Cal Classic 2009

The California Classic International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Gi and No Gi Championship hosted by Rommel Dunbar
Men, women and juniors

Sunday, November 15
Riverside Convention Center
3443 Orange Street, Riverside CA 92501
Starts at 9am

official site

Illness Forces Lesnar Postponement

Brock Lesnar, the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s massive heavyweight titleholder, was forced to withdraw Monday from his highly anticipated Nov. 21 title defense in Las Vegas against Shane Carwin.
Carwin, via his Twitter feed, said the fight will be rescheduled for UFC 108 on Jan. 2.
UFC president Dana White confirmed the news to Yahoo! Sports. White said Lesnar has been ill for more than three-and-a-half weeks and unable to train. With the bout at UFC 106 less than a month away, Lesnar was forced to postpone the title defense.
“He said he’s never been this sick in his life,” White said. “He said it’s been going on for a long time and he just hasn’t been able to shake it.”
Lesnar’s co-manager, Brian Stegeman, said he does not know whether Lesnar had H1N1, commonly known as swine flu, and that he is beyond the stage at which he could be tested for the virus. He said Lesnar had upper respiratory issues, fever and extreme fatigue.
“Honestly, he’s been sick since the beginning of this camp and he’s had to take days off throughout,” Stegeman said.
The fight matches two of the biggest and most powerful heavyweights in the UFC. Lesnar (4-1), a former World Wrestling Entertainment star, was a junior college and NCAA Division I wrestling champion. Carwin is a former Division II national wrestling champion.
Both men weigh around 295 pounds and cut weight to make the heavyweight division’s 265-pound limit.
Carwin (11-0), who made several appearances in Los Angeles on Saturday to promote the fight, was clearly disappointed at getting the news.
“My heart just sank, as you can imagine,” Carwin told Yahoo! Sports upon hearing the news about the fight postponement.
The UFC announced Monday afternoon it will move the previously scheduled Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin fight, a rematch of an epic 2006 contest won by Ortiz on a controversial split decision, into the Nov. 21 main event slot
Stegeman said Lesnar just took an entire week off from training with no appreciable improvement. He said Lesnar’s head mixed martial arts coach, Marty Morgan, didn’t think he’d have enough training time to properly prepare.
“We kept thinking that he’d get better and be back at it, but it finally got to a point here where we were looking at a situation where Brock would have just two weeks to train for this fight.
“That’s just not fair to him. There’s no way a two-week training camp is even close to being fair to him and we all realized that. We kept hoping Brock would respond and get better, but it just lingered.”

Source

UFC 104: Machida vs. Shogun

UFC 104 will take place in the world famous Los Angeles Staple Center. Spike TV will be airing two preliminary bouts live. Now at first I thought it was really nice of them to televise the fights that no one ever pays attention to for free. However I just confirmed that it will be a light heavyweight match up that has a jiu-jitsu beast against a winner of The Ultimate Fighter.

 

Ryan Bader vs. Eric Schafer

 

If you have been living under a rock then you are probably not familiar with Bader. He emerged as the undegeated light heavyweight winner of TUF Season 8. Shafer is obviously the underdog in this match up. I'm sure Dana White is hoping Shafer doesn't turn out to be another Petruzelli. He has a proven record and his jiu-jitsu can be a threat to Bader but I doubt he can outwrestle him.

 

Bader had an incredible win over Vinny Magalhaes in his UFC debut when he knocked him out but many have criticised him for his less than impressive performace against Carmelo Marrero at UFC Fight Night 18. He seemed to be inconsistent for that fight with an opponent known for a weak guard. If Baders goes into Saturday's fight struggling with his offensive game he could get himself on our next Knuckle Sammich of the Week.

Master Cycle - Side Mount Seminars in Virginia

From October 16-17, 2009, Ryron Gracie will be visiting the Certified Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Training Center in Norfolk, Virginia to teach three Master Cycle seminars. The focus of the seminars will be first-stripe blue belt techniques from Chapter 2 of the Master Cycle – Side Mount. Ryron will go over most important controls, escapes, and submissions beyond those covered in the Gracie Combatives course as well as the Rapid Master Drills that should be used to internalize the newly learned techniques. If you’re a Gracie Combatives student who lives in or around Virginia, don’t miss this opportunity to learn the next layer of street applicable side mount techniques directly from the source!

Session 1: Friday, October 16 @ 6:30-8:30pm – Side Mount Escapes and Rapid Mastery Drills
Session 2: Saturday, October 17 @ 9:00-11:00am – Side Mount Controls and Rapid Mastery Drills
Session 3: Saturday, October 17 @ 12:00-2:00pm – Side Mount Submissions and Rapid Mastery Drills

 

Location: Norfolk Karate Academy
Regular Price per session: $75 per person ($200 for all three sessions)
Gracie University Student Discount: $50 per session ($125 for all three sessions)
Training Attire: Gi preferred but not mandatory.
Experience Level: Gracie Combatives knowledge will help, but isn’t mandatory.
Private Classes: Very limited quantity available upon request, contact Bill Odom for information.
Reserve a Spot: Space is limited - Call Bill Odom @ (757) 621-8997 to save your spot.

Knuckle Sammich of the Week

TUF 10 - Kimbo Slice vs Roy Nelson