ECBJJ proudly presents to you New Zealands first NZ vs USA Cage event! Go to poster for details. December 3rd 2011

New Zealands own Whakatane had their taste of the first ever CAGE Tournament and it went off! With fighters from all over New Zealand it was a night of action packed fighting. A great lighting show and smooth officials from ICNZ, it couldn’t get any better. A big thank you to all gyms that participated in the event.

East Coast BJJ had 4 fighters with 4 wins

Pirimi Tarau
Nik Gray
Dan Morgan
Kingi Williams(Main event)

Congratulation guys! Hard training, Easy Fight

Yes indeed it was. Another fantastic Seminar run by NZ BJJ Black Belt Geoff Grant. And another reason why basics at ANY level is so vital. Thanks again Geoff.

Congratulations to ECBJJs new Purple belts

Brad Rapira
Toko Renata
Nasah Steed

and also to our new Blue Belts

Chris Mules
Warren Irving
Ursula Marshall
Reece Hepi
Eugene Hunia

Well Deserved everyone!

Graham Waerea…What a beast on the mat. Thanks for your awesomeness and sweet moves. We had the pleasure of rolling with good old Graham for a solid weekend. Looking forward to more visits my friend! If your ever in New Castle and in need of a good BJJ gym, go check’m out. http://brotherhood.net.au/

Well, it’s finally come to fruitation. We would like to give a special thank you to Jeremy Gardiner(Head CEO of Ngati Awa) and Pera and the crew from The Whakatane Commercial Hotel. Without you guys this dream would have not happened. Also a big shout out to the Wairaka Community for all your amazing work! Here’s what you can expect in the new ECBJJ Dojo

24ft Hexagon certified event cage(please see contacts for cage bookings)

18mtr x 8mtr mat training area on Olympic Judo mats

Boxing Ring

Weights Room

Spin Bike room with a 42″ Widescreen T.V.

Well it’s been a fairwell to one of our earliest students. Brad Rapira has now started up his own school in Palmerston North, NZ! Congrats ma friend and the East Coast BJJ Family wish you all the best for the future. On top of that Brad came away with GOLD in the Will/Machado NZ Nationals. If you’r ever in the Palmerston north area make sure to call in!

Here are the East Coast/Highbury BJJ results from the Will/Machado NZ Nationals, Good stuff everyone!

John Donaldson – Gold
Brad Rapira(Highbury BJJ) – Gold
Aaron Grace – Gold
Nik Gray – Gold
Eugene Hunia – Silver
Rich Hamlin(Highbury BJJ) – Silver
Toko Renata – Silver
Piri Tarau – Silver
Teatarau Tarau – Silver
Steven Henderson -Bronze
Pepi Biddle – Bronze
Nassah Steed – Bronze
Manaia Kora – Bronze
Inuhia Rangihika – Bronze

Congratulations to Nassah Steed, Eddie Davis, and Kingi Williams competing at the ICNZ MMA tournament. The guys all did awesome and we now have a new crew of guys coming through the ECBJJ/MMA ranks as well. To say the guys went to war would be an understatement! Fight of the day had to go to Nick Daly(Southern Tribes) vs Kingi Williams(ECBJJ)…Was great to have the Southern Tribe Whanau in there!!Awesome Pina!

All results and videos can be seen here http://www.icnzmma.co.nz/

Way To go guys!!

Well it’s been a dam good 2010 for ECBJJ. With 2 tournaments and MMA fights, and a whole heap more comps to come. It’s looking like a cracker in the near future. Was great to catch up with old friend and Co-founder, Pina Simpson(Brown Belt) of Southern Tribes BJJ/MMA, in Taranaki during the Easter Break. Is always good to catch up with you ma friend:) Also have in the pipeline a Judo/BJJ Boot camp at the Gisborne Judo Club, with Sensai Jason King, a legend in his own right. The ECBJJ crew are looking forward to a big weekend of throws, throwing….and more throws. It’s going to be epic! Although we are predominately ground grapplers at heart, it’s always good to have an all round game and is vital to improve all areas. A small group of us will be heading through to the true East Coast of Gisborne, April 9th and 10th. No doubt photo’s will be up.

Here’s a clip of our clubs training and fights for late 2009-2010

Enjoy

John has released the date for this years nationals.

The 2010 Will-Machado Asia Pacific Championships
Location: Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre
Date: Saturday September 11th 2010
Start: Kids – Teens 9am
Adult Divisions 10am

Special Guest Rigan Machado!
Register online from 30th June 2010

This is going to be a big one. Am already in the process of getting a ECBJJ crew in for this event!!

Train Hard, Train Smart

How great it was to have our Black Belt grace Whakatane yet again.  We had the privilege of holding a 2 hour seminar at the Sunny Gyms (Thanx Sian for the spot).  This is the second time Geoff has come through and as usual, leaves a dam big impression on the club.  Fantastic Day!  To Sam Stephens (GC/10th planet), John Aligheri (GC/10th planet), Tazz (Tu Kaha), Gingles (R.O.A), and even had a visit from up and coming ripper, Bobby Mules (Douglas Santos).  Keep an eye out for Bobby he’s got a big future in the sport.  Was great to see you guys come from as far as Hamilton, Auckland and Gisborne.

A few Blue Belts were given out that day as well:

Congratulations to Aaron Grace, Kingi Williams, Scotty Enright, and Paora Rangihika.

Congrats guys.  Your blues were well overdue.