Master Gerardo DeJesus

If you’re looking to get your child or yourself into Olympic Taekwondo then you might want to check out DeJesus Taekwondo, home of Team Olympic. In DeJesus Taekwondo school you will learn from five time national champion, four time TKD team member, and three time US Cup Gold Medalist, Master Gerardo DeJesus.

Master DeJesus started taking martial arts at the age of eight. His inspiration for taking up the martial arts like most of all the older generation masters was Bruce Lee. DeJesus’s grandmother would him kicking away in the back yard with friends so she decided to have him put that energy to good use so she enrolled him into Karate. After reaching green belt he switch to TKD. DeJesus was fascinated with point sparring so he started learning TKD from Grand Master Kwong J. Lee.

DeJesus describes Kwong J. Lee as a traditional TKD instructor. Everything he taught was straight out of Korea. It wasn’t americanized like some schools are today. Dejesus remembers Kwong Lee as a very strict old fashion Grand Master. It was hard to understand Kwan Lee’s English so whatever he said they had to learn it through the Korean language.
At age thirteen DeJesus competed in point sparring. At seventeen he switched to a quicker Olympic style sparring.

From the age of twenty five DeJesus has reaped the rewards of hard training by being a five time national champion and three time U.S. Cup Gold Medalist. At the age of forty three DeJesus continues to compete. In 2006 and 2007 DeJesus won the forms championships. He now has a total of seventeen form championships.

At age thirty DeJesus dedicated himself full time to teaching TKD. Grand Master Kwong Lee had a handful of schools for DeJesus to teach. DeJesus now teaches at his own school in Pembroke Pines, FL.

Five times a year Master DeJesus holds the Florida Gold Coast AAU Taekwondo tournament. For anyone who is not familiar with the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union), it is an organization that offers thirty plus sports including the Taekwondo program to all ages and abilities. AAU members participate in local, state, regional, and national tournaments. The tournaments consist of Forms, Point Sparring, and Olympic-style
scoring. AAU Taekwondo competition includes the Youth and Adult National Taekwondo Championship during the July 4th weekend and the AAU Junior Olympic Games, which is the largest national multi-sport event conducted for the youth in the United States. The inaugural games were hosted in 1968 at Washington DC with 523 athletes. Since then, the popularity of the game has grown to 12,000 athletes representing all 50 states.

The next event will be the 2009 Florida Gold Coast AAU Taekwondo Championship Nationals & Junior Olympic Qualifier Saturday, January 10, 2009 at the Charles W. Flanagan High School. 12800 Taft St Pembroke Pines, FL 33028.

If you’re considering to get into Olympic Taekwondo this would be the place to start. Master DeJesus hopes that the tournaments will become one of the major significance in the uprising of future athletes. The tournaments give the students the opportunity to acquire experience and a chance to compete at the next level.

Master DeJesus also has a team called the Pembroke Pines Tigers who compete at Combaton “The martial arts team sport”. Those who are not familiar with combaton it is a sport that has a mixture of football, basketball, and martial arts. The game is played on a rectangular field 100 feet by 200 feet with six players on each team for out door, or three players on each team for indoors. It’s similar to American football, but instead of blocking and tackling, the player uses martial arts kicks to contact their opponent. The objective of the game is for the offense in possession of the baton to kick out the defense’s goal pole from the mount in order to score points for their team.

If you would like to learn more about Master Dejesus, The 2009 Florida Gold Coast AAU Taekwondo Championship Tournament, or Combaton, you can visit DeJesus at his school at 7938 Pines Blvd Pembroke Pines FL, 33024 or call (954) 964-7676. You can also log on to www.DeJesusTeamOlympic.com .

Alves Trains for Diego Sanchez

When UFC commentator Joe Rogan said that in his opinion he thought American Top team was the that best camp in the country, that was an understatement. They have a variety of trainers who specialize in different styles of fighting such as striking and grappling. One of these individuals is UFC fighter Thiago “Pitbull” Alves.

Alves was born in Fortaleza, Brazil. He started taking Martial Arts when he was eight years old. He studied Karate and Capoeira. At age fourteen he started training intensely in the art of Muay Thai. By seventeen years old he was fighting in MMA.

Like many other people, watching Bruce Lee and Van Dam movies inspired Alves to take up The Martial Arts.

Alves’s Muay Thai instructor was Evilazio Feitoza. Like his other instructors before Feitoza, Alves describes Feitoza as a father figure.

“If it wasn’t for Feitoza I probably wouldn’t be where I am today”.

I asked Alves if there was one characteristic you could take with you about Feitoza what would it be. Without hesitation his answer was that Feitoza is very determined at everything he does.

“There are a lot of people who are so determined to reach whatever goal they are after, that they don’t care what it takes or how it can effect other people. Feitoza, on the other hand, tries to reach his goals without stepping on people’s toes and affecting people negatively”.

I asked Alves how he hooked up with American Top Team. Living in Brazil at the time, Alves saw an ad for
ATT. They were looking for fighters from all over the world. He was also fortunate to know Marcus Aurelio. Aurelio gave ATT co-owner Ricardo Liborio Alves’s profile. Liborio then invited Alves to train in the states.

Alves got his first break in the UFC on his birthday, October 3, 2005. He remembers his manager calling him and asking Alves if he wanted to fight in a match with only thirty days to prepare for. Alves didn’t care if it was ten days. He was excited and determined to be prepared for his first fight in the UFC.

Alves’s first fight was with Spencer Fisher. In the beginning of the match Alves had the upper hand against Fisher. He was feeding into the crowd, sucking in the UFC experience. Unfortunately, he got careless and got caught in a triangle choke in the second round. Having had his first fight in the UFC under his belt, a more focused Alves won his next two fights. In UFC Fight Night 5 Alves lost to John Fitch by Technical Knock Out. Since then, he has won five fights in a row and seven of his last eight. Six of those wins have been by KO or TKO, including his last match with opponent Matt Hughes. Alves next match will be at UFC 90, when he fights Diego Sanchez.

Alves works out twice a day Monday through Saturday. His workouts are so intense that he doesn’t have the energy to do anything else. If he is not seriously injured after fighting in a match, Alves will take just one to two weeks off, then it’s right back to the gym. His workout ethics have paid off. Alves has made quite a bit of money fighting in the UFC . He is enjoying life with little or no complaints.

Alves predicts a knock out win over Diego Sanchez on October 25th.

“Diego brings a lot to the table. He is very explosive and puts a lot of pressure. That’s the kind of fight I love. I know I’m bigger, stronger and faster.”

Alves considers ATT the best school in the country. They have an incredible variety of trainers and coaches. It prepares you for the unexpected when you’re in the ring.

Since Alves’s last win over Matt Hughes, his popularity has risen substantially. With popularity comes a numerous amount of people who want to befriend him. Alves chooses his friends very carefully. He tries to surround himself with people who have positive energy.

Alves figures he can/will fight until he is thirty-two. After his fighting days are done he would like to give a shot at acting. Right now there are so many doors opening for him and he really doesn’t have time to think about it. Right now Alves just wants to focus on fighting and enjoy the ride.

Mahlow Strikes a Knee to the Chest

A couple of weeks ago I went to Back Alley Brawl (a Left Hook Production) and met XTREME FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP’S Lightweight Champion John Malhow. Malhow was gracious enough to let me have an interview with him the following week.

Twenty eight year old John Malhow is a native of Detroit, Michigan. He currently lives in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Since moving to Ft. Lauderdale, John is training with American Top Team.

John started training in Jiujitsu at the age of nineteen with a Machado Jiujitsu affiliate east west martial arts. He then went on to train with Team Mash and UFC/ Pride fighter James Lee. One year later at the age of twenty, Malhow was fighting at the pro level. He would fight in venues such as King Of The Cage, Gladiators Challenge and many more.

John took a two year layoff after sustaining an orbital injury. The doctors suggested that he shouldn’t fight anymore so he moved to St. Augustine Florida to get away. Malhow did a little bit of training and teaching as well when he stayed in St. Augustine. The competitive fire never left John. As matter of fact, the itch to compete had returned to John and it was driving him crazy. John decided to go to Jacksonville and have his eye checked out by a specialist. The specialist said his eye was fine and there was no reason he shouldn’t be fighting. John worked his way in slowly by competing in amateur events. A few months later he was back in the MMA scene.

I asked John what made him get into the Mixed Martial Arts. Malhow said he was the kid in school who got tossed into the lockers and garbage cans. He went to Blockbuster and rented tapes of UFC fights. Back then Royce Gracie was the Champion. John was amazed how Gracie dominated every challenger no matter how big the opponent was. Jon decided to take up Jiu-Jitsu. His days of getting thrown into lockers and garbage cans were over.

John won the XFC lightweight championship open title from Eben Oroz on June 28th at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa FL. I asked John who would he like to fight next. His answer was Mark Bocheck. John fought Bocheck a while ago in Canada. He took the fight in just a two weeks notice. He did not prepare himself properly for the fight. John also did not realize Bocheck was a phenomenal fighter. He went into the fight blindly not knowing anything about Bocheck and got beaten badly. Now that John is training with American Top Team he feels he is at a higher level and will have by far, a better fight against top fighters like Mark Bocheck.

I asked John what he thought about amateur MMA coming to Florida. He thinks it’s great as long as they regulate it correctly and the right people run the program.

When John is not training or fighting he enjoys snorkeling and motorcycle riding.

John’s future plans besides fighting is to become a police officer. He will be enrolling into the police academy in February.
John wants to stress, especially to the young crowd, that just because you know how to do an arm bar and wear a tap out shirt doesn’t mean you are an MMA fighter. You have to train hard, have a lot of heart, and give one hundred and ten percent. You need to give it your all even when you are in the worst case scenario. An example that John gives is kids stealing at Walmart while wearing MMA apparel. That is sending the wrong message and giving Mixed Martial Arts a bad image.

If you would like to visit John you can visit him at American Top Team of Sunrise. 5357 Nob Hill Road Sunrise, FL 33351 or you can log on to www.attwolfpack.com .

John will also be at the Dania Card show at Dania Jai-Alai on Sunday September 7, 2008 from 1:00 P:M to 3:00 P:M. Besides signing autographs, John will be conducting a thirty minute seminar. For more information call (954) 696-5774 or log on to www.daniascardshow.com .

I recently had the privilege to visit Carlos Rollyson at his school in Hollywood Florida. Born in Rio de Janeiro Brazil, Carlos started his journey with Jiu-Jitsu at the early age of 7 by his father Geraldo Rollyson. Soon after he began training with 9th degree black belt Grandmaster Carlson Gracie. Carlos was also fortunate to learn Judo from 7th Dan Master Takise Ueda. Before we get a little more into Carlos Rollyson, let’s give the readers who don’t know about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Carlson Gracie a brief description.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a martial art which focuses on grappling or ground fighting. The goal is to gain a dominant position, and then force an opponent into submission using joint- locks and choke holds.

Carlson Gracie is the man who ushered Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu into the modern era. He has trained many top competitors such as Allan Goes and Murilo Bustamante. He also trained Stephan Bonner, a finalist in the UFC reality show The Ultimate Fighter. He was in Bonner’s corner during his legendary fight against The Ultimate Fighter winner and now Light Heavyweight Champion Forest Griffin.

Carlos described Carlson as a second father. He would always tell people that Jiu-Jitsu is a continuous journey. Carlos moved to the United States in 1997 and started teaching at the Popovitch school in Pembroke Pines FL. He then opened up his own school in Hollywood. After moving back to Brazil and then returning to the United States, Carlos once again opened up a school in Hollywood. Carlos feels that if you’re going to open up your own school, you shouldn’t do it just for the money.

First and foremost, you should have the love of the art itself, then the love to teach. Only then will the rest come in to place. Carlos has done seminars for Hallandale’s Florida S.W.A.T. He has also done seminars for the D.E.A as well. I would like to note that Carlos has done a public service by doing these seminars for free.

Carlos plans for the future are to bring his family members from Brazil into the United States so he can open up another school. He has a nephew who is a black belt and has the passion for MMA. Hopefully we can see some of tomorrow’s stars come out of the Rollyson camp.

Carlos hopes that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu thrives and becomes as popular here as it is in Brazil. With a Brazilian federation in Florida supporting the traditional Brazilian martial arts schools, Carlos believes that can happen.

Carlos runs the school with his wife, Megan Rollyson. They have their one year wedding anniversary coming up this month.

“We run a family business. When you join us, you are part of the family. We show good technique as well as good work ethic”.

Carlos would like to thank Zenaric.com for all the support they have given Team Rollyson. If you would like to no more about Team Rollyson you can find them at 4443 Hollywood, Florida 33021. (754)235-6029. www.myspace.com/teamrollyson .

Now and then I would always contemplate on how Bruce Lee would react to Mixed Martial Arts, or better yet if JKD could be incorporated into MMA.  Then it happened.  I went to the North American Grappling Association tournament at the Palm Beach Central High School FL and met Sifu Richie Carrion from the JKD-Extreme Academy.  I was distributing my paper to one of the vendors of the tournament when Sifu Richie happened to glance at the paper. He introduced himself,   and talk to me about his student, up and coming MMA fighter Ebon “The Big O” Oroz.  At this point just talking to Sifu Richie about the JKD system was all I wanted to do.  No  disrespect to Ebon, but Bruce Lee was and still is one of my heroes.  Whether it was information about JKD techniques, philosophy or just about Bruce Lee himself, it is to me a gold mine of knowledge, and that to me was something I did not want to pass up.

Forty one year old Sifu Richie has been training in the martial arts since the age of twelve.  He has trained in Chi-na with Sifu Ronnie Brown, and Taekwondoe.  He also trained in Roman Greco wrestling and wrestled in high school.  To add to the prestigious list, Sifu Richie has also trained in shoot fighting with the late Eddie Pagan.

Sifu Richie got into Jun Fan (meaning Bruce Lee) JKD when he went to a seminar held by Sifu Tim Tackett.  Sifu Tackett was impressed by Sifu Richie’s moves and decided to take him under his wing.  Sifu Richie also credits Sifu Bob Bremer for his JKD teachings.  Sifu Bremer and Sifu Tackett were personally trained by Bruce Lee.  Sifu Richie is considered the second generation Jun Fan JKD instructor.  He also might possibly be the only one in the West Palm Beach area that is a certified Jun Fan JKD instructor.  Sifu Richie notes that true JKD is not every where.  He is part of an illustrious group called the Wednesday night group.  In the group is Bob Bremer, Sifu Tackett and others who trained with Bruce Lee.  Every Wednesday night these gentlemen teach anyone who wants to what Bruce Lee taught them, free of charge.

Sifu Richie is now the Grappling instructor for the Wednesday night group.  I asked Sifu how he got into the grappling.  With his past experience in Greco Wrestling and Shoot fighting and other various arts Sifu Richie has been able to modify the grappling and create his own system.  Sifu Richie adds that he has been able to simplify the system.  He has basically done what Bruce Lee told his students.

“Simple done right has no counter”.

Without giving too much secrets of the system, Sifu Richie has applied the Jeet Kune Do mentality to his ground work.  When his students compete in grappling a lot of people are confused and in the words of Sifu Richie they say

“ What the heck is that”.

Well that goes to another concept of Bruce Lee

“ If you don’t understand it, then how can you beat it?”

Eventually people will catch on but Si Fu Richie believes he will keep on growing.

I asked Sifu Richie about what kind of feedback he gets from incorporating JKD with MMA.  He gets mixed reviews.  Some people ask him how is he doing this if JKD is not a sport.  Sifu Richie tells them they are correct when they say  JKD is not a sport. It’s straight up street self defense, but you can use the basic principles of JKD and eliminate the stuff you would use on the street.  Sifu Richie has gotten a positive response from Sifu Tackett.  Tackett has asked  Sifu Richie to run a couple of Seminars with him.

Sifu Richie held an JKD X-team try out last month.  He basically was looking for a diamond in the rough who wanted to do MMA.  There are a lot of students who join MMA schools and want to be in the ring but no one wants to give them a chance.  Sifu Richie gave about one hundred  students a chance to the win a free year membership to the JKD Extreme Academy.  The winners also won a sponsorship from Brawl and Maul fight wear.  They also got two pro debuts with Paul Andres, who is one of the biggest match makers in the state of  Florida.  So the lucky winners essentially got to go pro just for trying out.

“I want JKD Extreme to be just as big as all the other schools. I want to show the world were just as good, and compete at that high level that they are.”

As far as Bruce Lee stories are concerned there is not enough room in this paper to write about the stories Bob  Bremer and company have told Sifu Richie about.  If you would like to hear about the legend, learn Jun Fan JKD or learn more about JKD -Extreme you can visit them at.   JKD Extreme Martial Arts Academy. 7318 Lake Worth, FL 33467. (561)932-0681