Janaina Barral

The fourth day of Lloyd Irvin’s MMA Blueprint 5.0 – The Next Generation conference is underway.

After three days of intense activities, attendees talked to GRACIEMAG about the impact the techniques had on their businesses.

Rafael Lovato Jr, a Gi and No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu world champion and the owner of Oklahoma-based Lovato Jiu-Jitsu, has been a follower of Lloyd’s teachings since 2011. He couldn’t be more clear about how important what he’s learned has been to his academy: “It changed my life! More than the practical side of it and all the improvements you can add to your business, the most important side of it is the change in mindset it creates. You learn that there’s a lot more you can do for your business to become more successful.”

Paul Halme, owner of Peak Performance BJJ in Keller, Texas, has himself been following Lloyd’s recipe for two years: “My academy was in trouble, but the improvement has been amazing. The sales techniques and the instructor-training system are the aspects that helped me a lot. Before I go home, I will get myself more products.”

Rafael Lovato Jr. and Paul Halme

Garth Taylor of Santa Cruz, California-based Kaijin Martial Arts is in his first Lloyd Irvin event. A veteran with over 20 years of Jiu-Jitsu training, Garth wants to upgrade his school with what he learned in Orlando: “My academy was a hobby for me until a while ago, as I had another job in construction. Since I left that job and started to devote myself only to my academy, I got another 40 students. With Lloyd’s techniques, I hope I get a couple hundred more and have a good way of living”.

Janaina Barral and her husband Romulo Barral own California academy Gracie Barra Northridge. She’s in her third LI event and also testifies to how effective the techniques are: “We’re still implementing some of the techniques, ‘cause it’s a long proccess, but I can already say that it has improved our academy a lot. One thing I want to say is that the advice is all there, but you have to apply yourself for them to work. If you do it right, the investment in Lloyd’s event will be more than worthwhile”.

Zach Adamson

Zach Adamson co-owns Oregon academy Seaside BJJ with his brother Nathan. He has one of the most dramatic stories of how Lloyd’s teachings can be beneficial: “It’s my second event, and I got tell you it changed our lives. Before we started using his methods, we had only 20 students in our school. After paying for expenses, we would be left with only $200 a month to live on. Sometimes we wouldn’t have enough to eat–a true story. Now we’re over the 200-student mark and last year’s gross income was over $200,000. We were able to invest $100,000 in the gym. Our community is very small, with only 7,000 people, but we knew we could do better, and that’s what we did. The internet marketing and the internal management are the two fields that are very useful for us. It’s so important to let people know how great what you have to offer them is, and after they come in you have to make them feel at home.”

Adem Redzovic

Adem Redzovic is the owner of three Gracie Barra schools in Chicago, Illinois, (The Loop, Lincoln Park and Lincoln Square). His diagnoses of why people come to LI events is interesting: “We are people that learned Jiu-Jitsu and then started teaching it. Many of us are black belts in Jiu-Jitsu but white belts in management and marketing. At the first event I attended, I probably got some stripes on my white belt. I hope to get the blue belt soon.” Redzovic talks of how he benefits from Lloyd’s methods: “More than increasing the number of students, which we did, we learned how to delegate responsibilities.  Now I don’t waste time with tasks that can be easily done by others, and I can focus on more important things”.

MMA Blue Print 5.0 – The Next Generation event wraps up this Sunday at 6:00 PM Orlando time.

Professor Marcos Barros gave the black belt to two of his students.

The happy ones were Bob Radmacher and Bill Hunt.

New belt for Bob

About Bob, the school website read: “Bob has been a great student from the start with many days of training and not giving up, he has pursued the sport of BJJ even when a not so good training day occurred. He encourages all his friends and students to keep trying and show up for class even if they feel they are not understanding something right away. His respect towards Professor Marcos and fellow students is obvious to anyone who knows him. He is a true professional and a worthy BJJ role model.”

Bill changes colors

Some nice words were there about Bill as well: “Bill Hunt has been nothing but excellent in his style and demeanor at Gracie Barra Springfield. He came to train with us after many years of hard work and dedication as a purple belt. I was excited to register him for classes and see what he could teach us ! He has taught us so much since that day and we are really Blessed to have him on the mats and in the Instructor’s Program.”

The graduation ceremony had also GMA member Beto Barros, from Gracie Barra The Loop, in attendance.

For more info, go to graciespringfield.com

It is not easy and demands a good eye to find the right ones.

The GMA Blog looked around a little and came across some great images of our members.

For starters, we selected 14 of them. Many more is still to come.

Enjoy.

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Quesinberry and Relson

In Daytona, Florida, John Michael Quesinberry, of Gracie Daytona, will be welcoming his master Relson Gracie for a seminar on March 2^nd. The price for two hours of the finest Jiu-Jitsu is $ 60. More info at graciedaytona.com.

Beauregard

Brown belt Ryan Beauregard, of Team Beauregard, in Arizona, did great at the Copa Nova, earlier this month, in Washington, DC. Beauregard conquered the 170lbs category and $ 400. His friend Dimitri Chrisios  came second. Later on that week, Ryan taught two seminar, one of each in Dimitri’s school. For more info, go to teambeauregard.com.

In New Jersey, Stevie Bongiorno, of South Jersey BJJ, will be having the Grand Opening ceremony of his new academy next February 27th. A Ricardo Almeida’s representative, Bongiorno will have the presence of his master and other black belts as well. The new address is 2 route 73 South in Berlin NJ. For more info, go to sjbjj.com.

On Twitter, Larry Shealy, of Gracie Barra Jacksonville, in Florida, announces: KidJitsu JaxBJJ is on fire our new Muay Thai Instructor,Brian Tyle, along with Haganah Black Belt Nathan Lang…….COME HIT SOMETHING! More at jaxbjj.com.

Also on Twitter, Carlao Santos, of Emirates Team, tells us that it is all ready for the US West coast World Pro BJJ trials. EmiratesBJJ: Check Brackets for Abu Dhabi US West Cost Trials abudhabibjj.com/Brackets.html.

Our third Twitter announcement comes from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Pablo Popovitch, the current up to 77kg ADCC champion, congratulates one of his students.  TeamPopovitch Fred Moncaio promoted to brown belt, congratulations. More at bjjcenter.com.

In Texas, Joao Crus invites for a special seminar on February 6^th. The class will cover BJJ techniques such as De La Riva Guard, Spider Guard, Sitting up Guard, Cross Guard. Untill January 30^th, it’s only $50. To register click here.

Back in Twiiter, we read that Ezekiel Zayas is having his technical director Yan Cabral for a seminar this Friday. More at asesbjj.com.

And our member in Birmingham, UK, Braulio Estima continues his US Seminar Tour. On January 31^st, Braulio will be in Chicago for a class at GB The Loop, of Beto Barros and Phillipe Dela Monica. More at, graciebarratheloop.com.

And to finish the newsflash for now, Yamasaki Jiu-Jitsu, of Mario and Fernando Yamasaki, in Maryland, is announcing another location for Jiu-Jitsu in the state. Now the team will also teach at Virginia Beach. More info at grappling.com