Catch up - BJJ stuff I've been doing recently

Here's a round up of my BJJ activities recently...



Bournemouth
I took the family off to Bournemouth on holiday for a week. If you don't live in the UK, then Bournemouth is on the south coast and has miles of very lovely clean sand. It's great for kids so we go every year. Bournemouth also has a lot of BJJ and MMA academies. This year, I decided to train at the IPPON GYM as it was close to my hotel. Ippon is run by former TUF competitor Jeff Lawson. Jeff is a brown belt under Alex De Souza and is known for his flamboyant fighting style.

I attended one class where Jeff was teaching collar chokes using the gi lapel and on the second visit, Jeff kindly asked if I would take the class. I taught a couple of my favourite submissions and transitions from closed guard. I love closed guard as it is a very safe and solid fundamental position that I like to use as a base for all my other moves.

Meerkatsu Art
Since arriving back from holiday it has been non-stop hectic on the design front. I've just signed off a number of major fightwear projects for both my own brand and for clients that will be out later in the year.

If you received my newsletter then you will have seen a sneak preview of my forthcoming rashguard. If you haven't, then sign up on my website homepage and catch the next newsletter installment. Even if the plugs for my own products don't interest you, I do always offer a free digital wallpaper design with each newsletter for subscribers only. This month's wallpaper design is based on legends of martial arts movies.

My store is fully stocked with reprints of some favourite past tee designs and a couple of new tee designs - the dueling apes and the Prescription before Submission t-shirt in white. Currently, we have a promotion, if you buy over £45 of stuff, we'll chuck in a massive embroidered Meerkatsu gi patch.

Oh one more thing, while I was away, I began sketching some minions from the film Despicable Me. Just for fun to entertain my kids. When I posted it on my Facebook page, it went crazy with hundreds of likes and shares.

Help Gabriel Diniz
In other news, there was a rather disturbing video circulating recently that showed a young fighter in Brazil accidentally having his neck crushed as he was flipped over by his opponent. You can see the video here.

Members of the UK BJJ community have rallied together to raise funds to help Gabriel Diniz with his medical care. You can donate here: http://www.gabrieldinizbjjappeal.com/



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