Five of Georgia’s best trainers are set to head the premier training session to ever occur in the state of Georgia! These five trainers could easily be considered the best in the Southeast at their particular aspect of the sport and they come together for the first time ever to teach an exclusive four-hour training session during the Saturday, April 3 Combat Sports EXPO at the Renaissance Waverly!

The session will begin promptly at 1 pm. Each trainer will teach for 50 minutes followed by a 10 minute break.

The cost is a bargain deal at only $50 per person and you can take one class, two classes or all four classes!

You might want to rush to secure your spot as the number of spots is limited and this will easily attract students from all over the state of Georgia, if not the Southeast!

Sign up below to make sure you reserve your spot for this tremendous once in a lifetime training session!

Teaching the seminar are:
Standup - Khunpon from Bangkok Boxing
Wrestling - Jeff Bedard from Elite Training Center
BJJ - Roan Jucao from ATT Atlanta
MMA - Adam Singer from The HardCore Gym and Tony Tucci from X3 Sports

Teacher Bios:
Khunpon – A Muay Thai fighter for over 25 years, Khunpon is the head instructor of Bangkok Boxing. While he hasn’t officially retired, Khunpon has a record of over 200 fights- 80% of which are wins. He moved to Atlanta in 1999 to open his own gym in Gwinnett. Originally from Bangkok, Thailand, Khunpon has been fighting since 1980. His success has taken him around the world as a fighter, and now, he travels across the world as a sought-out instructor. Khunpon holds four world muay thai titles and countless national titles.

Jeff Bedard - When looking up the words “top wrestler” in the dictionary, it might as well have a photo of Jeff Bedard. He is highly regarded as one of the top wrestlers to come from Georgia and recently opened up his own gym in Buford, Elite Training Center. Only some of his qualifications are below, feel free to come take his session to find out what has made him one of the top wrestling trainers in the country.
PFC World MMA Champion with a 13-1-1 record, U.S.A. Olympic Training Center Resident, Military World Champion, 7x U.S. National Freestyle All American, 4x New York Athletic Club Champion, Michigan Open Champion, 3x N.A.G.A. Submission Champion, 2x College All American, 1990 N.A.I.A. National Champion, Sunkist Open Champion, 1x High School Michigan State Champion, 2x High School Georgia State Champion, 2x High School All-American, 170-3 High School Record, has coaches 27 College All-Americans and 2 National Champions, 2007 Gwinnett Daily Post Coach of the Year, 2007 Team Dual State Champions at Wesleyan (Head Coach), 2008 & 2009 Team Dual State Champions at Collins Hill HS (Asst. Coach).

Roan Jucao - In 1989 Roan started training under the legendary Carlson Gracie. Carlson is considered one of the most technical Gracie’s and perhaps the best Vale Tudo fighter the family ever produced. Jucao later moved on to train with the legendary Brazilian Top Team which consisted of Murilo Bustamante, the Nogueira brothers, Ricardo Arona, Paulo Filho and many other great fighters. Jucao went from white to black belt under the Gracies and has an extensive competition résumé in Jiu-Jitsu and no grappling competition. Here are some of Roan’s accomplishments:
Abu Dhabi trial Champion (Brazil), Pan American Champion, Mecca Vale Tudo Champion, Shooto Champion (Japan), Rio De Janeirio State Champion, Abu Dhabi trials (6th place USA) and 5-Time UFC Veteran. Jucao is currently the head trainer at ATT Atlanta.

Adam Singer - Adam is the head coach at The HardCore Gym in Athens. Adam is single handidly responsible for producing some of the best MMA fighters that Georgia has seen including former UFC champ Forrest Griffin, former WEC champ Brian Bowles, Stephen Ledbetter, Rory Singer, Cale Yarbrough, Dave Mewborn, Todd Duffee and so many more. Adam received his Blue Belt from Machado Black Belt Matt Thornton and his Purple Belt from Chris Haueter in 2001, at which time he started devoting his emphasis on MMA and No Gi submission grappling. Adam received his Brown Belt from Chris Haueter at the end of 2005 and recently received his Black belt from Roberto Traven (April 09′). Adam has trained with some of the best MMA fighters, boxing and Muay Thai trainers and submission grapplers/coaches/intructors in the world including: Matt Thornton, Rodney King, Robert Follis, Randy Couture, Jason Miller, Charles McCarthy, Eddie Bravo, Matt Hume, The Machados, Caesar Gracie, Paul Vunak, Dan Inosanto, Eric Paulson, Marc Denny, Jeff Monson, Ricardo Liborio, Chris Haueter and Roberto Traven.

Tony Tucci - Tony Tucci, the head instructor at X3 Sports, is quickly becoming known as one of the best trainers for all aspects of an MMA fighter. His two gyms in Atlanta (Marietta and Midtown) have been exploding with fighters for the last two years and the quality of fighters currently under his stable is a testament to his hard work and dedication. Some of those names include Clint Hester, Marius Cujba, Tom Nguyen, James Thorpe, Steele McCall and many others.

NOTES FOR PARTICIPANTS:
*You are required to bring everything to training that you’ll need including:
shorts, tshirts, shoes, socks, mouthpiece, headgear, gloves for standup and ground and anything else you’ll need.
*This training session is being offered on a first sold basis. You must sign up in advance for this training session in order to take it. You are welcome to take once class or all four classes for your $50 entry fee.
*Once you pay online we will receive an email with your name. Please bring a driver’s license to the EXPO to get into the training room.
*Please arrive early for your training session to allow yourself time to stretch out and warm up.
*Bring a change of clothes as showers will be provided at the hotel.

At today’s Georgia Athletic & Entertainment Commission meeting, it was decided that all boxers and MMA fighters (both pro and amateur mma fighters) should come to the Saturday, April 3 Combat Sports EXPO at the Renaissance Waverly (corner of 285 and 75, attached to Cobb Galleria) to obtain their Federal ID cards.

If you choose not to get your Federal ID card at the EXPO, then you will be forced to drive to Andy Foster’s office downtown, pay for parking and make an appointment with him to get this done. Obviously, the much easier choice is to attend the Saturday, April 3 Combat Sports EXPO between the hours of 11 am and 7 pm to get this done with free parking!

The Federal ID cards have been around for years with boxing, but this is the first time that MMA fighters will need to get a card. The cards last four years and cost $25. Payments can be made by cash, check or money order to the Georgia Athletic Commission. All pro boxers and both pro and amateur MMA fighters are required to have a Federal ID card.

For more information on the Combat Sports EXPO please click here!

This is a venue Lutador experimented with towards the end of last year and has decided to stick with it due to the convenience for the majority of the competitors. There will be hundreds of Gi and No Gi divisions for kids, teens, women and men.  Lutador stays true in going over the top for their competitors by providing even bigger medals for this years winners along with providing every first place gi winner with a patch for their gi.

All Childrens division winners will be awarded a boken sparring sword.

As always, there will also be open and pro gi divisions for all experience levels each having a cash prize and a championship belt. The womens open weight, open belt division will have a $100 cash prize.  The belt specific divisions are open to men and women.  The white belt winner will earn $100. The blue belt winner will earn $200 and the purple belt winner, $300.  The brown and black belt pro division will be broken into 2 weight classes.  174.9 and below and 175 and above. The winner of each of these divsions will be awarded $1,000 and a championship belt.

The cost for pre-reg is $60 for the gi and no gi divisions. The at door price is $85.  Entry for the open weight division is an additional $15.  Brown and black belts compete for free!!! 

Spectator fee is $5.

The exact address is 5300 Heards Dr NW. Atl, GA. 30328

Weigh-ins will be from 6-8pm Friday March 12th and begin again at 8am on Saturday, March 13th.  On Saturday, the childrens weighins end at 9 am and the adults at 10 am. 

Childrens divisions will begin at 9am sharp and the adults no-gi division will follow at 10 am.

Go to www.LutadorGrappling.com to pre-reg or for more info.

At the end of the second round Bowles was wincing and pointing toward his hand. The same hand he broke when he defeated Miguel Torres for the title in ‘09. After the ringside doctor examined Bowles it was determined that he could no longer continue, determining that his right hand was broken.

In the middle and final rounds of the 6 round contest Delgado adjusted his initial plan and used slick boxing and counter punching to pick Valenzuela apart. All three judges scored the contest 60-54 for Delgado.

In other action:

Bahamian 2008 Olympian Taureano Johnson (1-0, 1 KO) made his long awaited pro debut by totally annihilating Cleony Fuqua (1-1, 1 KO) of Columbus MS. Before Fuqua could try to establish any type of rhythm Johnson jumped all over him in the first and scored a TKO. Official time of the stoppage was 2:50.

In the opening bout of the evening cruiserweights Anthony Doughty (6-1, 5 KOs) of Atlanta, GA and Clarence Moore (5-8-1, 5 KOs) of Charleston, WV set the table for an exciting night of fights by going back and forth in a true barn-burner. After going back and forth for most of the scheduled 6 rounds Moore was the first to succumb and after being dropped in the 6th referee Vincent Accoo stepped in and stopped the fight at the 1:53 mark.

Super bantamweight Akbar Walton made his pro debut a successful one by defeating Leshaun Blair (4-22) with a four round unanimous decision. All three judges scored it 40-36.

“Notorious” Nicole Woods (9-6-1, 2 KOs) demolished debuting Tara McCulough with a pulverizing right hand. After getting to her feet at the count of eight, McCulough look towards her corner gesturing “no more”, forcing the referee to stop the fight.

If there isn’t already enough things going on at the Saturday, April 3 Combat Sports EXPO at the Renaissance Waverly, one more HUGE item just got added to the activities.

Marc Fennell, one of the most knowledgeable and experienced referees in the fight sport industry, will be conducting  a seminar at the EXPO for all current referees and judges and anyone that would like to become a certified referee or judge for MMA. This includes those in Georgia and neighboring states as well!

This seminar has been approved and is encouraged by Andy Foster, Executive Director of the Georgia Athletic & Entertainment Commission.

Marc has been an advocate, educator, instructor and practitioner of mixed martial arts since 2004. Marc is a licensed Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Referee throughout the Midwest, Central America and Southeast. He has been assigned as a referee for the UFC, KOTC & FiteNite in Costa Rica.

Some of the topics that will be covered for include but not limited to: fouls, rules, prefight and post fight responsibilities, positioning, mechanics and much more. You will not only learn about being a referee, but most importantly, how to perform these tasks properly with consistency keeping in mind fighter safety.

The instructional portion of this seminar will provide you with vital information in taking your first steps to becoming a quality referee. The hands on portion offer the opportunity of refereeing simulated bouts (sparring sessions) with skilled fighters in a live session.

The seminar will begin on Saturday, April 3 at 10 am and will conclude at approximately 6 pm.

The cost of the seminar is $150 and can be paid via the paypal link below.

For more information about Marc, please click here.

For more information on the Combat Sports EXPO, please click here.

One of the most exciting Heavy-weights of the 90’s, “Big” Micheal Grant beat Corey Sanders by early KO, beat ex-contender Lionel Butler, Cuban Jorge Luis Gonzalez, Ross Puritty and was the first man to stop both Obed Sullivan and Al Cole, and knocked out hard-punching David Izon (which brought him a ranking in the Ring Magazine). He also outpointed Lou Savarese and knocked out Andrew Golota. During that fight Grant was knocked down twice only to come from behind to score a knockout in the tenth round.

Atlanta’s Fight Night will feature 8 exciting bouts:
Paul Delgado vs Robert Valenzuela 6rds
Daniel Sackey vs Clarence Moore 6rds
Nicole Woods vs Tara Mcculough 4rds
Gerald Jordan vs Joseph Figueroa 4rds
Taureano Johnson vs Cleoney Fuqua 4rds
Leshaun Blair vs Akbar Walton 4rds
Clay Harvison vs Frankie Reed 4rds

It has been announced that a Grappling Tournament will be added to the list of events for the First Ever Combat Sports EXPO in Atlanta on Saturday, April 3!

The day will feature amatuer boxing (noon – 2 pm); amateur kickboxing (4 pm – 6 pm) and amateur/pro MMA from 8 pm – midnight.

There will also be a 4 hr seminar for $50 featuring the best teachers in standup, wrestling, bjj and mma.

Additionally there will be an all day clinic for referees and judges as well as free clinics for kids, women’s self-defense and strength & conditioning.

The Grappling Tournament will begin at 10 am on Saturday, April 3 and will end at about 5 or 6 pm, just in time for the MMA fights that begin at 8 pm. The Grappling Tournament will prove to be one of the most well organized and well run Grappling Tournaments with a very modest and affordable entry price of about $40!

Please note that we will have full access to the health club for free showers for all participants!

For more information on the Saturday, April 3 Combat Sports EXPO please click here.

Titled “Atlanta’s Fight Night” the show will feature Atlanta favorite Paul Delgado in the main event. Delgado is set to take on 100+ fight veteran Roberto Valenzuela. Also featured are “Notorious” Nicole Woods, Olympian Taureano Johnson, local MMA standout Clay Harvison and middleweight contender Daniel Sackey.

A total of 14 fighters will go through the ropes in hopes of thrilling the crowd and notching a victory.