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!!!