MMA IRELAND / DUBLIN CITY CENTRE / Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) & Submission Wrestling » – This Week at Kokoro

First Bjj Belts in Kokoro!!

Kokoro MMA — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:23:30 +0000

Just a quick congrats to Peadar and Chris, who received their Bjj Blue belts from Tony Souza. Its a first for Kokoro, and there looks to be a few more going to come up the ranks too!

Tonys Bjj classes are on every tuesday, thursday and saturday, just check the schedule, or contact us for details!!

Christmas at Kokoro

johnnybowden — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 15:45:26 +0000

Clan Wars 9

First of all I want to say congrats to the two lads who fought at Clan wars. Keith won his bout by sinking in a deep triangle while Vic secured his victory by connecting with a beautiful right which KO’d his opponent. Both lads worked hard and their effort paid off in the end with the two of them having their hand raised as winners.

The Fight Before Christmas

Sean “of the Dead” Keoghan (the lads barely alive!) and two of the legends boys, Oisin Coburn and Dean knight, will be taking part in The Fight before Christmas which will take place in Rush, December 2nd. All three lads have showed great prowess in the ring so far and will play a major part in the future of Irish MMA.

Those of you that were at Man of War 2 should remember the excellent fight between Dean and his opponent from Rush Dermot Byrne. Both lads displayed some excellent skills in their last encounter and the judges score cards reflected how close it was by calling it a draw. The rematch is bound to provide us with an entertaining fight.

Tickets for this event can be purchased in the gym or direct from promoter baz.oglesby@gmail.com

Christmas Party Anyone?

Also please keep the 17th of December clear in your calender for this years Christmas tournament and Party. If the last few years of Kokoros partys are anything to go by then this should be a Romper Stomper!

Kokoro and legends at Toys 4 Big Boys

johnnybowden — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 20:39:11 +0000

Toys 4 Big Boys

Watch Out for the Legends and kokoros lads at the Toys 4 Big Boys event this weekend at the City West hotel. We will be doing martial arts demonstrations and promoting both the gyms as well as the Man of war fighting championship. So if any of you are in need of something to do this weekend then come along. Not only will you get to meet us (a highlight for most of you im sure) but there will also be a ton of other cool stuff for you to try not to mention drool over. For ticket prices and information on whats on and how to get there (I’m pretty sure the Luas goes out there now) check out www.t4bb.ie

Also keep in mind if you see Victor Grundy or Keith Ennis walking around the gym dont forget to wish them good luck as both of them are making their debuts at Clan Wars this weekend. More details here

Osu!

Meet Kokoro’s BJJ Coach, Tony Souza, 2nd Degree Black Belt Under Ralph Gracie

Kokoro MMA — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 14:04:17 +0000

Tony Souza is a 2nd Degree Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu directly under Ralph Gracie. He’s a long history of working as both coach and fighter with Team Ralph Gracie and we’re delighted to announce that Tony has now officially joined the coaching team at Kokoro MMA, Dublin. We made Tony’s arrival official, with a BJJ for MMA workshop, this morning and we had a blast!

We’ll post pictures, a short run down of the workshop and confirm the times of our new No-Gi BJJ programme later today. We just wanted to make this short announcement to quickly thank Tony for his time today and we’re DELIGHTED to have the highest ranked BJJ instructor in Ireland come on board at Kokoro MMA!

If you’d like to continue training No-Gi BJJ for MMA under Tony Souza, he will now be coaching every Tuesday & Wednesday evening from 18:00-19:00 at the Dublin gym.

Kokoro MMA Members: 5€ per session
Non MMA Members: 10€ per session

Kokoro Summer Submission Tournament 2009

Kokoro MMA — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 17:31:53 +0000

What a day! Hands down the best display of sportsmanship, camaraderie and skills since the founding of Kokoro Mixed Martial Arts. The Summer Submission Tournament saw 30 participants, 6 medalists and 3 overall winners grappling their way through up to four matches to take gold in their respective weight categories.

Sadly, 95% of the photographs from the event are unusable (the various photographers forgot to focus before snapping the shots! Doh! ) but we’ve a couple that are salvaged and will get them up as soon as we can. In the meantime; visit the “Highlights” section and have a look at the highlight reel of the event!

Just want to say how proud a day it was to see everybody put everything into the tournament whilst ensuring that we had a safe, fun and competative day! Truly Awesome! I know it’s corny – but there were truly no losers today. 100% quality and outstanding performances.

Congratulations to our medalists and overall winners;

Middle: Levente Almasi (Gold), Dave McCormack (Silver)
Heavy: Johnny Bowden (Gold), Josh Coughlan (Silver)
Light: Keith Roddy (Gold), Derek Coleman (Silver)
Sub of the Day: Dave McCormack (Super Smooth Armbar)

Guys, we’ll get the full list of matches and results up online asap. In the meantime, I want to thank everyone for making this a superb day without a single hiccup. Extra thanks to Dr. Frank Antolcic for being on hand throughout the day and keeping everyone safe.

AWESOME!

This Week at Kokoro: Focus on Ground and Pound

Kokoro MMA — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 12:05:48 +0000

“Ground and Pound” – the distinctive Hallmark of Mixed Martial Arts. This element of the sport has evolved to become a true fusion of grappling and striking skill.

Our beginners at Kokoro Mixed Martial Arts have been focusing on development of effective Ground and Pound (GNP) attacks this week. We typically start our beginners off from inside the guard since this is arguably the most precarious of GNP positions and it allows our opponent a host of defensive and agressive options. Drills, drills and more drills ensure that our guys ‘n girls quickly develop a balanced approach to GNP from the guard. This, in turn, serves as a solid foundation for GNP skills from all other positions.

This Week at Kokoro: Focus on Ground Control

Kokoro MMA — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:08:29 +0000

A good active guard is part of the standard skill set of any Mixed Martial Artist these days. So, it pays to know how to defeat this highly effective position.

Defeating the guard is an essential skill. We like to think of the guard as a mine-field. You just don’t want to be in there – period. Even with the best will in the world however, getting pulled into guard is going to happen, especially early on in any mixed martial arts career. So, this week we decided to give everyone a map through the minefield. A strategic approach toward defeating the guard!

This Week at Kokoro: Focus on Takedowns

Kokoro MMA — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:09:26 +0000

Takedowns are an essential aspect of Mixed Martial Arts. This week our beginners groups have been focusing on some of the less orthodox takedowns in MMA.

By using the “Sneak Through”, we put ourselves in a position where by we can effect takedowns from behind our opponent. Often, opponents are far less experienced at defending takedowns from their back and this can lead to a land of opportunity for the more skilled athlete…

This Week at Kokoro: Focus on Dirty Boxing for MMA

Kokoro MMA — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:14:20 +0000

It may be dirty in boxing but in Mixed Martial Arts it’s all part of the game and an art in itself. Striking from inside the clinch. That’s been this week’s focus.

How do we engage the clinch when our opponent is fixed on striking? How do we use dirty boxing to keep a match on it’s feet? How do we disengage from the clinch safely? “The Shutdown”, “The Mouse Trap”, “Knee Tag”, “Bump n Strike” – all drills that help us figure out some of the answers.

This Week at Kokoro: Focus on Boxing for MMA

Kokoro MMA — Fri, 22 May 2009 00:25:21 +0000

Another week flies on by…! We’ve reset the clock on our 12 week cycle to focus striking skills this week. The central theme… …boxing for MMA.

Finding the confidence to get out of the “one hit wonder” mentality isn’t easy. It’s common enough to develop a “jab one two” addiction in the early days. We’ve developed a host of drills to get our guys throwing “punches in bunches” in a suprisingly short time.

This Week at Kokoro: Focus on Standup

Kokoro MMA — Wed, 13 May 2009 10:47:50 +0000

When is a high kick not a high kick? One of the most powerful and effective weapons in the standup arsenal or a high risk attack with low percentage return?

We’re back to week one of our beginners training cycle. This week’s focus on standup has centred around getting to know the high kick. Tons of fun!

This Week at Kokoro: Focus on Setups

Kokoro MMA — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:42:53 +0000

As we reach the end of our 12 week cycle; we’ve spent the week focusing on setups to submissions from the guard.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the Slinky so much last week that we decided to focus on the Bow ‘n Arrow this week. Everyone seemed to pick it up with stunning speed as usual. Nice one guys!

This Week at Kokoro: Focus on Ground Control

Kokoro MMA — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 22:06:53 +0000

We’re getting to know the arm bar in some detail this week. It’s one thing to know “how” to “do an armbar” but it’s a whole other thing to know be able to “attack” with this technique.

The lads ‘n lasses of our beginner’s groups have been working on “The Slinky”; a simple method of gaining control of the guard and opening the door to a whole host of armbar attacks.

This Week at Kokoro: Focus on Takedowns

Kokoro MMA — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:28:57 +0000

In the mood for effortless takedowns? No problem. The “Shoot” is a great place to start. An effective method of closing the distance on an opponent and engaging the lower body for takedowns from the waist and below.

We’re spending this week getting to know the “Shoot” and a good few of the takedowns that this technique opens up for us.

Fundamentals Workshop: Submissions for MMA

Kokoro MMA — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 18:06:40 +0000

Had a cracking time at the submissions workshop today. It’s amazing how quickly everybody manages to pick this stuff up. Thanks for heading down!

Makes me wish I was 20 years younger watching you lot learn at warp speed! Solid fundamental submissions and transitions from/to side and mount position, top and bottom. Hope you enjoyed yourself as much as I did lads and see you all in part two (guard and back) at some point later in the year!

This Week at Kokoro: Focus on Standup

Kokoro MMA — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 22:14:03 +0000

Smash and Blast is a simple and effective striking strategy – based on techniques from Boxing, Kickboxing, Muay Thai and Kyokushin Karate – it’s tailor made for MMA. This week and next, the fundamentals sessions are focusing intensively on standup drills.

Getting to know the drills, that will in turn give us the skills to standup and fight with confidence, is the name of the game this week. Watching the lads work – it’s hard to be believe that some of these guys have been training for just four or five weeks!

This Week at Kokoro: Drills, Drills and More Drills…

Kokoro MMA — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:00:13 +0000

Blazing a trail through the 12 week cycle of fundamentals is tons of fun. But, just how much do we really retain in our memory? More importantly, just how much can we put into practise?

This week, the guys have been working their way through “refresher week”, an opportunity to remind ourselves of the strike, clinch and submit drills and skills we’ve been coming to grips with for the last six weeks.

This Week at Kokoro: Ground and Pound (GnP)

Kokoro MMA — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 23:58:02 +0000

Just how effective is “ground and pound” from inside the guard? How can we neutralise the striking efforts of our opponent through “pulling guard”? How can we turn this threatening situation into an opportunity for attack?

This week, as we progress through our twelve week cycle of fundamental MMA concepts, the guys have been familiarising themselves with “ground and pound” from inside the guard.

This Week at Kokoro: Guard Submissions

Kokoro MMA — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:46:48 +0000

Throughout the week our beginners programme has been focusing on submission wrestling basics. In the early days of submission wrestling, we find that we spend a lot of time on our back. “Pulling guard” is one way to open up a number of submission opportunities.

For the most part, the guys have been getting to grips with three of the Hollywood Heroes of Submission Wrestling for MMA; Kimura, Armbar & Triangle from the guard position.