THE FIRST FILIPINO AND SOUTHEAST ASIAN BLACK BELT IN JUDO AND BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU

Sixth-degree black belt John Baylon has long been a legend in Judo and the Philippines' pride in sports.
 
Baylon may not be as familiar among most Filipinos as Manny Pacquiao is today, but everyone in the martial arts community knows and respects him.
 
You really have no choice.
 
Undeafeated in the Southeast Asian Games since 1991, he is an eight-time SEA Games gold medalist in Judo--the first and only person to have the highest medal tally in an individual sport.
 
He is also a two-time Olympic Games competitor (1988 in Seoul, South Korea and 1992 in Barcelona, Spain), a four-time Asian Judo champion in four different weight divisions, a bronze medalist in the 2003 World Masters Judo Championship in Japan, and a consistent placer in the Asian Games.
 
But apart from being the country's most decorated Judo black belt, Baylon has made another milestone when he was recently awarded his black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from his Japanese teacher, Wado Toshiyuki, in Tokyo--making him the first Filipino and only Southeast Asian to hold such high ranks in both Judo and BJJ.
 
This Filipino prodigy has been a regular visitor to Toshiyuki's BJJ academy since 2002 when he was visiting Japan as part of the Philippine national team.

Baylon is currently the co-head instructor of Team Fabrico BJJ/Judo Academy along with New Zealander Judo and BJJ black belt, Stephen Kamphuis.

In November 2008, he ended a match in just two minutes against the much younger and more agile Mike Fowler--a Copa Atlantica BJJ champion, Pan-American Jiu-Jitsu Championships medalist, World Abu Dhabi Combat Club finalist, and head instructor of a BJJ school in Guam--via an armbar in the 2008 Hajime! Judo Competition at the Ateneo De Manila University.

Born on 6 November 1964 in Binalbagan, Negros Occidental but grew up in Zamboanga City, this decorated Judo player started honing his skills in Japan while working and taking Nippongo lessons back in the late eighties. He became a member of the Philippine national team in 1988.
 
Despite the long list of injuries he sustained in more than two decades of fighting and against the advice of well-meaning friends, Baylon continues to spend countless hours in the gym, perfecting his skills.
 
The following clips show some of John Baylon's recent victories...

JOHN BAYLON VS MIKE FOWLER


PHILIPPINES VS VIETNAM

Info Source: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Philippines Website  
Video Sources: Gerard Teruel's YouTube Channel and GMANews.TV  
Photo Sources: Men's Health Philippines Website, Jamd Website, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Philippines Website

THANKS AND GOODBYE, GRANDMASTER HELIO GRACIE

The martial arts community is a separate universe on its own, and Helio Gracie--the creator of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu--could be one of its biggest and oldest stars.
 
But even real, literal stars will one day run out of fuel and die. And in the case of the man who gave us one of the world's greatest fighting styles, this martial arts star is now gone.

Gracie passed away at the age of 95, on 29 January 2009 at his ranch in Itaipava, a mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was buried in the afternoon of the same day.
 
Sources say he died of pneumonia.
 
A sixth-degree black belt in Judo and a tenth-degree red belt in BJJ, Helio Gracie revolutionized martial arts along with his older brother Carlos (who died in 1994 at the age of 92) by introducing ground-fighting techniques based from Judo and Japanese Jujitsu, which he learned from Japanese Judo expert Mitsuyo Maeda. These "new" techniques emphasized leverage and position as a way to compensate for size differences among opponents. 

During his lifetime, Gracie was involved in two legendary fights. The first was against legendary Japanese Judo champion Masahiko Kimura--who outweighed him by some 40 pounds--in 1951 when Carlos threw in the towel after Kimura broke Gracie’s arm with a reverse ude-garami technique, a shoulder lock in Judo which is known today among BJJ practitioners as the "Kimura lock," as a tribute to the Japanese fighter's victory over the BJJ founder. His second major fight, which happened four years later, was against his former student Valdemar Santana, who was also a practitioner of Capoeira, Judo, and Boxing. After nearly four hours of combat, Gracie succumbed to exhaustion against his much younger opponent.
 
Gracie had seven sons (Rickson, Royler, Rolker, Royce, Relson, Robin, and Rorion) and two daughters (Rerika and Ricci).

Rorion was one of the founders of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, while Royce was proclaimed hall of famer in the UFC by winning three times between 1993 and 1994.
 
The fighting style that Gracie created came to international prominence in the martial arts community in the 1990s, through son Royce's impressive and decisive victories over larger and stronger opponents from other martial arts styles, such as Karate, Judo, Greco-Roman Wrestling, Tae Kwon Do, Kung Fu, and Boxing, among others.

BJJ has since become a staple art for many MMA fighters today and is largely credited for bringing widespread attention to the importance of ground fighting.  
With this legacy and string of accomplishments that will surely outlive him, it can be said that Helio--whose name, I surmise, was chosen by his parents in reference to the sun, the star of our solar system--indeed shone during his lifetime. And brightly he did.
 
Thanks and goodbye, Grand Master.

It was a fruitful, well-spent life.

KYRA GRACIE: WORLD'S HOTTEST FEMALE BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU FIGHTER

The world of combat sports--despite all the battle scars and injuries--never runs low on supply of hotties.

One sizzling example is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Kyra Gracie, the first female member of the fighting clan of the Gracies (who developed and popularized BJJ) to not only become a multiple title holder in the sport but also to make BJJ and Mixed Martial Arts as her full-time career.
 
Despite her manifest yumminess, distractingly lovely "V-line," and well-toned femininity, Kyra is far from your typical pin-up girl. She's a hottie with a black belt and a crazy fight record! At 23 (her birthday is 29 May 1985), she already has an impressive list of credentials:

1. Three-time World BJJ Champion (2008, 2006, 2004).
 
2. Five-time Pan-American BJJ Games Champion (2007, 2005, 2003, 2002, 2001).
 
3. Five-time Brazilian BJJ Champion (2004, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998).
 
4. Five-time New York State BJJ Champion (2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998). 

5. Two-time Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Champion (2007, 2005).
 
6. One-time Asiatic BJJ Champion (2006).

She currently lives in New York, where she teaches BJJ for women on her uncle Renzo Gracie's gym. She also maintains her own start-up gym, which is affiliated with her uncle's and also with the Gracie Barra Academy.
 
Speaking of Gracie Barra Academy, it has a branch/chapter in the Philippines, particularly in Metro Manila. It's being headed by Alvin Aguilar, one of the first Filipino BJJ black belts in the country and founder-promoter of local MMA event Universal Reality Combat Championship.

Kyra speaks fluent English, stands 5'7" (bad news for guys 5'6" and below), and has a (more bad news) boyfriend--Marcio Feitosa (lucky bastard)--who is also a (still more bad news) champion in many international BJJ events.

To see her in action, you can watch her fight highlights here. For full-length videos of her fights, you can always type her name at the YouTube search prompt, for a whole range of choices.

For updates, either you visit this blog once in a while or check out her website: http://www.graciekyra.com.