In the final class of the summer the members of Point Blank kids tested for belt advancement in an hour long display of all around Martial Arts ability.

Children were tested on their ability in Kickboxing, Wrestling and Jiu Jitsu and they all showed tremendous improvement from last year.

Over the past 9 months the Kids had worked harder than ever on their striking, and this was evident as each worked the pads for examiner Michael McDonagh.

After working through the range of technique the children paired and began to spar each other, ably demonstrating their defence had improved equally well.

The focus then switched to Wrestling as each young martial artist tried to execute a takedown to the other.

There were some fantastic wrestling battles back and forth as with belts on the line no youngster was willing to say quit!

The grading moved on to the ground where children demonstrated their ability to control each other on the mat.

Mr McDonagh called for some positions and drills for them to focus, like pins, and getting back to their feet from a grounded position.

The final aspect of the Grading was full wrestling matches where children looked to take each other down,

then continue to earn points by controlling their partner on the ground.

Once the testing had concluded, the grading award was presented to Auktuma Macenas for his astounding improvement during the year.

The Kids class has broken for the Summer, but returns at the new times of Tuesday and Thursdays at 6pm

when Schools come back at the end of August.

The 23rd of May feature the two hottest days of the year since the summer of 1961, and an Amateur MMA event in Informed Performance's

gym in Dublin's North Side. Okay, maybe I exaggerated about the heat, but the event did take place and it is a great addition to the Irish MMA

calendar. First fight of the day was Jason Quinn from Point Blank, who had been plaguing me to try and get on this show to make sure he had no

ring rust for his fight a week later in Waterford. I had refused multiple times as the striclty amateur approach of this event would have ruled Jason

out with his C class match debut already made. Barry Oglesby, fight promoter and arm chair comedian, mentioned that Przemek Mucha was

looking for a match, he had also previously debuted in C class, I thought it was a good fit for Jason and so the match was made.

Jason controlled the striking for all three rounds and was able to negate all of Premek's takedown attempts and reversed the clinch a couple

of times to land some knees. He never looked to be under duress through the fight but anyone as strong and capable as Premek is always

dangerous, so Jason kept a cool head and followed his game plan to get the decision.

Next out for Point Blank was Sean  Conroy, Sean had put in tremendous work for this match up, in particular working his takedowns and

clinch. In the opening seconds this extra training paid dividends as he slipped under an overhand right thrown by Conor Flynn of Tuatha

De Danann and finished a double leg with a slam to the mat. Sean dominated the first round; maintained top position  then attacked with

submission attempts once he was reversed to his back. Coming in after the first round Sean's cardio was holding well and he was working

the game plan well. Round two started with the overhand right from Connor catching Sean clean. The Galway man went down but recovered

immediately working his guard game to get back into the match. The action returned to the feet and Connor worked a tight guillotine which

he took to the floor to finish. Disappointment for Sean, but he can hold his head high having done himself and Point Blank proud.

Pictures form the day are available here

Congratulations to Barry and the IP team for putting on a great event and giving Irish MMA fighters another stepping stone between the

League and full rules competition. Lastly I thought I would add a picture of the car and driver that stopped Jason from leaving IP when

he was done, enjoy.

On the Second of October, Ryan Hall will give a 4 hour seminar @Point Blank Gym. The number of places is TBD, but the cost of the seminar will be 50 euro. I am giving everyone advance notice so there is no disappointment from people who want to go missing out this time, like there was with my friend Marcus Davis. Once the number attending is decided, I will start taking names for the seminar. Its not often we get to trian with someone of his calibre, and the best thing is, as well as being an awesome competitor the guy is a Black Belt in communication and instruction as well.

So who is Ryan Hall?

Black Belt under 2-time world champion, Felipe Costa, Ryan Hall is one of the most successful American-born Jiu-Jitsu players to date. Since beginning his competitive career in July of 2004, Ryan has cemented himself as one of the most promising up-and-coming submission grapplers in the world, defeating some of the sport’s greatest champions along the way (including UFC fighters and Black Belt World Champions, many of whom have been training decades longer than he has). Ryan is a CBJJ Mundial (world) and European champion who has also medaled at the Brazilian Nationals and twice been invited to compete at the ultra-prestigious Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling World Championship where he is one of only a handful of American competitors to have come home with a medal.

In addition to his competitive exploits, Ryan is an accomplished coach, highly sought after for expert seminars all over the world. When Ryan isn’t training for competitions or learning from world class athletes from around the United States and the globe, he can often be found instructing Jiu-Jitsu and Combatives workshops for the United States military, helping to prepare the soldiers for any unarmed situation they may face while in the field. Ryan’s students have competed successfully at the local, national, and international levels, rising rapidly through the ranks. He has also produced a series of instructional DVDs that have garnered wide acclaim and is the author of “How To Master The Triangle Choke,” the definitive resource for training information regarding this signature technique of Jiu-Jitsu.

A brief summary of Ryan’s accomplishments:

• Over 300 victories in competition (over 275 via submission)
• Over 200 victories in competition via triangle choke
• 2009 Abu Dhabi World Championships <65.9kg Bronze Medallist
• 2007 Abu Dhabi World Championships Alternate Match Champion
• 2009 Abu Dhabi North American West Coast Trials Professional Lightweight Champion
• 2009 CBJJ Mundial Bronze Medalist
• 2008 CBJJ Mundial Champion
• 2007 CBJJ No-Gi Mundial Champion
• 2008 CBJJ European Champion
• 2008 CBJJ Brasiliero Bronze Medalist
• 2007 US Open Champion
• 10x Professional Superfight Champion (NAGA, NeverTap, US Grappling, et al)
• #1 RATED Competitor Overall Nationwide for 2006
• #1 RATED Advanced Submission Grappler Nationwide for 2006
• #1 RATED Purple Belt Competitor Nationwide for 2006
• #1 RATED Blue Belt Competitor Nationwide for 2005
• Many times Grapplers Quest, NAGA, U.S. Grappling, Mission Submission Advanced Division Champion
• Many times Grapplers Quest, NAGA, US Grappling Advanced Absolute (open weight) Division Champion

The gym had been buzzing for weeks about the imminent arrival of UFC star Marcus Davis. Some people had expressed reservations that it might not be the best seminar in the world as much of what Marcus is good at might be hard to pass on in a non-sparring environment. Okay, at the risk of being blown to bits by an Irish Hand Grenade, I was one of the doubters. My impression of Marcus prior to training with him was that he was phenomenal on the feet, and that while his ground and clinch were good, I didn’t think he would be able to pass on the majority of what he was good at without punching me in the face a lot to “learn” me. There was so much interest in meeting Marcus that I had pretty much written the seminar off as a celebrity meet and greet with some training thrown in. I have to admit I couldn’t have been more wrong!

Marcus is an affable, jovial guy and one of the most remarkably humble guys given his level of success. On the mat he is tremendously technical and is a natural instructor. He is able to convey the big picture in the context of the techniques he demonstrates, and he has as good a mind for detail as any BJJ black belt I have trained with. He is not a BJJ Black Belt of course, and though it is strange to note that, I do so on purpose because with Marcus this is undoubtedly his strength. He made reference to his different approach to the ground on more than one occasion, but had he not it would still have been difficult to ignore. His tactics on the floor are quite different from the standard ground game, everything he does is about creating a stable platform to deliver strikes and advance his position simultaneously.

There was no time for sparring this time around, but in answering questions he gave me a couple opportunities to experience his particular flavour of ground and it was impressive. In hindsight, and with context from speaking with Marcus, his ground game grew organically from necessity; a fighter learning the ground game while appearing on The Ultimate Fighter and attempting to start a UFC career had to have a very different approach, when compared to someone learning Jiu Jitsu for its own merit. Marcus was always looking at it from a focused goal of winning fights, no “maybe this will be useful later” or “if I learn this I will be more versatile”, his ground game is like a laser pointed at making his opponent’s night a bad one, that burns away anything even slightly irrelevant to that singular goal.

Marcus was a professional boxer and trains now with Sityodtong under Mark Delagrotti, and his striking instruction was just as detailed. Marcus’ good nature lasted well after he finished instructing as when the session ended he was beset with requests for autographs and pictures from almost every member at the gym and he was very happy to oblige each and every one. He made strong representation of his Irish heritage later that night; his country of birth may have been the United States, but he could drink with the very best of the Galwegians!