News & Updates From Ivey League MMA, Winter 2014

Winter is here, or I should say almost here. The weather is getting colder, just the way I like it. And, just like every winter before, things are super busy here at Ivey League Mixed Martial Arts.

Let’s start with Ivey League’s own MMA HWY Fighter Big Jeff “Final Destination” Blachly.

Jeff fought in his 8th MMA bout, this time at Glory Fights, which was held in Woodbridge Virginia. A very good and well known fight organization.

Oh and make no mistake about it, this was a fight. Maybe an even better was to word it would be a “rumble”.

Jeff was game sure, but so was his 6 foot 4 inch, 300+ pound opponent, Greg Weightman. They battled for 3 straight rounds that saw lots of takedowns, ground and pound and attempted submission holds.

Just when the fight looked like it might go to the judges scorecards, Big Jeff gets the mount position and slaps on a brutal paintbrush submission hold, forcing Weightman to tap out.

So Jeff wins once again, super congrats! I’ve got to give credit to his opponent cause that dude was tough as heck and really fought hard. He earned my respect that’s for sure.

Next up for Jeff should be his pro MMA depute. Nothing’s set in stone but if everything goes the way we want this should be going down. Stay tuned.

Okay moving on, let’s talk about the recent Kids In-House BJJ/Grappling Tournament, which was hosted right here at IL.

We ended up having about 60 kids come out to compete. Let me tell ya, the kids were 100% up for this event because many of the matches were super fast paced and packed with excitement.

Much thanks to the academies who brought down some really awesome kids to take part. Below you’ll find the academies listed:

• Crazy 88 BJJ in Elkridge MD
• Camp Springs in Clinton MD
• Toms River BJJ in Toms River NJ
• York MMA in York PA
• And of course our kids from Ivey League MMA in Arnold Maryland

Trust me when I say that for me to post all the results would take a very very long time. I did however provide a short write up for a few of the kids that really shined. See below.

Isabella “Beans” McDaniel

Isabella or better known as Beans drove all the way from Toms River New Jersey to compete. I’ve gotta be honest we’re glad she did because a good chunk of the days action came from here.

Beans was pretty much unstoppable at the in-house. Winning almost all matches by submission. Not just one submission mind you, but rather a bunch of different ones including armbar, cross choke and RNC.

Beans turned quite a few heads that day and I think it’s safe to say she’s got a bright future ahead of her.

Ronan Santamarina

Ronan trains at our sister school, Crazy 88 and from what I was told, was really good. After seeing him compete at the in-house I would agree, yes this kid is the real deal.

To be honest I didn’t see all of Ronan’s matches because he was on the far mat from me but what I did see was a kid that goes all out and leaves nothing to chance on the mats.

He looks far better then the somewhat short amount of training time he’s got. Give this kid a few more years and man oh man, look out! He’s gonna be a monster.

Jameson “Bearcat” Gerrity

Our very own Jameson AKA Bearcat also shined at the in-house. I mean come on man, I nicknamed him Bearcat for a reason!

He won all his matches by submission and unlike beans, he used only one submission hold, his bread and butter move, the rear choke.

Next up for Bearcat will be 2015 Pan Kids Championships in California. Will we see a repeat of his performance? I sure hope so!

Wyatt Zech

Dude this kid was a beast! He came down from my buddies academy in York Pennsylvania and boy did he bring along that notorious PA toughness.

Sadly I didn’t get to see his matches but going on word of mouth, he did extremely well, I believe winning his weight class which was filled with other really good kids.

I must’ve heard about this little guy a thousand times from both parents and the other kids. Apparently he made friends with a bunch of the other kids competing, which is super cool!

I’m pretty sure his new friends will be more then happy to welcome him back for our next in-house BJJ tournament, with open arms for sure.

On to other news…

Two new kids sport yellow bellies. By that I mean brand new BJJ Yellow Belts!

Earning a BJJ Yellow Belt isn’t easy. At least not here at Ivey League. We certainly don’t give out belts that’s a well known fact.

The cool thing about that is when we do promote a child, they know it was earned the hard way, with lots of sweat lost in the process.

This past week we promoted two of our finest students to Yellow Belt, Lauren “Prototype” Miller and Dax “Juggernaut” Avila.

Both kids are outstanding, inside and out of Ivey League. Proto was this years Pan Kids Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Champion at 90LBS.

And Juggernaut is no tomato either, placing 2nd at Pan Kids two years ago and 3rd this year. We were more then happy to see them move up in rank, getting ever closer to Black Belt 🙂

I should also point out that the look of happiness we saw on both their faces was truly priceless and something I’ll never forget.

Congrats to both of you guys on your well deserved promotions.