Back from another night of fights held by Knockout Promotions at the Next Level Sports Complex in Garden Grove, California. Had 2 grappling matches and 3 fights to corner (2 of which were debuts). Mario Delgado went to a 10-minute draw with his opponent while AJ McKee submitted his opponent in a minute and a half with a crucifix while INSIDE his full guard!

Spent the weekend at Herb Dean’s yearly MMA referee camp. It’s been over 4 years since I have reffed or judged MMA and I had been thinking about getting back into it for awhile. My friend/training partner Jenn, who also happens to be the operations manager for the camp, told me about it and suggested I take the course. I thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and take the course to get brushed up on the finer details of the unified rules (which, after taking the course I realized, no matter how well you think you know the rules, you probably don’t).

Stopped by 10th Planet Costa Mesa this morning for their Sunday open mat. It is always packed with people at every level and everyone has a good attitude. That is one of the biggest reasons that I enjoy going there. You can actually train and practice bad position thanks to the guys there all putting their egos aside. Some gyms you visit and you don’t get to really practice because every guy is out for your head due to you being an outsider and it becomes competition.

And one more just for me! ;)

Took me 12 years to get my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt ;P I turned it down 4 years ago because I wanted my black belt to be from the team I consider family. Getting today from Tracy Hess made waiting completely worth it.

For anyone reading this, there are a bunch of people I want to thank for getting me here:

Rob Spencer, Jeremy Williams (RIP), Rick Estrada, Russ Miura, Adam Lynn, Tracy Hess, Rani Yahya, Bao Quach, Juliano Prado, JJ Ambrose, Rick Catindig, Ryan Gregg & William Kessler.

May 13, 2015 Subfighter MMA belt promotions.

Part 2