Some of the team went up on Friday night to make-weight for Saturday’s NAGA event in Columbus. This was the smallest NAGA event we’ve ever seen and you could tell that the NAGA team were disappointed at the turnout. Despite the low turnout, there were some very good competitors there and plenty of good matches took place. Meredith took 4 first places and a 2nd in here very first NAGA event. John finally got some NAGA Gold in both gi and nogi. Wolf and Rocky got belts. Jack attended his first NAGA event and competed in the expert division against brown belts even though he is blue. And Chad competed against a tough and experienced collegiate wrestler.Below are some video highlights from today’s action at NAGA Columbus.
On June 16th, a group of the Reaction MMA grapplers will be in Columbus, OH for the NAGA Columbus grappling tournament. For this event we are especially excited to have Jack Podgorski competing in the blue belt division at <150 lbs. The venue for this event is the Greater Columbus Convention Center – Hall E, so this should be a first-class, roomy and comfortable event for both spectators and competitors. Wolfie will compete in the Expert Teen 14-15 under 109.9 lbs. Rocky in the Expert Kids 12-13 under 89.9 lbs. Also, this will be Meredith’s first big NAGA event and she will be competing in the Beginner Teen 14-15 under 119.9 lbs. There might even be a few more Reaction fighters competing depending on how schedules work out.
UPDATE: More fighters going to Columbus. John Lakes will compete at White Belt 185 lbs. Sirena Madere will be at White Belt 150 lbs, and Chad will be competing at Purple Belt 170 lbs.
Wolfie and Rocky Report From Grappler’s Quest Midwest
This was the second time Grappler’s Quest held an event in Ohio, the first being one of their very first events. Ohio is the 3rd biggest state for grappling and the GQ folks said they are glad to be back in Ohio. We are glad to have them within driving distance. It was a well run event overall with rock solid referees, some were BJJ Black Belts. Professor Jorge Gurgel started off the event by giving a short seminar to benefit Autism Awareness. The venue was pretty hot with not much air flow so hopefully something can be done about that next time. The competition was excellent with deep divisions for both kids and adults. The big prize of the day was to winners of Advanced divisions who took both gi and nogi, free entry into all Grappler’s Quest events for the rest of 2012. Wolf took the belt and the big prize of the entry fees. Rocky ran into a more experienced grappler from Pennsylvania who he’s looking forward to getting another shot at soon. The adult divisions were very deep, especially in mens blue, purple and brown. Videos of the 13-15 y/o under 114 lbs Advanced Gi and Nogi finals are below.
Grapplers Quest Midwest Grappling Championships 2012 presented by Tapout
Start: Saturday, May 19, 2012, 10:00 AM
End: Saturday, May 19, 2012, 7:00 PM
Venue: Ultimate Sports Center
Address: 1200 Steelwood Rd., Suite B
City/State/Zip: Columbus, OH 43212
2012 Grapplers Quest Midwest Championships Filming LIVE for FightNow TV and 4.5 Million Homes in North America on “Best of Grapplers Quest” airing every Wednesday at 8:30 PM EST – listings at: http://FightNow.com
- All Ages and Skill Levels – Submission Grappling – Brazilian Jiu Jitsu – Judo & Wrestling – Great Awards & Prizes too!
Weigh-Ins and Fighter Registration at Venue:Friday, May 18: 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM or Saturday, May 19: Open at 7:00 AM (see schedule below for cut-off times)
Event Schedule: 7:00 AM: Doors Open for Weigh-Ins and Registration 9:30 AM: Cut off time for Children and Teen Weigh-Ins 10:00 AM: Training Seminar for Competitors for Autism Awareness 10:30 AM: Morning Announcements & Rules Overview 11:00 AM: Children and Teen’s Divisions (No-Gi then BJJ) 1:00 PM: Executives No-Gi (30-39 yrs) and Masters No-Gi (40+) Weight Classes 12:30 PM: No-Gi Women (18+) – All Females compete FREE sponsored by Gaspari Nutrition 1:30 PM: No-Gi Men’s Advanced and Intermediate Weight Classes 2:30 PM: No-Gi Men’s Beginner and Novice Weight Classes 4:00-7:00 PM: All BJJ Divisions for Adults, All Belts 7:00 PM: Wrestling Takedown Challenge and Judo Ippon Throwdown
NOTE: You must weigh-in 90 minutes prior to your scheduled start time above. Absolute Divisions start 30 minutes after conclusion of weight classes within that skill level.
Cash, Prizes & Awards: - Men’s Advanced Absolute Cash Prize: $250 plus Compete Free for 2012 – Men’s Intermediate Absolute Prize: $150 Plus Compete Free for 2012 – Men’s Beginner Absolute Prize: $125 Plus Compete Free for 2012 – Men’s Novice Absolute Prize: $100 Plus Compete Free for 2012 – Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals Awards for 1st-3rd Place Sponsored by Gaspari
Division Key:
Youth’s divisions are broken down by the following AGES (subject to change): CHILDREN – 6 years and Under CHILDREN – 7-9 yrs. old CHILDREN – 10-12 yrs. old TEENS- 13-15 yrs. old TEENS – 16-17 yrs. old
Youth’s divisions are broken down by the following skill levels: Beginner (less than 12 months), Advanced (12 months and over)
This is Sirena Madere of Reaction MMA grappling in the Womens White Belt division at the 2012 Arnolds Sports Festival Brazilian Jiu Jitsu event in Columbus, OH. Sirena continues to improve and is one of the harder working white belts in the gym.
Timmy Cothran of Reaction MMA went 3 good rounds in his first kickboxing match this weekend at the 2012 Arnolds Sports Festival Kickboxing Event in Columbus, OH. This was in the Teen, under 155 lbs international rules, leg kicks allowed division. It should also be mentioned that Timmy took this fight on 20 minutes notice as he was attending as a spectator with intention to only compete in grappling. Hats off to Timmy for taking the challenge and competing!
Coach Rob Winning the Brown Belt Division at 2012 Arnolds
Congratulations to Coach Rob Nickerson on winning the under 169.9 lbs Brown Belt Division at the 2012 Arnolds Sports Festival Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Event. This was Coach Rob’s first time competing at Brown having just been promoted a month earlier. We expect that this will be the first of many victories for coach in BJJ competition!
On Saturday, March 3rd at the 2012 Arnold’s Sports Festival in Columbus, OH, Max competed in kickboxing, winning a gold medal. The video from this 3 round fight can be found below thanks to Wolfie. This was international rules with leg kicks allowed. 8 kicks were required each round or the judges would take a penalty point. Congratulations to Max for an excellent effort and on a unanimous decision win. In this fight, Max is 9 and weighed in at 69 ready pounds.
On Saturday, March 3rd at the 2012 Arnold’s Sports Festival in Columbus, OH, Rocky competed in both gi jiujitsu and in kickboxing, winning a gold medal in both. In his kickboxing match, he was paired in an exhibition against a slightly older and slightly larger opponent from an MMA team in Detroit. The video from this 3 round fight can be found below thanks to Rocky’s brother Wolfie. This was international rules with leg kicks allowed. 8 kicks were required each round or the judges would take a penalty point. Congratulations to Rocky for an excellent effort and on a unanimous decision win. In this fight, Rocky is 12 and weighed in at 79 ready pounds. His opponent was 13 and weighed in at a very fit 82 pounds.
2012 Arnolds BJJ Event 2nd Place for Team Reaction MMA
A great time was had by Reaction MMA Team members at the 2012 Arnolds Sports Festival in Columbus, OH. The team was happy to obtain a 2nd Place Overall finish considering the smaller team size and having some fighters on the sidelines with injuries. Standouts were Coach Rob Nickerson (Gold – Brown Belt gi <169.9 lbs), Meredith McNeely (Gold – Girls <120 lbs, gi) and Rocky Steel (2 Golds - Boys <80 lbs, gi and nogi). There were large teams from Ribeiro, Gracie Barra, Bad Dog MMA, and others from Detroit and Pennsylvania. Several smaller teams attended from all over the Midwest. It was a well run event and the team is already planning to attend with a larger and stronger team next year. The younger boys were excited about meeting Forest Griffin and Randy Couture during the expo. Perhaps the biggest highlight was attending the Strikeforce event at Nationwide Arena and watching MMA history as Rowdy Rhonda Rousey convincingly took the Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight Title from Miesha Tate with a wicked armbar. We had 6 members of the kids team, and 5 members of the Adult team if we count Timmy as an adult. Three of the kids and Timmy also competed in the kickboxing event which will be described in another post. Wolfie and Matt, despite both being injured and unable to compete, were extremely helpful to the team as coaches, trainers and moral support.
