The Good Fight - New York Open 2012

Date: Saturday, February 4, 2012

Venue: Nyack College (Bowman Gymnasium)
Address: 1 South Blvd. Nyack, NY 10960

Website: http://www.thegoodfight.tv/new_york_open_tournament.html

Awards: Giant 4-inch, full-color, custom medals to placewinners

Special Team Prize: The team with the most 'CROWNED' points will win 3'x5' tournament banner.

LOS ANGELES, California — Just in case you missed any of the news, the ninth annual OTM Awards and its 16 winners were announced each day last week! These awards were given to the individuals responsible for the most outstanding performances in the sports of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), Submission Grappling (No-Gi), and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) over the course of the 2011 calendar year. The recap of the OTM Awards announcements from last week are as follows:

OTM BJJ Player of the Year: Rodolfo Vieira

Rodolfo Vieira did something unique in 2011 in the world of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He was able to fill the seemingly insurmountable void left in the heavier weight classes of the sport, when jiu-jitsu's most dominant figure Roger Gracie decided to focus on his MMA career. However, as Roger's MMA career in Strikeforce began to take form, a new star was born as Rodolfo's BJJ career took off.

OTM Female BJJ Player of the Year: Luanna Alzuguir

Luanna Alzuguir kicked off her 2011 jiu-jitsu (gi) competition schedule without missing a beat, after enjoying a very successful run in 2009 and 2010. In January of last year, Alzuguir left Lisbon, Portugal with a gold medal at the IBJJF European Open Jiu-Jitsu Championship in the Female Brown Belt / Black Belt lightweight division, as well as a silver medal in the Absolute.

OTM BJJ Match of the Year: Kron Gracie vs. Gilbert "Durinho" Burns | IBJJF World Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2011 (Black Belt Lightweight Finals)

The three "OTM Breakthrough of the Year" awards go to one individual, male or female, in each of the following combat sports: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), Submission Grappling (No-Gi), and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). The winners of these awards have already established himself or herself on the competition scene, as a talented and well-respected competitor, but over the past year they have achieved that moment of clarity in their respective discipline that pushed their career to even greater heights.

OTM Instructor of the Year: Ramon Lemos

One of our busiest Instructors in the Jiu-Jitsu Community, Gustavo Dantas, is starting a new venture in his own Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy. Gustavo has been teaching the gentle art at the World renowned Mixed Martial Arts School, Arizona Combat Sports, in Tempe, AZ since October 2000.

Scotty Nelson Editor's Note: I've known Ed Clay for the past 13 years. (yes since Ed was 17 years old)  We used to call him "The Fearless Leader" as Ed would fearlessly and many times ferociously take on a project, work harder than most thought was humanely possible, and not stop until he reached his goal.
 
Ed introduced me to "The Ron Paul Revolution" and I've been hooked ever since. Here's a story of his latest experience.

LOS ANGELES, California — The ninth annual OTM Awards will be announced each day next week, starting on Monday, January 9th and ending on Friday, January 13th. We at OTM are very proud to say that we started these awards nearly a decade ago and have watched some of these athletes develop into household names in the sports of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), Submission Grappling (No-Gi), and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). To celebrate the growth of these sports, we have added more categories this year and we will be awarding people in different 16 categories in all 3 sports.