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!

Angelo takes GOLD and SILVER at NAGA Florida!

Only one week since winning gold (gi) and silver (no-gi) medal victories at the NAGA: NAGC in Newark, NJ, Angelo hopped on a plane, deprived himself of food and liquids, made weight, and jumped right into the competition at the NAGA Florida on Saturday, November 21st.

Moving up to the no-gi intermediate division (because of last week’s previous wins), Angelo brought home the Silver medal for the no-gi, intermediate flyweight division, and the GOLD for the white belt, flyweight divisions!

James H. fighting The Good Fight

Congrats to James H. for throwing caution to the wind and jumping into a very tough competition at this past Saturday’s The Good Fight!

In his first blue belt match, James went the distance ending in a 0-0 tie, but because of the rule-set, the ref gave the nod to his opponent (because James pulled guard once, which TGF considers “being defensive”). Soon after, in the “consolation match,” James turned up the heat scoring a 10-0 victory, finishing his opponent with a cross collar choke for the win!

James then began his no-gi division and was up/controlling the match when things took an unexpected turn… shooting in for takedown, James caught an elbow just below his right eye… 2 hours of waiting and 17 stitches later, James was already preparing himself for the next competition!

Good work, James!

Josh B. and Chris F. Promoted to Blue Belt!

Congratulations to Josh B. and Chris F. for earning their long overdue blue belts this past Saturday! Both of these RONIN ATHLETICS athletes have proven themselves time-and-time-again as dedicated students of the art and forces on the competition mats and we’re extremely proud to see them move up the BJJ ranks!

Congrats, guys!

On Saturday November 14th, a group of Team RONIN ATHLETICS competitors—first-timers and veterans—braved the wilds of Newark, NJ to compete in the 2009 NAGA North American Grappling Championships, and we’re proud to report some very successful results and an enormous congratulations to all who stepped up to test themselves!

The competition that day was fierce with a number of extremely tough matches and our Team was right there in the mix battling it out with some of the East Coast’s best grapplers.

After an extremely long day, we’re very proud to report that we brought home some hard-earned medals!

Medalists:

Sean Carroll

Bronze – no-gi, masters beginner, light heavyweight

Roger Dardis

GOLD – no-gi, intermediate, middleweight

Elijah Elias

GOLD – no-gi, beginner, heavyweight

Matt Kaplan

GOLD – white belt, adult, flyweight

Liz Milizio

GOLD – no-gi, women’s intermediate, flyweight

Silver – blue belt, women’s, flyweight

Lola Newsom

GOLD – no-gi, women’s masters intermediate, middleweight

GOLD – blue belt, women’s masters, middleweight

Angelo Vicari

GOLD – white belt, masters, flyweight

Silver – no-gi, beginner, flyweight

Special shouts go out to: Josh B, Napoleon, Carlo (SLAM MAN), Eric G, Emalee, Vinh H, Pedro, Dennis R, Jorge, and Christian M for their very tough matches, individual wins, team support, coaching, and for getting out on those mats and putting themselves to the test!

More photos and videos to come!

Congrats, TEAM!

Congratulations to Team RONIN ATHLETICS competitor Dennis “BIG PANDA” Rivera Jr. for his silver medal at the Fight Frat Submission Tournament this past weekend!

Expect big things from Dennis in the near future including more submission competition victories and (soon to be announced) MMA excitement!

Congrats, Dennis!