July 2009 - News Archives

A Note from Prof. Ricardo Almeida.
07/29/2009

"Over the past few I have been training with my sights set on UFC 101.

I feel I have never trained harder or been more ready for any competition I have ever been a part of.
Even though MMA is an individual sport, I believe it takes a coordinated group effort in order to bring the best out of any fighter.

When I step into the octagon comes August 8th, my performance will be directly related to the efforts and sacrifice from those closer to me.

I am writing today not to talk about the insight of a UFC fighter, but of a friend, teacher, student, husband, father and son; who feels greatly privileged to have such amazing people to support me.

I am writing to thank every single person who has been a part of this preparation, directly or indirectly.

The Professors for keeping every class at such a high technical level, even though it is summer time, classes are packed.

The students for making the academy such a great place. When people say that I have great school, my reply to them is ‘I don’t have a great school...I have great students’.

My training partners who wake up early, rain or shine and come beat me into shape for this fight.

My teachers for having the patience and insight to bring the best out in me.

Finally, my wife and family for the love, understanding and support.

If you chose to be around for this one, thank you.

See you on the mats."

                                                              - Ricardo Almeida.

 
Frankie Edgar pushes Ricardo hard.

 
Boxing coach Mark Henry and Mestre Renzo Gracie.
 

07/28/2009 -  Last group training session for Ricardo before his fight against Kendall Grove.
Top left- Eric Sagot, Roger Mamedov, Chris Liguori, Pat Gainey, Chris Matakas, Rob Cook, Gregor Gracie, Tunico, Dante Rivera, Rafael Sapo, Hector.
Bottom left - Pete McHugh, Jim Tomszac, Mark, Ricardo, Frankie Edgar, Leandro Hernandez, Jay Malley, Igor Gracie.

Women's Rape Defense Seminar.
07/29/2009

Gear up ladies, you don't want to miss this one. Your RABJJ Instructors have put together a rape defense seminar just for you.

The FBI and Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) Crime/Victimization Statistical Report states that over 190,000 rapes/sexual assaults or attempted rapes/sexual assaults were reported to law enforcement agencies in 2008. Almost twice as many were reported to other non law enforcement agencies such as rape crisis centers.

The report also informs us that of the reported rapes/sexual assaults or attempts, 75% or more of the victims knew or were acquainted with the suspect/offender.

This Rape Defense Seminar focuses on the fact that women who resist an attack are less likely to be raped than those women who do not resist. Studies from rape crisis centers, law enforcement agencies and crime statistic gathering agencies in the United States and Canada conclude that 70 - 80% of women who resist their attacker with some type of psychological and/or physical resistance avoid being raped. These agencies also conclude that in over 96% of the attacks where no resistance was offered the rape was completed.

Participants of this class will be taught and allowed to practice methods on how to be mentally and physically prepared to resist the attack.

Feel free to bring friends and family to this very informative seminar.

Date: Saturday - September 26th, 2009
Time: 12:00 PM

Special guest to be confirmed very soon. Stay tuned.

RABJJ 1st Annual Soccer Tournament - Players Announced!
07/29/2009
 
 
 
The names are in and here they are:
 
 
RABJJ Red Noses
 

 
- Ricardo Almeida
- Pete McHugh
- Frankie Edgar
- Chris Liguori
- Mike Levach
- Dancy DeBrosse
- Brian McPherson
- Jordan McPherson
- Mike Savino
- Ailson "Soldier"
- Max Bohanan
 
Substitutes:
 
- Pat Gainey
- Rich Sin
- Ty Hudspeth
- Johnatan
- Alan Brackup
- Eric Green
- Lisa Yanucil

 
 
RABJJ Bulldogs:
 
 

- Larry Norman
- Dante Rivera
- Steve Bongiorno
- Eddie Fyvie
 - Leandro Hernandez
- Don Sawyer
- Rob Cook
- Manny Sosa
- Andrew Riddles
- Anthony Hollo
 - Ray Griffis
 
Substitutes:
 
- Alex Bongiorno
- Sean Riehl
- Brian Hruszczak
- Michael Steeil
- Chris Alvarez
- Ryan Peters
- Kyle P.
 
 
 
RGA City Rollers:
 
 

- Renzo Gracie
- Igor Gracie
- Rolles Gracie
- Gregor Gracie
- Neiman Gracie
- Luca Atalla
- Joao Silva
- Ze Triangulo
- Lucinho
- Rafael Sapo
- Tunico
 
Substitutes:
 
- William Fauci
- Kevin Hatch
- Donald Ramos
 - Alex Eyre
- Rich Schmich
- Bobby Johnson
- Lorand DoBondi

We already have in store sweet looking jerseys, medals and trophy for our participants.
All RABJJ students are invited including your friends and families.

Let's show our boys major support.
We can't wait, it's going to be a blast!

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Klein!
07/27/2009


Hi guys. As soon as we got the news that the Kleins announced the birth of their baby boy, we couldn't wait to get our hands on a picture of the little guy.

Chase Joseph Klein was born on 07/24/2009 ( one day before daddy's birthday) at 11:47 PM weighting 7 lbs and 3 oz and 21 inches long!

Welcome, baby Chase. We have a Black Belt saved just for you when you grow up.

Congrats again from the whole RABJJ family!

RABJJ Association Promotions - July 2009.
07/25/2009



Congratulations to the follwing students on receiving their much deserved belts this Saturday at RABJJ Headquarters.

From Brunswick BJJ - Coach Haz Ibrahim

Gre Schwalje - Bue Blet
Justin Laurino - Blue Belt
Rommel Quizon - Blue Belt






From South Jersey BJJ - Prof. Steven Bongiorno

Ronnie Hill - Blue Belt
Lee Gorlin - Blue Belt
Ruben Hernandez - Blue Belt









From RABJJ Headquarters

Chris Hoffman - Blue Belt
Barry Hollo - Blue Belt
Leandro Hernandez - Purple Belt

What a great day! You could be next, just make sure you get to class and enjoy the many benefits of Jiu Jitsu.

Congratulations once again, everyone!




Prof. Almeida Visits Thomas Clifford's School.
07/23/2009


Thank you so much to all students from Thomas Clifford BJJ School for such a warm welcome and a great time.

Everytime we go to his school we come back more and more impressed with the technical Jiu Jitsu level of his students, and we always look forward to the next visit.

It was great to hang out and catch up with our old friend and mentor. Enjoy some of the pictures we took of the seminar:

 Tom Clifford, Dante, Ricardo, Pete.

The Team Names are IN!
07/20/2009

Thank you all for helping us come up with our First Annual Soccer game's team names.
The requests to participate were overwhelming, and to be able to accomodate as many players as possible, we decided to do a mini tournament. Now the big news:

Mestre Renzo Gracie will be playing with us! Yes, you read it right, not just him but a whole team has been put together with players from Renzo's Academy in Manhattan, and our dear friends Igor Gracie, Gregor Gracie, Rolles Gracie, Neiman Gracie and Rafael Sapo will be emailing us a little bit later today their final list of participants.
It's going to be amazing!

Ricardo, Pete and Dante visit Renzo's Holmdel Academy.

 
 Ricardo, Renzo's pup "Ryan" and Renzo.

Get ready guys, here are the chosen Team Names:

- RABJJ Red Noses

- RABJJ Bulldogs

- RGA City Rollers

Thank you all for sending us so many cool emails with so many cool suggestions.

Robbinsville Fieldhouse information:

153 West Manor Way
Robbinsville, NJ 08691
Phone: (609) 259-8787

Full list of players by the end of the day. Stay tuned!











 Meet and Greet on Long Island.
07/20/2009

Prof. Almeida had a ton of fun hanging out with thousands of middle school kids in Long Island this past weekend, where he signed many autographs and chatted about all aspects of the MMA world.

Thank you UFC for the fantastic opportunity to interact with such great people and influence so many kids in such a positive way!

Congratulations Serra Family!
07/20/2009

Matt and Ann Serra's little one, Angelina Serra was baptized this past weekend and the party was phenomenal, with so many great friends present! Prof. Almeida was there with his family and everyone had a blast.

Congratulations little Angelina and the Serras! Enjoy the pictures.

  
 Matt, Ricardo, Frank Mullis.

A Beautiful Letter.
07/20/2009

"Good morning all: Well at least it is in this part of the World.

I know you haven’t heard nor seen me in quite some time now, and the explanation for that Is I’m on assignment, the very next day after my visit to the school with daughter, that very same day when Mrs. Almeida gave my daughter her new favorite T-shirt…I received orders for another 120 days deployment to AL DHAFRA A.B. inAdu Dhabi.

I wasn’t on the roster for another deployment until the early parts of next year, but it was an emergency extraction of a staff member, and because I had just returned for that region in January, and I still had all the required credential for a deployment, I was elected go, and I was given only six days to have my affairs in orders to do so.
I just went over the proverbial Hump, so I should be back Home in the first week of September, and back in class soon after.

I’ve actually missed you guys, without really knowing the details, in a Very Short period of time your school has made one of the most positive impacts in my life in the last decade, now for me that’s saying a lot.

You guys have a great counterbalance system going on, With Prof: Larry one gets the demand of excellence, tough but fair discipline, he actually reminds me of one of my old TI from back in Basic, and with prof: Dante  one gets positive reinforcement, and persistence  detail in his curriculum.

It is that very healthy balance which sparks my new found passion for the Art, and I can’t wait to return to it.
Also I’m very well aware that Prof: Almeida has an upcoming bout and victory on the 8th of august, I wish that I could have been there in person, but I’ll be one of the first to show up at Comm. Focal to view to the match and show my support.
 
Well, I just wanted to drop a few line saying “hey!! I’m still here” eventhough here is twelve thousand Miles away from home; I can’t wait to get back.

I’ll see ya’ll in September.

Lerino"

Your letter truly made us smile, Rino... I'd say it even made us a little emotional.
Thank you and best of luck to you.

RABJJ's Summer Contest!
07/20/2009

The student who introduces the most friends to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has the greatest chance at winning!

For each friend you bring in to take an intro lesson, you get a ticket. The more friends you bring, the more tickets you get.

At the end of August we'll have a drawing from all the tickets given out. The more tickets you have, the higher your chances are at winning one X BOX 360 game System and a UFC Undisputed game!

As always, if you have any questions feel free to ask a staff member.

Good luck, everyone. Here is a little taste of what is at stake:

Almeida Family's newest addition.
07/20/2009

Hello, everyone. We are happy to introduce to you guys the coolest guy in the world.
Kai Almeida is a Yellow Lab and has filled the Almeida home with so much joy!

The name Kai is Hawaiian for "belongs to the ocean", and of course, big surfing enthusiast Ricardo couldn't have picked a better name.
Kai joined the family a couple of months ago at only 2 months of age, and we look forward to many more years of fun!

Bittersweet News.
07/20/2009

We'd like to congratulate our dear students Max Bohanan and Guilherme Pacheco on graduating High School.

Sad news: Guilherme (Gui) has left us, he just moved back to Brazil where he'll attend college. We'll miss you, Gi!

Happy news: Max has decided to attend Mercer Community College so he can stay close to us and give continuity to his Jiu Jitsu training. Anyone who has trained with Max knows that he has a spectacular Jiu Jitsu journey ahead of him.
By the way, congratulations Max on cleaning out the Blue Belt Intermediate division at this past Grapplers Quest.

 
Gui, Ricardo, Max (Prom Day)

Frankie Edgar Will be in Prof. Almeida's Corner!
07/20/2009

Our dear Frankie Edgar, after completely dominating his last opponent at UFC 98, UFC's former Champion Sean Sherk, has been dedicating just as much time to Prof. Almeida's preparation as he would dedicate to his own fights.

Frankie and Boxing Coach Mark Henry have been working super hard together with all of our amazing team mates at RABJJ in a group effort to get Ricardo ready for his upcoming fight against Kendall Grove. As a result of such commitment, Ricardo has asked Frankie to be one of his cornermen.

Mestre Renzo, Mark Henry and Frankie Edgar will be coaching Ricardo to victory on August 8th.
Don't forget to tune in!

Congratulations on an phenomenal performance against Sean Sherk, Frank!
We'll be seeing you back in the octagon very soon.

One more battle for our Warriors.
09/20/2009

Our boys are getting ready for once again stepping in the ring/cage and entertaining all of us with their awesome MMA skills.

UFC 101 - Philadelphia (on PPV August 8th)

Ricardo Almeida - Middleweight

Ring of Combat - Atlantic City, NJ
 Friday, September 11th 2009

Bret Kohan - Heavyweight

Chris Liguori - Lightweight

Dante Rivera - Middleweight

Roger Mamedov - Lighweight

If you would like to attend the September 11th show, please look for our staff for ticket sales.

Best of luck, guys!

Tom DeBlass wins ADCC Trials!
07/20/2009

After a long battle with a much bigger opponent, Tom comes out on top and will be going to Barcelona in September to compete in the 2009 ADCC!
Congratulations, Tom!

Here is a video of the finals:

Video of the Week.
07/20/2009

Two of the greatest ADCC competitors of all time face off in a war that until this day is considered by most people one of ADCC's biggest battles! 

Prof. Ricardo Almeida vs. Ricardo Arona
Abu Dhabi 2001 Championship Finals

Enjoy!

RABJJ Academy Invites you to our
First Annual Soccer Game.

Take off your gis and put on your cleats, ladies and gentlemen!

After flirting with this idea for a long time, we couldn't think of a better time to start this tradition.

On 08/15/2009 at the Robbinsville Fieldhouse, 44 of our students will face off at 10:00 AM and will be fighting for the First RABJJ Annual Soccer Game trophy, and no, they won't have to grapple to achieve that (well, hopefully not).

Check out the jerseys we'll have for our 2 teams and here's the part where even if you will not be playing, you can contribute: help us pick the team names! Please email us at info@ricardoalmeida.com and let us know what your idea is. We can't wait to see what you will come up with, and we know it will be entertaining to say the least.

We'll not only have team jerseys but also medals for the participants and again, an awesome looking trophy for the winning team!

Here is a sneak peek of the facility in which they'll battle it out, simply spectacular!

The game will be followed by a nice lunch at one of our favorite local restaurants, and if you are planning on coming you'll need to register for that too.

Friends and family are very much welcome to come and cheer you on and we can't wait to meet them ourselves.
Please look for any of our staff members to sign up. Registration is now open!

Important: Only 44 players can register, so don't snooze or you'll loose!

We'll announce the names of the players and team names by the end of this week, stay tuned.

 Robbinsville Fieldhouse information:

153 West Manor Way
Robbinsville, NJ 08691
Phone: (609) 259-8787

We can't wait!