Academy of Combat: Christchurch Martial Arts

Graduations at the Academy will now be held once every two months rather than every month. The next one will be on September 26th 2009 followed by one on November 28th with March and July 2010 potentially being black belt graduations. Also stay posted for exciting new developments in the curriculums for all the martial arts available at the Academy.

On the 1st of August 2009 the second Xplosiv Fightwear All Styles Grappling Challenge was held in Christchurch at Rangi Ruru Girls high school and was once again a huge success. The atmosphere on the day was fantastic with great sportsmanship displayed by all and there were many hard-fought matches that had the crowd on the edge of their seats. The competitors from the Academy put on an excellent performance and the following medals were taken:

On the 8th and 9th of July members of the Kidz Martial Arts program will appear on The Erin Simpson show at 4:30pm on TV2. On the 8th of July Brody Spang and Josh Kay-Shulz will appear and Elliot Chan and Geoff will be doing a tile breaking demonstration. The 9th of july episode will feature Brody Spang, Courtney Spang, Josh Kay-Schulz, Christopher Bainbridge, Logan Bainbridge, Joseph Ditfort, Taylor Sheard, Juliana Taingahue, Alexander Addison and Connor Taylor-Brown performing Thai Boxing combinations during the entrace of one the shows hosts.

UPDATE!

For video and behind the scenes pictures of the show, visit our Events page.

On August 17th 2009 the Academy will begin running a new timetable. Due to feedback from students the advanced classes are now held at earlier times and there are now two advanced MMA classes per week to compliment the existing two advanced BJJ classes. During the week fighters classes are now all run at 8pm with a 1pm session on Saturdays.

It's nearly time once again for the Will-Machado Asia Pacific BJJ Championships. Get your entries in before September for an early bird discount of $10, no entry forms will be acccepted on the day. Also the legendary Rigan Machado will be conducting seminars on the day after the tournament at the Dominance MMA Academy. One seminar will be specially for white belts and there will be another for those with coloured belts. For posters, entry forms and further information click here.

Time: 10am (Kids & Teens), 11am (Adults), Saturday, September 12th, 2009

Location: Melbourne Sports & Aquatic Center, Australia

Hayden Wilson and Xplosiv Fightwear will once again be holding a grappling tournament this year with both gi and no gi divisions. Last years tournament was a very well run event and provided a great opportunity for grapplers from all over the country to come together and test their skills. Entries must be in the hands of the organisers by the 27th of July or a $10 late fee applies, there will be no entries on the day. For weight classes and rules see our Xplosiv All Styles Grappling Challenge 2009 page.

Time: 9:00am, Saturday, August 1st, 2009

Location: Rangi Ruru Girls High School, Christchurch

Price: $25 per division (either gi or no gi). $35 for both divisions

For further information and entry forms contact hayden@xplosivfightwear.co.nz

World class coach and 3rd degree Brazillian Jiu Jitsu black belt John Will is returing to the Academy for another information packed seminar that is guaranteed to improve your grappling game and overall understanding of martial arts. John was trained by Jean Jaques and Rigan Machado and was the first Australasian to be awarded a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt. As usual John will be teaching the latest cutting edge techniques that you will not see anywhere else, so do not miss this fantastic opportunity.

Time: 6pm to 9pm, Friday, August 21st, 2009

Location: Academy of Combat

In keeping with being the premiere Muay Thai and MMA gym in New Zealand the Academy of Combat has just installed a full size international specification Thai Boxing ring. Our students now have a complete preperation facility for learning Muai Thai and MMA and a dedicated venue for Muay Thai and MMA competition.

ATTENTION!

Free N.A.S.T.I Defence Course DVD*

Email your name and postal address to valhallabj@xtra.co.nz This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it to receive a free DVD introducing you to our highly successful N.A.S.T.I.- Defence Course.

*Offer available in the Christchurch area only.

Check out the details of the latest N.A.S.T.I.- Defence Course below:

We'll be running our next Level 1 N.A.S.T.I.- Defence Course for 2010 on Saturday, October 9th, 1:30pm till 4:30pm. This is the ultimate in self defence that works, by introducing you to the fear response and teaching you to master it, so that you gain greater empowerment in all areas of your life and have the best chance of survival when faced with the frightening prospect of being attacked for real.

Geoff underwent an intensive training course in Australia with Bill Kipp the founder of the F.A.S.T.- reality based self-defence system together with John Will and members of the Australian Special Forces. Check out the clips from the course on our N.A.S.T.I.- Self Defence page. This training culminated in Geoff becoming the first and only certified Bullet Man in New Zealand, allowing him to make this cutting edge self defence technology available to everyone who wants to get control back in their lives.

Annabelle Latz from the Christchurch Star newspaper visited The Academy of Combat and experienced first hand the adrenal rear response that debilitates most of us when presented with a threat to our safety and learned how, through the cutting edge self defence technology of Adrenal Stress Conditioning you can overcome this and defend yourself. Read about it here.

Course numbers are limited so be sure to secure your position today! For further details click here.

Be sure and have a look at the video clip of some of the action from our first course on the N.A.S.T.I.- Self Defence gallery page and check out our Events page for footage of our more recent courses.

Rigan Machado Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Workshop.

On Friday, Sept 19, the Academy hosted the legendary Rigan Machado for the first his first Brazilian Jiu Jitsu workshop in New Zealand.
Rigan, who is one of the greatest exponents and teachers of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in the world today, taught some great advanced guard maneouvers to develop our game.
It is very important that we keep up to date with what is happening out on the global scene because BJJ and MMA are evolving at a phenomenal rate and we in the Will/Machado Brazilian Jiu JItsu family are very fortunate that we have access to teachers of the caliber of John Will and Rigan to keep us up with the game.
On Saturday Rigan headed off to Wellington for his next workshop before going to Auckland and then back home to LA.

Auckland Strikeforce Mixed Martial arts Championships

On Saturday, Sept 20, fighters from the Academy fought in the Strikeforce MMA champs in Auckland with Fergus Cullen and John Erskine winning the matches. Keep checking back here for more details and video clips.

Academy of Combat Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Fighters Dominate Christchurch Cage Fighting Championships.

Several of the MMA fighters from the Academy of Combat fought in the Christchurch Cage Fignhting Championships held at Crichton Cobbers Youth Club on Saturday, august 30. Hosted by Ren Sadlier the event was well run with great skill being demonstrated by the fighters.

Congratulations to John Erskine (Acdaemy of Combat) for winning the Light Heavyweight Cage fighting division. The final was between John and Cam Steer also from the Academy, these guys train together all the time and put on more of a display in the final then a war.

Cam, fighting his first ever match, had got to the final with a beautiful display of all round striking and grappling MMA fighting skills.

Fergus Cullen from the Academy also had his fight debut on the day winning the middleweight division with a rear naked choke from back control, Fergus is an exciting fighter with tremendous conditioning and a great heart.

Keep checking back here for when I get photos and video up from the event.