Some news about things going on with the Freestyle Fighting Academy...
Haender "Cubita" Rodriguez won his fight two weekends back at the AFC by submission in the second round versus Pat Slidiel (sp?). It was a VERY exciting fight, both guys giving it all they had in the ring. The tide of the war turned Cubita's way in the second round when he was able to effectively counter Pat's takedowns and land some hard shots from standing, eventually leading up to his toe hold which gave him the submission victory! He improves his pro record to 2-1, winning twice in a row. Nice job Cubita!
This past weekend we had another fighter, Tirso Valls, fight at the UCF II. Tirso's opponent was a very tough kickboxer with good takedown defense. This was Tirso's second pro fight and this one was a war! The vast majority of the fight was standing, where both fighters connected with some very strong punches, kicks, and knees. Some of Tirso's highlights were some big punches, a leg kick which dropped his opponent, and a takedown that lead to the mount position. After two rounds of slugging it out, one judge gave the fight to Tirso and the other two called it a draw - so the match was ruled a majority draw. We are very proud of Tirso who fought with all of his heart against a very game and tough opponent. Tirso's record remains undefeated at 1-0-1.
FFA has been sort of quiet as of late because we have been undergoing a HUGE renovation job at the main gym for the past six months or so. The renovations are almost finished and in about two months should be completely done. Pictures and a full report will be available soon!
And I'm also getting married next weekend :) Rima (forum member ravishing) and I are tieing the knot in Ottawa, Canada on Saturday!
The week after that, on May 13, I will be grappling Kurt Pelegrino in a superfight at Grappler's Quest.
On May 27, FFA brown belt Enrico Cocco will be grappling in an 8-man invitational grappling tournament hosted by Renato Tavares that will include some very big name black belts.
Last bit of news... this past weekend, while our kickboxing coach Eric "El Tigre" Castanos was out of town, we got a key and went into his school with about twenty students and completely renovated his gym! The project was a collective effort of labor and donations between about fifty people. The students from the brother schools FFA and Young Tiger Gym were able to raise $4000 to buy brand new zebra mats for his whole gym, paint all the walls, paint a beautiful tiger on the wall, change the ceiling tiles, the bathroom, layout of the gym, etc. It was a complete overhaul - and he had no idea. He just got back a couple of days and was completely surprised and absolutely loved it. For those of you from the area that want to check it out, you can visit Tigre's gym on 56 ST and 102 Ave in Miami. Its on the second floor above the supermarket on that intersection. The Young Tiger gym is a direct affiliate with FFA and is ran by 3 time world kickboxing champion Eric "El Tigre" Castanos.
For more info, visit our website at www.freestylefighting.net . At the moment, the website is a bit outdated, part of the big renovation is the new website that is currently being contructed :)
Ok, thats the update! :)