Category Archives: News

Our Mixed Martial Arts team went to war overseas in Macau on Battlefield FC 2 with Coach Raja Shippen returning to the promotion after his spinning elbow knockout win on the first Battlefield, and Coach Simon Carson stepping in on just one day’s notice against seasoned opponent Shannon Ritch who’s original opponent Liu Wenbo withdrew after hospitalisation.  Up against former top ten ranked UFC and WEC bantamweight Bryan “Kid Lightning” Caraway, Raja did well, but got taken down and struggled to get the fight back to standing. There were a few times where Raja was really close to landing dangerous spinning elbows, and he looked strong on the feet but kept getting taken down by his world-class opponent, resulting in a decision loss for Raja.

In a late change to the card, Coach Simon Carson stepped up on one day’s notice to take on a catchweight bout at 215lbs against a fight veteran in Shannon Ritch, who holds the second most fights in the history of MMA (over 140) on the co-main event. With Ritch putting the pressure on to push Simon against the fence early on in round one, Simon fended off his takedown attempt to trip over his opponent, and follow up with a knee to take down Ritch. In a spectacular ground and pound finish, Simon took the win via TKO in the first 90 seconds of the round! Congratulations to our fearless leader on his win!

Interstate in Queensland, Eternal MMA 46 saw three of our competitors enter the octagon at Southport Sharks under the guidance of coaches Jai Tao and Oliver Smith. Jason Gunawan was up first for the team against home town opponent Bruce Qurbani, coming out strong in the first round to take down his opponent, and keeping it even with back and forth on the feet. In the second round, he took his opponent down again but also got taken down and took a few strikes in a standup exchange. The third round saw the two competitors both secure takedowns, with Jason sustaining some more damage via strikes. The fight went the distance, and while his opponent took the decision win, we would like to congratulate Jason on performing well against a tough fighter on home ground.

The second fight for the team saw Rob Pelle face off against Levi Gonzales. Rob looked good earlier in the bout, securing a takedown and putting on an absolute jiu-jitsu clinic, with lots of transitions. Showing off his grappling, Rob came close to a couple of submissions, ended up taking the back and while he was looking for the choke, his opponent spun inside his guard and stood up, stunning Rob with several strikes, and then the referee jumped in to stop it. A good stoppage by the referee, but unlucky on Rob’s part.

Finishing up Eternal MMA for the team, Sem Kakembo was up against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu brown belt James Sargison, looking super comfortable in the octagon. In the first round, Sem’s opponent put the pressure on, pushing Sem against the fence. Sem showed off a strong defence, evading James’ initial takedown attempts, and getting back up straight away when he did. The second round saw Sem executing his game plan, achieving the best of the striking exchanges, reversing his opponent’s takedown to get very close to a triangle, escaping damage on the ground. Sem continued to dominate in the third round, landing a flying knee to end all knees in the final seconds of the round. His opponent on shaky legs, the referee actually stopped the fight, but he stopped the fight after the bell, taking the fight to a decision. Congratulations on a well-deserved win via unanimous decision for Sem, and on his thrilling finish to the bout!

July 28th saw the much-anticipated return of Jake “The Honey Bear” Heun to the RIZIN arena on RIZIN 17 in Japan at the Saitama Super Arena, against Russian Vitaly Shemetov in a 3×5 minute round match up. Walking out in a white suit to Saturday Night Fever, Jake made sure to steal the show, and one-up his previous Guardians of the Galaxy themed walkout. To quote The Fight Nation “Boy can he dance”. Round one saw Jake feel out the ring, throwing kicks to the leg and body in a round with plenty of back and forth on the feet. Striking looked sharp, and despite losing balance from a high kick, Jake recovered beautifully to take down Shemetov and establish a dominant top position, trapping Shemetov in the corner. Throwing sharp elbows and knees while on the ground, Shemetov began to bleed from the nose, with his right eye quickly beginning to close up. Letting Shemetov up towards the end of the round, the striking exchanges continued, the bell sounding to save Shemetov from a final spinning elbow.

Round two saw plenty of back and forth from the two competitors, Jake blitzing Shemetov and driving him into a corner around the two and a half minute mark, throwing brutal striking combinations to great effect. Jake received a yellow card warning for knees to the groin in this round. The fight resumed once Shemetov recovered, Jake shooting for a takedown to push him into the corner, picking up Shemetov to slam him. In guard, Shemetov attempted to regain control by pulling down Jake’s head, Jake posturing up to throw elbows and escape the guard. Eventually standing up to throw strikes from above, Jake passed the guard to move to side control, moving his shin across the bicep, attempting an Americana. Shemetov bridged out, evading the attempt. Jake finished the round strong in a full high mount, racking up points on the scorecard and throwing multiple strikes here.

In round three, Shemetov came out strong with the striking, Jake staying strong to take him down and secure full mount. Cutting Shemetov with a monstrous right elbow on the left side of his forehead, the referee stopped the fight at the 2.40 mark in a bloody finish. What a performance from the Honey Bear! Huge congratulations to Jake, we cannot wait to see you in the ring once again!

Also in Japan, Coach Hope Douglass stormed through the 62kg black/brown belt division in her black belt debut at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Jiu-Jitsu World Tour (2019/2020, Tokyo) to secure gold! Winning her first two matches via submission, Hope made it to the final, beating Amal Amjahid (Europe #2 ranked #7 in the world in the UAEJJ World ranking) via points in an exciting and technical fight.

In Thailand, Absolute MMA Thailand fighter Luan Rudaj competed in Muay Thai at Phang Nga, for a once a year outdoor event. Luan has been training with the team for the past 2 months, with the bout taking place in 6-ounce gloves. Starting strong in the first round, Luan landed some heavy shots early, doing damage to put his opponent in trouble. In the second round, Luan continued to attack, landing a huge left hook right straight combination to finish his opponent via K.O. You can view highlights from Luan’s fight here. Congratulations Luan!

Written by Emilie Yap and Oliver Smith.

Photography: Sam Hibberd, The Fight Nation, Eternal MMA, Battlefield FC, RIZIN FF and ajptour.

Introducing a new regular feature on our website and social media – Ask Me Anything!

Each week we will have a new coach take questions from members via our Facebook Members Only group. New to the club? You can join our group here. First up for the team is Coach Daniel Howard, former Royal Marine Commando, experienced Muay Thai fighter and Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at Absolute MMA. He devises the routines for our Strength classes in the gym every month and is also in charge of the Fighter’s S&C program. He is a master pad holder, hand wrapper and is one of our primary corners for the Absolute Fight Team.

@idavalik- Do you need additional low-intensity cardio if you get that from martial arts sessions?

The short answer is yes. To progress and get the best adaptations with cardiovascular fitness, you want to be working at controlled intensities and for controlled times. If talking about aerobic capacity (over 1minute), look at keeping your HR to 155 bpm for around 30-45 minutes. For aerobic power (repeated bouts of aerobic work) I would push up to 160bpm and do controlled intervals with a work:rest ratio of 2:1.

@andrewstokesy- What are my options if I have to do S&C followed by BJJ? I feel pretty taxed going into BJJ.

If you absolutely have to do S&C and your skills work back to back, make sure you are doing the minimum amount for the best adaptations. For example, if you are looking for Strength adaptations, 80% of your 1RM is where I like to sit. Leaving 2 reps in the bank and not going to failure is a great way to make sure you don’t have too much breakdown for the skills training. For conditioning it is good to track HR. Work to your threshold and leave it there, if you are doing aerobic work no higher than 160bpm if working anaerobic go to about 90% of your max HR. You shouldn’t be too messed up after each session and, skills will always be top priority, so make sure you can always take in new information during each skills session. If you are going to failure on lifts you will not be able to learn new skills.

This is why I use velocity-based training. We can ensure the athlete is lifting at the correct velocity for the adaptation we are looking for and can track the velocity drop off to make sure we have a certain amount of reps left in the bank.

@jakechynowthmma- How often do you programme alactic work for your fighters out of camp? Are they always sports specific?

This will depend on the fighter and their experience. Generally speaking, I will programme alactic work once a week to ensure we don’t get any residual drop off of energy systems.
However, if training an amateur athlete with no S&C experience, I will not programme alactic work. Chances are they cannot push to the required intensity levels in the short periods of time. If this is the case, I will programme a lot of aerobic power work to get them use to intervals, then move them on to lactic conditioning and finally work them up to alactic conditioning.

@zaidb_fit- what to focus on when training kickboxers regarding strength training?

Focus first on building a great base of strength and aerobic fitness. Strength will always come first!

After this I will look to work unilateral strength, Hip Rotation/power, anti-rotation and antilateral flexion work. A lot of alactic work, isometrics in clinch positions and anti-rotation are always a good idea.

@nicolas15000- best app for tracking/recording gym session workout?

I still haven’t found one! Good old pen and paper works best and keeps you off your phone during your workout.
5×5 strong lifts- great if running through the basic 5×5 strength programme
1RM- great to keep track of 1rms and have percentages of that, ready to go.

@leissav- best supplements post-workout?

Creatine- best supplement for any time, anyone. It aids in recovery and cognitive function. Post workout I would look towards a high carb, high protein shake if you will not be able to eat within an hour. Supplements are not needed with a sufficient diet, but they can help in some cases.

@leissav- clean and press or deadlift for full body?

Deadlift.

Anon- In training effectively for competition, should you do multiple 6minute rounds w/1min rest, get tired and start with bad habits. Or have shorter work periods and longer rest that’s focused on specific situations?

Neither! Especially closer to competition you should be looking to simulate the in competition stressors as much as possible. This will be different for each belt depending on their competition time. If I was a brown belt for example, during competition training I would look to do 8-minute rounds with 5-15 minutes active/drilling/problem-solving rest between.
This way you know you can push hard during competition and you will still be learning each and every session. The traditional method of going hard for rounds longer than needed and resting shorter than required are long gone. There is a time and place for a ‘thrashing’ but that time is definitely not every day of the week.

Anon- Views on the cognitive side of training. How training tired all the time isn’t the answer and it doesn’t replicate the intensities of competition.

From a cognitive side of things when overreaching, you will take in/learn very little, if any new information. S&C periodisation is designed to overreach the athlete every 4-8 weeks for around 1 week. It would be great if skills training done this as well. Something like 3-4 weeks of learning and adapting to new situations then up the intensity so you know what you will do when fatigued and possibly not as switched on as usual. We always aim to peak our athletes for competition and S&C programmes are actually designed to cater for harder skills training closer to the competition. If the skills training is constantly flat out, fatigue will set in.

Anon- BJJ athlete looking to gain strength and size 1, 2 and 3 months out. How should they periodise their training? What sort of ratio of drills:lifting:light rounds:comp sessions.

3months out- Building bases and increasing volume- maybe something like a condensed juggernaut method depending on the time you have.
Aerobic conditioning twice a week and anaerobic lactic once.

2months out- Conjugate training to develop Strength and hypertrophy, work with 2 dynamic movement days and 1 heavy day.
Anaerobic lactic conditioning twice a week, alactic once a week. Possibly add in some Long steady distance (LSD) work for active recovery.

1month out- Modified contrast training looking to develop max strength and power. 2-3 Alactic sessions a week. LSD every fortnight.
Usually you won’t be able to change the ratio of training due to timetables, etc. >1month out you want to be doing 3 S&C sessions a week, <1month bring that down to 2 sessions. Light rounds most of the time and getting closer to competition any hard rounds you want to do should be as mentioned above, to your fight duration.

Bobby Sandhu- Method to calculate training load in order to prevent over training, if so, what?

The easiest way to calculate training load is session RPE (a scale of 1-10 of how hard you think the session was) * the session duration. Martial artists do have a significantly higher training load than most sports. My advice would be to calculate training load over a given week (that you know you can recover from) and keep within 30% of that load. Generally speaking, sudden increases in volume of training is what causes injuries, not so much increases in intensity. Make sure you control your volume of training and don’t come back to 10 sessions a week after time off. Build it up, taper it off, and watch your residual drop offs. You can always work around an injury so you shouldn’t need to go cold turkey when that happens.

Mark Van Lieshout- Lighter regular training vs emphasis on hard training?

There is a time and place for everything. You should never go to failure. There is very little if any reliable research stating that this is good for athletes and it has been proven that adaptations from leaving 2 reps in the bank outweigh those of athletes that go to failure. To get certain adaptations you do need to work to certain intensities. This doesn’t mean you should be sore all the time and too tired to train the next day. All programming from a good coach should be done with the athletes training load in mind meaning S&C work shouldn’t affect your skills training.

Doug Kaegi- When do you take on technical work and replace with S&C?

I would never reduce skills training to add in S&C work. Especially in a martial art as technical as BJJ. Sports specific conditioning could be done for fitness in the way of mini games, timed, specific drilling, shark tanks, etc. In terms of strength training I would look towards getting in 30-45 minutes of your key movements/lifts before skills session 2-3 times a week.

Bailey Wang- Can you outwork a bad diet?

Technically no! However, calories in Vs calories out still stands. Obviously, you can’t burn off a big mac as fast as it takes to eat it. But if you are constantly training/working-out out and not constantly eating you may be able to get a calorie deficit.

Oliver Smith- most significant change to S&C in the last couple of years and where in S&C going in the next few years? When are you doing BJJ with me?

The most significant change would basically be everything in martial arts strength and conditioning. 10 years ago, S&C was almost unheard of in martial arts, so we have made some big steps so far. Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) is a growing concept in all sports, schools and academies now which is great. I know a lot of the big teams are putting some good money into their academy teams which brings kids into sport and teaches them how to move, run, cook healthy food and basically just look after their body. This education goes all the way up to the adults and learning about life after their sporting careers.

Liam Porter- What’s the best way to minimise loss in strength and power when in a calorie deficit for competition?

First up If you are training, you should always be eating carbs! A lot of people cut out carbs and go into way too much of a calorie deficit while they are still training, this limits your adaptations, your recovery, your ability to take in new information and increases your risk of injury. Second up, I would only ever go into a maximum of a 20% deficit on total calories (still with the bulk coming from Carbohydrates most of the time), any more than this has been shown to lose weight through a reduction in muscle mass but not fat.
Energy levels will drop when cutting weight, you cannot change this. As long as you are looking at residual drop-offs and training in blocks of strength & power, then come competition time you have eaten, are full of energy and well hydrated you should not have any strength or power loss for competition.

Stanley Huang- How to get abs like Paul Bai?

Eat clean and just make sure you have no muscle to stay as skinny as possible… Like Paul!

@leissav- How funny is Leissa?

Not as funny as me.

With both Path to Hex and Roots/Rebellion taking place on Saturday, our coaches and fight teams were busy rallying around our Muay Thai and MMA competitors. We had Rebecca Cerra and Pippa Shaw representing for the girls at Path to Hex, and our boys Andre Nguyen, Fei Yen, Vaughn Young and Joe Coverdale on Roots/Rebellion.

Andre, Fei and Vaughn kicked things off at Roots Muay Thai 12: Satisfy My Soul (every Roots show is named for a Bob Marley song) in the daytime with fights beginning at 12.30pm, St Kilda Town Hall. First up on the card for the Absolute MMA team was Andre “Bang” Nguyen up against opponent Jake Heavey in a 3×2 minute round bout at 65kg. Andre showed off his boxing skills throughout all three of the rounds, rocking his opponent several times to come away with a well-deserved unanimous points win. Great to see Andre back in the game and killing it in the ring with an aggressive performance after his previous bout was ruled a no contest. Congratulations Andre!

Up second for the team on fight 9 of the card was Fei Yen in a 3×2 minute bout at 66kg against opponent Andy Mallinson. Fei went to war for three rounds, keeping his composure well and landing a spinning back fist with big knockout potential. Losing balance when he went to kick in the second round, the points were stacked against him when this counted as an 8 count. Fei showed great sportsmanship in the ring despite sustaining a loss via points, and we know he will take this experience and come back stronger in future bouts for it. Looking forward to seeing you back in the ring in the future!

Vaughn Young closed up the Roots card for the team on fight 10 of the card against opponent Robert Wiley (who teammate Fei Yen has come up against in the past) in a 3×2 minute match up at 66.68kg. This was a great fight, with both sides displaying an extremely technical clinch game. Some tidy boxing from Vaughn, who made use of his jab and landed some big right hands, also throwing brutal leg chops to secure a split decision win over a tough opponent. Leg kicks on point! A great result for Vaughn in his first fight for Absolute MMA, and in Australia!

Smokin’ Joe Coverdale represented for the team and UFT Playgrounds on the night show at Rebellion Muay Thai 22, kicking off the professional card as fight number one against opponent Nick Keros in a 3×3 minute bout at 61.5kg. Joe was up against a tough opponent with good hands, and strong leg kicks. The fight ended up going the distance, and it was an even match up with plenty back and forth happening. This bout concluded in a unanimous points decision loss for Joe, however we would like to commend Joe on his effort, and congratulate his opponent on his win! A massive thank you to Rebellion Muay Thai and their team for having us on their show, and to all of our coaches and teammates who came down to support on the day.

With Rebellion over, our team’s focus turned to Path to Hex 10, with fights starting at 6pm at the Matthew Flinders Hotel in Chadstone. Starting the night for the Absolute MMA Mixed Martial Arts amateur team, Rebecca Cerra faced off against opponent Anne Wilson on fight three of the card. Round one saw both girls start off in centre cage, with Bec throwing combinations and solid leg kicks to the front leg of Wilson. Bec displayed a tight guard and defended her opponent’s strikes well. Rounds two and three saw the two competitors trade strikes, with Bec continuing to work the front leg, land body shots and evade take down attempts. With the fight conducted wholly in stand up, Bec emerged the winner after a great display of striking technique via unanimous points decision. Congratulations to Bec on her triumphant return to the cage, having last fought in February this year.

Closing up for the Absolute MMA team, Pippa Shaw stepped into the octagon in a bout against opponent Annie Thatcher on fight ten of the card to defend her title as Bantamweight Champion. Pippa kept her guard tight in round one, walking down her opponent and trading strikes, with the fight going to the ground towards the end of the round. Pippa looked to secure an arm bar but her opponent managed to escape and get Pippa into a triangle, opponent was unable to secure this and the round ended on the feet for both competitors. Early in round two, Pippa got a takedown and secured a mount position, moving to ground and pound. Her opponent gave up her back, but managed to stand to escape an attempt at RNC by Pippa. Losing her balance, Pippa got rocked with a big right hand by Annie, fighting to regain her composure, and attempted to get a single leg takedown on Annie, forcing her up against the cage. The third round saw both girls come out strong, with heavy strikes flying back and forth. In an ultra competitive match, that could have gone either way, Pippa came up just short, sustaining a split points decision loss (29-28). An amazing performance, and a hell of a fight!

Written by Emilie Yap. 

Photography: W.L Fight Photography, Path to Hex and Rebecca Cerra.

Our Mixed Martial Arts fight team kicked off the weekend for the crew on Friday, with Sem Kakembo and Will Toumbos representing in the octagon at Wollongong Wars MMA 7. First up was Will who had a very good first round, catching a body kick to take down his opponent with a counter right hand. Will controlled the round in a dominant performance, letting up his opponent to slam him. Unfortunately in the second round, there wasn’t enough energy left in the tank, with Will receiving a body shot and being unable to continue. Not the result he wanted, however Will definitely has all the tools to win in the future, and we look forward to seeing him get in there once again!

Sem Kakembo put in an excellent performance in his bout against a tough local opponent. Sem was dominating the first round, dropping his opponent with a head kick, taking him down, taking his back and chasing a RNC. In an exciting back and forth round resulting in Sem’s opponent sustaining a cut, it was close, and it could have gone either way. The second round went to Sem’s opponent, however it was definitely close. In the third round, Sem was controlled against the fence,and didn’t get the result in the end in what turned out to be a very close fight.

The Saturday saw our MMA team continue to work hard, with Danielle Steven and Bekhzod Usmonov making the journey to Tasmania for their bouts on Legion 10, with Bek headlining as main event. Danielle fought well on the night against opponent Emily Nalu in a 61kg bout, with the first and second rounds being extremely close rounds. Unfortunately, Danielle got mounted in the last minutes of the fight and sustained a loss via TKO. Lots for Danielle to take away and learn from in this bout, and we look forward to seeing her come back stronger for the experience!

Bek was fighting a very seasoned opponent in Shaun Etchell (6-1) in a 62kg bout. Bek put in a fantastic performance, and it was clear that he is much improved from his last appearance on Hex. Fighting smart, Bek managed to secure take downs and hold his position to dominate on top. He also put in a great striking display, utilising his low leg kick in the second and third rounds to dominate. A great effort by Bek against a tough opponent where he used cage control, pressure against the fence and top position to grind out a win. Congratulations to Bek!

Battleground (Amateur Fight Event) at the Doncaster Shoppingtown Hotel saw two of our team eager to prove themselves in their first Amateur Muay Thai fights. Joseph Choundary won via unanimous decision after an aggressive performance against his opponent, and Ben Arias unfortunately lost his bout via decision, despite performing well against an opponent with a significant reach advantage. Congratulations to both of you on your debut bouts at the amateur level, we look forward to what the future holds for you both in your fight careers!

Absolute MMA also had a strong contingent represent at the AGC (Australian Grappling Championships) over the weekend in Adelaide at the Arkaba Hotel. Jeremy Skinner is now the u77kg champions for the 3rd time running, and Dan Schuardt is the 77+kg champion for the second time, securing his win via triangle. Lachlan Warne put in a strong performance, but ultimately lost his Superfight against opponent Declan Moody (Adelaide Jiu Jitsu Academy) via arm bar. And a special shout out to Bradley Wiedenhofer who made it to the u77kg final, but lost to team mate Jeremy via heel hook. Congratulations to all who stepped up and competed!

Sunday saw strong performances from active competitors Bobby Sandhu and Hugh Boyd at the Central Coast Open held at the Gosford City Basketball Stadium in New South Wales. Bobby got through some tough sports to secure gold in his division and is on a great streak competitively, having just come off a win at Grappling Industries in early July. Hugh took away a double gold for his efforts, battling through six fights and achieving six submissions to secure his division and the open weight. Huge congratulations to our competitors! Amazing effort from the two of you.

We also had team members working hard locally on the Sunday, with Rob Pelle, Edward Smith, Josh Ber, Nicholas Duggan, Trenton McNee and Amir Gholizadeh all competing in wrestling at the Australia Cup, held at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre (MSAC). Amir and Josh both took away 1st place, with Josh in the Junior Male 74kgs, and Amir in the Senior Male Freestyle 74kgs. Well deserved team! We also had the following results from the team:

• Nicholas Duggan – 3rd in the Senior Male Freestyle 74kgs
• Edward Smith – 5th in the Senior Male Freestyle 86kgs
• Rob Pelle – 3rd in the Senior Male Freestyle 70kgs
• Trenton McNee – 5th in the Senior Male Freestyle 79kgs

Well done to everyone who competed and placed!

Photography: Laos Toohey, Sem Kakembo, Will Toumbos, Dogs of War Photography, Bobby Sandhu, Throwdown Photography

Ever present on the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competition scene, Craig Jones spent the 4th of July in Orlando, Florida at the KASAI Super Series. Craig was up against a familiar face in Aaron “Tex” Johnson who Craig previously submitted via inside heel hook at EBI 14 in December 2017 (Craig’s pass breakdown available here), with Tex clearly keen to pay back the loss he experienced prior. In a KASAI super fight ruleset of 10 minutes with points, and a golden score overtime (if no clear winner), Craig focused on kimura attacks, working to expose the back and sink in a RNC for the win within the first 2 minutes. Congratulations to Craig on a stellar performance! This week is a busy one for Craig, who competed at KASAI with his match against Anthony Rumble Johnson on SUG 9 upcoming in just three days! More on that to come.

Interstate in Sydney, wrestling champion Reon Mahima entered the octagon on Superfight 12 for his second MMA fight, on fight 4 of the card against opponent Peri Santos. Setting a solid pace, Reon fought through some strikes from Santos, and took the fight to the ground around the last minute of round one, looking dominant from a top position. The bell sounded for round one with Reon still dominant on top, and after an evaluation from the fight doctor, it was concluded that Santos was unable to continue due to a foot injury. Congratulations to Reon on his first Mixed Martial Arts win! We look forward to seeing you back in the octagon soon!

Saturday saw our Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitors head to the Dominance Sub Only Gi Round Robin in Richmond, with notable performances from Vesper Cheon who secured a Gold, Hannah Cooper getting in there with 1 win/3 losses in her first competition after a two year hiatus, Linda Raymond taking away Gold in her weight class and Rebecca Stahlnacke winning three out of her four fights. Cooper Anderson and Elena Gomez also performed well on the mats, and we would like to congratulate them on their efforts, and for being amazing representatives for the gym! To everyone who competed and received medals, we would like to congratulate you on continuing to challenge yourself and moving forward in your martial arts journey!

Blue belt Bobby Sandhu represented for the team at Grappling Industries Sydney, powering through 6 matches to achieve 6 submissions, with his fastest match ending in 13 seconds! An amazing performance from Bobby, who spent a total amount of 9 minutes on the mats to achieve Gold in the No-Gi Adult Intermediate division for -155lbs. What a weapon!

On Sunday, July 7th, Craig Jones went to Portland, Oregon for the main event on Submission Underground 9 against MMA star and two time UFC light heavyweight title contender, Anthony Rumble Johnson. There was a significant size difference between the two, with Craig weighing in at 208lbs, and Rumble at 278lbs. Pulling guard to start, Craig attempted a triangle, before using his z-guard to enter leg entanglement and secure a quick win via heel hook. Back to back wins for Craig this weekend, defeating Johnson and Johnson in a double victory! Amazing work from Craig.

After a huge week at Absolute MMA Thailand with the Lachlan Giles Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Camp, the team took to Bangla stadium in numbers to watch Kru’s Athit and Watt in action, which was a huge treat for all present! First up for the team was Kru Watt, with the first round fought at a slower pace, both fighters looking to feel their opponents out and get their reads. In the second round, things stepped up and both fighters went to work. Kru Watt delivered a series of brutal leg kicks to the rear leg, and after the 3rd heavy kick, he knew the fight was over.

In the main event of the evening, Kru Athit returned to the ring against an opponent with a significant size advantage. Both fighters started strong, Kru Athit kept his back on the ropes and took some heavy shots, however continued to attack his opponents back leg. Round 2 saw some scary moments for Kru Athit as his legs went a little shaky after a big elbow strike, but he stuck to his game plan and continued to attack the rear leg of his opponent. In round 4, enough damage had been done, and Kru Athit came out with the victory after another huge leg kick to achieve the K.O!

A very special moment followed for all in attendance as the Absolute MMA team flocked the ring to celebrate. A very special night for the team!

Photography: Warren S Photography, KASAI, SUG, Vesper Cheon, Absolute MMA Thailand, Bobby Sandhu. 

This past Saturday we celebrated our Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu team with not one, but TWO gradings at both Absolute MMA Melbourne CBD and Absolute MMA St Kilda. Amazing to have students from all of our three gyms across Victoria join together for the occasion! Huge congratulations to our four new black belts Kim Cousins, Mikael Yahaya, Lachlan Warne and Alex Russell. It takes approximately ten years for a student to reach black belt level and we could not be prouder to have been a part of this journey with our students!

Also advancing to brown belt and surviving the gruelling physical test with technique honed through countless hours on the mats were Oliver Smith, Journ Tang, Matthew Karakoucakis and Jarrod Beardwood. There were some epic battles on the mats with our students being put through rounds for over two and a half hours!

We had 7 students advance to join our new purple belt crew, and these students are among some of the most dedicated individuals in the club. To all our new purple belts, congratulations and well done! We are also supremely proud of all our new blue belts who are a very impressive new cohort! You all have earned your blue belts, and as the first major milestone in your jiu-jitsu careers, this is certainly a moment worthy of celebration!

Thank you to everyone who put the graders through their tests and gave them support! We are so excited to see what the rest of the year brings for you and would like to thank you for being a part of our amazing grappling community.

James Walters and Craig Jones hit the mats last weekend in Houston, Texas on Third Coast Grappling 2, on a stacked card featuring the likes of Nicholas Meregali, Cyborg Abreu and DJ Jackson. James “Swolters” was first up for our Absolute MMA duo on the under card, facing off Diego Almeida in a Brown Belt No Gi match. Rolling really well, James looked calm and composed on the mats, unfortunately losing in overtime under the golden point rule. Great to see James taking on major overseas competition, and more experience can only benefit Jame’s Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu journey going forward. We wish James safe travels on his year away from Australia, where he intends to train, compete, and improve himself as a martial artist! James would like to thank Craig Jones for being such a good training partner, coach and mentor stateside in the lead up and during the event.

The main card rolled around, and in the co-main event of the night, Craig Jones faced off against fellow black belt Matheus Diniz, who he had previously secured a decision win over at GrappleFest 2 last year in September. Last year in September the rule set was submission only and the two battled through 20 minutes of frustration, in Houston this year it was a points based event. Craig lost this time around via points, with Diniz strategically playing to the strengths of his game after he got up on points. Great to see the two facing off once again, in a clash of two very different styles, despite the two being No-Gi players!

Well done to both James and Craig, who despite sustaining losses, were great supports for each other throughout, and we are proud to have them representing the team overseas. Looking forward to seeing you both on the mats again soon!

Photography: iRULL Photos, Third Coast Grappling

Yesterday at the Queensland State Championship at the Carrara Indoor Sports Stadium, we had our two competitors, Hugh Boyd and Brodie Greco, showcase their skills on the mats. Up against some of Australia’s top blue belts, Brodie won both his division’s first matches via submission, losing out in the semi-finals in Gi via armbar, and in No-gi on points (3-0). Brodie takes away two medals for his efforts, and despite falling short of the desired first place, we are proud of him for leaving it all on the mats. Well done Brodie!

Assistant Kids BJJ Coach Hugh Boyd also took away two medals for his performance on the mats, securing the desired Gold in No-gi and a bronze in the Gi. One of Hugh’s highlights was pulling off a well timed flying triangle off an opponent’s guard pull. Congratulations Hugh on a great performance in Queensland!

Our international team made waves in Japan with purple belt Jason Vauters from Absolute MMA Shanghai winning the IBJJF Masters Asian open in Tokyo today! Great work Jason, thanks for being such a great representative for the team in Asia!

Photography: Lachlan Giles, Dorothy Dao.

The Queen’s Birthday public holiday weekend saw no rest for our Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competition team, who went to showcase their skills on the mats at Grappling Industries in Coburg. With the event running across two full days, many of our coaches and students from all three of our Australian gyms made an effort to come to both, and whether you were competing or supporting, a huge thank you to all the friends and family who came down to be a part of the Absolute MMA team. We appreciate the efforts of everyone in our community, as we know these can be long days! We are proud to report as a gym, our students took away a total of 17 gold, 12 silver and 5 bronze medals. To everyone who competed and received medals, we would like to congratulate you on continuing to challenge yourself and moving forward in your martial arts journey!

Standout performances from the weekend included Vesper Cheon, who won Gold in both her weight divisions for Gi and No-Gi, winning all fights via submission, securing two armbars and two straight ankle locks! It is super exciting to see Vesper throwing herself into competitions as of late, and inspiring our Melbourne CBD female team with her hard work.

Post ADCC Trials, Pippa Shaw also took away a double Gold in the Female No Gi Intermediate (-135lbs) and the Absolute No Gi, in a total of five matches, three wins in the Absolute and two in her division! Amazing work Pippa! Our very own Tom Everett made a triumphant return to competition, doing the desk crew proud by getting on the podium to achieve a Gold in the No Gi Advanced (-155lbs), even if it was in socks and slides. We’re lucky Tom’s Jiu-Jitsu is better than his fashion. Great work Tom, a well-deserved result and it is great seeing you back on the competitive circuit!

Jebadi Phazer stormed through the Adult Male blue belt division, having a total of eight matches on the mats, winning seven to secure Gold in the Gi (-210lbs), also taking out silver in the Absolute! Job well done by Jeb, who has been training consistently and putting in the hard yards on the mats in the gym to prepare himself for competition. A well deserved result!

Congratulations to Hugh Boyd, Assistant Kids BJJ coach at Absolute MMA St Kilda for also winning six straight matches to take away Gold in the No-Gi Advanced (-170kg)!

A huge thank you and shout out to Head Coach Thiago Stefanutti and coaches Cooper Burnham, Apryl Eppinger and Sean Le Gourierrec who spent a large majority of their weekend cornering and supporting our students through their matches. We have an amazing team, and we could not be more grateful for your guidance, particularly over a public holiday weekend! Well done once again to everyone who competed and earned their medals on the day.

Written by Emilie Yap
Photography: Vesper Cheon, Tom Everett, Jebadi Phazer.

Roots 11: Positive Vibration on Saturday night at the Malvern Town Hall saw two of our amateur Muay Thai female team step into the ring, with Maricarmen “MK” Rubi Baeza up first for the team. Making her debut as part of the Absolute MMA team, MK faced off against opponent Gabrielle Volovsky, at 55kg in a 3×2 minute bout (Mod). Looking calm and collected, MK used her reach to great effect, pushing her opponent back with strong teeps and vicious knees to the abdomen of Volovsky. A well-deserved win via unanimous decision for MK! Congratulations on your first win as part of the Absolute MMA family, we can’t wait to see what the rest of 2019 brings for you!

Fight 14 on the card rolled around, and Georgia Verry stepped up to face an experienced opponent in Spring Sia from Martial Spirit. Great to see Georgia taking on her first full Thai rules fight with elbows! This was a good fight from both girls, with plenty of clinching, knees and elbows flying back and forth constantly. Despite Georgia sustaining a loss via decision, Georgia showed a lot of heart in her first 3 minute round bout, continually coming forward to put pressure on Spring, with the commentators stating “This is definitely one to look out for, she’s here to fight.” Lots to take away from this bout and learn from, and we look forward to seeing Georgia back in the ring stronger for the experience!

Grapple Fest 5 saw five of our Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitors step onto the mat, with Mikael Yahaya, Craig Jones, Izaak Michell, Jeremy Paul Skinner and Lachlan Giles all matched on the Figure 4 Promotions event in Liverpool. Mikael Yahaya was up first on the card for the team against Phil Harris, a former UFC fighter. The referee retired Harris after a scramble caused a bicep tear, awarding the win to Mikael.

Next up for the Absolute MMA St Kilda team was Izaak Michell against Craig McIntosh (Higher Level) in a 75kg matchup. This was a good match, with Izaak pushing the pace and continually looking for the finish, however, his opponent fought him to the end, with the finish resulting in the decision Izaak’s way. Congratulations to Izaak on a dominant performance!

Jeremy Paul Skinner stepped onto the mats at Grapple Fest this weekend hoping to continue his win streak following a great performance last week on Polaris 10 in Poole. Up against Frank Rosenthal (Renzo Gracie) in a u70kgs bout, this was a standout performance for the team with Jeremy getting the better of some leg lock battles to earn a decision win and continue his streak! Big win for Jeremy and we couldn’t be happier for him. Congratulations!

On the Co-Main event, Craig Jones faced off against a last minute step in opponent, Miha Perhavec. Respect to Miha for stepping in last minute! In the first two minutes of the match, Miha tried to go for a heel hook in their bout, a dangerous game to play with Craig Jones, to which Craig responded with his own heel hook, submitting Miha for the win. Well done to Craig who continues to dominate competition on his way to ADCC Worlds. Best of luck to Craig who is next scheduled to appear on Submission Underground 9 in Portland, Oregon!

The main event came around, with Coach Lachlan Giles matched up against Ross Nicholls to compete for the Grapplefest u80kg Title. This was a close match against a game opponent, where Lachlan poured the pressure on in an attempt to pass Nicholls guard, eventually winning the competition via split decision. Congratulations to Lachlan on becoming the new Grapplefest u80kg champion!

Jake “The Honey Bear” Heun made his first appearance on RIZIN 16 in Kobe, Japan after his recent signing of a multi-fight deal with the promotion. Facing off against heavyweight Roque Martinez in a 3×5 minute match up (under Pride rules), Jake showed great sportsmanship by cracking open a beer with Martinez just after the weigh-ins as well as pulling off one of the most spectacular walkouts in Absolute MMA history, coming out to “Come and Get Your Love” by Redbone in a Guardians of the Galaxy inspired dance, complete with Star Lord jacket and all! You can watch Jake’s walkout here. 

The bell sounded, and an absolute war began! There was plenty of back and forth from these two heavy hitters, with the fight primarily conducted in stand up. A solid first round in Jake’s favour, with Jake rocking Martinez with a solid right uppercut mid-round and opening up a cut just above the eye of his opponent. To his credit, Martinez persisted on despite a broken hand in the first round and blood flow from the cut impacting his vision. In the second round, Jake used this to his advantage and targeted the cut of his opponent, with the impact of his strikes audibly echoing throughout the round. A dangerous third round for Jake, who did get taken down via body slam with two and a half minutes remaining on the clock, but survived the oncoming assault to secure a win via split points decision. This was a great showing all round by Jake, who left it all in the ring and displayed just how passionate he is about this sport. Congratulations on an amazing fight, on your triumphant return to RIZIN and your win!

We had a number of people competing from Absolute MMA in Melbourne and Shanghai at the IBJJF World Championships in Long Beach, California at the famous Walter Pyramid. The Worlds is an unforgiving competition and whilst everyone put in their best efforts, we didn’t manage to snag any medals this time. Great to see the guys bouncing back already and hitting the mats to improve their game in preparation for the next one. It is an amazing effort to even make it to this level of competition and we are proud of all of our competitors for leaving it all on the mats!

The Absolute MMA Thailand Muay Thai team also came out strong this weekend, returning to Bangla Stadium for an exciting night of fights! First, we had our Chinese visitor, Zhang Zen Yang, returning to the ring for his 4th fight under the Absolute MMA banner. Zhang started strong, utilising his strong K-1 background to frequently score on the outside, landing heavy kicks and punches to take the early rounds of the fight. In the later rounds, Zhang’s opponent started to clinch well, which resulted in the decision ultimately going in his opponent’s favour. Well done Zhang, it was a pleasure having you train with us!

Diako Hrsini was next up for his first fight at Bangla stadium and the final fight of the evening. This fight did not disappoint! Diako gave up a lot of height and reach to his opponent who started the fight strong with heavy knees from the clinch and some sharp 12-6 elbows. Diako stayed in the fight early and continued to damage the lead leg of his opponent. The second round saw a huge right hand from Diako floor his opponent, changing the momentum of the fight in Diako’s favour! Diako continued to chop the leg and withstood some heavy knees from his taller opponent. The leg kicks had taken their toll by the 3rd round, which resulted in a K.O win for Diako! Congratulations to Diako on a great performance.

Thanks to all our trainers who cornered, and everyone who came to support the team!

Written by Emilie Yap.

Photography: Absolute MMA Thailand, IBJJF, Lachlan Giles, FotoRolls Photography, RIZIN 16/Jake Heun, W.L Fight Photography.