Attention, Charlotte, North Carolina: Hayastan Grappling East Coast Championships is coming October 10th! The Naomi Drena Recreation Center will host what will be the proving grounds for many MMA amateurs and hopefuls.

The divisions will be Gi and No-Gi, with all championship belts being awarded in the No-Gi division. There will be 10 championship belts for winners, and a $500 cash prize up for grabs. Want a custom medal? Then place 1st, 2nd or 3rd in any of the regular divisons! Competitors can compete in up to 3 divisions (Gi, No-Gi and Championship), so start training, improve your odds and go for the gold!

Need another reason to come out and show what you’re made of? How about World Champion Gokor Chivichyan’s two-day seminar the 10th and the 11th! Don’t miss a chance to learn from the world class grappler who came out of retirement to take home the gold at the 2008 USJA/USJF Winter Nationals!

Sat. 10th
Gokor Seminar 8 am – 10 am
Weigh Ins 8 am – 10 am
Rules Meeting 10:30 am
Tournament 11:30 am
All competitors must be present by 10:30am for bracketing and rules meeting.

Sun 11th
Gokor Seminar 10 am – 2 pm

For more information, visit the event site or contact Paul Booe at 704-575-9688.

The Good Fight will hold Battle at Virginia Beach at the Bayside Recreation Center on Saturday, August 29, 2009 with divisions for kids, teens, men and women in single elimination and consolation match format with both Gi and No-Gi divisions.   Ticket prices for spectators start at $15 if purchased the day of the fight, or $10 if pre-ordering in advance.    Registration and weigh-ins begin at 8 a.m., with fights beginning at 10 a.m., with all first place winners receiving a samurai sword.  Fighters looking to participate in the event can still register online.

For more information, Jim Fortunato can be contacted at (856) 343-4722.

Summer is always a good time to get out of your air-conditioned house and try something new and different from your usual workout routine.  For many, summer also gives more freedom in a relaxed atmosphere and time to step out of comfort zones; power-walking and tennis at the country club get old after awhile.  If you’re really feeling adventurous, try one of the fast-growing popular new sports in America, Mixed Martial Arts.

With the many various forms of MMA fighting, one may get overwhelmed with deciding which route to try out.  (And, if you’re in the middle of nowhere in Central Pennsylvania, believe that you have no shot of finding classes near you.)

No-Gi Grappling:  Unless you’re familiar with the MMA world, you may have never heard of this type of submission technique.  However, it is quickly becoming popular and is used frequently in MMA fights- there are even nutritional supplements intended for performing No-Gi Grappling.  With odd-sounding names of techniques from Rear Naked Arm Crush to Japanese Necktie, one is sure to find a technique that is best for their style of fighting.

According to No-Gi-Grappling.com, fighters have described the Japanese Necktie as “the quickest tap I ever got.”  What makes this technique so hard to get out of are several things.  It’s an extremely tight hold, made by trapping the leg of the opponent and then pushing his chest on the back of the opponent’s neck and squeezing, leaving fighters no other choice but to “tap out.” 

No-Gi Grappling is a program based off of Combat Submission Wrestling, which was founded by Erik Paulson.  Back in the 1990s, the Gracie family was the first to show the effectiveness of grappling in UFC events and it evolved from there.

No-Gi Grappling is similar to grappling, which involves controlling and handling an opponent through various types of holds, instead of striking.  It includes choke holds and ground fighting, as well as standing.  These holds involve throwing, locking and pinning one’s opponent.  In ground fighting, escapes are also used.  Grappling sports include jiu-jitsu, judo, mixed martial arts and wrestling.

Both types focus on taking down the opponent, but the ways they aim to accomplish this are different.  To learn more about these differences, click here.

If you’re located in Central Pennsylvania, Titan Fitness in downtown State College offers classes teaching No-Gi Grappling.  Click HERE for more information.

According to their website at titanfitness.com, No-Gi Grappling classes generally teach an athlete “to compete in submission grappling tournaments. It also has a strong influence on the importance of striking on the ground for both self-defense purposes and MMA competitive fighting.”

Even if you’re not training seven days a week to win an MMA Championship, practicing No-Gi Grappling, or any type of MMA training for that matter, is good both for fitness and self-defense purposes.  Don’t worry, those sore muscles are to be expected!

Thanks to No-Gi-Grappling.com