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Another wave of victory set in for our surfing prodigy, Eli Olson. WSL hosted the Hawaii Regionals event this past November 6, which accumulated the athletes' scores from 5 different events they held this year (3 in Hawaii and 2 in Tahiti).   Eli managed to score the best overall run for 2016. This earned him the trophy over a couple hundred other surfers, undeniably proving that he's been the most consistent surfer of the year! Our surfer has kept up a pretty stable train …

We're completely aware that all of our athletes are talented in areas beyond Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. And some of them are lucky enough to share these passions with another, like Jeff and Veronica Messina. In 1997, Jeff began doing BJJ, Muay Thai, and boxing, but gravitated more towards BJJ. Now he's a second-degree black belt under Rodrigo Medeiros. He began his first gym in 2005 with Yves Edwards and Tim Creduer. Jeff has since opened his location in Katy and moved the original locat …

It's pretty impressive finding out what young, talented kids can juggle in their lives these days. We know some argue otherwise, but trust us when we say that there are young people today who are the furthest away from being lazy. Bradley Chirino is definitely one of those kids, to say the least. He's currently a 15-year-old Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu green belt of the elite team AOJ academy, under the Mendes brothers (Rafael and Gui). He began training martial arts at the age of 5, fro …

The IBJJF Pan Americans No Gi Championship took place at the Nat Holman Gym in New York City this past September , 2016. The tournament had plenty of great matches with enormous talent circulating the Jiu-Jitsu community, including our very own black belt Ian Sanders, brown belt Rehan Muttalib, and blue belt Lukas Matheus. This was the very first tournament Ian Sanders did as a black belt. He trains at the Rodrigo Freitas Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academy 2 times a day, …

Military men and women sacrifice a lot to fulfill their duties for this country. It's no secret that they dedicate a lot of their time, their bodies, and their entire being into their services, big or small. Our very own black belt, Sergio Machado, was one of these honorable beings who served in the Army. He unfortunately developed a back injury while serving, causing surgery in 2006 prior to his 3rd tour in Iraq. He was at the top 5% of all recovering back surgery patients, which ga …

Believe in your work and others will believe in you too. That's exactly what Raul Jimenez did when he decided to run his own gym in 2009. It's called Jiu-Jitsu Studio 76 Team Gacho and it's located in Spring, Texas. They offer Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu classes, Muay Thai, and wrestling. Years before this happened, back in 2001, his best friend, black belt Cristian Ledwon, introduced him to BJJ. Raul used to teach at Gracie Barra the Woodlands when he was a purple belt back in 2008, but felt like he di …

The IBJJF Masters Worlds happened not too long ago on August 25-27 in Las Vegas. It was a jammed-packed tournament that had some of the biggest names in the game including our very own black belt, Rodrigo Medeiros. He had 3 fights in the middle weight division, where he won the silver medal. He also did the Pan Americans this past March in the Master 4 Lightweight division, where he won the gold. What people might not know are the obstacles he had to face after Pan Ams, before heading for the Ma …

They say good things happen to those who go out and work for it. It's no wonder that even from facing adversity, our 28-year-old teammate Julio Cordova eventually found his way to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu 9 years ago. This was his way to steer away from the bad influences surrounding him. Julio has actually been in the martial arts scene since he was a child, practicing judo and karate. He's currently training Jiu-Jitsu as a brown belt at the Renzo Gracie/Skrap Pack academy in Mexico City. From becom …

Just over 10 years ago when she was a 15-year-old living in Brazil, Pati Fontes only dreamed about becoming a black belt World Champion. That dream pushed her all the way until she got promoted to black belt on the podium at last year's IBJJF Worlds by Lucas Leite. She wasted no time and immediately hopped on the highly-competitive tournament scene. Just 5 months after receiving her black belt, she became the IBJJF NoGi Worlds Light-feather Weight Champion. This year, Pati got 3rd …

It's crazy to see how kids are evolving in the Jiu-Jitsu community. It's not hard to spot the ones with amazing technique and well-rounded game throughout the many tournaments each year. MOYA Brand definitely found a gem within the youngsters, Anaya Falcon. She is an 11-year-old orange-white belt training out of Checkmat La Habra under Pati Fontes. She was introduced to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu 5 years ago by her father (David Falcon) when he came across a Gracie Barra academy (Anaya's …