Gracie Barra tournaments are all about families competing; moms, dads, kids, brothers, and sisters. If one family member signs up, chances are there’s usually another family member not too far behind. The Wilner brothers, Max and Maza, both signed up to compete at Compnet 11, and they had a great time in the process.

Max Wilner going for the rear naked choke / Photos: Deb Blyth

Max, a nine-year-old yellow belt, and his 13-year-old green belt brother, Maza, both train at GB America in Irvine with Professor Otavio Sousa and Instructor Cedric Chamouille. They also train at GB Cerritos with Professor Renato “Babalu” Sobral. They love Jiu-Jitsu and have been training for quite some time: Maza for seven years and Max for about five.

Max, whose favorite move is the triangle, had two matches at the GB tournament. He won one by armbar and one by decision, making him a gold medal winner for the day. He says he was a little nervous before his bouts but he competes a lot and knows, once he starts, the butterflies go away. “I just make sure I stay safe and don’t get hurt and always try my best,” Max says, “I like winning first place medals.”

Max says there are a lot of things he loves about Jiu-Jitsu. “I like to roll and I like getting promoted,” he says, “I like spending time on the mat with my friends, Brennan and Toby. They’re my best friends in Jiu-Jitsu.” Max says he and Babalu grapple for fun. “I can’t beat him but I want to,” he says. He also rolls with his older brother, Maza, at home. “We play, but one day I want to beat him,” he says.

Max hanging out with his friend Professor Babalu Sobral

Max obviously has a competitive side and says he wants to be a world champion black belt one day, but for now he will continue to emulate those he admires most in Jiu-Jitsu: Babalu, Master Carlos, Otavio Sousa, and Cedric Chamouille.

Brother Maza had a different experience at the tournament, which turned out to be a good learning experience for him. Being a green belt, there weren’t too many competitors in his division, so he was placed with another green belt who was older and bigger than him. The match was more like an absolute than a divisional bout and the uncertainty was clear on Maza’s face as he took to the mats to face his competitor.

Maza Wilner stuck in a triangle

Early on, Maza held his own, but when his opponent pulled guard, Maza says he was hit in the groin. He posted his arm on his opponent’s chest, who took full advantage, locking Maza up in a triangle. Maza did his best to defend but ultimately time ran out and Maza lost the match. “I lost fair and square,” the mature 13-year-old says, “He was the better man this day.”

Maza says he loves to compete but hates the feeling of being nervous. “I hate losing more than I love winning,” he laughs, “I’m a competitive guy.” Regardless of the loss, though, Maza says it was a good experience. “I haven’t lost in a long time,” he says, “So I’m going to learn from this. I’m going to go back and train on how to defend better.”

Maza, who also trains in wrestling and Thai boxing, wants to be a black belt one day. “I want to be the best at whatever it is I do,” he says, “I’m going to keep training to get better and be number one.” Maza would like to thank his family for all they do for him. “I’ll be back stronger next time,” he says.

David Kopelev is an eight-year-old yellow belt from GB San Clemente. This mature little guy says Jiu-Jitsu has taught him a lot of really important life skills. “I’m a small guy,” he says seriously, “It’s taught me how to defend myself against people who pick on me.” Asked if he gets picked on a lot, David replies, “They’ll pick on me once, then they don’t do it anymore. I have my birthday parties at Gracie Barra, so they know what I’m capable of.”

David Kopelev and his BJJ family

David had two matches at the GB tournament. His favorite takedown is the double-leg, and he put that skill to good use in his first match, which he won on points. He also had an impressive sweep during the bout, which drew a collective, “Wow!” from the crowd seeing such a little guy pull off such a beautiful technique.

Although he lost his second match on points to take silver for the day, the positive-minded competitor felt good. “I’m happy!” he says, “I had a great experience.” And no doubt he did. It was a major feat for David to be at the tournament at all. He’d just had his appendix out six weeks earlier and was already back competing and feeling no pain. “I have no pain and I’m not tired at all,” he says.

David’s favorite technique is the keylock, and he takes his training very seriously. “I have my own rule when I train,” he says, “I practice one kind of sub per round. Otherwise, I would only train the keylock.”

David’s goal is to one day become a black belt. He recently started taking wrestling classes at GB Dana Point with coaches Kanai and Cody. “I want to compete as much as I can and be just like Professor Flavio (Almeida) when I grow up.”

Both David’s parents train in Jiu-Jitsu as well. “Our whole life is Jiu-Jitsu,” dad Sergio says, “All our friends are Jiu-Jitsu friends. We take our gi’s on vacation with us. We just trained at Ricardo Almeida’s school and loved it.” Then Sergio goes one better, “It’s the best marriage therapy ever,” he laughs. “Yeah,” says David’s mom, Christy, “We get it all out on the mats. We lock up chokes on each other!”

Jude Irons with his family after winning gold

GB Encinitas Jude Irons comes from a famous family, but there is no pressure to perform for this light-hearted nine-year-old. As his last name implies, Jude comes from the famous Irons surfing family. His dad, Ricky was a professional surfer, along with his cousins Andy, who recently passed away, and Bruce. But it was Jude’s big day as he took to the mats to compete in his three matches.

In his first match, Jude says he was caught off guard, “He went for a double-leg and I was like, ‘Whoa!’ Last year’s tournament was easier!” Jude ended up winning the match on points once he regained his composure. He says his second match was “gnarly.” “He was very strong,” Jude says, “In the last second I took him down. He was so much taller than me!” In this third and final match, Jude found his flow. “I took him down and passed his guard,” he says, “Then I just kind of held on to him.”

Jude says it was pretty cool to win a gold medal but there was some pressure to try to keep it real in the winner’s circle. “I was so happy standing on the podium,” he says, “I don’t like to make fake smiles, but I was nervous up there. There were so many people watching. There were so many cameras. I’m not one for cameras.”

Like his illustrious family, Jude also surfs and apparently has picked up some of those surfing genes from the one’s who came before him. “I acknowledge that a lot of people are better than me,” he says, “But in my opinion I’m good at it.” Jude can’t pick which he likes better between surfing and Jiu-Jitsu because he loves them both. He’s not sure what he’s going to be when he grows up but says, “I’m gonna let life flow and see what happens.”

Regardless, Jude thinks Jiu-Jitsu is fun and he’s going to keep training and competing. His mom got him into the sport, and he loves his parents for encouraging him to do it. And let’s face it, he was sick of baseball anyway. “There were too many treats in baseball after the games… like cupcakes,” he says, “I wasn’t having enough fun. Now I’m having a lot of fun.”

Austin Gerrard and his new blue belt

Austin Gerrard of Gracie Barra Lake Elsinore got more than he bargained for when he showed up to compete at the GB Compnet 11 event. This was the 15-year-old white belt’s second tournament, after recently competing at the American Nationals and taking third, and he was excited about it. At the GB event, he had three matches. Two he won by points and one he won by armbar, which is also his favorite technique, allowing him to claim a gold medal for the day.

Austin, a sophomore in high school, says competing helps him become more confident in his Jiu-Jitsu. Also a high school wrestler, Austin trains in wrestling three hours a day and then goes to Jiu-Jitsu three to four times a week. “Both BJJ and wrestling help each other a lot,” he says, “I think I’ll be better in wrestling this year, from the Jiu-Jitsu training I’ve been doing.”

Austin’s day came to an exciting close when he got a big surprise on the podium. His instructor, Hector Tapia, and Professor Gustavo Pires wrapped a blue belt around his waist to Austin’s and the crowd’s delight. “I feel pretty excited!” Austin says, “I didn’t expect it today.” In Jiu-Jitsu, one must always expect the unexpected.

The 15 "graduates" with their professor and coaches

Ramos, who co-owns three schools with Monteiro – GB Encinitas, GB Sorrento Valley, and GB Carlsbad – credits Master Carlos for his Jiu-Jitsu philosophy and lifestyle, his work ethic, and his overall success at his schools. He says his life changed a lot when he started training, from the way he ate, to the way he dealt with problems in life. “When I was a yellow belt Master Carlos asked me to stop drinking milk for breakfast,” he laughs, “He said, ‘why are you drinking milk? We are not supposed to drink it as adults. Do you see big, strong bulls drinking it? No.’ So, I stopped drinking milk and changed my whole family’s menu. They all had to adapt to it and I was only fourteen! I felt a change in my body, energy-wise.”

Ramos says Jiu-Jitsu also gave him confidence and changed his attitude about life. “It humbled me,” he says, “I’m still humbled every day at the school. Training, winning, losing… it makes you a better person. It takes time to understand the Jiu-Jitsu philosophy and how good it can be for you. It’s not just the techniques, but the principles and lifestyle too.”

Ramos says the belt promotion is recognition of his students’ accomplishments in Jiu-Jitsu, but to him, their biggest accomplishments are how they relate what they learn on the mats to their experiences off of them. “That’s way more important than winning a tournament or anything else.”

Ramos says he’s tried to create a school environment similar to what Master Carlos created in Brazil. “All the guys who grew up under Master Carlos or have had long relationships with him know he’s always bringing people together,” he says, “Let’s train together, eat together, travel together, live together. He always wants his family and friends surrounding him. Ever since I was thirteen, we all trained together, then we would go out and eat together. Back in the day when he took over the school, he could have named it Carlos Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, but he gave it the neighborhood name to include everyone. He never wanted the attention on him. He wanted the focus to be on the group.”

So, Ramos threw a belt ceremony that focused on his group. Out of the fifteen belts handed out, seven of them were brown belts, and at least five of those seven were over forty years old. He also promoted four students to purple belt and four to blue. He and Monteiro now have four black belts and fifteen brown belts at GB Encinitas.

Curran Thomerson celebrates with his son, Conner, and his professor Rafael Ramos.

Curran Thomerson received his brown belt with his son, Conner, watching, who also trains. Thomerson is humbled by his experience in Jiu-Jitsu thus far. “I’ve been with Gracie Barra since 2007. I came from another school as a blue belt. It’s been a long journey. Jiu-Jitsu teaches you that if you stick with it and don’t give up, you learn discipline and life skills more than anything else. Even more than Jiu-Jitsu skills.”

Thomerson says it’s a big deal to be over forty and receive a brown belt. “Being smashed every day by young guys like Mark Doze, I feel a real sense of accomplishment,” he says, “Being 41 and able to grapple for over an hour – I take it for granted, but other forty-year-olds can’t do it.” Thomerson is such an advocate of Jiu-Jitsu that he helps coach the juniors class.

Aaron Collins and Rafael Ramos

Aaron Collins has also committed himself to a life of Jiu-Jitsu after being with GB Encinitas for five years. He coaches the kids’ classes and says it’s been a life-changing experience for him. He was also promoted to brown belt and says it’s an unbelievable feeling. “I’m honored that Rafael and Nelson feel my technique and ability is up to brown belt level and that they believe in me enough to allow me to teach classes for them,” he says, “Being able to work with the kids has changed my life for the better. I get to work with the future of this world and be a positive influence in their lives. It’s opened my eyes that it’s not just about being good at Jiu-Jitsu, but also about making a difference in someone else’s life off the mats.”

Duane Dwyer gets his brown belt at 49 years of age.

Duane Dwyer is 49 years old but has the exuberant, outgoing personality of someone much younger. He’s been training since 2005 and received his brown belt at the ceremony. As a current police officer and former military man, he sees Jiu-Jitsu from a different perspective. “I love the competitive side of the sport and the street (self-defense) side of the sport,” he says, “This school is vastly deep in both aspects of competition and self-defense. You can do it all here.”

Reflecting on his journey to brown belt, Dwyer says, “Nelson asked me to come help him at a video and interview shoot for a magazine when I was a blue belt. He didn’t tell me why he needed me, but I figured it out once I got there. They needed to throw someone and there were no mats on the floors,” he laughs.

Dwyer says he will never forget when the interviewer asked Nelson if he remembered getting his black belt. ”Nelson said, ‘Of course.’ Then they asked him if it was monumental. I was thinking that I couldn’t even imagine what it would feel like and then Nelson says with complete composure, ‘You know, I think my greatest day was getting my blue belt.’ He said that all the anxiety was over then. All the unfamiliarity and confusion and complications that add to the sport, they’re over. You’ve made it through the learning curve. It was impressive.”

Dwyer says what he loves most about Jiu-Jitsu is that after almost seven years of training and taking other martial arts before it, he still has eye-opening experiences all the time. “I’m still always learning something new,” he says, “People told me other martial arts would change my life, but they never did. Jiu-Jitsu actually did.”

Jusok “Juice” Lee, who co-owns GB Carlsbad, received his brown belt after five years of training. For him, Jiu-Jitsu originally was about promotions and belts. “The longer I did it, the less it became important,” he says, “It became more about concentrating on where I was. I see Jiu-Jitsu a lot like life. You walk your path and you suddenly you’ve made progress. Then you put your head down and keep walking. I look around and see I’ve now progressed in belts.”

Lee loves how Jiu-Jitsu mimics life. “It’s about everyday battles,” he says, “When you’re on the mats, giving your all and testing yourself, you apply that in life. You have a difficult coworker; he’s like an opponent on the mats. How am I going to display patience with this individual? How can I view the challenge? The challenge changes, but the fight is still the same whether it’s on the mats or off. I try to make it a positive experience. I step up and say I’m not going to tap out in life, I’m going to face this issue and deal with it.”

Lee says he’s always learning something new in Jiu-Jitsu and his new school is no different. “It’s a classic Jiu-Jitsu learning experience,” he says, “I now get more excited about my students’ success than my own. They are pulling off moves that are more exciting to see than if I was doing them.” Lee says Jiu-Jitsu is more than just the techniques on the mats. “It’s about changing your life and improving your life in all aspects: spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional.”

An emotional Mark Doze gets his brown belt.

Mark Doze is 24 years old and co-owner of GB Sorrento Valley. He is the youngest GB school owner and now the “owner” of a new brown belt. Doze was emotional about his promotion because it didn’t come easily. At one time he was not living a healthy lifestyle, but Jiu-Jitsu changed all that. As he looked around the room, he says he saw again how he could change his students’ lives for the better. “The way I was changed, I now have the opportunity to change other people,” he says, “I want to help people make better decisions for themselves. I could care less if my students ever win a tournament, but if they come to me and say they’re making better decisions off the mats as a father, a son, or a brother, that’s the most important thing to me.”

Doze has a lot of respect for Ramos and the older guys on the mats. “It was an honor to get my belt from Professor Rafael Ramos,” he says, “I look up to him. I respect him so much and I couldn’t ask for a better group of men to get promoted with. All those guys are over forty. I feel like a son to them. I feel like they’re always looking out for me. It was an honor to get my belt with the guys I started training with. I love those guys.”

Regardless of his age, Doze says he looks forward to being able to help change other’s lives for the better. “I’ve been through a lot for a young person,” he says, “My dad taught me that you can doubt anything in the world, but you should just question yourself. Never doubt yourself. I want to impart that knowledge to others and show them that they can do anything in life they want to do.”

Ramos says, “We had so many great stories on the mats today. Guys improving their lives, their relationships with their families… we are on the right path trying to make Master Carlos proud.”

Mark Doze, owner of GB Sorrento Valley / Photos: James Law

Take off the gi and catch Doze at the beach and you think your eyes have deceived you…or have they? On or off the mats, Doze is that same put together, friendly, caring young man you know at the gym, but the package it comes in may surprise you. Doze is “tatted up” all over his body, except for his hands and his neck, “because I promised my mom I wouldn’t do that,” he says, and he hangs out with his modern day “Rat Pack,” Jason “Mayhem” Miller, Ryan Loco (Videographer), James Law (Photographer), and Ryan ‘”Ryrobb” Robinson (his GBSV partner) to name a few of the widely known guys in his MMA/Jiu-Jitsu-related circle.

Doze hails from a very wealthy family and grew up in the upscale, seaside town of Del Mar. Many think that he was raised with a silver spoon in his mouth and not a care in the world, but many would be wrong. He’s always played the game and just smiled at those comments, thinking, “You’d be half right, but the other half…dead wrong.” As the saying goes, looks are deceiving and you can’t judge a book by its cover – especially this book.

Doze was raised on religion and family. His father was a Jew from Poland. His grandparents suffered at the hands of the nazis during World War II and were separated by the concentration camps they had to live in. They lost two children to the war. When they were free, they moved their two remaining children to Israel, one of them Doze’s father. “My dad lived in a one-bedroom place with his family. They were so poor growing up, he and his brother shared an orange for dinner at night,” Doze says.

With the hardship of his childhood etched into his heart, his father moved to America when he was twenty four and met Doze’s mom in New York three years later. The two migrated to California and raised Doze and his sister, Arielle, there. They turned poverty into prosperity. To ensure that his children never had to grow up the way he did, his father immersed himself in work and became a very successful businessman.

“My dad drove up to L.A. for work every day,” Doze says, “He traveled a lot for business. I missed his presence. He tried to be there for everything, but when I’d get up, he’d be gone for work, and when I came home at night, he’d have dinner with us and then go to bed. He worked so hard to provide us with the life he thought we should have.”

Doze says his parents gave him and Arielle everything, and attached an important message to it. “Although we grew up in a million-dollar home, we were raised with the mentality of poor people,” he says, “We were taught to appreciate what we had and our family. My parents didn’t have anything growing up, so they taught us that family comes first.” They didn’t realize at the time how much that message would be put to the test in years to come.

Doze’s parents were raised Jewish but converted to Christianity. Doze’s mom is devoutly religious and immersed herself and her kids in the church. As a teenager, Doze rebelled against its restrictions. He didn’t want to go door to door testifying anymore. He wasn’t into it. In fact, he wasn’t into much except solace. “I never liked school,” he says, “I was an average student. I was into tattoos and an alternative lifestyle. I was motivated to skateboard, snowboard, and ride bikes. I never liked team sports. I was alone a lot.”

When Doze was fifteen, his sister, Arielle, to whom he’s very close, became desperately ill. “The doctors kept trying to figure out what was wrong with her but couldn’t,” he says, “When she was sixteen they told her she didn’t have long to live. Our house became a very negative place. I couldn’t handle it.” Doze lay on the floor with her every day watching TV. “She was bedridden,” he says, “She was so sick she couldn’t move. She couldn’t eat or drink anything. Her immune system was rundown. I took it really hard.”

To escape the pain that was beyond his control, Doze became destructive. “When I got my driver’s license at sixteen, I started doing stupid things,” he says. He began fighting and partying. Every weekend he came home with a black eye or a broken nose. He was angry that he couldn’t fix his sister’s illness or take away his parents’ pain. “I never went out and hurt others,” he says, “I never destroyed property. I just destroyed myself. I got into a lot of fights in high school. That’s how I got my name, Doze.” He says he was like a bulldozer – the little guy bulldozing the bigger guys, but when he got hurt, he controlled the pain.

Over the years, Arielle started getting better. She stopped taking her medications and started going to a holistic doctor who changed her life. However, Doze was still on the wrong course. “My parents just tried to make sure I was safe,” he says, “They did the best they could. I was hanging out with the wrong crowd, but I had found a place where everyone loved me, so, although it was destructive, I thought of them as my second family.” Doze was asked to leave two different high schools before graduating from the third.

Arielle got healthy and moved to Huntington Beach to become a nurse. Doze was eighteen and wanted to get out of the house after graduating from high school, so he moved in with her. “Instead of having a positive experience, I used it to further my misbehavior,” he says. He started hanging out with neighbors who were less than model citizens.

One day, Doze met former WEC Champion “Razor” Rob McCullough. Doze said he was a huge fan. McCullough invited him to come train at his academy. “I started training kickboxing with Rob and I was really good at it,” he says, “I trained for about a year.” While that was good, everything else fell apart. He started using steroids and bulking up at the gym. He failed out of college because he never went to class and was still partying too much. His parents finally came to get him and moved him back to Del Mar.

One day Doze began to feel really sick and fevered. His left hand became numb and he couldn’t stop rubbing his arm. “My whole left arm was white and my veins were throbbing,” he said, “I went to the ER and they did blood tests.” Doze lay in his hospital bed waiting for the doctor. He came in with an envelope. “He put it on my lap and said, ‘I’m not going to tell you to stop doing what you’re doing, but if you keep doing it, you won’t be here in a year.’ My liver enzymes were twelve times higher than they should have been.”

Doze said he just didn’t care. He was twenty years old and invincible. But then his sister got sick again and his parents moved up to Orange County to take care of her. He was left behind. This time, though, instead of falling apart, he pulled it together. “I registered in school and got a job,” Doze says, “I moved in with a roommate, Ryan Loco, who became my best friend.”

Mark Doze on the right

Salvation came to Doze in the form of Jiu-Jitsu. One day he stopped by GB Encinitas to try it. “I thought I was so big and strong,” he says, “I thought I’d get on the mats and smash everyone.” But Nelson Monteiro gave him a surprise. “First, I had to roll with (black belt and GB San Diego school owner) Dominic Parker,” he says, “Then this little Brazilian man, Nelson, climbed on me and said, ’get me off of you.’ He almost ripped my arm off – I used to bench press 400 pounds,” he laughs, “I signed up immediately.” Today, Doze knows the history of his friend, Nelson Monteiro, and is no longer surprised by his experience…

Doze watched his mentors on the mats and realized their lives were nothing like his. “In my life, I was always looking for somewhere to place my pain,” he says, “That’s what GB gave me: a place for my pain. This sport allowed me to see my weaknesses. It gave me the sight to see what was going on in my life and to feel it, not bury it. As soon as I decided to throw my heart and soul into Jiu-Jitsu, everything in my life changed for the better.”

Doze spent a lot of time training at GBE and talking to black belt and co-owner Rafael “Foca” Ramos. “I fell in love with him,” he jokes, “He’s so amazing. It was such a good place for me to be. Nelson and Rafael asked me to help out at the school. They knew I was having issues, but they never said anything. They just told me to keep training and working hard.”

Getting his purple belt was the hardest thing Doze has ever worked for in his life. “The day Nelson gave it to me, I thought, ‘I’m going to do this for the rest of my life and I’m going to be the best at it.’ Doze worked at GBE for a year, then Ramos suggested he open his own school. Doze took his advice, but was nervous the day GB Sorrento Valley opened. “I taught my first class at my new school on July 14, 2010,” he says, “Rafael gave me a smile, a head nod, and a wink and I knew I was going to be ok. I didn’t know I could do it on my own until then.” Doze says he couldn’t have made it without the support of his now healthy family and his GB team. He’s running with the right crowd. “Now they are my second family.”