Month: May 2019

This past weekend was a busy and successful one for many of the students and coaches from Hellfish Mixed Martial Arts. Saturday afternoon was The Goodfight Submission only pan ams that featured 3 Hellfish students competing and Saturday night was a USKA Muay Thai event that featured 2 Hellfish students making their Muay Thai debuts.

At the Goodfight tournament, 2 of the kids from our kids program showed up and fought their butts off bringing home 2 silver medals and 1 bronze. Mackenzie took home a bronze medal in the gi division and a silver medal in nogi

while Bennett took home a silver medal in his Gi divison.

This was the Goodfights annual pan am tournament which features a higher level of competition than you will find at a normal tournament. Kyle Murphy who won double gold in gi and nogi divisions in his first competition a few months ago decided that 2 golds was not enough and ended up taking home 4 gold medals in gi and nogi weight class and absolute divisions in his 2nd ever bjj competition.

Saturday night was USKA’s knockout cancer event. We had 2 of our Muay Thai students make their debuts and both came away victorious. In the 2nd fight of the night, Jessica Amend fought a 3 round war and got her hand raised in victory after making excellent use of her kicks at distance and knees in the clinch.

Next up was Trey Hoffner. Trey had been training for this fight for several months and came into the fight in tremendous shape after having his opponents drop out and change several times leading up to the fight. Trey came out fast starting the fight off with a cross, hook, leg kick combo and 1 minute and 43 seconds later after knocking down his opponent twice in that time finished the fight with the same cross, hook, leg kick combo with some follow up punches that forced his opponents corner to throw in the towel.

We are all proud of the students whenever they go out and test their skills in competition whether they win or lose, but it is important to know that competition is not the goal of a martial artist, but rather a powerful tool used to test the skills they have developed in class. While I do recommend that anyone who has the desire to test themselves in competition should definitely go for it, most of the students do not compete or fight and can build and test their skills everyday on the mats of Hellfish Mixed Martial Arts. Martial arts is a lifestyle and not about competing but more so a lifelong pursuit of constant self improvement through training.

One of the most powerful tools you have at your disposal for improving your jiu jitsu is the private lesson. Whether you are black belt competitor or you are trying Jiu Jitsu for the first time, the private lesson is an invaluable tool for learning and improvement.

The regular day to day classes, are designed for everyone to work on basically the same set of techniques. One week we will work on passing the guard and submitting, the following week we may work on fighting off your back and sweeping, and the next week could be takedowns. These classes are focused on core techniques and principles that everyone should know and have a solid understanding of how to use them.

The private lesson is designed around your and only your particular needs. It is a perfect time to ask specific questions about anything you may want to improve. Maybe you want to work more on takedowns or learn some more advanced guard techniques that we have not covered in the normal class yet. Maybe there is a technique that you always seem to get caught in and you can’t figure out why. Maybe there is that one person in class that always seems to have your number and you want that to change. The private lesson is the perfect time to fine tune your jiu jitsu.

Private lessons can also be invaluable to a newer student, or even as an introduction to the art. Often someone is very nervous or apprehensive about joining a class. They may feel like they are too green or out of shape to keep up with the pace of the class, for that reason, the private lesson can be the perfect way to get started on learning the basics and getting you up to speed so you can jump in class and keep up.

For the more experienced or advanced student, the private lesson is your chance to get a completely personalized class. The best way to use the private lesson is to schedule it at least a week ahead of time and provide your instructor with a list of things you want to learn and work on and/or questions you want answered, like how to get the jump on that pesky purple belt that always seems to be on your back or the lanky brown belt keeps catching you in a triangle.

So whether you are a raw beginner off the street looking for a low stress introduction to BJJ or an advanced black belt champion, there is always room for improvement and learning from a more personalized perspective. Give some thought to trying out, and if you are interested speak to Coach Tim in class, or

Send an email to... hellfishseminarsandprivates@gmail.com