Gi Preview: Raptor (pre-production)

Raptor is a new model made by UK fightwear company Black Eagle. They are pre-production samples and I usually avoid reviewing such items until the full production models are finished due to the large number of changes that usually take place between sample and final model. I am told that the Raptor will be made available for pre-order only directly through Black Eagle sometime around middle of August. I do intend to cover these gis in detail at a later date, however for now, here is some eye candy in the form of photographs...

28th JULY 2011 UPDATE: Black Eagle have informed me that the Raptors are now available for pre-order from their website here:

http://www.black-eagle.co.uk/raptorbjjgispecialedition-p-3293.html

The pre-order window will close at the end of August 2011.

byMeerkatsu

in

July 26, 2011

Gi Preview: Raptor (pre-production)

Raptor is a new model made by UK fightwear company Black Eagle . They are pre-production samples and I usually avoid reviewing such items...

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Gi Review: Datsusara Hemp Gi (HGC-02)

Datsusara are a relatively new fightgear company specialising in products made from hemp fibre. Hemp is reputedly meant to be stronger (than cotton), with anti-microbial properties and longer lasting.

The gi I received was too big for me despite shrink washing, plus it came at a time I was extremely busy, so rather than let it sit un-reviewed, I asked my good friend, and also highly rated BJJ blogger, Slidey to review this gi on my behalf. Go to his website to check it out:

http://www.slideyfoot.com/2011/07/gi-review-datsusara-hemp-gi-hcg-02.html

byMeerkatsu

in

July 25, 2011

Gi Review: Datsusara Hemp Gi (HGC-02)

Datsusara are a relatively new fightgear company specialising in products made from hemp fibre. Hemp is reputedly meant to be stronger (t...

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Seminar Report: Robson Moura, Champ Camp, London

One word: treat. It's the only word I can think of to describe Robson Moura's seminar today. I mean the stuff he taught us was quite the most amazing collection of brilliant techniques, all gift wrapped and tied with a pink ribbon and a little courtesy card containing the words: use these techniques and you too will be awesome.

byMeerkatsu

in

July 24, 2011

Seminar Report: Robson Moura, Champ Camp, London

One word: treat. It's the only word I can think of to describe Robson Moura's seminar today. I mean the stuff he taught us was qu...

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Lock and Roll Show Episode 3

Lock and roll Show is a series of videos produced by the guys at my academy. It's meant to be funny, dramatic, goofy, but mostly, it shows a slice of the jiu jitsu lifestyle as we live it here in the UK. Episode 3 gave me goosebumps. Watch it, enjoy it, then like their page.


The Lock & Roll Show - Episode Three from The Lock & Roll Show on Vimeo.

Episodes 1 here and 2 here.

Oh, and here's an advert for Scramble which uses my photo of Daniel (aka Raspberry Ape). It'll be printed in a martial art magazine near you soon (as long as it is called Martial Arts Illustrated)!

:)

byMeerkatsu

in

July 21, 2011

Lock and Roll Show Episode 3

Lock and roll Show is a series of videos produced by the guys at my academy. It's meant to be funny, dramatic, goofy, but mostly, it sho...

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T-shirt Design: Monkey Steals The Peach

"Long ago, in the mists of time there lived a man who yearned for immortality so that he could marry a beautiful fairy that he had fallen in love with. He stole from the eternal peach tree and the Lord Buddha changed him into a monkey as punishment...but what happened next? The man was pretty happy being a monkey but to stop others from stealing his peaches, he invented the most lethal and cunning of all martial arts - jiu jitsu + style. Come take one, if you DARE!"

...also in green.

Interested in how this design came about? Read on...

byMeerkatsu

in

July 18, 2011

T-shirt Design: Monkey Steals The Peach

"Long ago, in the mists of time there lived a man who yearned for immortality so that he could marry a beautiful fairy that he had ...

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BJJ Artist: Bong Abad

I first came across Bong's work via Facebook where he modestly posts a few of his illustrations. But boy! what illustrations they are! Since then, we've spoken a lot and have much in common both artistically and of course with our passion for BJJ.

Bong, originally from the Philippines, is a comic book artist living in the UK. All the art you see here, and on his t-shirt design website, Gawakoto, is heavily influenced by his love of martial arts and comic book art.

I personally love the raw freshness of Bong's work. the liberal spraying of black and white ink, bold use of colour and dramatic poses really makes his art come alive. It's not just me that's noticed either, you'll soon see Bong's work on forthcoming apparel from Scramble, and maybe a few other leading fight wear brands.

Here is some of Bong's work and words from the artist himself:

byMeerkatsu

in

July 18, 2011

BJJ Artist: Bong Abad

I first came across Bong's work via Facebook where he modestly posts a few of his illustrations. But boy! what illustrations they ar...

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Apparel: Temper Wear

Temper Wear is a brand new lifestyle and fight wear brand from the UK. I spoke to one of the founders, Delroy McDowell - a purple belt under Ze Marcelo - about the brand and his goals for the future.

Q. Hey Del, tell me about Temper Wear?

A. Temper Design Group is the result of a creative dream that began many years ago maybe as early even as 1988-ish and was honed throughout the 90's & 00's. It all came together when we finally realised that maybe we really could create gear we would like to wear ourselves, and hopefully others would like to wear too. We love to create items that reflect our lifestyles and firstly we love BJJ but that's not all we love as we also have other passions and these alternative pursuits will hopefully be reflected as our range expands in the future.

Q. Who is part of the team? And what are your backgrounds?

A: Temper Design Group is a small group of talented individuals with backgrounds in very diverse creative fields such as fine, contemporary and even comic art, music production, product design, architecture, even automotive design and of course printing, all focused by the efforts of two good friends but we are all graphic designers who've worked for a lot of big brands and gotten tired of it.

Q. What are your aims with the brand?

A. We want to always offer truly unique, innovative and the utmost funkiest products that will perfectly enhance the lifestyles of our fans. We have a lot of ideas for all sorts of products and hopefully these will really please a lot of people very soon.

Q. What makes you different from other brands?

A. We really are about the alternative lifestyle, something that's greater than just BJJ or MMA or whatever, we want to dig deep into the culture and make you say "Hell yeah" whilst you are doing your thing whatever that may be. We believe its our grasp on cultural cues and our creativity that makes us uniquely placed to succeed in capturing the imagination...toes and fingers crossed!

Q. What do you have lined up for the future?

A. A vast mountain of ideas and concepts ready to roll out across a whole range of the usual garments as well as other more innovative products but; we cant really talk too much although please like our Facebook page for sneak previews on all upcoming releases.

Q. Who are your sponsoring and why did you select them?

A. We sponsor a few athletes but specifically for BJJ we are proud to have a small but very focused team of two very promising behemoth warlords of the tatami in World Warrior and internet forum sensation David 'Morcegao' George who is a purple belt under Victor Estima and trains full time in the UK having dedicated his life to pursuing BJJ excellence and happiness. We also have British BJJ phenom Luke Costello who is now a Brown belt after smashing up the planet this past year. We are really excited for the future and cant wait to be in a position to support these guys as much as we dream of!

Meerkatsu's mini-review
I love the incredibly bold and creative use of typography on this design and the many others you see on Temper Wear products (see their website). The hands on the back of this t-shirt are a bit freaky, and so they should be, they were modelled on my own instructor's hands - a warrior who has seen many a battle on the mats. There are loads of tiny graphic details throughout the design but the most outstanding aspect to the Temper Wear t-shirt is the quality of the garment. It is incredibly soft and comfortable, they have clearly opted to print onto one of the more expensive base garments available and it really makes a difference.

Available from: http://www.temperwear.co.uk/

'Like' their Facebook page.


DISCLOSURE
Delroy is a long time BJJ friend of mine. I have no personal involvement with Temper Wear. The views expressed in this article are mine alone.




:)

byMeerkatsu

in

July 15, 2011

Apparel: Temper Wear

Temper Wear is a brand new lifestyle and fight wear brand from the UK. I spoke to one of the founders, Delroy McDowell - a purple belt und...

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Half Time Scores

The contents on this blog have recently come under some incredibly close scrutiny. I won't bother linking or referencing the forum where my integrity has come under fire but suffice to say, if you know about it, then you know about it.
I'm revelling in the attention of course :D
But just to clarify, as if it wasn't already obvious, everything written on this blog is my own personal opinion. People are free to comment on here (pending mod approval) and it is probably the best way to reach me, rather than perhaps, oh I dunno, moaning incessantly on Facebook and forums without actually contacting me directly. Regardless, it is rare I don't hear about it eventually.

No such thing as bad news, just news, as they say. I'll continue to do whatever I do, what is that again? And if lots of people read my blog, or none at all, it won't stop me cos I enjoy it too much :)

Anyway, moving on...here are some good blog news:

Blog Stats for Jan - end June 2011:

85,000 visits

188,300 page views

40,200 visitors

Most pop: BJJ gi Reviews, What BJJ to buy, Estilo review, manto review

Most popular search keyword: Meerkatsu (ah bless), Merkatsu is fourth though :O

If the second part of the year continues like the first, I will have reached a new all time high of nearly 400,000 page views and attracted maybe 60-80,000 visitors. That's a lot of BJJ nerd hee hee.

Onwards and upwards.

:)

byMeerkatsu

in

July 08, 2011

Half Time Scores

The contents on this blog have recently come under some incredibly close scrutiny. I won't bother linking or referencing the forum where...

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BJJ Black Belt: Marco Canha

It was my birthday the other day so I took a day off work and spent the whole day doing random stuff I enjoy, like BJJ and erm, more BJJ.

Marco Canha is a black belt under the legendary Ricardo Vieira. I was recommended by a friend to train with Marco so I popped down to the new London Fight Factory academy in Old Street, London.

I had a great private training session and picked up a bunch of really cool, high percentage techniques that really will help my game. I don't take many privates but I always benefit from the experience - it's like half a dozen normal classes compressed into one hour of personal supervision.

I want to thank Marco for being an awesome tutor and also to Luis and all the crew down at London Fight Factory who always make me feel so very welcome.

Here's a video of Marco in action when he competed against Andy Roberts at the Bournemouth Open earlier last month. I recommend watching it as it's pretty thrilling stuff as both combatants attack, counter, sweep, defend, etc etc!





For the rest of my birthday, I hung out with my buddies at Mill Hill BJJ and took some studio lit BJJ photographs for a couple of magazines. All in all, a great day off.


:)

byMeerkatsu

in

July 06, 2011

BJJ Black Belt: Marco Canha

It was my birthday the other day so I took a day off work and spent the whole day doing random stuff I enjoy, like BJJ and erm, more BJJ. ...

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T-shirt design: No Gi Oddity for Ground Control Sept 11th Manchester

Following the success of my previous design for Ground Control (Grappling Swamp Thing), the organisers asked me if I could design something connected to their brand name 'Ground Control' for their next tournament.

I pondered over this idea for a while as I'm not too keen on direct literal interpretations so I suggested the line from David Bowie's song, Space Oddity ("...Ground Control to Major Tom..."). They loved my quick sketch of the astronaut submitting an alien using a rear naked choke (the astronaut's legs are very close together but NOT crossed over). It was fairly straightforward to proceed to the vector drawn digital version you see above. Actually the original vector was designed to be all one colour - white - which would be cheaper to produce, however Jason at Ground Control said he did not mind paying a bit more for a colour version. I think he called it right and allowed me to be a bit more creative over shadow and detail.

Here's my original sketch (literally on the back of an envelope):

Thanks go to Matt from Scramble. He suggested I somehow make the No Gi Oddity text come alive a bit with some whizz bang graphics. I love old skool scifi TV shows like Blake 7 and 80's arcade games so the multiple overlapping effect (using the blend tool in Illustrator) is an homage to that side of popular culture.

This t-shirt is only available to online applicants who enter the Ground Control event in Manchester on September 11th. As one commentator kindly posted on Facebook: this t-shirt is worth the entry fee alone.
Ahh, bless.


:)

byMeerkatsu

in design

July 05, 2011

T-shirt design: No Gi Oddity for Ground Control Sept 11th Manchester

Following the success of my previous design for Ground Control ( Grappling Swamp Thing ), the organisers asked me if I could design someth...

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Event Report: Submission 1000 II at Lockdown FC

Just came back from another thrilling night of high quality submission wrestling courtesy of the Lockdown Fighting Championships event at Stevenage. Here's the quick rundown of what happened:

ROUND 1: HENRIQUE SANTANA V LIAM CORRIGAN
Henrique wins with a RNC.
My view: Liam put in a brave display but Henrique's experience was too much for him as he took Liam's back without too much difficulty and sunk in the rear naked choke.

ROUND 1: DANIEL 'RASPBERRY APE' STRAUSS v LEOPOLDO PIRES
Daniel wins using a submission he dubs, the 'Death-a-tine' which is basically a guillotine with an added twist.
My view: The Raspberry Ape comes out all guns blazing and submits BJJ black belt Leo with a trademark move he used in the final of the ADCC trials last month. Well done to Leo who was a last minute replacement fighter with just less than 24 hours notice.

ROUND 1: KENNY BAKER v SAMIR MEDJBEUR
Kenny wins with a 'forearm choke'.
My view: Kenny says he learned a lot from the first Submission 1000 and came out stronger, faster and better. He made quick work of defeating Samir using a tricky-to-implement forearm choke submission.

ROUND 1: CLAUDIO SILVA v 'Mad' JACK MAGEE
Claudio wins with a triangle.
My view: Claudio was arguably hot favourite among the fighters to steal Daniels crown away. He made sure he was still the favourite by making swift work of dominating and eventually submitting 'Mad' Jack using brazilian jiu jitsu pure and simple. The crowd was wowed by his post match celebration (back flip) and simple interview answer: BRAZILIAN JOO JITSOOOOOO!!!

ROUND TWO: DAN STRAUSS v HENRIQUE SANTANA
Daniel wins by judges decision.
My view: This fight was way more intense - both fighters locked in standup trying to secure the decent clinch or arm drag. Extra time was necessary with Henrique beginning to show positional dominance towards the end but Daniel secured the win by having attempted more submissions.

ROUND TWO: KENNY BAKER v CLAUDIO SILVA
Claudio wins by judges decision.
My view: This was a riveting fight. The much larger Claudio finding Kenny a slippery eel too elusive to submit despite his positional dominance. Kenny's amazing flexibility allowed him to squeeze out of some very tight holds. Claudio won as he did attempt some very decent foot locks on Kenny.

FINAL: DANIEL STRAUSS v CLAUDIO SILVA
Claudio wins with a knee bar.
My view: Both fighters were engaged in standup for a good proportion of the opening round. Claudio clearly wary of the Ape's fast movement and Dan himself wary of Claudio's tendency to dominate once on the ground. Eventually, the fight went to the ground where Daniel successfully defending a straight arm lock attempt only to fall to a knee bar where he tapped immediately. Claudio was crowned the Submission 1000 Champion and collected his £2,000. Elated, he dedicated his win to his father.

Thanks to the organisers of the Lockdown FC for hosting the Submission 1000 and granting all the grapplers a chance to display their skills to a wider audience. I look forward to the next installment of this exciting show.

Team Ape!

:)

byMeerkatsu

in

July 03, 2011

Event Report: Submission 1000 II at Lockdown FC

Just came back from another thrilling night of high quality submission wrestling courtesy of the Lockdown Fighting Championships event at St...

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