We had a radical conversation, as are to be had with Mr. Hemphill. One of the things I’ve always admired about the man is how neutral he has managed to stay in the BJJ community here in Portland – he’s the Switzerland of inter-gym politics.

One of the most important bits of our conversation was the topic of cross-training between gyms. His position is CRYSTAL CLEAR: Cross-training at gyms is healthy and beneficial activity for all people involved in our sport, no matter the team affiliation. With that in mind, Eric Hemphill encourages athletes from all gyms across the city to come visit Nemesis. Conversely, he recommends that all gyms should be open to athletes coming to their gym to share in the wealth of knowledge which is so fundamental to our sport.

So, come drop in at Nemesis! Let’s train together as athletes allied in the goal of improving our Jiu-Jitsu. Train with everyone!

The Nemesis website was all screwy for the last few weeks (??). Anyhow – looks like someone was inserting invisible links to sites that sell viagra and stuff all through the site and screwing up posts and formatting. Unfortunately, they screwed up a bunch of posts – so those have all been taken down.

You’ll also note that the crap isn’t on the site anymore. Hooray! Move along, nothing to see here. Or rather, these aren’t the droids we’re looking for.

If you have not had a chance to check out the “Ask a Black Belt” video series they are worth a watch. You can find all 11 episodes on Youtube.

Here is Episode 1
Ask a Black Belt Episode 1

Hey everyone, we moved the time of the beginners class to 5:30pm on Monday,Wednesday,Friday hope more of you can make in at that time. The 6:00 pm class will still start on time at 6:00pm…Also the Tuesday and Tursday night classes are chang

ed to 5:30pm to 6:30pm for Beginners and 6:30 to 7:30pm for the general class.. Thanks! Get in here and train..Hurry Up…

Nemesis. It’s time to compete. The Oregon Open is right here in our backyard – and you ought to get out there and test yourself with your friends and comrades. Let’s do this.

What’s your excuse? Here’s a preemptive listing of responses:

I’m a white belt – Who cares.

I need to lose weight – And…

I’m afraid – boo.

I have a wedding (whatever) that weekend – Reschedule.

I only roll (Gi/No-Gi) – Fine, they have a (Gi/No-Gi) only division.

Please you continue in the comments area below…

Sign up now and it’s cheap AND you get a T-shirt too. Also, we’ll be making some new Nemesis gi patches so you can compete with pride. Make your training partners proud. Make your girlfriend cry. Collect hardware for the gym. Register.

http://subleague.com/event/oregon-open-september-29-2012/709/#registration

So – Looks like Lloyd Irvin and David Avellan have launched a new joint venture called “The Kimura Trap”. Because I’m about to be a little nasty, I’ll provide a obligatory nod to the site: you can find it here.

Let me start with this – Lloyd Irvin has also violated one of my biggest pet peeves in a most egregious manner. From a recent post of his on Facebook with regards to the “Kimura Trap”:

Medal Chasers Secret Weapon…

Not so secret now, eh?! I like Llyoyd Irvin and stuff, and I’m a big fan of some of his team as well (KC!) but I feel like he thinks I’m a dummy posting silly things like “secret weapon” to try to entice me to do x, y and z.

The other thing that bothers me about this is that trying to patent things when it comes to grappling is such silly nonsense. Granted the Kimura is named after the man himself (and is also know as a hammer lock and a variety of other names) but it’s a name given to the move by someone other than the progenitor of the move itself. Whatever, whatever.

Anyhow – here’s a refreshing perspective to the Kimura Trap: I present for your viewing pleasure Rousimar Palhares not only totally unfazed by any of Avellan’s Kimura Traps but also kicking asses and scaring people. Did I mention that I think Palhares is awesome?! That is all.