== PLEASE CHECK THE FORUM FOR UP TO DATE NEWS ==
24/07/10: Spartan Grapple Challenge results
Another amazing competition day! Full results as follows...
Dino Gambatesa - advanced <68kg - gold
Alec Mead - advanced <84kg - gold
Sam Hooker - advanced >100kg - gold
Ed Ingamells - novice <93kg - gold
Paul Rogers - novice <68kg - gold
Kirk Baldwin - novice <68kg - silver
Ash Williams - advanced <68kg - bronze
David Wosman - novice <68kg - bronze
Danny Lerwell - novice <93kg - bronze
Rob ??? (from Cardiff) - novice <100kg - bronze
See HERE for more info. Videos will be posted to our Youtube account over the next few days.
07/07/10: Schedule changes
We have made some small changes to the schedule on Monday and Wednesday. We have also added a class in Llanelli on Monday nights. The schedule HERE is up-to-date.
07/07/10: Rob Taylor interview
Rob was recently interviewed by an online BJJ blog. You can read it HERE.
04/07/10: Hereford Open results
Only Rob went to fight at this competition, and the result was...
Rob Taylor - purple middleweight - silver
21/06/10: Bournemouth Open results
We had just a small team competing at the Bournemouth Open this weekend. Results were as follows;
Ed Ingamells - blue heavyweight - gold
Alec Mead - blue middleweight - silver
Ed Ingamells - blue open - bronze
Kris Powell - white heavyweight - bronze
13/06/10: New purple belt and blue belts
Congratulations to everyone who was promoted by Victor Estima today. The promotions were as follows; Mike Woods - purple belt
Jon Andrew - blue belt
Ed Ingamells - blue belt
Mark Springate - blue belt
Tommy Docherty - blue belt
Lee Carter - blue belt
Jody was also promoted to 3 stripe white belt.
12/06/10: New blue belt
Congratulations to John Tierney who was promoted to blue belt by Chris on behalf of Braulio.
26/05/10: New kids class
There is a new kids class starting on 1st June. This will be 6.30 to 7.15pm every Tuesday for ages 4 and up.
26/04/10: Victor Estima seminar - 13th June
Full details available HERE.
28/03/10: British Open results
Full results as follows;
KIDS
Ashley Bendle - tbc - silver
Jodie Newell - tbc - bronze
ADULTS
David Wosman - white belt super featherweight - gold
Ed Ingamells - white belt heavyweight - gold
Steve Borde - white belt super super heavyweight - gold
18/03/10: Swansea academy moving location
The Swansea academy will be moving location (within the same unit as present) over the first weekend of April.
For full details please check HERE on the forum.
14/03/10: Success at GRIP grappling competition
Congratulations to Gareth Lewis who travelled to Newport to compete in the GRIP nogi competition today. Even though he hasn't been training very long Gareth ended up having 7 fights winning 5 by submission, 1 by decision and losing just 1 by decision. Medals were as follows;
Gareth Lewis - novice -93kg - gold
Gareth Lewis - novice absolute - gold
Gareth Lewis - advanced +100kg - bronze
07/03/10: Welsh BJJ Open results
We had our biggest team ever competing at the Welsh Open and took 24 medals. Results as follows;
KIDS
Jody Newell - girls roosterweight - gold
Giordano Lewis - juvenile lightweight - gold
Riccardo Lewis - juvenile lightweight - silver
Ashley Bendle - girls roosterweight - silver
Jody Newell - juvenile roosterweight - bronze
ADULTS
Steve Borde - white belt absolute - gold
Steve Borde - white belt super super heavyweight - gold
Ash Williams - blue belt super featherweight - gold
Ed Ingamells - white heavyweight - gold
David Wosman - white belt super featherweight - gold
Thomas Docherty - white belt lightweight - gold
Steve Pascoe - purple belt middleweight - silver
Russell Evans - blue belt lightweight - silver
Alec Mead - blue belt middleweight - silver
Ed Ingamells - white belt absolute - silver
Kirk Baldwin - white belt featherweight - silver
Rowan Evans - white belt middleweight - silver
Mark Springate - white belt heavyweight - silver
Richard Davies - white belt super super heavyweight - silver
Leighton Hopkins - white belt seniors middleweight - silver
Matthew Rees - white belt super featherweight - bronze
Matthew Davies - white belt heavyweight - bronze
Andy Spender - white belt super heavyweight - bronze
Graham Williams - white belt medium heavyweight - bronze
21/02/10: Hereford BJJ Open II results
The usual great results for our team. A special mention goes to Ashley Bendle who took gold in a division where she was the only girl fighting against boys. Congratulations to everyone who fought!
Medals were as follows;
Kids
Ashley Bendle - under 46kg - gold
Giordano Lewis - over 65kg - bronze
Adults
Omied Khakshour - lightweight - gold
Dylan Tanner - super super heavyweight - gold
Derek Burton - senior heavyweight - gold
Lee Carter - senior heavyweight - silver
John Tierney - middleweight - silver
Ed Ingamells - heavyweight - bronze
01/02/10: European Championships results
Chris, Rob, Andy Harvey and Stu Tyrie travelled to Lisbon, Portugal the past weekend to fight in the IBJJF European Championships. This is the most prestigious BJJ tournament in Europe.
Winners were;
Rob Taylor - purple belt masters middleweight - silver
Chris Rees - brown belt masters medium heavy - bronze
Congratulations to all the guys for travelling out and fighting. For more reports, see the forum. Videos will be uploaded to our Youtube account soon.
20/12/09: New blue belts
A massive congratulations to Alyn Weyman, Josh Williams and Zack Jones. They were awarded their blue belts today by Braulio Estima.
07/12/09: Christmas closing times
Please see HERE for details of Christmas closing times for both Swansea and Cardiff clubs. The thread will be updated if there are any changes so please check regularly.
07/12/09: Hereford BJJ Open results
Congratulations to everyone who fought at the first Hereford BJJ Open competition. Many of our fighters were competing for the first time and the experience will be invaluable.
Medal winners were as follows;
Josh Williams - adult <64kg - gold (17 years old fighting adult division)
Alec Mead - adult <82.3kg - gold
Alyn Weyman - master <82.3kg - gold
Leighton Hopkins - master <82.3kg - silver
Kai Maybury - adult <76kg - bronze
Jacob Hopkins - kids <42kg - gold
Ben Southard - kids <27kg - silver
Ashley Bendle - kids <46kg - silver
Giordano Lewis - kids >60kg - silver
Congratulations to Giordano and Riccardo Lewis for also competing in the adults division despite only recently turning 15 years old.
07/12/09: Grapple & Strike results
Gracie Barra Swansea has produced another Grapple & Strike champion as Lee Mitchell claimed the middleweight belt this weekend. Lee won his semi-final by decision and then the final by kneebar submission in the 2nd round.
Jon Andrew finished second place in the heavyweight division, losing to a tough opponent by armbar in the final.
Congratulations guys!
02/11/09: Nogi British Open results
This was an absolutely awesome day for the Chris Rees Academy. Everyone fought brilliantly and did the club proud.
Special mention has to be made of Ash Williams. First him and Josh dominated the juvenile category, submitting all opponents, to take gold and silver. They were also competing between themselves to see who could get the fastest submission! Ash then stepped up to the adult intermediate (blue belt) category and took silver (winning four fights on his way to the final). Sadly, the final was stopped due to an injury as Ash was unable to continue.
Full results are as follows;
Kris Lewis - beginner super heavy master/senior - gold
Sam Hooker - beginner super super heavy adult/master - gold
Ash Williams - juvenile 67kg - gold
Ash Williams - intermediate feather adult - silver
Steve Borde - beginner absolute - silver
Steve Borde - beginner super super heavy adult/master - silver
Josh Williams - juvenile 67kg - silver
David Wosman - beginner feather adult - bronze
The team event was won by Team Braulio Estima and all our guys who medalled scored points for the team (gold=9, silver=3, bronze=1). The Chris Rees Academy would actually have taken third place if our points were scored separately! This is an absolutely amazing achievement considering the top two teams were the biggest in the UK (Braulio Estima and RGA). Chris would like to thank all the members of the Academy (Swansea & Cardiff) for making this possible.
Videos will be uploaded to Youtube within the next few days.
28/10/09: Hereford nogi groundfighting results
A number of novice fighters along with some experienced competitors went to the Hereford nogi groundfighting competition on the weekend, bringing home another haul of medals.
Josh Williams - under 65kg advanced - gold
Alec Mead - under 86kg advanced - gold
Wayne Samways - over 95kg - gold
Jon Andrew - over 95kg - silver
Lance Jones - under 65kg novice - silver
Zack Jones - under 78kg advanced - bronze
Zack Jones - absolute - bronze
01/10/09: Chris Rees Academy gear available to order
We now have Chris Rees Academy gis and rashguards available to order. These are Faixa Rua products with the Chris Rees Academy logo embroidered or printed on. Please see HERE for details.
29/09/09: Congratulations to Braulio Estima
Braulio put on another awesome performance at the recent ADCC World Championships. He defeated 8 opponents to take double gold, winning both the under 87.9kg category and the open weight division.
Videos of the event can be viewed here - http://www.adcc2009.com/index.php (at a cost of $14.95)
29/09/09: More wins at Predator Fight Night 3
A number of Gracie Barra Swansea fighters had matches at the recent Predator Fight Night, with the following results;
Dino Gambetesa - win by triangle, round 1
Marley Swindells - win by TKO, round 1
Dean Lewis - win by TKO, round 1
Sam Hooker - win by RNC, round 1
Joe Jones - win by TKO, round 1
Dan James - win by TKO, round 1
Jordan James - loss by armbar, round 1
Unfortunately Rob Taylor and Alec Mead did not fight as their opponents pulled out.
20/09/09: Hereford Groundfighting results
Well done to everyone who competed in today's competition. A number of people were competing for the first time and everyone fought well.
Medals were as follows;
Kids
Isaac Thomas - under 35kg - silver
Jodie Newell - under 50kg - silver
Isaac and Jodie both also fought in a team competition and both won their fights.
Adults
Jon Andrew - 95kg+ - gold
Steve Borde - 95kg+ - silver
Steve Borde - open weight - gold
Will Diaz - under 78kg - silver
17/09/09: Braulio Estima NOGI seminar in Cardiff
Braulio will be conducting a nogi seminar in our Cardiff club on 18th October. Please see HERE for full details.
15/09/09: New blue belt - Lee "Conan" Jabarian
Congratulations to Lee Jabarian who, on behalf of Braulio Estima, was awarded his blue belt by Chris tonight.
31/08/09: Promotions
Congratulations to Andy Harvey, Chris Cooke and Dean Lewis on being promoted to blue belt by Braulio Estima on 30th August.
Also, congratulations to Chris Rees on being promoted to one stripe brown belt.
10/08/09: Tuesday childrens classes cancelled
Due to low attendance for the Tuesday classes we have now dropped this lesson from our schedule. The Thursday class will remain running and we would like to put on a 2nd childrens class if possible.
If you have a child who trains on Thursday and would like to train another day, or if you have a child who only trained on Tuesday, please let us know what day your preference would be for another lesson.
You can either speak to Chris, Rob or another member of staff at the club, or post HERE on the forum (you need to register to post). Thanks!
27/07/09: New basics class
A new basics class has now been added to the schedule, every Wednesday from 6.45pm to 8pm. The class will be taken by Steve and will be gi or nogi.
As per the existing basics class on Saturday morning, this class will be ideal for new members but is also suitable for more advanced students.
12/07/09: Dino Gambatesa wins at Ultimate Challenge
Congratulations to Dino who won by stoppage due to ground and pound after only 40 seconds of the first round! Dino was fighting Brad Wheeler in the main event of Ultimate Challenge Heat.
The event will be on Sky Sports 3, 10pm this Wednesday.
(photo from MMAHitPit.com)
05/07/09: Combat Academy nogi groundfighting results
Our fighters once again did the club proud at today's Combat Academy competition. Medals were as follows;
Steve Borde - over 100kg - gold
Steve "Biffy" Barfield - under 95kg novice - gold
Steve Pascoe - under 80kg advanced - silver
Chris Eynon - under 95kg novice - silver
Johnnie Davies - openweight - bronze
Videos to follow!
24/06/09: New purple belt!
A massive congratulations to assistant instructor Steve Pascoe on being promoted to purple belt today by Braulio Estima.
21/06/09: Grapple & Strike results
Lee Mitchell and Jon Andrew both fought in the 2nd leg of the Grapple & Strike league today;
Mitchell drew one and won one by armbar.
Jon drew one and won one by head & arm choke.
Congratulations guys, both now well placed to make it to the finals! The league tables (not yet updated after the 2nd leg) can be found HERE on the Grapple & Strike Wales website.
21/06/09: British Open results
Despite only having 7 entrants we won 4 medals and everyone who fought put in awesome performances! Medals were as follows;
Stu Tyrie - white belt adult <88.3kg - gold
Rob Taylor - purple belt adult <82.3kg - silver
Shaun Parry - blue belt adult <94.3kg - bronze
Ben Kerslake - white belt masters <76kg - bronze
Congratulations to everyone who fought, there were some really tough fights!!
There should be a full write up on the forum within the next few days. Videos will also be posted shortly.
20/06/09: Congratulations to Jay Davies
Jay won his debut semi-pro fight tonight by rear naked choke in the first round.
12/06/09: Friday evening class suspended until further notice
Due to the travelling Chris will be doing over the next few weeks to MMA events, the Friday evening class is temporarily suspended. There will be a further update when it is reinstated so please check back regularly.
09/06/09: Estima brothers success at World Championships
Braulio became a three-time world champion this weekend, taking gold in the heavyweight division.
Victor took bronze in the highly competitive middle-heavy division.
Congratulations to both!
Photo from Graciemag.
07/06/09: Stuart Tyrie takes bronze at the International Novice competition
A massive congratulations to Stu who won bronze at the International Novice BJJ competition (a competition for white belts run before the Mundials). This is an amazing achievement for Stu who has only been training for 8 months!
Check out the forum for more details!
27/05/09: GRIP grappling tournament success
Gracie Barra Swansea pretty much dominated this competition last weekend, taking a large haul of medals.
Results as follows;
Zack Jones - advanced <73kg - gold
Zack Jones - advanced absolute - gold
Marley Swindells - advanced <77kg - gold
Alec Mead - advanced <84kg - gold
Ashleigh James - advanced <93kg - gold
Stephen Harries - advanced <73kg - silver
Lee Hodge - novice <84kg - silver
Jon Andrew - novice 100kg+ - bronze
Johnny Davies - advanced <77kg - bronze
Congratulations to everyone who fought!
16/04/09: Celtic Open results
We only had a small number of competitors at this competition, but that didn't stop us getting another haul of medals!
KIDS
Ashley - silver
Isaac - silver
Kieran - silver
Jodie - bronze
ADULTS
Rob Taylor - purple belt open weight - silver
Jordan James - white medium heavy - gold
Leighton (???) - white medium heavy - silver
Congratulations to everyone who fought!
29/03/09: Welsh Open results
Awesome results from the Welsh Open held on 22nd March. Congratulations to everyone who fought;
Zack Jones - white belt lightweight - gold
Stu Tyrie - white belt medium heavy - gold
Alyn Weyman - white belt senior middleweight - bronze
Andrea "Angrea" Bennet - white belt female absolute - silver
"Big" Matt Jones - blue belt super heavy - silver
Giordano Lewis - juvenile - bronze
Steve Borde - white belt super heavy - gold
Steve Borde - white belt masters/seniors absolute - silver (EDIT: originally said gold, apologies)
Mike Trow - white belt featherweight - bronze
16/03/09: Grapple & Strike amateur MMA league results
Following on from the last two weekends we had another great set of results in the Grapple & Strike amateur league.
Lee Mitchell fought in the 84kg catergory and won both his fights by armbar. The first submission came in just 20 seconds and then he followed that up with another at around 2 minutes 30 in his second fight.
Jon Andrew went along to the event in case there was a chance he could fight and managed to get matched up for a heavyweight bout. Jon fought well but as there was no submission the fight was automatically ruled a draw.
Congratulations guys!
09/03/09: Predator Fight Night 2 results
Another great night with four fighters representing Gracia Barra Swansea. Results were as follows;
Zack Jones - win by rear naked choke, round 1
Marley Swindells - win by KO, 21 seconds round 1
Dean Lewis - loss by ref stoppage, round 1
Dino Gambatesa - win by rear naked choke, round 1
08/03/09: Jordan James MMA result
Jordan fought at the Cage Gladiators event this Saturday against Lee Chadwick of Team Kaobon. Jordan dominated the fight and won by guillotine choke in the 1st round. Congratulations Rhino!!
02/03/09: Bristol Open and MMA success this weekend
Congratulations to everyone who fought in the Bristol Open. Many of them were competing for the first time and everyone fought well. Medal winners were as follows;
Russell Evans - blue belt lightweight - silver
"Big" Matt Jones - blue belt absolute - silver
Alyn Weyman - white belt masters middleweight - silver
Stu Tyrie - white belt medium heavy - bronze
Also this weekend was the Rumble in Rhondda MMA event. We had four fighters taking part and the results were as follows;
Josh Williams - draw in a grappling match (automatic draw as there was no submission)
Ash Williams - win by triangle, 2:40 round 1
Alec Mead - win by head and arm choke, approx 1:00 round 1
Zack Jones - win by triangle, approx 4:00 round 1
Congratulations to everyone who fought, everyone at the club is proud of you!!
14/12/08: Chris Rees promoted to brown belt and new blue belts
Chris Rees was today promoted to brown belt by Braulio Estima. Gary Richards, Lee Owen, Chris Fowler and Shaun Parry were promoted to blue belt.
Congratulations guys!
08/12/08: Combat Academy results
As usual, amazing performances in the recent competition. Full results are below and there is a write up of the day on the forum.
KIDS
Girls u35
Ashley Bendle - Gold
Girls u45
Jodie Newell - Gold
Under 30
Isaac Thomas - Gold
Under 35
Ashley Bendle - Gold
Under 45
Jodie Newell - Gold
ADULTS
under 86
Stuart Tyrie - Gold
under 95
Shaun Parry - Silver
over 95
Jon Andrew - Gold
Gary Richards - Bronze
Masters
Mike Woods - Gold
Blue Belt Open
Steve Pascoe - Silver
Ladies
Andrea Bennett - Silver
White Belt Absolute
Stuart Tyrie - Gold
19/11/08: Stripe promotions
Congratulations to Chris Rees, Rob Taylor and Chris Fowler who all received stripe promotions today from Braulio and Victor Estima. They were promoted to the following ranks;
Chris Rees - 4 stripe purple belt
Rob Taylor - 2 stripe purple belt
Chris Fowler - 3 stripe white belt
17/11/08: Congratulations to Daniel James
Dan won his MMA fight this weekend by unanimous decision after dominating his opponent for two rounds. See the forum for a full report.
13/11/08: We now have a gi sponsor!
We are proud to announce we are now sponsored by Faixa Rua Kimonos. We will shortly be receiving an initial delivery of stock and these will be available from the academy. Please speak to Chris or Rob for details.
Prices are as follows;
Gold weave (white): £60 - a lightweight gi, especially good for competition
Pearl weave (blue): £70 - a stronger but still lightweight gi
Double weave (black): £80 - a heavy gi, best suited for training as it is very durable
These are very competitive prices as the majority of makes (Koral, Keiko Raca, Atama etc) are ~£80 or more for their gold weave equivalent with many gis costing well over £100.
10/11/08: MMA success at Predator Fight Night
The club had a clean sweep of 4 wins from 4 fighters at the Predator Fight Night MMA event held in Oceana on 9th November. Dino, Zack, Watkins and John Phillips all won their fights in the first round. Please see the forum for more details (link to the forum above).
20/10/08: More medals and apologies!
First off, apologies for not updating the site regularly for the last month, I have been having some technical difficulties. I.e. the program I use for this site telling me I should use different software and lower internet security settings... no thanks, I am virus free and would like to stay that way!!!
So, updates...
Ash, Shaun and Jodie all took golds in their categories at the last Hereford Combat Academy tournament. Jodie also took gold in the British Juniors Judo championships!
In the Combat Academy gi groundfighting competition; Chris Fowler took silver (-86kg), Alec Mead took bronze (-95kg, fighting at 77kg!) and Calvin Lewis took silver in the masters category.
Zack was the only GB Swansea competitor in this year's British Submission Grappling Championships and he took silver in his weight category (under 80kg) and also gold in the absolute division!
Another lot of amazing results, well done to all. You continue to show how strong a club we are!
22/08/08: Non grappling success for the club!
Congratulations to Amy and Andrea (who train fitness with Chris) who recently completed the Kilvey Hill cement run. This race is an uphill run up an increasingly steep slope, while carrying a 25kg bag of cement!
Amy and Andrea finished 2nd & 3rd in the womens category and 14th & 15th place overall. Congratulations!!
03/08/08: Braulio seminar (including belt promotion news!)
Braulio gave yet another excellent seminar, covering a number of sweeping techniques from spider guard. There was an excellent turnout, with 41 people in attendance. With the enlarged mat space there was still plenty of room for everyone to train.
As usual Braulio joined in with the sparring and the results were the same as usual; lots of big sweeps! We will try to get some video of this up shortly.
Finally, at the end of the seminar, Braulio awarded a number of promotions;
Promoted to blue belt were (left to right in the photo below); Gavin Gates, Mark Waters, Lee Mitchell, Russell Evans, Ash Williams, Will Powell, Calvin Lewis, Marley Swindells and Johnny Williams.
Congratulations to all as these belts were really well deserved after so much hard training and some amazing competition results. Extra congratulations to Ash Williams who received his blue belt only a week after his 16th birthday!
A number of stripe promotions were also given out and these were as follows;
Chris Rees - 3 stripe purple
Rob Taylor - 1 stripe purple
Steve Pascoe - 2 stripe blue
Big Matt - 2 stripe blue
Johnny Davies - 1 stripe blue
Again, congratulations to all!
If anyone has pictures of video footage, please contact Rob as we would love copies of these.
02/08/08: Ashleigh James' semi-pro MMA debut
Ashleigh made his semi-pro MMA debut (with full head shots on the ground) this Saturday in dominant fashion.
Ash took no time in putting his opponent on his back with a huge slam, then followed this up by taking mount and unleashing a barrage of ground and pound which caused a referree stoppage after only 1:50 of the first round.
The fight can be seen HERE. (links to Youtube)
Congratulations Ash, awesome performance!
02/08/08: Success at VT Jiu-Jitsu competition
A team of 4 kids and 2 adults travelled to this competition and brought back 6 medals! The results were as follows;
Kids
Nathan - gold under 40kg
Ben - silver under 25kg
Isaac - silver under 33kg
Jodie - bronze under 50kg
Adults
Dino Gambatesa - gold under 66kg advanced
Marley Swindells - silver under 77kg novice
Another amazing day. Of note are Ben and Isaacs first round fights, they both won by over 20 points to nil! Jodie fought against much larger opponents and still nailed some excellent throws. Nathan fought two very tough fights and showed excellent composure in the final to win 4-3.
Dino's weight category was novice and advanced divisions combined; he fought three matches and finished them all quickly with submissions. Marley was fighting above his usual weight and still managed to submit his first opponent and then repeatedly sweep his second, much larger, opponent to win on points.
Congratulations to all, brilliant performances all round!
14/07/08: Bristol Open results
Yet another great day of competition for the club with the usual success;
Shaun Parry - gold (medium heavy)
Ashleigh James - silver (heavy weight)
Jon Andrew - silver (super heavy)
Chris Cook - bronze (juvenile)
Congratulations to all who fought; Shaun, Ashleigh, Jon, Chris, Jarryd, Mitchell & Jonnie Davies.
01/07/08: Ash Williams gets double silver at the British Ju Jitsu Championships
Congratulations to Ash who took silver in the open weight pairs demonstration and open weight random attack at the British Ju Jitsu Championships held in Manchester last weekend.
29/06/08: ADCC results
More gold medals! Amazing performances from all the competitors and especially Marley Swindells and Ashleigh James. Marley took gold in the novice absolute division and Ashley took gold in novice 100kg+ division.
Marley lost in the 2nd round of his weight category (on points) but then later fought the same opponent in the absolute, tapping him out with an armbar in under a minute! Ash got some monsterous takedowns, as usual, to dominate his division on way to gold.
Some videos will be posted soon. Keep checking back.
19/06/08: More amateur MMA success
Stephen "Biff" Barfield competed at the Grapple & Strike amateur league on 15th June, his first competition after approximately two and a half months training with Chris in private lessons. He had two fights which resulted in a win and a draw.
Congratulations Biff! Another great result for the club.
15/05/08: Combat Academy results (UPDATED 18/05/08)
Confirmed results are;
Juniors;
Ashley Bendle - bronze (under 40kg)
Shaun Bendle - silver (light heavy)
Aaron Vickery - bronze (light heavy)
Josh Williams - silver (heavy)
Ash Williams - gold (heavy)
Adults;
Ash & Josh Williams shared bronze (under 71kg)
Ashley James - bronze (open weight)
Ashley James - silver (over 93kg)
Chris Fowler - silver (under 93kg)
Lee Mitchell - gold (under 93kg)
Please keep checking the site for updates as some videos from this event, the Gracie Invitational and Welsh Open should be posted sometime this week!
28/04/08: SENI success!!
As is now the usual story, Gracie Barra Swansea had great success this weekend at the Gracie Invitational. Results were as follows;
Chris Rees - bronze (purple belt under 88.3kg)
Chris Rees - team bronze
Russ Evans - gold (white belt under 76kg)
Lee Mitchell - gold (white belt under 88.3kg)
Ash Williams - gold (juvenile under 64kg)
Amazing performances guys and congratulations to everyone else who competed; Rob, Marley, Sam, Jarryd and Gary. See the forum for more details.
31/03/08: Welsh Open 2008 results
Another awesome event for Gracie Barra Swansea. Medals for the club were as follows;
White Belt
Super Feather --64kg
Ashley Williams - silver
Feather - 70kg
David Thomas - silver
Lightweight - 76kg
Russell Evans - gold
Jarryd Hoy - bronze
Middle - 82.3kg
Jordan James - gold
Middle Heavy - 88.3kg
Chris Fowler - gold
Jamie Phillips - bronze
Super Heavy - 100.5kg
Paul Mathias - gold
Ashley James - bronze
Super Super Heavy - +100.5
Gary Richards - bronze
Absolute
Ashley James - gold
Blue Belt
Middle - 82.3kg
Jonny Davies - bronze
Congratulations to everyone who competed. Everyone fought well and showed the strength of the club!
06/03/08: T-shirts available to order
You can now order club t-shirts with the same design as the hoodies. They cost £15 for adults and £10 for children. Please speak to Chris or Steve to place your order.
03/03/08: Another MMA win
Alex Evans, who has recently joined the club, won his MMA fight against Jamie Banks in the Ultimate Warrior Challenge this weekend. Alex took the fight to the ground immediately and secured a rear naked choke at just over the 3 minute mark of the first round. Congratulations!
Next to fight are Dean and Zack in Angrrr Management on 29th March, then it's Jordan James on the Cage Rage Contenders show on 12th April.
16/02/08: Results from Bristol Open - Winter Leg
Today's Bristol Open brought more medals to Gracie Barra Swansea. Russell Evans dominated all 5 of his opponents on route to the gold medal in the under 76kg white belt category. He won one match by points, one by rear naked choke and three with armbars!
Ash Williams once again stepped up to fight in the adult division (under 64kg white belt) and put on an amazing performance to take the silver medal. Ash finished his first fight with a triangle, then won the semi-final on points. In the final he escaped from a number of bad positions to eventually secure the mount on his opponent with a choke locked in. Unfortunately, with only seconds remaining, he was unable to secure the tap out in time and lost on points.
Steve, Jarryd and Dave also fought with both Steve and Jarryd winning their opening fights.
Congratulations guys, awesome performances all round!
25/01/08: Hoodies now available to order
Please order and pay in the club, your hoodie will then be available in approximately 2 weeks time.
Adults - £30
Front: Gracie Barra 'G' symbol and "Gracie Barra Fighter" underneath
Back: Larger Gracie Barra 'G' with Gracie Barra Swansea, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Submission Grappling, Mixed Martial Arts, www.graciebarraswansea.co.uk underneath.
Kids - £25
Front: Gracie Barra 'G' symbol and "Gracie Barra Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu" underneath
Back: Larger Gracie Barra 'G' with Gracie Barra Swansea, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, www.graciebarraswansea.co.uk underneath.
The hoodies themselves will be black with white and red text. The 'G' symbols will be red and outlined in white.
09/12/07: Hereford No Gi Groundfighting results
Amazing results with numerous medals won once again! Congratulations to all who entered.
Adults
Ash - Gold under 65kg (only 15 years old winning an adult division!)
Alec - Gold under 78kg
Zack - Silver under 78kg
Zack - Bronze absolute
Dai - Bronze under 65kg
Kids
Ash - Gold
Aaron - Gold
Special mention also to Lee Mitchell who fought in the under 86kg category. Winning 3 fights and losing 2 he finished in 4th place.