His GBTO instructor Erik Kingle was awarded with the new graduation.

Fabio, Erik

Leopoldo has sent us some pictures.

Congrats to Fabio and Erik.

For more info, go to graciebarraventura.com

For instance, the Jordan Team, led by GMA Zaid Mirza, is here too. After a long flight from their base in Amman, they are ready to compete with 21 athletes, mostly in the White and Blue Categories. “The Team is formed by Army and Police Members as well as my club team members” says Black Belt Zaid Mirza. “Among them, we also have 2 great Purple Belts Zaid Abu Soud and Mohamed Bilbeisi who will be joining us from the UK”. Jordan Team has the biggest participation in Europeans among Arab Countries. They will be training at local gyms in Portugal in preparation to the Tournament starting on Thursday. For more info, go to www.jordanjiujitsu.com.

Still on the subject of championships, we move back to America, where Luis “Sucuri”Togno is putting together the 2010 Haiti Relief Open HouseTournament, to be held on February 6th at the Alliance Charlotte Academy, in Charlotte, N.C. The cost to compete is $ 50 for adults and $ 25 for children. All the proceeds will go to Haiti Relief Organizations. More info, info@ncbjjf.com.

The connection between Surfing and Jiu-Jitsu is widely known. Our GMA member Fabio Leopoldo, in Ventura California, gasve anther example of the link between the two. A accomplished black belt, Leopoldo misses no opportunity to hit the waves in California. Because of that, he was feature on an article by Deepm Magazine. To check it put, click on the link (viewda.com) and go to page 12. For more, go to graciebarraventura.com .

Then we cross the USA to announce that Eloy Santos and Milton Almeida are organizing another edition of the traditional Long Island Pride BJJ. The eighth edition is scheduled next March 7^th. The novelty is a supernelt division that will give away $ 2,000. There’s only seven spots left, so hurry. To register, go to www.LIPRIDEJJ.com

And At last, Gustavo Dantas, of GD Jiu-Jitsu is proud of his students performance at the US West Coast trials, last Sunday. “The team secured one spot in Abu Dhabi, with Issa Abe, and won 6 medals with five athletes competing”, says Mendes. Read more at gdjiujitsu.com.

Xande and Victoria

Happy birthday to Xande Ribeiro, our GMA member in San Diego, California. The two-time absolute Jiu-Jitsu world champion turned 29 this Wednesday. And 2010 begun just perfect to Xande. His first girl was just born and he does not hide how he feels about her: “Having a great day, my daughter is 3 months old(1 year with belly time ). I feel so happy and blessed . My birthday gift to myself was a lot of training today…sparring of course. And thank you all for so much care and love you show me. This inspires me and makes me go forward even stronger. Wish you all the best and all you wished for me in double. Thanks,” he wrote on Facebook. For more on Xande and UNIJJ, go to unijj.com.

Leopoldo and Henle

In Ventura, California, black belt Fabio Leopoldo, head of the GB branch there, promoted his student Joseph “Leonidas” Henle to purple belt last Friday! Any graduation is special, but this one is even more. Henle was the first student Leopoldo had when he moved to Ventura. “Even before I opened the academy I gave private lessons to Joe,” said Professor Fabio.

Baby Mason

And that was not the only good news at GB Ventura. Brown belt instructor Ryan Dahlgren’s second son was born last Friday. Mason Clark was born with 7.5 lbs and 18 inches. Huge congrats to Ryan. For more info on GB Ventura, go to graciebarraventura.com.

In Denver, Colorado, black belt Amal Easton has come up with another way to improve the teaching skills of his students at Easton BJJ. The EBJJ Adult instructor course that starts Febuary 22^nd. It is a 36 hour course and consists of 12 hours of classroom, 12 hours of assisting / monitoring and 12 hours of practical one on one or small group teaching. Those who complete the course will receive the EBJJ Level One Instructor Certification. Fopr more on Easton BJJ, go to eastonbjj.com

Nathan

Down in Florida, Professor Larry Shealy congratulates his purple belt instructor Nathan Lang for getting the Black belt rank in Haganah, an Israeli combat system. Lang was awarded his Black Belt after 3 days of training with Haganah founder and Main Instructor Mike Lee Kanarak. Nathan is one of 34 people in the world who have achieved this rank!! For more info on GB Jacksonville, go to jaxbjj.com.

Also in Florida, a encounter of GMAs took place at Renzo Gracie Weston. Stan Beck welcomed Renzo Gracie Mexico’s headcoach Mario Delgado for a seminar. Read what Beck had to say about the class: “Everyone loved it and were raving about the new moves.  I saw right away some students even using those moves they learned that night. I will be trying to get him here as soon as possible to teach another seminar.” For more info , go to renzogracieflorida.com, renzograciemexico.com.

RG Weston class after the seminar

In illinois, Marcos Barros, head of  GB Springfield, also have good news. This January 23^rd, Austin Jordan will step into the ring and fight MMA at The Courage Fighting Championships in Decatur.  The team is getting together to support Austin and half of the procceds with the tickets to the fight will go to GB Cares Orphan Rescue. For more info, go to graciespringfield.com.