Happy Birthday

Lloyd Irvin - the greatest grappler I've ever personally known - turns 38 today.

Mike Fowler makes ADCC

Apparently Lloyd Irvin blackbelt Mike Fowler has been extended a last-minute invitation to compete at this year's Abu Dhabi competition in New Jersey. I was a Lloyd Irvin student last year and got to take a couple of classes with Fowler. He (and Irvin) have just unbelievable jiu-jitsu. The problem is that so does everyone else in this division:

1. Marcelo "Marcelinho" Garcia (Defending 2-Time Champion) - Brazil

2. Pablo Popovitch (2007 Grapplers Quest Pro Champion/2005 ADCC Finalist) � U.S.A.

3. Renzo Gracie (2-Time ADCC World Champion) � U.S.A.

4. Saulo Ribeiro (Former ADCC World Champion/CBJJ World Champion) - BRAZIL

5. Nelson Monteiro - BRAZIL

6. Mark Bocek (2007 ADCC North American Champion) - Canada

7. Eduardo Rios - PORTUGAL

8. Milton Vieira (BJJ Black Belt) - Brazil

9. Kurt "Batman" Pellegrino (UFC Veteran) � U.S.A.

10. George Sotiropoulos (Australia)

11. Andre Galvao (BJJ Black Belt) � Brazil

12. Daisuke "Amazon" Sugie (Japan Trials Champion)

13. Africa Trials Champion

14. Mike Fowler (Lloyd Irvin Black Belt, N.A. Trials Finalist)

15. Drew "The Master" Fickett (UFC Veteran) � U.S.A.

Grappler's Quest US West Nationals results

OTM's got a write-up of the results. Team Lloyd Irvin purple belt Ryan Hall unfortunately lost on points in a rematch to Scott Bieri. Oh well, he'll be back. But there were many matches that day, so here are some of the notable ones:

Sonny Nohara (Cobra Kai) over Scott Epstein (10th Planet) 20-0
*10th Planet is Eddie Bravo's school. Bravo is a helluva grappler, but I've yet to see any of his students dominate grapplers at the elite level that train with the gi.

Robson "Robinho" Moura (Nova Uniao) over Ulysses Gomez (Cobra Kai) Knee bar at 3:20
*"Useless" Ulysses Gomez is also a talented MMA fighter. Better luck next time, Useless.

Rani Yahya (OC BJJ) over Joe "Daddy" Stevenson (Cobra Kai) 7-0
*TUF2 winner Stevenson is an awesome grappler, but Yahya got the better of him that day.

"Nasty Nate" Nathan DuCharme over David Branch (Renzo Gracie) DQ, (Branch walked off the mat when he protested what he felt was a slam by Ducharme to escape the triangle)
*Mike Fowler got slammed by Daniel Moraes in Brazil, but the ref did nothing. If DuCharme was slammed, good on him for walking off.

Hat tip: The FightWorks Podcast