Belt promotions are a way for us to recognize achievements made in training and improvements to our knowledge and abilities.  A belt promotion will be held on Saturday July 26, 2008 at 12:00 pm at the Watertown school.  If you are unsure if you are promoting this summer please talk to Master Kleber.  Please deliver your name and payment to Master Kleber (25$ for a stripe, 50$ for a belt) no later than Wednesday July 23rd.  Congratulations to everyone promoting and cheers to yet another season of great training and happy memories!

The Kimura BJJ team took home top honors at the NAGA New England Championship held in Fall River, Massachusetts June 28. With Kimura competitors taking home an impressive 29 medals, Kimura competitors outscored the 2nd place, Link BJJ, by 1500 to 790. An astounding 39 competitors took part in the tournament and Kimura BJJ won a total of 29 medals. Kimura performed particularly well in the highly competitive purple belt division, winning 3 golds and 1 bronze. Overall, the squad won 12 1st place honors, 9 2nd place finishes, and 8 3rd place finishes. Kimura won the New England Championship in 2004 and 2006.

The Kimura BJJ Academy is proudly celebrating it's fifth year anniversary on Saturday July 12, 2008.  Master Kleber will be hosting a barbeque party at his house and all students, friends, and family are invited to attend.  Everyone is encouraged to bring food/drink to share.  Details will be given out during class and will be posted here as it is announced.  Congratulations to Master Kleber and the Kimura BJJ Academy for having achieved so much in such a short time!

Update: The party on Saturday will start at 12pm at 25 Forest St, Watertown MA.  Everyone from the school is invited including friends and family.  Please bring something to barbeque as well as drinks.  Hope to see everyone there!

Putting on a strong team performance, Kimura took first place at the Massachusetts Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation’s Summer Gi Tournament held in Natick June 15, taking home a total of 14 medals. The team finished ahead of the second place Fenix Fight Club and third place American Top Team-Boston. 

Master Jean Kleber praised everyone who competed.

“We really came together as a team,” he said.
 
In brief, here are some of the first and second place finishers:

First Place : Carlos*, Marcello, Stanley, Paulista, Lucas, Bruno

* Carlos also won the Absolute Division.

Second Place : Jason, Kieran, James , Joe Mosca, Yuri, Vitor

“This was the first time we had entered this tournament,” said Master Jean Kleber. “Thank you to the Mass BJJ Federation for organizing it and to all of the other schools.” 

The Kimura BJJ Academy makes their first ever showing at a Massachusetts Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation tournament a spectacular one by taking home first place!  Congratulations and thanks to every competitor and team member who came to support our school.  We once again showed our trademark unity and team spirit by having each competitor supported and cheered in turn by our full team.  As master Jean Kleber likes to say, this is the Kimura way!  A special thanks to masters Jean and Michael for doing a fantastic job coaching us and having their daily teachings really show through.  Congratulations Kimura!  Please check back soon for pictures and details of the competition!

The Kimura belt promotion has been moved from June 28th to July 26th (1:00pm) in order to allow our students to compete in the NAGA New England Championships in Fall River, MA on June 28th.  Details about the tournament can be found at www.nagafighter.com.  Master Jean Kleber is excited about the opportunity to showcase the Kimura BJJ technique and team unity once again.  All students of any experience level is encouraged to participate as either a competitor or a spectator. 

Kimura Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu made its mark at the World Championships, also known as the Mundials, which were held in Long Beach, California June 5-8.
 
In an amazing feat, Jeff Hsu took home top honors, winning 5 fights to become a world champion. Jeff won the gold for the white belt adult middleweight division, finishing 4 out of his 5 fights by submission. But get this. Jeff had never entered a jiu-jitsu competition before the Mundials. What a debut!

As organized by the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation, the mega-competition is among the most prestigious and competitive tournaments in the world and regularly draws over 1500 athletes among thousands of other fans.

Besides Jeff, four other Kimura competitors made the cross-country voyage to fight, and each collected victories and earned respect. Tho Vu won a bronze medal, winning 3 of 4 fights (2 by submission) in the super featherweight adult division. Stanley Chen won 2 out of 3 fights (1 by submission) in the blue belt middleweight division. Diego Ferroni won 2 out of 3 in the purple belt middleweight division, and Bruno Braz won 1 out of 2 in the blue belt super featherweight division.

Congratulations to all!

The Watertown Tab and Press recently featured Kimura in a story entitled “ Watertown is home to world-class jiu-jitsu”, as written by Frank Santarprio. Thank you to the Tab for the coverage and warm welcome! Kimura is proud to call Watertown home.

Click here to read the story.

Yet again Tho Vu has brought home a medal to Kimura Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, taking 3rd place at the prestigious Abu Dhabi Cup. Tho traveled to the United Arab Emirates for the most prominent jiu-jitsu competition in the Middle East (May 9-10). He won 3 fights all by submission on the tournament’s first day. In the semifinals, he dropped a razor tight 3-2 decision to his division's eventual champion, and he ended up in third. Congratulations again, Tho.

For the second year in a row, Kimura took 2nd place in the team gi competition   at the NAGA World Championships. The team point totals have finally been tabulated and posted on the NAGA website:   http://www.nagafighter.com/worlds2008_results_team.asp.   Out of hundreds of schools competing, Kimura came in 2nd with 650 team points. Renzo Gracie took the NAGA team championship with 760 points, and Maxercise took 3rd with 280 points. Master Jean Kleber said that it was an impressive team performance, and he encourages more of his students to compete in NAGA and other events in the future.

Kimura BJJ had a stellar weekend at the NAGA World Championships (April 5-6) in Newark, New Jersey. The tournament welcomed thousands of competitors, and is the largest and most prestigious BJJ contest of its kind in the region. Some 19 Kimura BJJ artists competed in the event, and all of them are to be congratulated for their efforts and courage. Master Jean Kleber said he was proud of the technique and determination exhibited by all. Several competitors merit special congratulations for winning medals by placing in the top three positions of their divisions. In gi competitions, Kimura took home a total of 11 medals!

Congrats to all the Kimura BJJ competitors who traveled to Carson, California to compete in the 2008 Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship (March 28-30). An extra congratulations goes out to Tho Vu, who took home top honors in his division. Tho started the three-day tournament by defeating a former Pan Jiu-Jitsu champion by a score of 12-0, and he then went on to win two more fights to claim the tournament’s championship for the Super Feather Weight (141 lbs) Master Blue Belt division. What is even more remarkable is that Tho has only been training in jiu-jitsu at Kimura BJJ for 15 months!

The 2nd Kimura BJJ Academy tournament was a success once again!  With each competition the level of our school rises and our students becomes a tighter knit community.  Congratulations to all the students for taking part in the tournament!  We would also like to extend a big thank you to everyone who assisted in setup, refereeing, and otherwise help in making the tournament run so smoothly.  A special thank you to Junior and Alexim Moving for once again sponsoring our tournament, without our sponsors and supporters Kimura BJJ would not be where it is today!  Thank you!  Look for the full results and more pictures in the detail section of this article in the very near future.

Joey Bell took 3rd place in his purple belt dvision at the 2008 Arnold Grappling Classic held in Columbus Ohio.  Joey is known at the Kimura BJJ school as having a highly technical game in addition to a very easy going personality.  These qualities have made Joey an excellent instructor and trainer at our South Boston branch.  If you would like to check out training at the South Boston branch, please contact him with the information found on our branches page.  Once again, congratulations to Joey for a great showing at a tough competition!