The Newest Brown Belt

Xiandi

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One of my Santa Barbara BJJ teachers, Bill Cooper, received his brown belt from former world champion (and my first instructor) Ricardo "Franjinha" Miller last night. Unfortunately, I was not there to see him get belted (and not there to smack him with my own belt), but this makes him Paragon Brazilian Jiujitsu's third brown belt.

At only the age of 18 Bill has proven to be one of the most dominant grapplers the States have ever seen. His accomplishments include:

11th in all-time American no-gi grappling ratings for competitors 14-17 years old
2nd in all-time American no-gi grappling ratings for advanced adult
18th in all-time American jiujitsu for 14-17 years old
3rd in all-time American purple belt adult jiujitsu
6 First places in Grapplers Quest Tournaments
A first place win in a Japanese pro-grappling tournament
2 first places at the Northwest Regionals of Grappling and BJJ, taking lightweight no-gi and lightweight purple belt. In the no-gi absolute he fought ADCC champion Jeff Monson for 30 minutes before losing on points 2-0, Monson outweighed him by about 100 lbs.
He has a controversial loss to Rickson Gracie's son, Kron, many believe that Bill in fact won the match on points.
He beat King of the Cage veteran Nam Phan in three out of four matches over their history.

I think he's the youngest American brown belt, and I think he'll be one of its finest. Pay attention to this kid, he'll keep surprising everyone.

His teammates include:
Ricardo Miller: Former brown belt world champion and Pan-Am Master's black belt champion
Tyrone Glover: Winner of numerous grappling tournaments and winner of the USA Pride auditions. Is undefeated in MMA with a win over Din Thomas (17-5, with wins over Mishima and Jens Pulver). http://www.sherdog.com/fightfinder/fightfinder.asp?fighterID=8309
Jeff Glover: Highest ranked American grappler and brown belt on RATED and ADCC competitor. Defeated grappling legend Baret Yoshida in a Japanese pro tournament.
Adom BenShea: Brown belt and former world Blue belt Champion as well as Pan-Am champion.
Katie Weilbacher: Women's blue belt world champion in 2005.
 
Very cool. Btw, I grew up in Santa Barbara -- it's my hometown, and I go home pretty often. Where is SB BJJ located? I might stop by to roll sometime if I'm home over the weekend.
 
It's guys like this that make me feel old and I'm only 21 myself. Jesus. Congrats to Bill on his promotion to brown belt.
 
Zankou said:
Very cool. Btw, I grew up in Santa Barbara -- it's my hometown, and I go home pretty often. Where is SB BJJ located? I might stop by to roll sometime if I'm home over the weekend.

It's called "Paragon Brazilian Jiujitsu" and it's located on Milpas street, right across the street from La Superica Mexican restaurant and like a block or two from a car dealership and in the other direction from a supermarket. I think the cross street is Alphonse...

Basically, go onto Anapamu and turn on Milpas (you'll pass Santa Barbara High) and keep going straight for like 7 blocks and you'll see Paragon.

http://www.paragonbjj.com/

The address is on the site, after you get through the intro (which is a badass intro).

___

And Superbeast, I know what you mean. I started BJJ this summer at the age of 17, right around when Bill turned 18. That means he's like 3 months older than me and three belts higher. If I can get a belt a month I'll catch up to him...

Hmm... ebay homestudy blackbelt courses...eh? :D
 
Looks like an awesome school. Unfortunately no weekend classes, so I guess I won't get a chance to drop by. Wish I could've trained there while I was in high school at San Marcos (same time that Chuck Liddel was there btw).
 
Zankou said:
Looks like an awesome school. Unfortunately no weekend classes, so I guess I won't get a chance to drop by. Wish I could've trained there while I was in high school at San Marcos (same time that Chuck Liddel was there btw).

Haha, you old man! Try to go down on a Friday sometime, they're usually pretty empty except Jeff, Franjinha, and sometimes Bill and whatever white and blue belts went to the beginners class. i.e. the best guys. If Jeff's not too busy swinging from the pullup bars like the monkey he is you'll learn some great guard stuff from the master of the triangle. And if you're good at ankle locks he'll probably recruit you to train with him since he's preparing for Imanari at DEEP in February http://www.sherdog.com/fightfinder/fightfinder.asp?fighterid=4862

I think there's a $20 mat fee, but I know Jeff's waived it before.


I wish I were still there (especially since it's raining like Hell up here in Oregon), I don't think you'll find a more dysfunctional, abusive, and loving family anywhere. It must be because Oprah's living in Montecito, it rubs off on everyone.
 
Maybe I can make a Friday .. $20 mat fee is no problem, I'm a lawyer ;D

Btw, your comment about me being an old man made me go check Chuck's age ... turns out I was wrong, he's five years older than me, so I guess we never overlapped at San Marcos. Bummer ... I mean I'm still old but not THAT old.
 
i just started training there like 2 months ago. thats rad. i wasn't there to see that, but wish i were. by the way, im the tall, bigger kid with the shaved brown who is tapping all the time.
 
I wish we had crazy people like that in Indiana...we have some good ones but none that i have heard of...
 
skinnyhb said:
i just started training there like 2 months ago. thats rad. i wasn't there to see that, but wish i were. by the way, im the tall, bigger kid with the shaved brown who is tapping all the time.

You probably tapped me out at some point since I suck. I don't go there anymore, I live in Oregon now. Say hi to Chris Martinez for me, will ya? Tell him Matt finally performed a double leg on someone =P
 
congrats bill, its about time. i was starting to feel bad about having gotten my brown belt with you still being purple.

moriarty
 
Xiandi said:
You probably tapped me out at some point since I suck. I don't go there anymore, I live in Oregon now. Say hi to Chris Martinez for me, will ya? Tell him Matt finally performed a double leg on someone =P


doubtful, i am usually getting my ass kicked. actually, i think i may have met you. i think i gave you a ride home one time and you were telling me how you were moving up north. name's kenny and drive a black truck. maybe im wrong.
 
Superbeast said:
It's guys like this that make me feel old and I'm only 21 myself. Jesus. Congrats to Bill on his promotion to brown belt.
i hear ya, and i'm 18. :-/
 
skinnyhb said:
doubtful, i am usually getting my ass kicked. actually, i think i may have met you. i think i gave you a ride home one time and you were telling me how you were moving up north. name's kenny and drive a black truck. maybe im wrong.

Ok, yeah, I remember you. Welcome to Paragon, have a nice stay, if you're lucky you may see Jeff screw up his ankle landing on the little basketball medicine ball after jumping off the pullup bars and start cursing everyone in the room while hobbling like a gimp.

I think that's my best Paragon experience, certainly better than when Jeff said I looked like a woman asking to get raped (commenting on my guard).
 
NJCarder said:
I wish we had crazy people like that in Indiana...we have some good ones but none that i have heard of...
1.) Last I checked, Adam Benshea (one of the Paragon Brown Belts) trains at Indiana University's BJJ club because he goes to IU.

2.) Jack McVicker trains and runs a school in Terre Haute, IN. He got a mention in Eddie Bravo's Jiu-Jitsu Unleashed as the blue belt that "smothered" Eddie for the win (page 9). McVicker is now a Megaton Black Belt, and a damn good one.

3.) Bruce Shepard trains/teaches in Evansville, IN and is an extremely talented BB, though he's not listed on BJJ.org. He's impressive because he's extremely technical but also a big guy (around 220-230, I believe). Rolling with him is like alternating between rolling with a ghost and rolling with a 5 ton anvil. He didn't pick up BJJ until he was 21 and managed to get his black belt at 28 or 29, I believe.

4.) If you train BJJ in Indianapolis, I assume you are with either Team Mario Roberto or at Greg Eldred's school. Greg knows his shit even if he's not an extremely young guy (I was at his black belt promotion ceremony), and Team Mario Roberto isn't exactly a bunch of slackers, either.

So now you know.

Edit: Hah first post ever.
 
shazaam said:
1.) Last I checked, Adam Benshea (one of the Paragon Brown Belts) trains at Indiana University's BJJ club because he goes to IU.

2.) Jack McVicker trains and runs a school in Terre Haute, IN. He got a mention in Eddie Bravo's Jiu-Jitsu Unleashed as the blue belt that "smothered" Eddie for the win (page 9). McVicker is now a Megaton Black Belt, and a damn good one.

3.) Bruce Shepard trains/teaches in Evansville, IN and is an extremely talented BB, though he's not listed on BJJ.org. He's impressive because he's extremely technical but also a big guy (around 220-230, I believe). Rolling with him is like alternating between rolling with a ghost and rolling with a 5 ton anvil. He didn't pick up BJJ until he was 21 and managed to get his black belt at 28 or 29, I believe.

4.) If you train BJJ in Indianapolis, I assume you are with either Team Mario Roberto or at Greg Eldred's school. Greg knows his shit even if he's not an extremely young guy (I was at his black belt promotion ceremony), and Team Mario Roberto isn't exactly a bunch of slackers, either.

So now you know.

Edit: Hah first post ever.

and even farther, Marcellos brown belt Jr, who recieved his at 17, he just turned 18 this year. Im surprised if your in indy you dont know about them...
 
shazaam said:
1.) Last I checked, Adam Benshea (one of the Paragon Brown Belts) trains at Indiana University's BJJ club because he goes to IU.

2.) Jack McVicker trains and runs a school in Terre Haute, IN. He got a mention in Eddie Bravo's Jiu-Jitsu Unleashed as the blue belt that "smothered" Eddie for the win (page 9). McVicker is now a Megaton Black Belt, and a damn good one.

3.) Bruce Shepard trains/teaches in Evansville, IN and is an extremely talented BB, though he's not listed on BJJ.org. He's impressive because he's extremely technical but also a big guy (around 220-230, I believe). Rolling with him is like alternating between rolling with a ghost and rolling with a 5 ton anvil. He didn't pick up BJJ until he was 21 and managed to get his black belt at 28 or 29, I believe.

4.) If you train BJJ in Indianapolis, I assume you are with either Team Mario Roberto or at Greg Eldred's school. Greg knows his shit even if he's not an extremely young guy (I was at his black belt promotion ceremony), and Team Mario Roberto isn't exactly a bunch of slackers, either.

So now you know.

Edit: Hah first post ever.



congrats on the first post definately better then 99 percent of the first posts i've seen...probably becuase it helped me out haha. I do i guess what you could call street bjj...i just train off of instructionals, with the guys at IUPUI, and with an actual MMA guy that i met at the Tae Kwon Do dojo...i have been looking to get with a team since i'm 19 and i would like to see at least a brown belt in my future sometime...really though i just love BJJ i'd rather do no gi then anything because belts don't really do anything for me...but its just nice to know that your recognized haha...im that guy that pays his little brother 20 dollars to let him try moves and practice with him...i'd love to get into MMA and BJJ and all of that good stuff but its hard to find an MMA school..the closest thing we have is MMA night at the Tae Kwon Do dojo but i'd rather not pay 200 dollars a month to learn how to do the dreaded jumping diving double hook kick...im 6'3 and 220 pounds i dont care how good of a TKD teacher i get i doubt im doing that kinda thing anytime soon
 
congrats, did he go up to the Half Moon Bay tournament? I remember Jeff was a part of the super matchups (he rolled against Nate after Nick just sewed his cut up again - it was right after he fought Diego and right after he took grappler's quest). I heard Bill Cooper's name though, not sure if I saw him roll.
 
I've heard alot about Bill Cooper. He's pretty well known on the grapplign circuit. I've only seen one or two of his matches but he's slick.
 
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