Borehamwood BJJ

I'm opening up my own class to teach BJJ in my home town of Borehamwood, Herts, UK. I will teach each Saturday at the Venue Leisure Centre in the upstairs dance studio. Kids will be from 12:45 until 1:30 then adults from 1:30 until 3pm.

Full details of my class can be seen on the Borehamwood BJJ website.

If my Saturday classes do well and there is demand, I hope to add a mid-week evening class to the schedule.

To kick things off, I have a complete beginner's seminar for the first session, details on the poster below:-

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byMeerkatsu

in

April 29, 2016

Borehamwood BJJ

I'm opening up my own class to teach BJJ in my home town of Borehamwood, Herts, UK. I will teach each Saturday at the Venue Leisure...

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Report: Polaris Pro 3

The third instalment of the submission-only professional grappling tournament known as Polaris Pro took place last night at the Poole Lighthouse in the UK. On display were 5 main card matches and 8 preliminary matches. Heading the bill was the mouth watering prospect of a fight between two leg locking experts in Garry Tonon and Rousimar Palhares. Yours truly here managed to bag a press pass and took some photos.

byMeerkatsu

in

April 03, 2016

Report: Polaris Pro 3

The third instalment of the submission-only professional grappling tournament known as Polaris Pro took place last night at the Poole Lig...

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Report: Bristol Grapplethon 2016 in support of One25

*** UPDATE - this event raised a total of £5,127 for ONE25 including £400 from the auction of my phoenix art print ***


This weekend I took part in a 24 hour Brazilian Jiu Jitsu 'grapplethon' to help raise money for the charity One25.

byMeerkatsu

in grapplethon

March 27, 2016

Report: Bristol Grapplethon 2016 in support of One25

*** UPDATE - this event raised a total of £5,127 for ONE25 including £400 from the auction of my phoenix art print *** This weekend I ...

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Belt review: Peel Gi, Keiko Raca, Valor, Green Gi, Scramble

Summary
I review five BJJ belts, all quite different from one another. There's the flashy one, the cheap one, the hemp one, the gi material one and the cool one. Which one did I like the best? Find out here!

**UPDATE 1/4/2018 **
See bottom of article for more recent measurements and opinions.


Quick glance information

Company	Price	Website
Peel Gi - Shinobi	19 Euros (£15)+12pp	peelgi.com
Keiko Raca	£9.99	keikoraca.co.uk
Valor - elite belt	£15	valorfightwear.com
The Green Gi	$45 plus $25pp (approx £48)	thegreengi.com
Scramble (v2)	£17.50	scramblestuff.com

Disclosures - all views in this review represent my own opinions. I have no personal or business history with Peel Gi, Keiko Raca, Green Gi or Valor. I have worked for Scramble in the past on freelance design assignments.

byMeerkatsu

in

February 26, 2016

Belt review: Peel Gi, Keiko Raca, Valor, Green Gi, Scramble

Summary I review five BJJ belts, all quite different from one another. There's the flashy one, the cheap one, the hemp one, the gi m...

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Review - Illegal Leg Locks, Roli Delgado and Vladislav Koulikov, Digitsu

Summary
An excellent selection of effective, high percentage leg attack submissions, escapes and counters from two experienced experts in the field. Although the IBJJF rule set disallows knee reaping and heel hooks, many other tournaments do allow them as do most MMA events so a knowledge of all leg attack options is a must for the committed student of grappling. Ideally, this set is best viewed only after watching the Legal Leg Lock instructional (especially if you are reasonably new to grappling) since Roli spends more time explaining key positions and set-ups on the Legal set. That being said, there are many techniques on the Illegal set that can easily be adjusted to suit IBJJF rules.


Details: Available from Digitsu On Demand or via Apple iOS store.
Price: $24.99 ($19.99 current promotion) each part (comes in two parts) or $49.98 for both ($37.98 current promotion)
Chapters: 34

byMeerkatsu

in

February 17, 2016

Review - Illegal Leg Locks, Roli Delgado and Vladislav Koulikov, Digitsu

Summary An excellent selection of effective, high percentage leg attack submissions, escapes and counters from two experienced experts i...

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Grapplethon 2016 - Fundraising art print

** UPDATE **
In a spectacular last dash bidding spree, my Ebay auction closed at the staggering total amount of £460!!! After seller fee deductions and printing costs, I estimate that means I can donate roughly £400 to charity - the final total for the entire Grapplethon 2016 was £5,157.

Here is the original post:-

Each year in Bristol, BJJ blogger Can Sonmez organises a fundraising Grapplethon where participants spar in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu over a 24 hour period. This year, the event is being held on the 26th-27th March over at MyGym in Bristol. Money raised will be donated to One25 a Bristol-based charity, specialising in enabling women to break free from street sex-work, addiction and other life-controlling issues and build new, independent lives. Full details on how to take part and/or donate by clicking this link here.

byMeerkatsu

in grapplethon

February 10, 2016

Grapplethon 2016 - Fundraising art print

** UPDATE ** In a spectacular last dash bidding spree, my Ebay auction closed at the staggering total amount of £460!!! After seller fee ...

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Meerkatsu Brand - War Lion Rashguards

My new rashguard - the War Lion - is available now from my Meerkatsu store.

It features my hand drawn lion head design, printed onto five colour options: white, blue, purple, brown and black, each to represent the major belt colours of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. [There are more belt colours, but I picked the most common ones].

We used a different supplier to the previous Graceful Kimura, Immaculate Toehold and Heavenly Wristlock rashguards. These War Lion rashguards are a slightly tiny but looser cut. But by and large they still follow the same fit guidelines as follows:
Approximate chest size guideline: Small - 34/36" Medium - 38/40" Large - 42/44" X-Large - 46/48"

At the moment, we're only doing them as short sleeved rashguards and from Small to XXL size. If these do well, we'll consider expanding the range of size and sleeve options.




.

byMeerkatsu

in Meerkatsu art

February 03, 2016

Meerkatsu Brand - War Lion Rashguards

My new rashguard - the War Lion - is available now from my Meerkatsu store . It features my hand drawn lion head design, printed onto f...

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Event - TUFF Invitational 3, Submission only tournament

Last night I was on photography duty capturing the action at the TUFF Invitational event in Purfleet, Essex. This was the third of their regular events and it proved to be an action packed line-up featuring an excellent and diverse array of the UK's grappling talent. The format is simple - a submission only tournament (15 or 20 minutes). If no submission occurs, then it will go to EBI overtime rules (read more here).

byMeerkatsu

in

February 01, 2016

Event - TUFF Invitational 3, Submission only tournament

Last night I was on photography duty capturing the action at the TUFF Invitational event in Purfleet, Essex. This was the third of their...

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DVD Review - Single Leg X-Guard by Gianni Grippo / Digitsu

Summary
Black belt competitor Gianni Grippo runs through the main entry methods and sweeps available from the single leg x-guard - a position that is among the many specialist guards taught by Gianni's instructor Marcelo Garcia. This instructional is aimed at those who are comfortable with their open guard. The techniques only show entries and sweeps from the single leg x-guard, they do not show the passes that follow. A couple of regular X-guard sweeps are thrown in at the end for good measure. Overall, an excellent short instructional from Gianni and Digitsu, ideal for intermediate to advanced players but beginners may want a more general introduction to the regular X-guard and a grounding in guard passing before tackling the single leg X.

Available from Digitsu as On Demand content, DVD disc or iTunes app.
Cost: on demand $24.99, DVD disc $39.99
Running length: 90 minutes
Chapters: 20

byMeerkatsu

in

January 24, 2016

DVD Review - Single Leg X-Guard by Gianni Grippo / Digitsu

Summary Black belt competitor Gianni Grippo runs through the main entry methods and sweeps available from the single leg x-guard - a po...

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Brand profile: Raven Fightwear

Raven Fightwear are a relatively new fightwear brand originating from Australia. They recently hired me to design a rashguard - The Raven - which you can see in the photo above (and can buy here).

I took the opportunity to speak with Raven owner Adam Smith about the business and where he sees it going in the next few years:

byMeerkatsu

in

January 23, 2016

Brand profile: Raven Fightwear

Raven Fightwear are a relatively new fightwear brand originating from Australia. They recently hired me to design a rashguard - The Rav...

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Review\- The Fabulous Rashguard

From the people that brought you the Fabulous Gi, now comes the Fabulous rashguard. I've been wearing this in nogi class for a couple of weeks and it feels great.

I'm not sure when or where this will be available to buy as I can't seem to find it on either the Fabulous gi website or the Rios Fightwear website.

byMeerkatsu

in

January 19, 2016

Review\- The Fabulous Rashguard

From the people that brought you the Fabulous Gi, now comes the Fabulous rashguard. I've been wearing this in nogi class for a couple...

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DVD Review: Fifty/50 Guard by Ryan Hall

Summary
Although released back in 2009, this DVD set is still the most in depth, authoritative instructional on the 50/50 guard on the market today. Although most of the techniques assume that the heel hook as the submission of choice, there is still plenty of important content for those who wish to gain a deeper understanding of the 50/50 regardless of the finish.

Information
Available as a 3-disc DVD box set from Groundfighter.com website.
Price: $124.99
Chapters: 60
Total time span: 4 hours 3 mins
Published in 2009

byMeerkatsu

in

January 01, 2016

DVD Review: Fifty/50 Guard by Ryan Hall

Summary Although released back in 2009, this DVD set is still the most in depth, authoritative instructional on the 50/50 guard on the m...

Read More