Young Gun Double Champion

Young Ewan McAndrew has been training in traditional muay thai for the past 3 years under Ben Bates, well known instructor, based at Stevie B’s Gym.

Ewan won his first two fights both very impressively. His 1st fight last year saw him walk away victorious when he stopped his opponent in the 2nd round.

At recent the junior Anglo Welsh Championships, in October, Ewan nearly ko’d his opponent at the end of the 1st round, who was saved by the bell at the end of a standing eight count. Ewan had to pull out all the stops in the 2nd round to counter a very determined opponent. The fight was stopped with a standing count of 10 following after when Ewan was crowned Anglo Welsh Thai Champion.

Not only is Ewan a Muay Thai champion, but he is also a champion in bjj under the very watchful eyes of the Victor and Braulio. Ewan started training with Victor at the young age of six when he first started private lessons. Since then, Victor introduced him to the main stream classes where Ewan fitted straight in. Ewan has been inspired by another young boy at the club - Lewis Hawkins.

Both these young guns have come back victorious with gold winners medals - a real credit to team GB.

Well don guys, you’re a really credit to Team GB.

BRAULIO ESTIMA TEACHES IN CA-USA

LUTO

GRACIE BARRA ESSEX member NICK MASON was killed this weekend whilst on service in Afghanistan. He was a blue belt under Braulio and a great person, much admired by all at the club and all who knew him. Our thoughts are with you mate. Rest in Peace.

TRAINING HARD

Braulio, Victor, Rominho and Roger are training hard for upcoming events. The Pan Ams is the next no gi championships in line for them, apart from Roger who is fighting at the Sengoku in the last weekend of September.

The training is very intense and everything is going according to plan."I’m very happy to have Roger, Victor and Rominho training here with me, because we push each other to the limit and our preparation becomes more effective” says Braulio.

Braulio is fighting at the Pan Ams no gi as a heavy weight - will be his first time at the Pan Ams no gi championships. Keep tuned for news about the tournament.

GB Birmingham

Well Done to Bristol Open Winnners from GB

Belated congratulations to the following from GB Birmingham and Braulio Estima affiliated clubs who placed in medal positions at the recent Bristol Open back in July. Special mention to Rosie Atwood and Stephen Martin who represented GB Birmingham, both winning gold in their respective categories. Several other notable gold positions were won by GB affiliated clubs. Well done also to those who competed but did not place.

Rosie Atwood, won 2 fights to the gold

Stephen Martin passed through 4 opponents to win one more title.

Juvenile (17 years) 3rd - Chris Cook – GB Swansea
White super feather (-64kg) 3rd – James Normanshaw – GB Derby
White heavy (-94.3kg) 1st – Shaun Perry – GB Swansea
White super heavy (-100.5kg) 2nd – Ashley James – GB Swansea
White super super heavy (over 100.51kg) 2nd – Jon Andrew – GB Swansea
Blue male light (-76kg) 1st – Stephen Martin – GB Birmingham
Blue heavy (-94.3kg) 1st – Mathew Norris – GB Channel Islands
Blue absolute - master2nd - Mathew Norris – GB Channel Islands
White female light(–60kg) 1st – Rosie Atwood – GB Birmingham
Blue femal light (–60kg) 1st – Christine Mc Donagh - CG Derby

Promotions at GB Swansea & GB Derby

Congratulations to the team at GB Braulio Estima Swansea - Russ, Mitchell, Ash, Marley, Mark Waters, Calvin, Gav, Will and Johnny Williams on being awarded their blue belts by Braulio at a seminar held today. Also a well done to several others for gaining additional stripes on their belts including Chris R and Rob T.

Special mention also for Dave Hulland of GB Derby who was today also awarded his blue belt after recently turning 18. Dave won his category in the adults at Seni and only just lost out on medal position at the Europeans. Victor awarded Dave his belt.

Well done to all from Braulio & Victor and all at GB Birmingham.

BRAULIO ESTIMA TEACHS A SET UP FOR TRIANGLE CHOKE

If two medium-heavy weight world champion titles weren’t enough, Bráulio ‘Carcará’ Estima continues his contribution to Jiu-Jitsu. Fighting as a black-belt since 2004, Bráulio proved the power in 2007, as he submitted, in BJJ World Cup, in July 22nd and 23rd, Fernando ‘Margarida’ Pontes. Right away, he demonstrates to all GRACIE Mag’s readers how: “This triangle choke begins whenever they try to pass my guard with a tight scoop, get confused and try to comeback and hold my legs again.”
First published GRACIE #114


In the World Championship’s quarterfinal, Bráulio submitted Alexandre Souza with a triangle choke that began just like the one shown here.

Ladies and Gentleman- Mr and Mrs Estima!

Hi Guys!
Just a quick word from us-we are eventually married! The beautiful day took place on the 12 of July in Piechowice, Poland.
The whole wedding was the most amazing thing that has ever happened to us!
We would like to thank everyone for support, those who came to share our special day with us in Poland and those sending good energy from UK and from all parts of the world.
It wouldn’t be the same without you…
So, it’s been the third day of our married life and it feels fantastic! Braulio eventually passed his hangover and is already acting like a real husband, making me breakfast every morning
Ps. Braulio asked me to mention this so i’m writing...the prize for the best dancer of the night goes to.... STEVE FAN
See you when we get back!

BRAULIO ESTIMA :  “The focus now is on No Gi”

“Now the focus is on No Gi” says Braulio, as the season for the gi competitions is now finished, Carcara will start preparation for the upcoming no gi events after his wedding on 12th July.

“After the wedding I will be focussing on no gi. Unfortunately I won’t manage to get ready for the Worlds in August. This time I want to do it right, so the next competition for me will be the Pan Ams in NY. Of course if there is any tournament that I feel which will help me prepare for the Pan Ams then I will jump at the chance. After the Pan Ams I’ll be going through the proposals made to me for MMA, then off course there is the AbuDhabi next year.”

“I would like to take the opportunity and thank everyone who has supported me with through my knee recovery and preparation. I have had lots of help from Stevie B’s, my students ( not saying names in case I forget ),my brother, my future wife, gb Angola where i did a week of training , off course my instructor Ze Radiola and every one who gave me support from distance by just asking how i was feeling, wishing good luck and all sorts. 

I’m very greatful for all this and I’m determined to come back even stronger to bring the gold next time”. 

Jiu-Jitsu to invade New York

Jiu-Jitsu to invade New York

IBJJF announces No-Gi Pan-Am

Another proof that Jiu-Jitsu doesn’t stop growing in the United States. Traditionally concentrated in California, the biggest gi events (Worlds and Pan-American) will now have the company of a “cousin” on the East Coast. The International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJFF) has just announced the creation of the No-Gi Pan-American Jiu-Jitsu Championship.

The competition is scheduled for the 8th of October, and will be held at the traditional New York City College.
The promoters’ expectation is for the no-gi Pan to attain the same success as the no-gi Worlds, whose second edition is set for the 9th and 10th of August, in Carson, California.

Stay tuned for more information on the No-Gi Pan-American.

Rachel Wheatley quick intreview

GBBE: Rachel how are you feeling for the british ADCC trials?

RW: im looking forwards to it , i’m excited a little nervous as always which is normal and makes me perform better.

GBBE: How has your training been for this competition?

RW: I prepared better than i did at the last trials which i had trained only for 2 weeks.im feeling stronger now been training hard with the guys here and im lucky this time as i have loads of training partners my weight

GBBE: how is the group interaction?

RW: its been very supportive, everybody shares ideas and techniques, getting together as much as we can, in the classes and extra training between, it is just like a little family

Luke Cole on his way to ADCC

Mr. Cole is looking good on training, pushing harder this week, the 2008 SENI GRACIE INViTATIONAL Champion feels confident as always and ready to go.
Good luck Luke.

More upcoming news about the ADCC British trials, keep tuned.

BRAULIO & VICTOR

One of the most exciting and emotional parts of the World’s 2008 held at the Pyramid of the Long Beach University, was when Victor and Braulio
were fighting at the same time ( Victor vs the current world champion Lucas Leite and Braulio vs Roger Alex from alliance).
With only those two competitive mat areas being used, all the attention was directed towards the Estima brothers. Victor was loosing by 2 points when out of the blue he
submitted the current world champion with a triangle choke, and at the same time Braulio submitted Alex with the same lock, bringing the ecstatic crowd onto their feet with applause.
An unbelievable coordinated achievement it had been!
Immediately after, the brothers hug each other in the middle of the mat as you can see from the picture above

Braulio gets silver after knee surgery and Otavio and Victor share bronze!

Many congratulations to the boys!

Braulio gets silver in his weight division marginally losing out to Andre Galvao despite his recent injury. Otavio and Victor also fought an admirable competition both subbing the 2 favourites to win the tournament.

Mixed success at North of England Grappling Championships.

Congratulations are due for Chiu and Nathan who shared gold in their weight at the tournament Sunday. Unfortunately Dave and Wes suffered defeat to the winners of their respective weight classes, but both will be back in competition soon and picking up medals i’m sure.

Chiu, now approaching his 5ooth year of life, and ostensibly retired from competition since 2005 has recently taken it upon himself to punish much younger opponents in competition and is using his aluminium frame to devestating effect wherever he fights! Everyone at Barra Brum knows what it’s like to be crushed by Chiu and now he’s going national. Good luck to any brown belt he fights this year! He finished every fight by submission and was back at training the following day! I think he’s been drinking from the same fountain as a certain Mr Couture!

Nathan, on the other hand, has a celebrity age of 28 and is a relative novice in Nogi grappling and claims to hate competition. However, having won his weight in the Gay at Seni and being promoted to purple, he’s finally seen the light and decided to try his hand at NoGay going on to share gold at his first ever competition. To put this in perspective.... gi comps are divided into weight and belt categories, but nogi is pretty much open to anyone within a weight class, so for a newly promoted purple to win is damn impressive in a tournament graced by more than one brazilian black belt. By all accounts NAthan fought a tight game and scored several subs himself on the way to the final, nearly subing himself trying a gogoplata in the semi’s!

All we need now is for Dom to dust off his lycra fight shorts circa 1996 and Gracie Barra Birmingham will be dominating both the Gay and the NoGay at all weights!

Congrats guys, and well fought!

Luke

Welcome to our blog

Welcome to our blog! We want to build a community so we can talk openly and give opinion about what’s hot and what’s not in the world of bjj. However, relevant or passionate you feel about a bjj or related issue then get started with the blog.

The blog is for all enthusiasts who have something to say, regardless of whether you train at GB Birmingham or not - we welcome your opinion.

Braulio and Victor look forward to reading the blogs - and who knows you may even get a personal response from them!