OCTOBER SEMINAR WITH BRUNO BASTOS

1.5 HR GI AND 1.5 HR NO-GI . SEMINAR WILL RUN FROM APPROXIMATELY 12-3(3:30)

WHY COMPETE? by KENNY BOND

DSTRYRsg: Destroyer Submission Grappling and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu: BEST OF DSTRYR/SG: WHY COMPETE? by KENNY BOND: "Forward :  DSTRYR/SG has been going strong for over 2 years now and we're only getting better.  A lot of our newer readership missed out on ..."

DANIEL "JACARE" ALMEIDA teaching in Midland TX for 2 days!

This training is free for all local Nova Uniao students. $10 mat fee for non-members. Privates for $100 (spots still available)

HOW TO BE A JERK WHILE GRAPPLING

1.Make every roll feel like the finals at Mundial. ALWAYS bring your A game. Unless you roll hard all the time you aren’t progressing.

2.Don’t bother washing your gi. In fact, keep it in a ball in your bag. That way when you put it on it’s already wet. Nothing like grabbing a guy with a cold wet gi.

3.Always leave your gi pants at home. Grapple in your top and shorts. Sambo style! When you do that don’t forget to grab the other guys pants legs for all your passes.

4.Always beat down new guys. That way they know the power of BJJ right away. They need to know how effective it is.

5.If you know a cool counter to what the teacher is showing be sure to show it RIGHT AWAY. Especially when the instructor is talking. That way you can look cool. By the way, every technique has a counter.

6.Always use full resistance in class. Especially when in learning stage. If your partner is learning an armbar for the first time you need to give them full resistance so that they know how that feels. Don’t let them get it!

7.If you are about to get subbed switch into coach mode. Coach your partner through the rest of the technique. That way you get credit for HIS sub.

8.If you get tired in a roll wait until you are in a bad position to stop.

9.When you get tapped by a bigger guy always tell them after the roll “Dang, you are strong!” That way you can blame their win on their strength instead of their technique.

10.Keep track of everyone you’ve tapped, what you used to tap them, and when it happened. Relive those moment with your classmates before every class.

11.Gun after everyone who is higher rank than you. That way you can put a notch on your belt for tapping out a higher belt.

12.When you get a tap immediately jump up and do a victory dance. Make sure everyone in the room knows.

13.Drop in and out of class as you see fit. Don’t bother to do the warm ups. If the material doesn’t look cool to you be sure to pull your buddy out of class and grapple on the side of the mat while class is going on. ALWAYS do this if class is covering something you’ve learned already. Review is for white belts.

14.Along those same lines, always show up late. That way you don’t have to even bother with warm ups.

15.When you have a visitor in from another gym you MUST put a beat down on them. That’s the only way they will know how good your gym is. It is your job to uphold the reputation of your gym.

16.Nobody minds if you roll with open sores. Go ahead and grind that scab in my face. I don’t mind at all.

17.Long fingernails are a great sparring weapon. Don’t cut them. Toenails either.

18.Small joint locks are your secret weapon. Grab and twist fingers. Do it hard and fast.

19.Don’t tap! Doesn’t matter that the arm is totally straight and you can hear the tendons ripping. You might still get out! Your pride is worth it.

20.Slam on all submissions hard and fast! That way you get twice as many. Doesn’t matter that your partner won’t have time to tap until it’s too late. This is BJJ. If you don’t want to get hurt then take up yoga or TKD.

Midland's Brad Barnes ends MMA career with win

Ruben Ochoa
Midland Reporter-Telegram

In front of a hometown crowd, Midland's Brad Barnes ended his Mixed Martial Arts' cage fighting career exactly the way he wanted -- with a win.

Barnes beat Matt Holland with an armbar submission of Matt Holland at the 2:45 mark of the first round at the Horseshoe Arena on Friday night.

"No better way to go out than in front of the hometown. Everybody says I want to see you but not everybody can travel," Barnes said. "I'm glad to go out with a win, most don't go out with a win. Chuck Liddell didn't go out with a win."

Barnes added that even though he's still young enough to compete he's still competed for a long time and has seen plenty of changes in the sport during that time.

"I'm 29, it's not that old but I've been doing it for 10 years," Barnes said. "Back then, I told people I was doing cage fighting and most people thought it was WWF."

He also added that this is definitely his final match unless a dream match came up against somebody he grew up idolizing.

"I will not fight MMA again," Barnes said. "I would only fight if a long shot match with somebody I grew up watching like Ken Shamrock came up, but that's probably a long shot.

In Friday's other fights, Seminole's Luis Luna won a decision, 30-27, 29-28, 29-28 over Cody Pfister.

Former Midland Christian football player Clay Hantz defeated Edwynn Jones with a rear-naked choke at 2:22 of the first round.

Russell Brewer delivered an impressive knockout in five seconds to start the event.

Friday's results

William Campuzano def. Randy Hinds with a rear-naked choke at 2:28 of the first round.

George Picariu def. (?) with arm-bar in 2nd Rnd.

Daniel Almeida def. James Gray with a Kamura submission at 54 seconds of the first round.

Matt Hobar def. Dusty Mason at TKO (referee stoppage) at 53 seconds of the first round.

Russell Brewer def. Chris Golden by KO at 5 seconds of the first round.

Brad Barnes def. Matt Holland by armbar submission at 2:45 of the first round.

Clay Hantz def. Edwynn Jones by rear-naked choke at 2:22 of the first round.

Luis Luna def. Cody Pfister by decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28).

Chase Watson def. Alejandro Siller by DQ (knee to head).

Brad Barnes to Retire from Bar Fights in the Land of Enchantment

Brad Barnes to Retire from Bar Fights in the Land of Enchantment
By:Dominic Velando05 April 2011

"It was like going into 'Thunderdome'," Brad Barnes reminisces. "It was like having to fight Master Blaster."

Some like to say that MMA is in its "infancy." If so, then Barnes hails from a time when the sport was in the fetal position. When it was barely even a sport, but more of a thrill-seeking exercise for tough guys with a couple screws loose.

Barnes, 28, will end his fighting career at Friday's "24/7 Entertainment Pro MMA Event" in Midland, Texas, where he lives and works as a police officer. Most of his fights are undocumented (he estimates his record to be "a bunch/less") and took place two hours from Midland in Carlsbad, New Mexico from around 2002 to 2005,.

It was a much smaller world then. These days, Barnes prepares for his match against Matt Holland with his team, Rhino BJJ as well as Bruno Bastos and Nova Uniao in Dallas. Most recently, he made the 350 mile journey in style, on a flight paid for by his sponsors. A few years ago, such luxuries were out of the question.

Training partners in football-crazed West Texas were in short supply. Barnes recalls even having to explain to most people just what MMA is. Listeners either equated it to pro wrestling or gay sex.

Few fighters made any money to speak of and shows were mainly happening in Houston, over eight hours away. at the time, promoters were definitely not in the business of paying anyone to travel that far.

So to New Mexico he went.

"It's a two-hour drive, but really it's an hour, because there's a time change right there," Barnes explained. "Which is funny because you're like, 'Alright, we gotta be there when? We got plenty of time. Holy crap! No, we don't!'

On the way, he would pass a sign beaming: New Mexico: Land of Enchantment.

"Bulls**t," Barnes says. "It should say: New Mexico: Thanks for not leaving immediately."

Once in Carlsbad is when the real fun began. "[The event] in a freakin' bar in the open-patio area," Barnes recalled. "The Post Time Saloon. Before your fight, you're trying to keep yourself from getting in a barfight with thirty, drunk New Mexico dudes that you're fighting their buddy. There was no special area for the fighters or anything. Nothing."

"Then, after that, it was, 'Hey! We're hangin' out!' So you get out of the cage and you're standing around the cousins, uncles and brothers of the guy you just beat on, and you're like, "What's goin' on, guys? "

Barnes, or "Lunchbox," as he is sometimes known, remembers one fight in particular against a regular patron at the saloon. "I fought this dude, who, everybody in town knew him," Barnes said. "He was just a fat barfly named "Butters."

"I tapped 'Butters' with a rear naked choke in round one. But it was like fighting a tornado of violence and bacon grease."

But Barnes' favorite fight is one that comes up whenever he speaks with friend and matchmaker for the fights in Carlsbad, Jason Leigh.

"I can't punch for nothin'," Barnes admits. "But I can kick really good...So, I was warming up leg-kicking and we were in this room that made it echo really loud. So, whatever bit of skill and power I had, it made it exponentially more powerful-sounding. And I seen the guy's head kind of lean outside the doorframe, and 'whack', [I would] hit the bag, and then I seen his head dart back in."

When the referee asked the fighters if they were ready, Barnes' opponent shook his head 'no'. Some confusion ensued as the referee deliberated with Barnes' cowardly opponent.

"Jason [Leigh] is looking up at the guy like, 'Dude, you at least get a green name on mma.tv! Come on!' The guy was like, 'I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm outta here.'"

"Jason says thats the quickest win in MMA history," Barnes jokes.

With popularity, growth and money, the sport now favors athletes over barflies like "Butters" or self-professed "fat boys" like Barnes. Though he intends to compete in grappling tournaments, he's done fighting . The decision comes from a number of factors.

One reason is his passion for teaching. Promoter and trainer Saul Soliz once simply told Barnes that, as a fighter, he "sucks". In contrast, the feedback he receives when participating in the Gracie Combatives Instructor Courses as part of his law enforcement training is encouraging and fuels his love of teaching jiu jitsu to his students and his son.

Barnes would also like to retire to make way for the young and hungry up-and-comers.

"I'd love to go on for the next ten years and be like Dan Severn or Travis Fulton and just fight cans and make a couple hundred bucks," Barnes admitted. "That would be awesome. But is that really doing anybody any good?"

As for this upcoming fight: "I'm doing it because I'm in my hometown, I might as well," Barnes said. "Everybody here knows I've fought, they've just never seen it because they obviously don't want to drive to New Mexico, the 'Land of Enchantment' (whoo!)"

"It's kind of serving its own purpose and after that, I kind of feel like it would be a disservice to other people in the MMA community to have a fat, has-been, never-was guy on a card.

Perhaps this is confusing to anyone who has seen the poster for this Friday's event with Barnes' image super-imposed many times larger than the other fighters depicted, similar to the first time the Genie emerged from his lamp in Disney's Aladdin.

"I'm thinking I'm gonna be little-bitty along the bottom [of the poster]," Barnes said. "Clay [Hantz] said it looks like the 'Puppet Master' and his minions on there.

"But, that's cool. I've got that poster sitting up in my man-cave, and I can show my kid. He's five years old right now. When he's ten years old [I can say], 'Hey! Daddy used to fight professionally. I'll knock your ass out...Brush your f*ckin' teeth."

In top shape, Barnes has shed 30 lbs since January. "I just want to lose weight, be happy and do jiu jitsu, because I've got everything I need."

Well, there is one other thing.

"I just want a little bit of freaking credit where credit is do because, damn, I was the only guy championing MMA in West Texas. There's people [now] that own gyms that make money off of the sport that they said was freakin' gay and stupid."

As Barnes tells it, he would then see those same people who dismissed MMA as "gay" training six weeks later.

"And then their meathead buddies are in a ring six weeks later, and you're like 'Hey dude.' [They replied] "Oh, we started our own team. It's called, 'Team Awesome.'"

For now, he'll just have to enjoy his face on a poster and a fight in front of a hometown crowd. And against a guy who didn't just do some shots at the bar or was picked from the crowd.

"Thank God that stuff doesn't happen anymore," Barnes says. "Because it sure as heck used to happen."

DSTRYR/SG EXCLUSIVE: THE QUICK AND DIRTY BJJ BEGINNER'S PRIMER by MATT KIRTLEY.

Time to take your first class. Wear shorts with no pockets that tie off with a good draw string and a t-shirt you don't mind getting ruined. You may be given a loaner gi to wear.

Show up a little early to meet the instructor, sign a waiver and check out the space.

When class starts, pay attention, follow instructions and just try to do whatever everyone else is doing.

The class will likely go like this:


1.warm-ups,
2.learn and drill 2-3 techniques (you may get your own special first lesson at this point),
3.live drilling
4.and maybe sparring (not all gyms let people spar day one.)

If you get paired up with someone for drilling, don't worry about "wasting their time" because you're a white belt. Everyone has to help everyone and if you're eager to practice and drill, no matter how awful you are, then you aren't wasting their time.

Sparring time. Watching MMA might make you feel like you've got half a clue but there is an ocean of difference between watching and doing.

If you ever saw someone tap to a "lucky" choke or armbar in MMA and thought "Why did he tap!? I wouldn't have tapped!", now is your time to find out why yes, he really did need to tap to that.

If you "almost get" a move on a colored belt, they let you and they are just being nice to the new white belt.

How to not make enemies on your first day:


•Don't pick anyone up and slam them.
•Don't try any leglocks you saw on Youtube.
•Don't just crank on necks.
•Try not to spaz too hard.
•Don't brag about anything.

You are allowed to spaz a little because you are a white belt and no one expects any better out of you. But you should work to replace spazzing with real technique as you train more.

This class will be a blur and you will likely forget everything you learned. That's normal. It takes learning and drilling techniques many times over many years to really get them.

You are likely now aware of muscles in your body that you never knew existed before as they scream at you as you roll out of bed the following morning. That means you did it right.

The best way to deal with anxiety, feeling stupid, being out of shape: realize that everyone (except genetic freaks) went through this too and stop worrying about it. You don't know this stuff yet and that's why you are here to learn.

Claustrophobic? Prepare to take confront your fears head on. This phobia will go away as you get exposed to it and learn what to do.

If you smoke, quit now. It's bad for you, it's bad for your BJJ and you smell awful to your training partners who can't avoid breathing in your musk.

Finishing your first month. Most people don't even take a second class, so you're doing better than most people. But most people also don't finish 6 months to a year, so you're not better than them by much.

Time to get into a rhythm. Keep coming to classes, be eager to learn and drill and don't be afraid of asking questions.

How many times a week should you train? Work up to at least 3 times per week as soon as your body can handle it. Here's a rough guide to classes per week:

1: You will be a white belt forever and barely learn anything.
2: This will barely maintain your skill level and progress slowly.
3: You will make headway and still have recovery days.
4: Now you're getting serious. You are becoming a fixture in the gym.
5: You will see big improvements but get more injuries.
6: You probably don't have a job.
7+: You probably don't have a job or girlfriend. But your BJJ is going great!

Finishing the first 6 months. Your body is probably getting into much better shape than when you started. You should take a look at your diet and sleep habits and try to improve them. This is good for you, good for your BJJ and will even help prevent injuries.

Ready for your first tournament? Of course not. But do one anyway. Everyone should try it at least once. You will probably be very nervous. That is normal. The only way to overcome this anxiety is to compete so much you get over it. Unfortunately that's not a possible solution for your first competition.

Competing as a white belt is good too because the pressure to perform and "prove your belt" is much worse once your belt has a color. No one expects anything impressive out of a white belt so you are free suck and no one will hold it against you (except Youtube comments on your tournament video.)

I would tell you to not worry too much about getting your blue belt and you will likely say you don't really care about your belt. But I also know you're probably secretly coveting it anyway.

What you should be working on as a white belt:


•Regular attendance. This is the most important skill you can have because I could leave the rest of this list empty and you'd still get better by going to the gym.
•Getting in shape. You need to be able to handle a whole class from start to finish and never quit sparring because you're tired.
•Remembering techniques. Drill a lot and maybe keep a written journal.
•Defense and escapes. As a beginner you will spend most of your time in bad spots so naturally this is the main area to improve your technical performance.

Keep that up and you'll get better and eventually earn your blue belt.

How much time does it take to reach your training goals?

I just read this from Scott Sonnen's Facebook.

When asked by a young man to certify him because "there's nothing you do that I havent already learned, so you should certify me to teach", Sonnen, a Sambo black belt said this:

"My teacher in Russia told me it takes about 10 years to master the basics. Twice as long if you're in a hurry. Twice more if you already feel you know the material. Eyes on the road. Focus on the next step. You can't shortcut the journey but you can certainly make it MUCH longer."

When you get discouraged, and/or feel like you know it all and you are getting so much better now and you feel that you are well on your way to a world championship, just remember that quote. BJJ, just like any other learned skill is parishable. You need to constantly be working JUST TO MAINTAIN your skills, and then keep trying to find incremental improvements in your game to keep evolving.

Times they are a changin' !

It has been a long 10 yrs training, and this is just the beginning.

When I first began, it was under the tutelage of Chris Martin (white tiger martial arts) and Clint Watts (Lion's Den). The training was intense as far as contact, and extremely basic, but you were immediately hooked. We spent all our time just doing trips and ankle picks for takedowns, and went for the standard RNC and key-locks for the top, and the ugliest arm bars from the bottom that you have ever seen....but it worked.

The game was different then, and those things worked. The only other place that had quality BJJ anywhere near Midland/Odessa was Pittman's BJJ in Lubbock, which we traveled to frequently for seminars.

After a couple of years of this, (spent sparring full-speed, doing the wrong techniques at the wrong times, but having a great time while doing it) our group now consisted mostly of myself, Jaime Lara, Jackson Burcham, John Bargas, and Tanner Hayes. We eventually sought out the help of Judo Black Belt, KC Windham, who came in and helped with takedowns and began to train BJJ as well with us.

This new group proved to be pretty successful. With the help of Clint as our main "MMA" coach, I won more MMA fights than I lost, and we won alot of grappling tournaments. I spent more time on MMA with the addition of Joe Wesley and David Lee, plus random appearances of various "aspiring cage-fighters" that came to training.

By this time Jaime had asked a co-worker to bring his brother, Juan Perez, to town to help us start training to get belted in BJJ. Juan was a purple belt under Klay Pittman, who had trained for about 13 yrs, so he had alot of experience with the Gi, and had some knowledge of formal classes that we never had. This seemed like a decent fit and Juan began to teach us in 2005 at a spot I had secured for us at a local gym. I continued to go fight in unsanctioned MMA events in New Mexico (by this time having scored the fastest victory in history by verbal submission win at 0:00 of Rnd 1 - if you don’t believe it, ask Jason Leigh on Facebook!). The high point of this time was my 1st place in the Intermediate (I was only a white belt) heavyweight at the Smack-down in H-Town in Houston Texas, followed by a 2nd place showing at the same tournament in the absolute division against brown and purple belts (all no-gi). I lost on a judges decision in triple overtime because my opponent, a Team Caique fighter, pulled half guard, which I guess showed aggression. (??)

For some unforeseen reason, Juan said that my focus on MMA was dishonorable and that was not the direction that KC, Jack, and Jaime wanted to go, so I was kicked out of my own training facility and left to go my own way. SO I gathered a random group of tough guys and wanna-be's and trained on the wrestling mats at Midland College. This wasn’t too bad for me, as I still continued to win more than I lost at shows and always placed top 2 at regional grappling tournaments in Texas.

During this time I got ALOT of now "famous" local guys their start in MMA. I began to convince guys like Brian Pierce and his buddy DJ Hayes to get involved in MMA. It took alot of convincing, because they weren’t great at it to start, but I told them they had potential and needed to stick with it. Now Pierce is a successful coach for Ruffhouse MMA in Odessa, with a couple amateur champions to his credit. Along with these guys, I also got submission ace Rick Salazar his start.

Another guy I had to fight to convince to get into the sport was Maurice Jackson. Maurice was 6'8 260 lbs of super athlete, who already kick boxed. I stuck on him and really got him to give it an honest try and he got alot better in our training.....now he trains in Vegas and won the IFL tryout (now defunct MMA org) and was on a K-1 under card.

While I was doing this, Jackson, KC, and Jaime decided to take a trip to Brazil to a Brasa camp to train. When they came back, they were ranked under Felipe Costa and Comprido. They came back with a ton of technique and quickly left Juan Perez to start their own program. Since he was already in town, Juan then started up his BJJ school and quickly went from purple to black belt in 2 yrs under Klay Pittman and now has a school in Midland.

In May of 2005 I moved to Houston with my wife JoAnn to really give fighting a chance and re-connect with some family. I spent days with Saul Soliz, Yves Edwards, Leonardo Xavier, and a majority of time with Mike Altman and his fighters - Randy Hauer, Lee King, Sarah Ponce, Terrol Dees, and others at Tx Kickboxing Gym. After all this training I realized that I would not be a high level guy, and that with Braeden on the way and those old family ties being officially messed up, we moved back to Midland, where I reconnected with Tanner Hayes.

As soon as I got back, Tanner and myself started West Texas MMA. This also started my association with Joao Crus and the Carlson Gracie Team. Joao gave me my blue belt, and we began an association and trained a small group of guys in Midland. Although he was a great guy, I never got the "family" vibe from Joao and we ended the association, just as I then reconnected with Jackson and KC to pull our 2 groups together and start one big West Texas MMA gym. This time also signaled the arrival of Rex Richards, a BJJ brown belt whom I started to coach and got him, with the help of Mike Altman, into Strikeforce where he went 2-0.

After a while of teaching I had the pleasure of managing more fighters including Clay Hantz and Jarret Jones locally. Also during this time Rex moved to Abilene for work and started his association with Draculino and Jeremy Henderson under Gracie Barra. Rex eventually was awarded his black belt under Drac and Pittman, and then one day surprised me saying I was ready to be a purple belt after talking with Draculino.

After a long time of moving around, I finally felt like something was a good fit.

Due to my work schedule as a police officer, and having a son, my time at West Texas MMA just wasn’t fitting my day to day plans, so I left the gym and just rolled at the MPD range. Eventually I began to teach at Stonegate Fellowship as part of the men's fitness classes.

The Stonegate group has been a blessing as they have all grown tremendously in such a short period of time. These guys only get a few times a month of actual class time, but they are devoted to it and are constantly improving.

Now that I have this consistent group and the help of fellow purple belt, and long time best friend, Tanner Hayes, as well as my own blue belt, Caleb Hudson, things are moving forward. Rex is still one of my instructors, but due to the constraints of his job, and his own training being limited, he is encouraging me to find as much help and support as I can from quality people.

So now, here we are. Myself, along with Jarret Jones (who runs J Jones Strength Gym in Odessa) are now affiliated under Bruno Bastos (Nova Uniao 3rd degree BB) out of Octagon. Our 2 facilities will be the West Texas affiliate of Bruno Bastos Team through Rhino BJJ. Bruno has proven himself to not only be an outstanding instructor and competitor, but genuinely cares that all his students become better people. He believes that a student learns real life lessons from the time spent on the mat. Bruno is notorious for saying "WAAARRRR" on his Facebook. He told me that it gets people excited because they think he means competition and battle in MMA/BJJ, but Bruno said it means more than that...."War means my family. I will fight for all my students" as he told me the other day.

So this is where I am at now. I welcome all newcomers to join me on this journey and make a story of your own.....but hopefully one that learns from my mistakes and "trial by error" ways, and that you can be a part of a family.

RHINO! BRUNO BASTOS! NOVA UNIAO!!!