Congrats to Team RONIN ATHLETICS competitors: Christian Montes, Emalee Heim, and Liz Milizio for their performances at the Gracie US Nationals this past weekend in Los Angeles!

Christian has been hitting a number of tournaments recently and decided to jump into the US Nationals before jetting off to Portugal next weekend for the IBJJF European Open, and our women’s team competitors Liz, Emalee, and Lola (who unfortunately couldn’t compete due to injury) were in town for the competition to kick off the week-long, Women’s Grappling Camp.

We’re happy to report that all three of our competitors placed on the podium!

Results:

Christian Montes

First Place — Master’s Advanced No-Gi 170 lbs division

Second Place — Master’s Purple Belt 170 lbs division.

 

Emalee Heim

Second Place — Women’s White Belt < 135 lbs division.

 

Liz Milizio

First Place — Women’s Blue Belt < 135 lbs division.

Pics (more soon!):

Many thanks to our friends and supporters including: Danny Suarez, Jen Flannery (who also placed 1st in her division!!!), and Ryan Hall (who also placed 1st in his division and the absolute!!!). Also an enormous thanks to Lola for cornering/coaching/keeping time and keeping it real! :)

Great job everyone! Have a great time at the Women’s Camp, Emalee, Lola, and Liz!

HUGE congrats to RONIN ATHLETICS Founder, Christian Montes, for his performance at today’s The Good Fight: Baltimore BJJ Championship!

Christian is bringing home 2 Golds (gi & no-gi divisions) and 1 Silver (gi absolute)!

In his purple belt, gi (170lbs and under) division Christian won 2 matches—armbar from mount (after a 9-0 lead) and a 2-0 points victory via “old school” sweep in the final match—for the GOLD medal!

In the gi absolute, Christian went 1-1 to grab the Silver Medal, and in his no-gi advanced division final, Christian, was up 5-0 on points, and won the Gold via DQ for getting slammed out of a triangle from his guard.

Due to a slight back injury issue from the slam, Christian was unable to compete in the no-gi absolute, but with 3 medals around his neck, we’re certain he’s still pretty psyched.

Congrats, Christian!

Congratulations to the three RONIN ATHLETICS Competition Team members who jumped into the mix at last weekend’s World Grappling Games: OTM 2010 Northeast Regional Championships in Philadelphia!

Results:

• Christian Montes: Silver Medal!
• Josh Bonacci: Silver Medal!
• Roger Dardis: Fearless!^*

Thanks to OTM for putting on a great show!

Great job, Team!

* – with no one in Roger’s advanced division, he stepped up to compete against a 6′4″, 220lbs Black Belt… twice!

Congrats to Christian Montes, for his Silver medal victory at this past Saturday’s NAGA Southwest Championship in Fort Worth Texas!

After hopping a plane from NYC to Austin and then driving three hours to Fort Worth, Christian decided to not cut weight and to instead compete in the 170 lbs division.

At the end of the weekend, Christian brought home the Silver for the Mens Masters Expert Purple Belt Middle Weight division, got stranded in Texas due to flight cancellation/NYC blizzard conditions, enjoyed some good food and made some great friends along the way.

Congrats and welcome back, Christian!

A huge congrats goes out to RONIN ATHLETICS founder/head instructor, Christian Montes, for his competition victories at this past Saturday’s US Grappling GrappleMania NC!

All of us here in NYC have been hearing for a while now just how great US Grappling tournaments are run and we’re definitely glad Christian made the last-minute decision to hop on a plane and head down to Raleigh/Durham to jump into the competition.

At the end of the day, Christian had some very tough matches and came home with Four Medals overall!

Results:

• 1st Place – Advanced No-Gi (30+) – 160–179.9 lbs division
• 1st Place – Master’s Gi Purple Belt 160–179.9 lbs division
• 2nd Place – Men’s Advanced No-Gi 160–169 lbs division
• 2nd Place – Master’s Gi Purple Belt Absolute

Many thanks to Andrew Smith and US Grappling for running such a top-notch tournament. Our entire Team is definitely looking forward to attending future ones!

Congrats, Christian!!!

Congrats to Team RONIN ATHLETICS competitor, Roger Dardis, for his recent victories at the ACOM Submission Grappling Tournament held on Saturday, Dec. 5th in Patchogue, NY.

In the Advanced < 190 lbs. division…

Roger’s first match went the distance and into overtime where he eventually secured four points for the win.

Roger’s second match was a tough battle where he found himself six points behind late into the match. Determined to get the victory, Roger threw on one of his trademarked armbars with only a few seconds remaining and finished his opponent for the GOLD!

Ready to test himself further, Roger entered a completely stacked Absolute division but was out pointed/eliminated in his first match by a very tough and seasoned brown belt competitor.

Congrats, Roger!