News & Events
6/28/2008 - 2008 Gracie Barra Future Champions summer kids tournament
On Saturday June 28th Gracie Barra So Cal had its inaugural kids tournament. There were over 125 competitors ages 4-14. All of the GB So Cal schools represented well. The results for the kids from Gracie Barra Costa Mesa are listed below.
| 1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place | 4th place |
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6/9/2008 - 2008 World Championships
GBCM had four competitors at this years world championship. Rikio Ahara and Rod Roberts won thier respective divisions, both of them have been training less than one year, great job guys! Jon Singh beat his first opponent 21-0, but in a tough draw lost a close fight in the second round to the eventual silver medalist.
The championships lasted for four days and saw the best jiu jitsu practitioners from around the world compete. The three top teams were Gracie Barra, Alliance and Gracie Humiata. All three teams traded places for top honors respectively this year in the Mens, Women's and Novice tournaments.
4/4/2008 - 2008 Pan Ams of Brazilian jiu jitsu
We sent Eight competitors to this years Pan Ams. Rod Roberts took home 2nd place in his division Bill Debarnarde showed some excellent technique in the Purple belt masters open division, submitting all of his opponents up to the finals where he lost a narrow 2-0 decision to Geeza from Cobra Kai. Not a bad showing for Bill as he had to rush to get there after missing his weight class due to a family emergency. Dillon Renn took third place, Dillon lost by a controversial stalling call with five seconds left in the semi-finals in a match that he was winning almost the entire time.
Jake Martin won two of his first three fights by submission before losing a tough fight in the quarter finals. Jon Singh went deep into his division, winning his first two fights convincingly. In the third round however, Jon was winning his match when a medical issue forced him from the tourney. Craig Selby, Dave Lindenmuth and Mike singh all had good showings, but lost in the first round. Congratulations to all of the competitors.
1/7/2008 - Training with Master Toddy
On Jan 7th Mike went to train with master Toddy for two weeks in Las Vegas. He had a lot of fun training with other instructors, master Toddy and the fight team. Mike said, “It is nice to get away from my day-to-day activities and just focus on training from morning until night”. Master Toddy has trained over 40 world champions in muay thai and is considered one of the best trainers in the world.
12/15/2007 - World No-Gi Jiu Jitsu Championships
The first ever world no-gi championship for Brazilian jiu jitsu was held on on Saturday December 15th at Cal State Dominguez Hills. Over 600 competitors from all over the world showed up to go for the gold at the inaugural event. Team Gracie Barra did great as usual taking home the team title. GBCM helped out, contributing a 1st place (Dillon Renn) and two 2nd places (Rod Roberts and Craig Selby).
Special thanks to all of the GBCM students that showed up to work at the event and make the 1st ever no-gi championships a great success.
12/8/2007 - Master Carlos Gracie Seminar
After having Mike Swain teaching at our school just one week before, everyone was very excited to have Master Carlos in our school. For many, it was their first time participating in a class with master Carlos. There were lots of questions and confused looks, but master Carlos, Kayron and professor Andre did a great job teaching the students and making sure everybody really understood the techniques.
Following the class, master Carlos promoted Amy Buckels, Angie Gonzales, Craig Selby, Camron Hashemi, Dave Lindenmuth and Mouseteim Etawail to blue belt and Gene Pace to purple belt. Congratulations to all of the promotes.
12/2/2007 - Mike Swain Gripping Clinic
On Sunday December 2nd we were lucky enough to have Mike Swain in our school to do a free gripping clinic for all of our jiu-jitsu and judo practitioners. Mike showed some great variations of throws for jiu jitsu competition along with the grip fighting techniques. We were very lucky that Mr. Swain found time in his schedule to make it by and give us some pointers. A special thanks goes out to Brian Dooley for setting it up. We hope to have Mr. Swain back in the near future for more workshops.
11/18/2007 - Mojica judo tournament
On Sunday Nov. 18th GBCM/OCJTC went and competed at the Mojica invitational judo tournament. The tournament was run well and we all had a fun day. Standouts included Josh Debarnarde and Dillon Renn who took first place winning all of their matches by ippon. Jon Singh also took first place by applying a clock choke in the finals for ippon. Other competitors included Mike Singh (2nd place), Noah Ramirez (2nd place), Ian Vinciguerra (3rd place), Bryce Debarnarde (2nd place), Mouseteim Etawail, Dave Lindenmuth and Christina Zamora (2nd place).
I would be remiss not to mention the presence of Gracie Barra Lake Forest and Yorba Linda instructors Marco "Piu Piu" Joca and Jose "Cabesa" Diaz who competed in the brown and black belt divisions taking 1st place and 3rd place in their respective divisions.
11/03/2007 - California Classic of BJJ
GBCM once again represented very well in competition at the California Classic. In the Kids divisions Tyler Bollinger and Nick Gadzak both took second place and Nick even managed to win one by armbar. Not bad for a couple of kids competing in their first big tournament. Noah Melde, also in his first tournament competed against the eventual champion in the first round losing a very close decision 2-0. Great job guys!
In the adult divisions, Dillon Renn took 1st place, Jon Singh took 2nd place. Dave Lindenmuth and Mike Singh both had hard fought matches that went the distance, but it was just not their day. Every one had great time and represented our school and Gracie Barra well.
Orange County Judo Training Center Opens at Gracie Barra-Costa Mesa
Gracie Barra-Costa Mesa is pleased to announce a new judo program at their facility. The Orange County Judo Training Center will be led by Juan Montenegro, a highly respected judo instructor who has taught judo in Orange County for two decades. "I'm excited about the opportunity to work with Mike Buckels" said Juan Montenegro. Adding further, "I had several offers, but the opportunity to work with Mike, and his affiliation with the Gracie Barra organization offered the greatest potential to build the judo program that I envision. Mike and I share the same core values, the same ideas on training and teaching our students. Together, we will offer our students a program where they can reach their full potential whether they train in Judo, BJJ or cross-train in both arts."
When asked about the new judo club, Gracie Barra-Costa Mesa owner and Head Instructor Mike Buckels stated, "Its an honor and a privilege to work with Juan. He has been my judo instructor for several years. When I first started to think about learning judo, everyone I spoke to said that Juan Montenegro was the judo instructor I should train with. They were right! Over the years, many of my students have cross-trained with Juan, and have greatly improved their tachiwaza (standing grappling)."
One of the students of Gracie Barra-Costa Mesa that cross-trained with Juan is Allison Clifford. A multiple US Open BJJ Champion, Allison is currently training with the legendary San Jose State Judo Team. She won her division at the National Collegiate Judo Championships this year, as a freshman.
Commenting on Allison, Juan said, "I was in Florida for the tournament, and I watched Allison throw her first opponent, a Pan American medallist in that match, and watched her submit her opponent in the finals with an arm lock. I knew that arm lock would bring a smile to Mike's face when he found out. With Mike and I working together to train Allison, she was prepared to train judo at a very high level at SJSU, despite not having as much experience in judo as most athletes who go there."
Gracie Barra-Costa Mesa has scheduled judo classes immediately after the BJJ classes, so that its students who want to cross-train in both arts, can do so conveniently, and with less interruption to their daily schedules. To learn more about the Orange County Judo Training Center, and their judo program, please visit www.ocjudo.com.
US Open for Submission Grappling in Long Beach, CA
On July 28th 2007 OTM put on a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament to coincide with the US Open for Submission Grappling. Gracie Barra Costa Mesa(GBCM) entered three students. We were represented by Mousetem Etawail, Dave Lindenmuth, and Mike Singh. All three matches were very close decisions. Our students fought extremely hard and represented GBCM very well. We very proud of you guys!!
On Sunday July 29th 2007 Gracie Barra Costa Mesa entered one student in the US Open for Submission Grappling in Long Beach, CA. We were represented by Mike Singh, who won his division after a grueling finals match against a very tough opponent. After starting the match down 5 to 2, Mike never gave up. Mike displayed a tremendous amount of heart and tenacity as he was able to score seven points in the last ten seconds. After passing his opponents guard for three points he moved directly to the mounted position for four more points! Mike was able to secure the victory and the Gold! Great job Mike!!
2007 Pan Ams of Submission Grappling
On Sunday June 3rd 2007 Gracie Barra entered 3 students in the competition. We Left with a 1st and 2nd place finish. It was a fun day with over 500 competitors on the mats. The was also a good showing from a couple of the other Gracie Barra schools from San Deigo.
In the adult divisions we were represented by Mike and Jon Singh. Mike fought a tough fight against the eventual champion isn the first round. Mike controlled most of the match, but could not quite pull out the victory. He lost by 2 point in the final seconds of the match. Jon was up next, and cruised into the semi finals where he fought a very tough match that ended the sudden victory round where he passed in opponents guard for 3 points and the win. Jon lost a very close decision in the finals. Finally Dillon Renn was up in the Light Heavy Masters division. Dillon fought a very tough semi finals match and got the decision. In the finals Dillon put on an excellent display of Jiu Jitsu submitting his opponent with an arm bar in about 45 seconds. Great job guys!
2007 Pan American Championships
The Pan American BJJ championships were held on March 30, 31 and April 1st. There were over 1700 competitors this year. Gracie Barra took 1st place in the adult, masters and No-Gi team competitions. We added another Pan Am medallist to our school this year. Dillon Renn took 3rd place in his division. Unfortunately Dillons division took place late on Saturday evening and he was unable to stay after winning in the quarter finals to go for the gold.
Allison Clifford wins her 1st Collegiate Judo championship
Our own Allison Clifford won the 78kg division at the Collegiate Nationals on March 25th. This is a great accomplishment for Allison as she is only a freshmen this year. She won her finals match by armbar. To go along with her BJJ Pan-Am championship and her U.S. Open title, she now has a Collegiate National Judo title as well. Great job Ally, we will see you this summer on the mat!
Gracie Barra Kids tournament
On Saturday March 24th the 4th annual southern California Gracie Barra kids tournament was held in Temecula, California hosted by Ricardo Guiarmes. We took eight kids to compete and every one did well. Josh Debarnarde won his division and his brother Bryce took second in his division. Juan Bravo Menes also took second place in his division. Some other highlights included Lauryn Alexander gaining a victory over a yellow belt and going into a sudden victory overtime round in the semi-finals, losing a closely contested match that took over eight minutes! — great job Lauryn. All of the kids competed very hard and represented our school well. It was a fun day with great competition between all of the schools. The future for all southern California Gracie Barra schools are bright indeed.
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