Tanner and Jamie both won gold at the Gentle Art Challenge in San Jose. The Gentle Art Challenge was a submission only tournament with EBI-style overtime rules to decide the winner in the case the match regulation didn’t end with a submission.
Tanner and Jamie both won with submissions to decisively win their divisions at the tournament in San Jose.
The submission style tournament is one of the growing forms of competition styles in the sport. In the submission only tournament there is no points for advancement in position or attacks, but only when you submit your opponent with a viable attack are you declared the winner.
On the last weekend of January, Tanner Ford and Eliot Kelly made their presence felt on the stage of Fight to Win Pro 60 in Reno, Nevada. This was an exciting night for the two competitors where over $30,000 were paid to the many competitors of the night. Tanner made his Submission only debut on the fight to win card and won via heel hook. He had a dominant performance and was able to execute to precision what he had been training. We are excited to see him again on the stage!
Eliot wasn’t as successful as Tanner in his match. Eliot lost a unanimous referee decision. Needless to say he made an effort to put on a show of takedowns and hand fighting looking to gain advantage starting from the feet.
We are excited to have been a part of another Fight to Win pro card in the Nevada area! This was an exciting opportunity to compete and perform on a professional stage in the art of submission grappling. We look forward to seeing these competitors in action again on the fight to win stage!
Fight to Win Pro 58 is coming back to Sacramento on January, 12 2018. This professional brazilian jiu jitsu and submission grappling competition is a one match grappling super fight with no points. The victor is determined by submission or referee decision. The
From El Dorado Hills, competitor Eliot Kelly is us against Jason Butcher, a seasoned MMA competitor and title holder. Eliot, who has been competing mostly in NoGi for the submission only competitions will be making his submission only debut wearing the Gi for this bout. In his previous fight to win bout held in Sacramento, Eliot won by rear naked choke against MMA competitor Luke Stuart in the last few seconds of the bout.
Another competitor from El Dorado Hills, Aaron Martinez will be making his black belt debut and fight to win promotion debut in NoGi submission grappling. Aaron Martinez, who recently received his black belt from Master Claudio Franca in Santa Cruz, CA will be brining his mixed grappling game of wrestling and submission jiu jitsu to the mat in Sacramento.
Purchase your tickets to the bouts online! Visit Cagetix.com and select one of the fighters name to support their profession jiu jitsu career and watch all of the 30 super fights of the night!
I had two matches at 2017 ADCC Finland. Lost them both. One to Lovato jr. & another to Aly. In reflecting on the weekend, I walked away with some important insights.
1) Embracing my style of “fighting”
2) How quickly your mindset can influence your performance.
As a side note, to me winning & losing are only trivial moments as a result of a bout, therefore I’ve always made an effort to evaluate my performance <physical // technical // mental> in a match instead of the win or loss. I haven’t watched my bouts yet, but I was very unsatisfied after my initial match. I tried to play a strategic game and it was a total failure. Lovato Jr. completely shut me down. 7-0. I walked away from the mat frustrated. I think I played it conservative and there’s no way you will perform well or beat any of the best 16 guys in the world playing it safe.
Thank you Ty, Paul, and Ryan for coaching and sharing your insights on the match.
The next day I faced Aly in the open class. In between the two days i was able to better understand myself as a grappler. To embrace my style. And I was damn sure I wasn’t going to play it safe on the second day. (And hopefully everyday) And I feel as though did. I didn’t win and there were some things I need to change but I could walk off the mat knowing i was a different person from yesterday. Only one thing changed between the two days. My mindset. My conscious approach to fight hard. To go HAM. (I’m quoting Tanner Rice here)
So I challenge everyone to go and fight their style every match. To embrace who they are on and off the mat. Because when you do…. It make everything so much more fun! And when you don’t it’s almost a guarantee you won’t win…
A special thanks to Komainu Apparel and AK BKK . These guys made this ADCC experience extra special for us. Thank you Satoshi for the photo! 📷
This year the IBJJF American Nationals took place in Las Vegas with the UFC International Expo. The event show cased the best martial artists in jiujitsu, wrestling, tae kwon do, karate, judo, and other types of cross fit competitions. The event culminated with the McGregor v Mendes fight. The event was an exciting step in jiu-jitsu as it joins forces with the UFC and MMA community. Hosting the International Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation tournaments in conjunction with the UFC expo will only help educate MMA fans on the details and excitement of jiu-jitsu.
NoGi Super Heavy weight podium
The American Nationals featured jiujitsu competitors from all over the globe. The event featured two tournaments, one in the gi and one nogi. The tournament also featured the Kids American Nationals, one of the premiere IBJJF Kids tournaments of the year.
NoGi Absolute podium
Eliot represented the team from El Dorado Hills. The first day was composed of theNoGi tournament. Eliot finished with a double silver making it to the finals in the weight division and absolute (all weights combined) open weight division. The second day was composed of the tournament in the gi. Eliot finished with a silver in his weight division, again making it into the finals of the tournament. In the absolute (all weights combined) open weight division Eliot fell short in the semi-final, finishing with a bronze.
Eliot Kelly beats Guyson Sa in the quarter finals of the absolute division
Eliot finished the two day American Nationals with 9 matches 5 in the nogi and 4 in the gi. “The tournament was great! There were warm up mats, great organization, and a lot of action all day long. It was a bitter sweet experience for me as a competitor because I made it to the finals in three different occasions, but I wasn’t able to get the gold. Needless to say I learned from my mistakes and I’m excited for the next opportunity to compete!”
From 
Another competitor from El Dorado Hills, Aaron Martinez will be making his black belt debut and fight to win promotion debut in 
