Another great week for Team Lloyd Irvin all over the globe!  Obviously there was the amazing performances at the 2011 European BJJ Championships.  Along with the big wins over seas, Daddis Fight Camps (A Team Lloyd Irvin School) chalked up another UFC win in Fort Hood Texas at UFC’s Fight For The Troops 2!

Waylon Lowe was victorious over Willamy Freire Saturday night in his bout at UFC – Fight for the Troops 2.  Waylon was able to utilize his superior wrestling to negate his opponent’s attacks, maintaining top control throughout most of the fight while mixing in some powerful ground and pound strikes.  His newly added Lloyd Irvin Jiu-Jitsu Systems and Daddis Muay Thai also helped him as he dropped Freire, a former Shooto champion, in the first round with a right hand and with the victory, pushes his record to 10-3 (2-1 in the UFC).  Waylon is becoming a well rounded MMA Fighter and is going to be unstoppable!  He’s already back at the gym training Muay Thai at Daddis MMA/Team LI Philadelphia with Coban “The Cruncher”, a 2 time Lumpinee Champion living legend of the art.

Brad Daddis’ schools are located in Hamilton, NJ, Cherry Hill, NJ and in Philadelphia.   Daddis Fight Camps, along with teamates BJJ United and the rest of the Team Lloyd Irvin crew are killin’ it up here in the Tri-State area and will continue to dominate in 2011.  Up next, Wilson Reis’ first round of the Feather Weight season 4 Bellator Tournament along with a slew of ammy and pro fighters competing next week at Locked In The Cage next weekend right here in Philly!

P.S…Stay tuned for more because that was only the first month of 2011!  You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!  Team LI!!!

Everything was sealed off at Lloyd Irvin’s Martial Arts Academy and about fifteen BJJ white belts stood ready for the hardest test of their lives.  It was 10 pm Wednesday.  Not all would be there when things finished at almost 2 a.m. early Thursday morning.

“You’re going to learn something about yourself tonight,” said Master Donald Achnick, and he was correct.

It was the white belt tryouts for the Team Lloyd Irvin competition team, and what’s involved in the process is a closely guarded secret, but suffice it to say it’s universally considered, by those who have dared enter the crucible, the most grueling and difficult experience of one’s life.   If you make it through this you can make it through pretty much anything.

It was all of that.  And more.

People cried, people cramped up, people disappeared.  There were moments of doubt for me but what pulled me through in addition to the encouragement of those running the tryouts was something deep inside that would not permit me to quit. 

I thought of my phone conversation earlier in the evening with Mike Easton, at the WEC weigh-ins in Glendale, Arizona, and his closing words to me: “Dave, don’t quit.  Just don’t quit.”

I thought of Master Lloyd’s philosophy, which boils down to: of course we want you to win, but losing happens and is understandable.  Quitting is unacceptable.  We can’t help a quitter.

At one particularly tough point during the tryouts Jim Harbison mentioned Bob Dylan to me, and I thought of how Dylan has said, “If I’ve been about anything, it’s…to let some people know that it’s possible to do the impossible.”

So I could get kicked out, I could pass out, maybe even die (this didn’t feel like an exaggeration at the time, and even with hindsight I’m not sure it is), but I would not choose to leave.  I wouldn’t have been able to handle it psychologically had I left of my own accord.

As the remaining white belts stood at close to two in the morning, I was among them — I had made the competition team.

It’s not easy for me to describe how much pride I take in surviving this test.  Maybe the best way to express it is to say that I’m prouder of myself for having survived this than I am of any previous accomplishment: academic awards as an undergrad and law student, writing judicial opinions for a judge on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, it all pales in comparison.

I did indeed learn a lot about myself during those four hours.  I might have thought I could make it through something like this, but that’s not something you can know without actually doing it.  More than conditioning, it takes mental toughness.  I’m inspired to push even harder, to follow my delusion — to let a whole bunch of people know that it’s possible to do the impossible.

Anthony Pettis — “SHOWTIME KICK”

If you haven’t seen it, here is the jaw-dropping “Showtime” Kick that Anthony Pettis used in his bout against Ben Henderson.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEm4c33W4QU

With a win in the final WEC event, Anthony Pettis will go on to fight the winner of Gray Maynard vs Frankie Edgar at UFC 125 for the lightweight title.

P.S. — Stay Posted and join our FACEBOOK FANPAGE

anthony pettis

F

]]> http://www.teamlloydirvinusa.com/blog/3380/anthony-pettis-off-the-cage-head-kick-at-wec-53/feed/ 0 http://www.teamlloydirvinusa.com/blog/3113/competing-at-naga-nj/ http://www.teamlloydirvinusa.com/blog/3113/competing-at-naga-nj/#comments Tue, 23 Nov 2010 17:49:09 +0000 David http://www.teamlloydirvinusa.com/blog/?p=3113

I took second place in light-heavyweight (180-189.9 lbs) Masters (30-39 years old) at NAGA NJ in Newark this past weekend. I’m happy with my progress as this was my best ever finish and I’ve made significant improvements since my last tournament about half a year ago.

There were four competitors in my division and my first match was to see who would move on to the finals. It began with my opponent attempting to pull guard, at which point I was on top for a very short time before getting swept.

I was on my back and would probably have remained there the entire time but luckily Al “Big Sal”  Washington was in my corner coaching me.  A couple of things I’ve had trouble with in the past is controlling my breathing and being able to hear and listen to my coaches.  In earlier tournaments, my head was just exploding with thoughts of don’t lose, and it was hard for me to make out any coaching directions.  Breathing, which is a natural phenomenon, is also something I had to learn to do consciously during my matches, to prevent myself from holding my breath and gassing.

I was pleased that I was breathing well and could hear Al perfectly, even though I was on the bottom and my opponent was working a ch0ke.  He only had one of my arteries, and I knew I was OK as he squeezed and squeezed, and it was just a matter of time before his arms gave.  They eventually did give way, and I could feel him break.

I followed Al’s instructions and performed a back escape and ended up in my opponent’s guard, which I quickly passed and I proceeded to take his back.  I got into full mount and the fight ended with me going for an armbar and my opponent holding on until time was called.  Al was screaming for me to lift my hip, but I just couldn’t do it, and I won on points.

I lost the gold medal match on points, but it was a good fight.  My opponent had a number of blood chokes on me and was visibly perplexed when I would neither tap nor go to sleep.  This eventually wore him down mentally, he also gassed physically, and I was on top passing guard when time ran out.

NAGA was another great learning experience and I encourage my teammates who have yet to compete to do so at the earliest opportunity.

My first fight was caught on video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QC22nSoIWU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fjm7Spxj6Rc

One of the great things about training at Camp Springs is getting the chance to witness the progression of the next generation of MMA stars.  There are several guys in their late teens and early 20s who will be making statements in the sport before too long.  Many of them could be fighting at the highest levels right now, but Master Lloyd is like a scientist, and takes his time putting together his fighting machines.  Every so often I’ll dedicate space in the blog to featuring an interview with one of these future stars.  Today’s interview is with the Ram Man, DJ Jackson.

DJ turned twenty-two last week, and in the words of Mike “The Hulk” Easton, he “could be beasting in UFC right now.”  He’s a juggernaut, a ground ‘n pound specialist, and a future star.

Did you have any background in martial arts?

Master Lloyd awarded you your purple belt this past summer. What titles have you won since then?

What are your goals in Brazilian jiu jitsu and do you have a time-frame in mind for reaching them?

How many MMA fights have you had?

I’ve had two fights and won both of them with finishes.  I love to fight for finishes.

Would you say your ultimate goal is the UFC and the lightweight title?

YES.  I want to be remembered as one of the best fighters of all time!

In your mind, how long before we see “Ram Man” in UFC?

I don’t know.  I have the best trainer and coach in Master Lloyd Irvin and whenever he says I’m ready, I know I am ready!

What’s the best part of being a member of Team Lloyd Irvin?

There is no single best thing — everything about being a member of TLI is great. We are a family.  We bleed, sweat, and put our bodies on the line for one goal:  TO BE THE BEST IN THE WORLD!

One of the things that struck me when I first started MMA training was the anything goes nature of most people’s diets, except when they’re cutting weight for a competition.  I’ve weight-trained for twenty years and am used to following an extremely strict diet, and I kind of figured I’d see that in martial arts too.  But the reality is a lot of people generally eat whatever they want.

First a caveat: everybody’s different and if eating “poorly” works for you, who am I to suggest a change?  If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.  I’ve won no championships, and can only provide details of my personal experiences.

What I’ve noticed personally, though, is that diet affects the quality of my day-to-day training.  When I eat clean, I feel better, am more energized, and have better cardio.  I notice this when I permit myself a “cheat” day — invariably, the day after I’m sluggish and training is a chore to get through.  When I eat whole wheat/whole grain bread, rice, and pasta, and chicken and beef, I have better training sessions than if I decided that it would be a nice day for some pop tarts (my “cheat” food of choice).  It might taste good, but sugar and saturated fats make me feel like crap.

I’ll also put in a word for limited sodium.  Sodium makes me retain water, and then when I train, I sweat less, sometimes hardly at all.  This too makes me feel slow and sluggish, so as a rule I avoid large quantities of sodium unless I know I will not be training the following day.

UFC 123: Phil Davis’s Main Card Debut

Team Lloyd Irvin’s Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis makes his UFC main card debut this Saturday night against Tim Boetsch at UFC 123.

Davis (7-0, 3-0 in UFC), a four-time NCAA Division I All-American and 2008 NCAA champion collegiate wrestler, made his UFC debut defeating Brian Stann at UFC 109.  He then defeated Alexander Gustafsson (via a sweet anaconda choke) at UFC 112 and Rodney Wallace at UFC 117.  I am not alone in believing that Phil, along with Jon Jones, is the future of UFC’s light-heavyweight division.

Phil faces Tim Boetsch (12-3, 3-2 in UFC) on Saturday night.  Boetsch first fought for UFC at UFC 81, beating David Heath via TKO.  Boetsch

defeated Todd Brown at UFC 117 in his last fight.

UFC 123 (Rampage vs. Machida, Penn vs. Hughes) airs Saturday night, 10 PM Eastern, on PPV.

ufc 123

When Urijah Faber choked out Takeya Mizugaki at Thursday night’s penultimate WEC show, he opened doors not only for himself but also for Dominick Cruz and Team Lloyd Irvin.

Zuffa (the parent company of UFC and WEC) has always seen Urijah as the WEC poster boy and its most marketable fighter.  For as long as Zuffa has owned WEC, Faber has either been champion or been in contention for a title.  His first fight at 135 lbs. came two weeks after Dana White announced that as of 2011 WEC would merge into UFC.  Dana had his fingers crossed as Faber entered the cage Thursday — a loss and Faber would be out of the title picture and not very marketable.  Faber came through, though, with a first round rear naked choke victory.

There were those who argued that UFC missed the boat on Faber, with Faber’s best years wasted on basic cable television fighting for a brand (WEC) the general public, and even casual fight fans, didn’t recognize.  Dana White knows what Faber can do for UFC, but he also understands that anything can happen in a fight, and that you must strike when the iron is hot.

Therefore, even though Faber has just one fight as a bantamweight, I expect he’ll be facing the winner of Dominick Cruz vs. Scott Jorgensen (i.e., Dominick) for the UFC bantamweight title, as a co-main event on a 2011 UFC pay-per-view.  The idea is that UFC wouldn’t want to risk putting Faber in another non-title fight for fear that Faber could lose and then wouldn’t be in position to be featured on UFC ppv.

Here’s where things get interesting.  It’s no secret that UFC wants Faber in a position to coach a future season of The Ultimate Fighter.  Faber himself is warm to the idea:

“I’d love to do that; it would be awesome.  Bring my team and show how Team Alpha Male gets down.”

Coach Ultimate Fighter? Urijah Faber Would Do It.

Further, on the WEC pre-show that aired on Versus, Dominick Cruz also said he’d love to coach TUF.

What a lot of people (who don’t listen to way too many MMA podcasts…) might not realize is that there’s bad blood between Urijah and Dominick, all of it coming from Urijah’s end.  Although handing Dominick his only professional loss, Urijah has a chip on his shoulder when it comes to Dom, going on the record many times stating that Dominick Cruz is the only fighter Faber dislikes in MMA.  This all apparently stems from Dom’s allegedly having autographed his name over Urijah’s face on some WEC posters years ago at a meet and greet for fans.  Urijah’s never been clear about the specifics, it all seems kind of petty, but it’s personal conflict and it would make for great television.

So UFC’s in a position to strike now.  If they wait, anything could happen, and they might lose the chance to have Faber coach TUF.  Alternatively, they can set up a TUF season with Faber and Dom as coaches who fight for the title after the season ends.  There are probably two options if they go in this direction.

The first option is putting the title on ice until December 2011 and having Dom and Urijah coach the fall season, presumably a bantamweight and/or featherweight class of fighters.

I believe the better option, though, would be having them coach the welterweight/middleweight season that begins production in January, will start airing in April, with the coaches fighting on the June ppv.  There’s no reason for Urijah and Dom not to coach heavier fighters, which brings me to the point of this post, to borrow Urijah’s words:

Dom would love to do that; it would be awesome.  Bring the team and show how Alliance MMA/Team Lloyd Irvin gets down!

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faber

I was in the back of LIMAA after a killer muay thai class with Justin Jones, getting ready to hit the bags. 

Kraig “KG” Speight was back there too, and he said “Dave, you’re sparring with me tonight.”

I definitely wasn’t prepared for that.

“I thought I was hitting the bags?” I asked Mike “The Hulk” Easton, probably more than a bit apprehensively.

“I want you sparring with KG.  You got a problem with that Dave?”

“No,” I said, as I recognized I was about to get the holy hell beat out of me by one of my best friends.

I haven’t been hit in the face since a high school classmate beat the crap out of me when we were 16 in what I’ll euphemistically call a fight but what was in reality a one-sided thrashing.

So I had my headgear on and was waiting for KG to do the same, but Mike just asked if I was ready.

“Isn’t KG putting on headgear?” I asked Mike.

Mike laughed. 

“Get in there Dave.”

OK, so KG wasn’t even wearing headgear — I can’t say this inspired confidence in me.

We sparred and KG hit me.  A lot.  I hit him a few times, or so KG informed me afterwords; I can’t say with certainty I ever connected with his face.  KG’s not only much more skilled than I am, he also has a far greater reach.  It was difficult to close the distance.

KG dropped me twice, the second time being the hardest and most precise shot he delivered.

It was in the second round.  I could hear Mike say “Dave, jaw down,” and just then, boom, a left hook right on the button.  I saw stars and went down, I could feel my brain shake, but I got right back up.  I took some good punches during the session, several with my jaw out there begging to be blasted, so one thing I learned is my jaw’s not made of glass.  It either is or isn’t in that department, so I’m really happy about that.

After getting rocked we might have continued another 30 seconds or a minute, I don’t remember now.  I just wanted to keep going, and I followed Mike’s instructions as he called for me to throw punches. 

Mike called time and was happy with what I had done.  I had pretty much gotten destroyed, so it was good to know that my performance wasn’t pathetic.

“He’s supposed to drop you, Dave.”

There it was.

I’d been initiated.

Tryouts for the thirteenth season of The Ultimate Fighter are taking place today in Las Vegas at the Red Rock Resort.  Production begins in January for shows that will start airing on Spike in April.  TUF 13 will feature welterweights and middleweights.  Camp Springs muay thai instructor and professional mixed martial artist Timothy “The Good Soldier” Woods is in Vegas trying out for the show.

Timothy has a 6-3 professional record and is best known for his devastating knees and kicks.  A star in the local UWC promotion, in October 2009 the Washington Post reported that Timothy was “being considered by UFC talent scouts.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/21/AR2009102103437.html

Now’s their chance to watch him work again.

Best wishes to Timothy on his trip to Vegas!