Last Saturday was the NABJJF Orange County International Jiu Jitsu Open. I had no plans on going, but Friday night I got a text from Tameem Hamoui asking if I want to go since he was planning on competing. I had no plans, so I decided to go and coach Tameem (he has not lost a match in 9 years with me coaching him). Turns out when we get there, he was the only black belt in his division AND the weight class below. So in the end he had no matches.

Today was Noah Tillis' SoCal Jiu Jitsu Championship at Schurr High School in Montebello California.

We had 15 people competing across all of the divisions — 5 of them in their very first grappling tournament.

8 golds, 2 silvers and a bronze. 15 competitors, 11 medals. We would obviously love 15 medals, but it was a pretty good outing for Team Subfighter.

Last Saturday before toe KFL amateur MMA fights, there was a surprise party at Russ Miura's gym for his 10-year anniversary as a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt. He was also a year overdue for his 3rd degree on his BB, so Chris Brennan came along to present him with that as well. There's not too much to talk about, but a LOT of people showed up and rolling + tacos = always a good time!

Today we had the SUBCON Los Angeles Open in Norwalk. It was a double elimination tournament that split the divisions by belt rank. Beginner = white, intermediate = blue/purple, advanced = brown/black. We had 7 guys competing from Subfighter. Plus Tameem Hamoui since I've been coaching him in matches for the last 10 years.

Today was the 2nd most overdue black belt promotion that I know! Alex Serdyukov was an original Apex team member and got his brown belt the day I got my purple belt — December 13, 2006. Almost 11 years ago! He was a champion in the WEC back in 2005 and has beaten my ass MANY times during the Apex days, lol. He was promoted by another Apex original — Jason Bukich. I could not be happier about him finally being promoted and being yet another black belt that came from Apex!