my friend visited the PI recently for a month and trained somewhere that was rated the highest lvl of bjj. I dont remember the name of the academy, but he has videos posted up of him submitting purple and brown belts. I dont know wether the school was not as good as they said they were and lying, or the quality of technique is watered down over there. My friend is a 2 stripe blue belt.
where in the philippines did he go to exactly? the competition in manila aint that good. The only gym worth mentioning there would be KMA...u can try albay, cagayan de oro and davao.
I think thats a little harsh on the Philippines and Manila, granted that the competition may not be that high (especially compared to the states and asian countries like Japan).
The Philippines has had a few successes in competition in the last few years, and yes these guys come from schools in Manila:
Ralph Go (Atos BJJ/Team VPF): he won weight and absolute at the Tokyo Open brown belt. Most impressive is that he got silver at the Brazilian Nationals this year held at the Tijuca Tennis Club
Carlos Pena (Atos BJJ/Team VPF): Medaled 2 years in a row at the Pans.
Eros Baluyot: (ATOS BJJ/Team VPF): Got Gold this year the International Novice Championships (Mundials for the White belts)
Stephen Kamphius (KMA BJJ): Though not pinoy has won multiple medals on the world stage
Alvin Aguilar (Ribeiro BJJ): Won a match this year at Black belt against a game Brazilian. He tore up his knee in the second fight
May not be much, but the Philippines is making some progress in BJJ!
Here's a new one that just opened on Cebu. I've trained with John for a couple years now (before he up and moved to the Philippines!!) and he's definitely top notch!
Home - Welcome to GraciePi.com!
how can you say 'highest level of BJJ' when he's just a blue belt and submitting the school's purple and brown!? that's f*ck up bjj school IMO!
To TS, try finding KMA Philippines, the instructors there are high rated, just not the blue belt ones.
I train at New Breed (Makati) and I completely disagree with the previous statement. My teammate (3 stripe white at the time I think) submitted a blue belt from the US easily when he came to visit. The average white-blue is 2-3 years of regular training, considerably slower than gyms in other countries I've heard of.
Come train with us. We're currently headed by a couple of purple belts, but we have 2 black belts from the US coming home to teach permanently.
John Ouano came by last week to promote a few guys.
New Breed Philippines
Just to remind some people who forgot Hajime! 2008 - John Baylon vs Mike Fowler -81 kg gold medal match (judo) - YouTube
John Baylon submitting Mike Fowler at a Judo Tournament
And any schools there that do 10th Planet or somewhat do 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu material? Thanks.
I doubt it, but I don't think your Jiu Jitsu will suffer too much if you are forced to train with a Rodrigo Medeiros/Carlson Gracie Jr. black belt and a Megaton black belt for a week. Their Jiu Jitsu is *almost* on par with Eddie Bravos.
It would be nice to train a few times while on vacation. I just hope some schools in the PI are cool with the 10th PLanet, although I am mindful most schools that do NoGi aren't cool with some stuff (twister, leg locks, etc.) I can just avoid those thechniques and do other stuff. Can't we all just get along?