On a recent trip to Kamloops, and needing a place to roll, I came upon MMA fighter Matt Baker’s new gym, Mata-Leao MMA. For a measure of how much mixed martial arts is making inroads to our way of life, the new martial arts gyms are a far better example of how relevant it has become, rather than UFC on Fox. How nice it is to see the new generation of MMA fighters like Matt Baker already giving back to the sport they love by opening gyms, bringing the fundamental components of mixed martial arts to a new generation of young athletes who want to learn it and train it. I took mat away from his busy schedule to tell me a bit more about his fight background and his new gym.

Matt Baker is a Canadian MMA fighter with a 10-0 amateur and a 7-3 pro record, currently fighting for Battlefield Fight League. Matt is the only Canadian on Team Nogueira, out of Rio De Janeiro Brazil. His own martial arts education has given him the opportunity to roll and train with some heavy hitters like Minotaur Noguiera, Minotauro, Anderson Silva, Tony Mariano, the #1 ranked fighter in the world outside of UFC, Bigfoot Silva, ex Strikeforce champ, Rafael Cavalcante… Matt says the gym is amazing for fighting at 185, lots of light heavyweights and 185s. No doubt!

Matt explained that the name for the gym, Mata-Leao MMA, is from the Portuguese for ‘lion kills’, which is another name for the rear naked choke. The expression also comes from the legend of Hercules. In one of Hercules’ 10 quests, he defeated the Nemean Lion with its impenetrable skin by applying a rear naked choke.

Mata-Leao naturally has a kickboxing program, and a gi and no gi program. The Brazilian Jiu-jitsu gi program is run by Andre Taniguiti. Originally from Brazil, Taniguiti trained at Axis Jiu-jitsu in Japan. Matt says Andrey is a very good brown belt. Matt runs the mma and no gi side of things, as well as personal training sessions.

I asked Matt what was his personal approach to training and the kind of gym he was hoping to run. He said, “I like working with kids, I just get lost training in classes with kids, I have a gym in my home town because it takes me away from training at my fight camps, I relax, I do it for the fun, I don’t do it for the money… The gym is open since January 2012. It’s the first year in business and I already have over 30 students. I am taking down about 8 of my students to Tiger Balm 2012 this weekend. For 90% of them it’s their first tournament. Hopefully from there the gym is going to grow, the school is going to grow, and there will be more tournaments to come. If I can’t one day be a champion myself, I would like to coach a champion. That would be my ultimate goal. Hopefully one day, I’ll make it to the Kamloops Sports Hall of fame like Tom Laroche, my first sifu.

The Canadian Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Federation presents Grapplers Inc, BJJ tournament, February 3 2012. If you want to roll, better register soon.

Hit the website for details. http://inrival.com/event/cbjjf/grapplers-inc/

Where: David E Enarson Gymnasium – Trinity Western University.

7600 Glover Road
Langley, BC, CA

Spectators Fee $10

When:

Event Date
February 4, 2012

Registration Closes
January 29, 2012

Director Bobby Razak is coming out with a documentary film on the history of MMA. Where MMA comes from is a matter of how far back in time you want to look, because at different times, there have been examples of cross discipline matches, bare knuckle matches, and teachers mixing, refining, and advancing a given martial art. By the trailer, this documentary is about how people had been thinking about the idea since the sixties, and from then how it came together.

Here are a couple photos from day 1 of a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu seminar. Thought I would share. Its just awesome to be in a sport where the masters are around, available, and want to make their sport grow by passing on their knowledge.

BJJ practitioners in Los Angeles for a tournament just happen to walk into the hotel lobby as an armed robber is on his way out with the cash. A Takedown ensues and its game over for the robber.

Link to full story: http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=8420209

This is the new premier Amatuer fighting event! We want to give amatuer competitors a great event where they can fight in round robin format so everyone gets their moneys worth.
These four round-robin tournaments are designed to give competitors the opportunity to compete in multiple matches at a great venue.
Round Robin BJJ Gi and No-Gi Grappling divisions with up to 10 matches each on Saturday, November 26th, 2011.
Round Robin Continuous Sparring and Amateur Mixed Martial Arts divisions with up to 5 matches each on Sunday Novemebr 27th, 2011.
Round Robin Junior divisions (age 6 to 12) in all categories with up to 3 matches each (as part of the respective divisions)
The majority of our tournaments are aimed at martial artists with 3 years or less experience and are designed to give your students lots of competition experience in front of a large cheering audience. Attractive medals are awarded to all winners.
Competitors:
All competitors must fill out the registration form, Player card and liability waiver prior to Weigh ins on event day. Weigh ins start at 8AM Saturday and Sunday.

Coming soon to Premier Martial Arts in Richmond, BC, Megaton Dias, for a 3 day Brazilian Jiu-jitsu seminar. Come on down and up your game on the mats!

Two hard working days learning a ton of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu with the Master, Royce Gracie at Versus Training Center over the weekend. We worked hard, rolled hard, and learned lots of new tricks. Congrats to Tyson, Tom, Kiarash and others on their belt promotions.

MMA Fighter Fabricio Werdum is coming to the Vancouver area in September 2011 for a BJJ and MMA seminar.

Hosted by RICHMOND MARTIAL ARTS
120-11331 Coppersmith Way, Richmond, BC V7A 5J9 Canada
(Ironwood Mall next to Canadian Tire – 5 Road & Steveston Hwy area)
604-241-7624

Limited to 50 spots per seminar only.
10am to 12pm (GI)  1pm to 3pm (MMA)

Info: http://www.richmondmma.ca/werdum.html

Bonus VIDEO: Werdum triangles Emelianenko in Strikeforce

A special opportunity has just been passed my way to share with you. The Vancouver Gracie Barra school is planning two excursions to Brazil for BJJ students. The first excursion includes entry into a Southern Brazil Championship tournament, and both packages include travel and amenities to Brazil, a two day seminar with Rickson Gracie, visits to several BJJ schools. This package was put together by Rodrigo Carvalho, 2001 Black Belt world champion who is now an instructor at Gracie Barra Vancouver. Professor Rodrigo likes to say to his students, “You go to USA to learn the real basket ball, you go to Canada to learn the real hockey, and you go to Brazil to learn the real BJJ”. The whole excursion cost would probably beat what you do on your own. Gosh I would love to do a trip like this. The package is open to students at any level of experience with Brazilian Jiu-jitsu.