The Savannah MMA Report

Albany, Georgia will be host to a large scale mixed martial arts competition on November 8th, 2008. The card is hosting a big card of Pro and Amateur fights with about 8 pro mma bouts and 8 amateur mma bouts.

Savannah MMA will have 4 fighters competing in the card including 1 professional and 3 amateurs. Georgia amateur mixed martial arts rules do not allow for ground and pound to the head and limit the stand-up to knees to the body but not the head. Amateur fighters are also to wear protective gear including shin guards and safety training MMA gloves. Amateurs are also prohibited from applying any twisting leg or ankle locks. This can be a disadvantage to the overall progression of the fighter, but it has its safety benefits especially in the event that the fight has been mismatched in experience levels.

Our three Savannah MMA amateur fighters include Sam Grosse, Demetrice Turner, and Frank Joseph.

Sam Grosse has never fought in mixed martial arts competition. He will be facing another 145 lb. 0-0 mma fighter who has been kickboxing for a while. Sam will be training hard and if he sticks to our fight game plan, he should come home with his first mma fight being a success.

Demetrice Turner is fairly experienced now with a record of 2-3 in amateur competition. He faces an 0-0 opponent at 155 lb., but is not taking this fight lightly. He will work hard to fight to the win and has a full grasp of what it will take to win and get the attention he deserves.

Frank Joseph is 1-0 in amateur competition and hopefully will face another game 205 lb. fighter on November 8th at the Albany GA MMA fights. He has just come off a quick knock out victory and hopes to do the same in Albany on the 8th.

Our professional fighter, Richard Aquino is 2-3 as a professional fighter and is facing Heath Davis at 180lbs for the fight night. Richard has been training hard and has been working on strategy and conditioning for this competition. “Regardless of what happens, he is going to remember he fought ‘Da Pitbull’” is what Richard has said of his fight against Albany local Heath Davis.

Hopefully we will all fight well and come home with minimal injuries and some strong wins to bolster our experience. See you all there for the fights and God bless.

I don’t know if you got a chance to visit the All Weather Training Facility last Saturday night, but there was quite a great competition in that very building. Several students from Beaufort Martial Arts and Savannah MMA competed in the event and did very well in the home town environment. Our team went 50% on the night with 2 losses and 2 wins, but everyone did a great job and showed plenty of heart and determination.

Mike Shannon opened up the event for Savannah MMA against a very game Chris Scott from Champions Training Center. This fight was chosen before hand to be broadcast on HD Net sports (check local listings for event times.) Mike stuck to the gameplan and opened with a quick combination followed by a huge slam and even passed to sidemount. Chris’s ground game was very solid though and he pulled guard and eventually secured a tight armbar on Mike in the first round. Mike tapped out and was disappointed but he showed lots of potential for his first mma fight with Savannah MMA, especially after only training 10 weeks before fighting.

Frank Joseph brought a victory to Savannah MMA with a 12 second knockout of his opponent. We had been training for a stand up fight, but Frank’s opponent was changed at the last moment and instead of fighting a 5′8″ opponent, Frank faced a 6′2″ opponent. We stuck to the original gameplan and Frank pushed forward with a strong combination and knocked his opponent to the ground in stunning fashion.

Demetrice Turner faced Beaufort MMA’s Colton Rucker at 155 next and won a minute and a half in due to strikes from the mount. Colton had been training hard for a different fighter, but Demetrice took the fight on a days notice to help Colton stay on the card and to give both schools a chance to shine in front of their local fans.

Travis Shiflett finished the night for Savannah MMA, but his long fought battle at 170 lbs ended in a loss by unanimous decision. Travis fought hard and escaped every submission attempt, but control gave his opponent the victory. He did impress with his heart and will to finish, but his opponents takedowns proved too much during the fight.

Overall it was a great card and all the Savannah MMA and Beaufort MMA students did a great job fighting hard and training harder for the fight.

Frank talked to me this week and mentioned how he trained so hard and cut weight and prepared so much and his fight only went 12 seconds. I reminded him that is why we always say “Train hard so you won’t have to fight hard.” We will continue to train hard and continue to prepare for future competitions and we all feel priviledged to be part of South Carolina’s first ever mixed martial arts event.

Great Job Guys!

For Everyone Else:

If you would like to fight on the Savannah MMA team there are a couple of stipulations… First of all, you have to train and train hard. Second, you have to earn a spot on the team. Come by and try a class out and see how you do. Check out directions to our school by clicking the location tab at the top of the page.

Classes are Monday and Wednesday from 7-8:30pm and we train 5 times a week for fights. Come on in and see if you have what it takes.

Thanks to everyone that showed up to the Dean Lister seminar last Friday night. We got to learn some great techniques and hopefully we will get to use them very soon in the next mma event or grappling tournament that our team competes in.

If you were not available for the seminar, don’t worry, we are looking to have plenty more seminars in the future and hopefully, we will get other UFC fighters to come train with us like Dean did.

If you are interested in being alerted about upcoming seminars, I would recommend that you subscribe to our RSS feed or email us and let us know that you are interested in upcoming events.

Once again, thanks to those that visited for the seminar and please come back later to see some pictures posted and possibly some videos.

On October 17th, Dean Lister will be teaching a mixed martial arts
seminar at our school in Savannah. Dean is a world class grappling
champion, King of the Cage MMA champion, and is a current UFC fighter.
He was one of Tito Ortiz’s guest coaches during the Ultimate Fighter
and is well respected as a fighter and grappler to all who know and
study the sport.

Don’t miss out on this great opportunity to train with a phenominal grappler and mma fighter in Dean Lister.

When:

Friday October 17th at 6:30pm

Where:

Savannah Martial Arts Academy at 904 East 70th Street near Memorial Health Center.

How Much:

$70.00

What will I need?:

Bring whatever MMA gear you have, as well as a drink or cash for
drinks at the school. (Gear is not necessary if you do not have it.)

On September 27th, Crossfit Hyperformance in Savannah Georgia held its annual “Fight Gone Bad” workout as a fundraiser for the Wounded Warriors Project where disabled veterans and their families receive help via donations. This fundraiser included the BJ Penn inspired “Fight Gone Bad” routine consisting of three 5 minute rounds of intense workout. Each round has five 1 minute stations with a different workout at each station.

Overall the event went very well with several Crossfit Hyperformance regulars doing very well. We also had several of our students from Savannah Mixed Martial Arts participate and put up some good scores. Mike Shannon scored the highest of the day with a combined score of 365. Drew McKenzie (Crossfit Highperformance Owner and Trainer) was not in attendance during the event but scored in the 380s when he returned.

Here are some pictures of the event (compliments Jennifer and Drew of Crossfit Hyperformance in Savannah GA):

Fight Gone Bad Rounds and Exercises.

Mike From Savannah MMA killing the Fight Gone Bad Workout

Demetrice Rowing to the Finish

Savannah MMA and Crossfit Hyperformance Complete a Successful Fight Gone Bad

Dean Lister will be visiting our school on October 17th. the day before the MMA fights on Parris Island, SC. He is one of the guests of the ICF show on Saturday at Parris Island and will be teaching us some techniques and strategy he uses to win in MMA and grappling.

Here is a quick Biography about Dean Lister borrowed from Wikipedia:

Dean “the Boogeyman” Lister is a two-time U.S. National Sambo champion, a four-time U.S. Machado National Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Champion (weight class and open classes), and a National Gracie Jiu Jitsu champion.

Dean was invited three times (2000, 2003, and 2005) to the Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) championship, a prestigious grappling tournament consisting only of top 16 grapplers in the world of each weight class. Lister won the Abu Dhabi Absolute Division championship in 2003, as well as two Superfights in 2003 and 2005; in addition, he set a tournament record by defeating 4 of his opponents consecutively (3 by submission) in 2003.

It is worth noting that one of Lister’s MMA losses is against Nathan Marquardt whom Lister submitted in the 2003 ADCC tournament.

Dean Lister was a King of the Cage middleweight champion, and defended his title several times before eventually losing it to Jeremy Horn via decision.

Dean’s overall record includes 11 wins and 5 losses, with over 9 of these wins coming by submission. Dean Lister has never been knocked out or submitted in an MMA competition. 9 of his victories have come by submission.

UFC 79 on December 29, 2007: Lister wins by unanimous decision of 30-27. This bout was not aired on the broadcast.
Dean avenged his loss in the TUF 7 finale by submitting MMA veteran Jeremy Horn by guillotine choke.

Come by next Friday for our MMA seminar with grappling champion and UFC star Dean Lister. Bring some friends too, this is a great opportunity and you do not want to miss out on it!

Please email or call for more details. Call 912-41-CHOKE.

Jessie and Mike work on submission grappling at Savannah MMA. Savannah Martial Arts Academy trains men and women for self-defense and competition, so try a class or just visit to get a great workout.

Savannah MMA Drills - Armbars and Kimuras

This video is from our old school on Waters. We still workout just as hard if not harder, but having the extra space doesnt hurt either. The best thing about this drill is you can do it with so many submissions and the benefits are outstanding. This drill was developed by Will McCullough while training MMA in Iraq with the Marine Corps. At the time, the Marine Corps did not have the same interests in MMA as is displayed in fighters such as Brian Stann. Instead, Will would have to convince a fellow Marine to let him practice his submissions on them. It is a great drill for in class or with just you and another person when outside of class, just remember to stay safe and work on your speed, keeping the submission tight, and not hurting your partner.

Come visit us at Savannah Martial Arts Academy for moregreat drills and stay tuned for other videos of class.

The ICF will be hosting a cage fight competition on Parris Island in South Carolina. If you were / are a marine there is a 50% chance that you went to boot camp there and suffered through the Crucible among other grueling training and psychological beat down to mold you into a marine.

Because of Parris Island’s tradition of combat based training, it is good news to see that we are finally having a large MMA event there. Parris Island is about 45 minutes from downtown Savannah and the event should have seating for close to 5000 people. The event promoters have expected this event to sell out, so there is a good chance that a lot of local amd regional customers will be there and see our team’s sponsors. There will also be a pay per view event as well as a DVD release.

With this much exposure, we are looking for local and regional sponsors that are interested in advertising on our fighters clothing as well as on our MMA team banner. If you are looking to advertise at a local Mixed Martial Arts Event, I would love to hear from you. Our rates are fair and we will give you as much extra exposure as possible to try to get you lots of leads.

I look forward to hearing from any interested sponsors. If you would like to know more, please contact ABE.

If you are a current member of Savannah MMA and have been in class for at least a month, you can get an opportunity to save some cash when paying for you mixed martial arts class bill. Although our rates are very competitive with similar programs in Savannah, we want to offer you something for being a member of our school.

Here is the deal. For any of your friends or acquaintances you bring into class and who then sign up, you save $15 from your monthly bill. You will continue to receive the discount as long as that person is a paying member. The more people you can get to sign up, the more you save.

There are a couple points I want to cover though. Students do not just have to be adults, if you refer someone with children and their child signs up, you will get the same benefit. Also if you refer someone to the kardio kickboxing, you will get the discount as long as they are a member. There are a couple of regulations as well. The deal does not apply to your personal family members unless they are paying the full rate of their tuition. Also if you currently have a discounted price you may save $10 per person you refer. If you refer a family, and they sign up five family members… you will only get the discount for 2 of the students. (Remember, you still save $30 on your bill).

Here is another condition and this is an important one, the person must mention your name or point you out in the class in order for you to get the discount. I know that the economy is tight, but please be honest. I look at our MMA class in Savannah as my family, and if anyone were to delibrately be dishonest, I will be hurt and so will they (physically)… So please, no shenanigans…

That is pretty much the run down on the latest discount for our mixed martial arts classes at Savannah MMA. Stay tuned to the site for new deals, if you have any questions, just let us know.