grappling Tournament in Columbus, OH. next weekend.  This is an exciting time for me as I am using this tournament as a prep for the Pan Am's that I hope to make later next month.  This will mark the first time I have fought in a professional no gi tournament of this nature, as the ADCC is holding their first qualifier at the Arnold Grappling Tournament!  I am thrilled to fight with some of the best and win, lose, or draw I look forward to the learning opportunity and experience as I take another step in my competition journey.  

Life is funny sometimes... in rough times come golden moments, and without the support of my family and great wife, none of this would be possible.  They all have sacrificed so much with me and I want to let them know it is appreciated.  

Both on the mat and off I owe a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid to my coach, my friend, Brian J. Johnson.  Guiding me like a father, supporting me as a brother, your relationship has made me a better person, and I thank you.  

Last but not least I want to thank all my brothers and sisters on the mat!  My skills are merely a reflection of the talent and quality of those surrounding me and you all have had a major 'roll' in my development!  I bow in gratitude to all you have taught me.  

INSERT SHAMELESS PLUG: So please go buy lots of 1914 gear;) and leave us a comment below letting us know what you think!

Hands folded in respect,

Jake Burroughs

All images © 2012 by 1914BJJ, LLC. Photos approved for http://threeharmonies.blogspot.com. Photo can not be downloaded, copied, used, altered or reproduced without written permission from 1914BJJ,LLC.

93 Guard with Denis Kang

What's in a name?  Here is a clip of BJJ black belt Denis Kang showing some variations of what he calls the "93" guard (no clue why).  I have heard this open guard position called many different things, but regardless of the nomenclature he showcases some solid, crisp, sweeps and submissions here!  I am not sure if this is a promo for an upcoming DVD or what, but it is nicely produced and executed. Thanks to DSTRYSG  for sharing this clip.  Study on this:



For those of you ignorant to Denis Kang, he is one of the Pacific NW's fighting pioneers.  Hailing from British Columbia, Kang has fought in every major fight organization one can name: K-1 / UFC / Pride / Pancrase / M-1 Global / Dream / Hero's.... I mean, seriously, do I need to go on!?!  One year younger then me and in those few short decades he has amassed a record of 34-15-2, with 16 wins coming via submission!



You also may have noticed a new feature here on The Ground Never Misses... comments are now open to be posted on.  One word though, you must be a member to post a comment.  So join up and let me know what you are thinking.  Remember... a mind is a terrible thing to taste!

Cheers
Jake

Maurice "Mo" Smith Back in the Cage

Wanted to send out a big "Good luck" to hometown hero Maurice "Mo" Smith who just signed (according to mmajunkie) with Resurrection Fighting Alliance in Kearney, NE.  March 30th, Mo will face Kyle Keeney (12-7) who has not won since 2010.

I was speaking with my coach, Brian, this morning about this news and I made mention that Mo is one of MMA's most underrated fighters, and Brian even presented the case that he really should be in the UFC hall of fame!  And while their may be some hometown bias from Brian, I have only met the man once or twice, but have followed his career since I was a tyke.

Smith started his martial career in kickboxing winning his first title in 1983.  Renown for his powerfully devastating leg kicks, Mo went on a ten year unbeaten streak amassing a record of 53-13-5 in professional kickboxing.  Smith would then take his top flight striking game into the MMA arena.

Fighting a bit in Pancrase, RINGS, and Battlecade Extreme Fighting Smith became the first legit striker to start shutting down the grapplers who had been dominating Japanese MMA.  Battlecade folded sending Smith back home to fight in a little organization called the UFC, where he faced off against Mark "The Hammer" Coleman (full roid edition!  Nobody was testing for no-thing back in 97).  Coleman easily outweighed Smith by 20 pounds of pure muscle mass and quite frankly no one expected Mo to do much damage to the dominant ground and pound specialist.  Low and behold Mo once again used his striking to completely shut down and frustrate the former NCAA wrestler, and win a unanimous decision for the title on July 27, 1997!  Smith would go on to destroy Tank Abbot's legs with round kicks in UFC 15, but then lose the belt in a close (controversial????) decision to an up and coming cat named Randy Couture.

Fighting in Pride 7 Mo picked up his first submission victory with a choke over Branko Cikatic.

Later on Mo would coach in the IFL and TKO MMA legend Marco Ruas (his second victory over Ruas) on May 19, 2007.  The following year he would submit world famous Rick Roufus here in Tacoma, WA. on the Strikeforce card.

Maurice Smith has fought in every major MMA organization to hold an event, being a title holder in at least two of those organizations.  A multi organizational kickboxing champ for over 10 years straight.  A successful coach and all around great competitor, we here at The Ground Never Misses wish you the best of luck Coach Mo next month!

Cheers
Jake

John Will - Heading to Europe 2012

I have been following Liam Wandi's rollings and ramblings for quite sometime now on his blog the Part Time Grappler.   Liam is a purple belt author living on the other side of the pond in the motherland (Great Britain) and has been quietly making some noise with various articles all over the web and in Jiu JItsu Style magazine as well.

Liam hosted our mutual friend John Will last year for a series of training seminars and from the sounds of it will be bringing John back over this year.  This is an excellent write up on the man known as the "Coaches coach."

"John is a man. He has worked hard on polishing his knowledge and his wisdom. He has pursued his passion in life and chased his dreams. When you are in his company, you feel that you better listen to what he has to share with you. You leave his company inspired to be a better person. A more rounded person. 

His BJJ and MMA skills and teaching style are excellent. Practically flawless and why wouldn’t it be? He is eloquent, knowledgable and has done his 10,000 hours of both BJJ, MMA and teaching many times over. Just look at his BJJ / MMA seminar schedule. Put it simply: John Will is an excellent BJJ and MMA teacher because he never took anything for granted and has worked hard"


To read the entire blog post click here!  


If you find yourself in Manchester on May 3rd, do yourself a favor and check out a living legend!  And say hi to Liam for me!  If you cannot make it to the Queen's court, then come visit us in the Emerald City in late June for John Will's only US visit!


Cheers
Jake  


PS Oh... Liam... John taught us his Helio class and it was fascinating on many different fronts!  Enjoy!

If Ever In Senegal... Make Sure to Wrestle

Thanks to Ross over at Rossboxing.com for sharing this 4 minute piece on traditional wrestling in Dakar, Senegal (thats west Africa... the continent, not the country!).  These guys are a MMA / BJJ market just waiting to be tapped!  Yolked to all get out with MAD crazy stand up grappling... add a bit o' kickboxing to the mix and some BJJ... West Africa can be the next hotbed of MMA talent!  You heard it here on the Ground Never Misses first!

Roy Dean's "Brown Belt Requirements"

Roy Dean's latest project, "Brown Belt Requirements" 3 disc DVD set.  Review coming soon on The Ground Never Misses, so stay tuned!  

Orthodox vs Southpaw in MMA

Breakdownfights.com is an interesting new (to me anyways) website that gives crazy statistics to MMA fights.  Numbers, like potatoes, can be cooked a number of various ways so lets not get too crazy with the data, but they found some interesting facts about guys who switch stances (think Silva, Machida...).

Looking at over 3200 fights, this graph shows win percentages regarding southpaw, orthodox, and switch stances.  To read the entire article click here!  And while you guys are at it, help me out with my latest poll to your right-----> where I am asking if you would fight in an absolute division in local tournaments if they were made available?

Cheers
Jake