Joseph Capizzi at the 2012 Pan No-Gi. Photo: Dan Rod

Joseph Capizzi, black belt under Renzo Gracie and head instructor of GMA NYC BJJ, will be teaching two seminars to help spread the knowledge of his guillotine. With a new DVD out, he will be running workshops with the same name: Mastering the Guillotine

Joseph will be at South Jersey BJJ on Nov. 12 from 6 – 9 p.m.

South Jersey BJJ is located at 2 New Jersey 73, Berlin Boro, NJ 08009.

On Dec. 13, he will be teaching at Serra BJJ from 2 – 3 p.m.

Serra BJJ is located at 2949 Hempstead Turnpike, Levittown NY 11756.

Each seminar will cost $50 per person, open to anyone.
All attendees receive the Mastering the Guillotine DVD.

The MTG workshops consist of:
2 hours decoding the concepts from the DVD as well as drilling them.
30 minutes guillotine only training
30 minutes Q and A or bonus moves

With the north/south guillotine, Joe says, “This move will make it feel like your head is going to explode.” If that’s not effective, I don’t know what is.

Check out the move here and be sure to avoid actually exploding anyone’s head:

Learn more about Joseph Capizzi and GMA NYC BJJ at www.nycbjj.com

Check it out:

Follow more of Joseph Capizzi and GMA NYC BJJ at www.nycbjj.com

Check it out here!

Check out this video of Joseph Capizzi teaching a shoulder lock from the crucifix position. Capizzi is the owner and head instructor of GMA NYC BJJ in Staten Island, NY. He is a Renzo Gracie black belt and active competitor:

From 6 – 9 p.m. Capizzi will show both gi and no-gi techniques. He announces, “I have a great night of technique, logic and perspective to share with everyone. The workshop is open to all.”

The workshop will feature the following:

No-Gi
This portion of the seminar will feature some technique and logic from my DVD/Book “Mastering the Guillotine” ( out in January 2014)

Mastering the Guillotine:
1 How to develop a perfect grip guillotine with one hand. From the top and bottom position.
2 Various guillotine finishing grips with two hands.
3 How to escape the guillotine and problem solve under pressure.
4 Guard Passing with the guillotine attack.
5 Guillotine fluidity drills.
6 Live drills for guillotining.

Gi
Modern guard passes and guard shapes (competition logic and strategy)
Live drills for passing

Open discussion, question and answering , technique requests

The seminar will be at South Jersey BJJ: 2 Route 73 South Berlin, New Jersey 08009

The cost is $40 to attend and you can call 856-809-0429 for more information.

To learn more about NYC BJJ and Joseph Capizzi go to www.nycbjj.com

Full house at the 2012 Pan Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship. Photo By Dan Rod

Don’t be late in registering for the 2013 IBJJF Pan Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship this year and let the east coasters win all the titles. The roster is filling up quickly and is likely to reach capacity before the deadline on September 16!

The event will be on Saturday, September 28 at the City College of New York Nat Holman Gymnasium: 138th Street, Convent Avenue New York, NY 10031

Make sure you register for the event before making your travel arrangements so you’re not stuck going to New York just to watch because the athlete list filled up. Although it wouldn’t be a bad vacation, the competition is one you do not want to miss.

In past years the mats of the Pan No-Gi have seen a high level of black belts such as Lucas Lepri, JT Torres, Renan Borges, Samir Chantre, Osvaldo Queixinho, Laercio Fernandes, Henrique Rezende, Pablo Popovitch, Roberto Tussa Alencar, Davi Ramos, Kayron Gracie, Daniel Tavares and many more. That list is comprised of 2012 and 2011 alone.

This year the black belts confirmed so far: Bernardo Faria, AJ Agazarm, Bruno Fernandes, Joseph Capizzi as well as athletes from GMA academies such as Renzo Gracie, Alliance NYC, Alliance Ecuador, Marcelo Garcia, Gracie Barra Long Island, Toronto BJJ, Soca BJJ, Gracie Barra Montral, Gracie Barra New Mexico.

Let’s make the Pan No-Gi an earned title with a well-rounded amount of entries from all over to represent the spread of the gentle art.

To register go to www.ibjjf.org

Oleksander and Joseph at the IBJJF NY Open. Photo: Erin Herle

Having a goal of competition gold is an accomplishment many people share. As we all know, having a support group and surrounding yourself with people who share the same goal is very beneficial. This type of bonding found between teammates is powerful and even more powerful when an instructor and his student team together to travel and compete for competition gold.

A new highlight video of GMA member black belt Joseph Capizzi and his student purple belt heavyweight Oleksander Karliychuk shows footage of their action in the past year. Representing Staten Island, New York and Renzo Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, the two travel all over the country to test their skills.

In the video below of the two athletes, although very different in size as Capizzi competes as a roosterweight, show a similar style in both gi and no-gi. Their drive to test themselves has taken them from one coast to the other, NY Open to the World Championship in California. Check out the transitions, submissions and scrambles that execute how one instructor-student team can do wonders while working together towards a shared goal.

[highlight]Last chance: Get a FREE Vulkan Pro Light Gi with a 24 month subscription of GRACIEMAG for only $177 Click here and get yours now. Offer ends Friday, July 19. Use Promo Code GMVULKAN during the checkout.

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GMA member Joseph Capizzi has two great announcements to make.

His NYC Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy, in Staten Island,has recently moved.

The new and much bigger address is at the Victory Performance Center, on 425 Wild Ave.

And to mark the new home, Capizzi will be hosting a Mendes Brothers Gi and Nogi seminar on December 10th and 11th.

For more info, go to nycbjj.com

GMA member Joseph Capizzi has two great announcements to make.

His NYC Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy, in Staten Island, is moving.

The new and much bigger address is at the Victory Performance Center, on 425 Wild Ave.

From October 3rd on, all classes will be held at the new location.

And to mark the new home, Capizzi will be hosting a Mendes Brothers Gi and Nogi seminar on December 10th and 11th.

For more info, go to nycbjj.com

Mullins na final contra Joseph Capizzi. Foto: John Lamonica.

Entre os americanos que foram bem na faixa-preta do Mundial Sem kimono, no último sábado, na Califórnia, Brandon Mullins, atleta da Gracie Barra Texas, foi o melhor no peso galo. Tendo apenas uma luta, contra Joseph Capizzi (Renzo Gracie), o lutador encarou o desafio de forma diferente. 

“Foi como uma superluta”, diz à repórter Deb Blyth, do GRACIEMAG.com. 

Acostumado a lutar no peso pluma, o aluno de Draculino teve de sofrer para lutar no peso galo. Mas valeu a pena.

“Tive que perder bastante peso, levei cinco semanas para isso. Treinei Jiu-Jitsu três vezes por dia, seis dias por semana, e montei na minha bicicleta por dez a quinze milhas por dia, seis dias por semana. Estava treinando o tempo todo”, comenta. 

Foto: John Lamonica.

Com o título mundial, agora o lutador espera emplacar de vez contra os grandes nomes da categoria.

“Isso só vai aumentar a minha confiança. Sou o melhor hoje, e posso ser o melhor de novo. Vários grandes campeões antes venceram no galo e, em seguida, nas outras categorias. Espero que aconteça comigo também”, comenta a fera, que admite que pode voltar entre os galos, mas no Mundial com kimono.  

“Por último, mas definitivamente não menos importante, gostaria de agradecer ao meu professor Draculino, e todos na Gracie Barra Texas”, encerra a promessa americana.

Brandon Mullins in photo by John Cooper

Mullins says he’s fought Capizzi before and watched him fight many times. He’s studied his game and had a strategy in place for their fight. However, when they began their match, Capizzi confused him. “He put his right leg forward instead of his left leg,” Mullins says, “I had a specific takedown planned for him, but when he did that, it threw me off and I had to switch my strategy.”

Mullins says he fell back on one of his tried and true takedowns. “I pulled out a nice takedown I use all the time,” he says, “I set up the brabo choke and had him in it for a minute or two.” Mullins says Capizzi is tough. “He told me later he just didn’t want to tap.”

Mullins says that Capizzi was playing a different game than he’d ever seen before. “He was inverting from the half-guard. He surprised me. I’d never seen him do that before. He played it well. I was able to move into standard half-guard and got in that brabo choke, but he got loose. I passed his guard at the end and hung on for the win.”

Mullins wanted the submission badly, but it wasn’t meant to be. “Capizzi’s tough,” Mullins laughs, “I always tell him he has the meanest snarl in the business. He told me it’s from being in a death metal band for the past fifteen years!”

Mullins normally fights at light feather, but decided to cut weight for the Worlds and compete at roosterweight. “I had to lose 20 lbs,” the lanky 5’10” Mullins says, “It took me five weeks. I trained Jiu-Jitsu three times a day, six days a week, and rode my bike ten to fifteen miles a day, six days a week. I also did kettle bells three to five times a week. I was training all the time.”

The training obviously paid off, as Mullins claimed world-champion status in the roosterweight division. “This is going to give me a boost in my confidence,” he says, “I was the best today, and I can be the best again. All the great champions before me seem to have won at roosterweight and then at light feather. I hope it works for me as well.” Mullins says he may even fight at roosterweight one more time, at the 2011 Gi Worlds.

Mullins wants to thank Campbell’s Compounding in Houston, Texas, for their support and motivation and for helping him get to the Worlds. He also wants to thank James “Kickit” Ticket and Klay Pitman, who gave him his black belt, and Westside MMA. “Last, but definitely not least, I would like to thank my professor, Draculino, and everyone at Gracie Barra Texas.”