Back to so cal finally! It is nice to see my family after all this time. I couldn’t wait for the cheap airline ticket this next Monday so I rented a car and straight shot back to LA !! 5 hours drive time.. not bad at all.

On my last night after training, Vas took me out to his friend’s birthday party to top off the week. The girl Marie and her friends were all nice. Met some good people and had a lot of fun. Great way to end the trip in nor cal. Thanks, Vas!

In jiu-jitsu.. win or lose, you learn something and are always encouraged to get back out there on the mat and get better. You can never rest on your previous success, always push forward to the next level. Had a few more sessions at Ralph Gracie SF after the tournament with Gene and Kurt Osiander. Thanks so much Gene for taking me in for a few days over the tournament and to Kurt for the training!! Always a blessing to see you guys.

Next stop is Concord, CA to link up with my friend Vasili Nikolaev from Gracie Fighter. The first night I got there we trained at Caesar’s main academy in Pleasant Hill. The level there is very good with many technical blue, purple, and brown belts. The next night we trained in Dublin with Caio Terra. Fun to see Caio again and I got to train with his newest brown belt, Matt Todd. I fought Matt just two years ago.. we met in the 3rd round at the Mundials and I was submitted by his deadly bow and arrow in just a few minutes. This guy has been on a roll and totally stepped his game over the last 2 years… now he’s a legit brown. Hulk smash, Matt!! Respect! Osssss!

Only two days after arriving I’m ready to fight again. I had intentionally signed up for the pesado weight class so I didn’t have to worry about any extra weight I had gained in Europe. Turns out I didn’t need to worry, I could have made the weight for medio pesado on the day! Ahh.. now I to fight the bigger guys lolol.

Thankfully I wasn’t alone, my friend and host Gene was also fighting in the comp. We ate a small breakfast, double checked our gear and made our way up to the event.

The venue was nice at Merritt College. The IBJJF does a good job of putting on a tournament and everything ran pretty smooth for an inaugural event. I had a bye my first round and then fought a guy who had already won a fight. He was bigger, taller, and stronger.. but I passed his guard, took his back, and searched for the choke. It was an honor to be cornered by Ralph Gracie himself and black belts Kurt Osiander, Eduardo Fraca, and Renan Silva.

The second guy I faced was also super tough. There were no points scored, but I was able to secure 2 advantage points in the match. When time ran out I couldn’t believe I had just won. The My first IBJJF medal.. stoked it’s GOLD!

Gene also had one fight in his category. He gave the guy hell but wasn’t able to secure the victory. Silver medal ain’t bad at all.. mad respect and congrats Gene! Ossssss!!

Another bonus of the tournament was linking up with my friend Derek Okahashi from 31Fifty. Good to spread the aloha with other Hawaiians in the industry. Mahalo Derek for the patch I will definitely be reppin’ in the next tournament! Ossssss!

I trained yesterday at Ralph Gracie SF with Kurt Osiander and am trying to kick my jetlag. Didn’t bring my camera so no pics. Today linked up with Michael Webber, a friend from team Ralph Gracie who travels between Thailand and California. He took me for a lunchtime Saturday training at Ralph Gracie Berkeley and then encouraged me to attend the a rules course at Sapao’s Ocean Beach Barra Brothers Jiu Jitsu Academy.

We reviewed the official rules for 2012 and also covered the changes from last years rules. It was very informative! Thanks to Andre for teaching a great course, Webber for sponsoring and pushing me to go, and Sapao for hosting. I would definitely recommend to anyone who competes to take this course and familiarize yourself with the new rule changes in 2012. Ossss!

I arrived in the evening to San Francisco and it was noticeably warmer than Europe. Mo warmer = mo bettah!
Straight off da plane and right into Cali epic meal time… No doughnuts, but a double double animal style will do !!!

Staying in Hamburg was a great for a 2 day stopover and it was awesome to meet Stefan and get in some good jiu jitsu too! So blessed!! Yesterday took a train to Frankfurt and now will fly out to San Francisco. The Europe tour has come to an end! Looking back have had an amazing time, learned a lot, and met a ton of great people.

Paris, Montpellier, Barcelona, Lisbon, London, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Hamburg…
MAHALO to everyone out there who hosted or helped out to make the trip possible!

Now it’s time to jet … Aloha!!

On the way to the train station Stefan dropped some local knowledge and showed me his favorite butcher. I bought up some spicy sausages and meat patties that looked like a hamburger. Stefan added that the Germans in Hamburg were the first to invent this combination of ground beef, onions, breadcrumbs and various spices formed into a patty and grilled. It was the crazy Americans who copied it and put the patty on a bun and called it the HAMBURGER . True story.

We went back to Zanshin for another session, this time no Gi. The class was pretty big this night too, had a proper warmup then drilled positions and sparred. Shower, sauna, eat, sleep. Good times!

Only had about a half a day to spend checking out the local district on foot near Stefan’s house. The walk wasn’t too far.. maybe 10 minutes to the main area. There were some more interesting street art pieces right there on the front of the local businesses.. pretty cool to see! Also came across a public sleeping area and epic little skate park.