Southside Dojo

Southside Dojo Judoka compete at the 2010 Furniture City Open

Several Judo competitors fought in the 2010 Furniture City Open on May 16, 2010. Congratulations to all the competitors for their efforts and for representing Southside Dojo. Along with medals, three people who train at Southside Dojo took home technique awards. Congratulations to Jasmine Strickler, Madison Nakayama, and Mike Sanders.

Southside Dojo Judoka Madison Nakayama wins best technique for junior females at 2010 Furniture City Judo Tournament Jasmine Strickler Mike Sanders Mitchell Nakayama and Max Blake Gabe Simmerling Morgan Nakayama and Hailey Runyon Chandler Simmerling Jonathon Hodgkins Ethan Simmerling

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NAGA 2010

4 grapplers represented Southside Dojo at NAGA 2010 Midwest in Oak Park IL on 4/24/2010. 1600 competitors fought for honors at the grappling event. Dave Havice, Brian Skjold, Ron Blake, and Nate DeCamp competed, and brought back two medals. Dedication, hard work, and perseverance was shown by all.

2010 NAGA Chicago results

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Southside Dojo demonstrates self defense techniques at WMU's 2010 Take Back the Night Program

Southside Dojo's Jamie Blake and Tom Machowicz provided martial arts self defense techniques at the 2010 Take Back the Night program at Western Michigan University on 4/15/2010 at WMU's Bernhard Center. Techniques were shown in an effort to make attendees aware of martial arts techniques that can be used in self defense situations. Attendees were encouraged to practice martial arts, and to be aware of their surroundings as a means of avoiding situations. Southside Dojo offers many martial arts for kids and adults at their training center in Portage Michigan, including Judo, Aikido, Muay Thai, Jujitsu, MMA, Karate, Kobudo, and Yoga.

Southside Dojo is a 501c3 Non Profit organization. On request, members of Southside Dojo can provide martial arts demonstrations as well as self defense seminars. For more information contact one of our instructors.

Jamie Blake is a 3rd degree black belt in Judo and also holds a black belt in Koburyu Kobudo at Southside Dojo. While at Western Michigan University she qualified for the Judo Olympic trials. Tom Machowicz practices and competes at Judo and Muay Thai at Southside Dojo, he is also 3-0 in MMA under the SSD Guerilla Fight Team.

Kalamazoo Gazette Article..

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SOUTH SIDE DOJO'S- RACHAEL SMITH GAINS VICTORY BY UNANIMOUS DECISION

Fight Card Entertainment - Carlos Acevedo

As people can now see, MMA is not only a sport for men and at Ruthless, FCE proved it by having these two great fighters face off. Rachael Smith, a member of South Side Dojo fought against Hackney's Combat, Elizabeth Roig. This was definitely one of the most interesting fights of the night, some fan's went as far as saying that it was better than some of the guy fights. "These girls can fight. Some of the guys just go out there and hug each other throughout the whole fight. This fight proves that girls can do MMA too," said Alejandra Marquez, Waukegan resident and FCE fan.

From the beginning of the first round, these two fighters fought non-stop until the end of the third round. Smith threw numerous strikes, many of them connected. Roig, attempted an arm bar but that was not enough to stop the flurry of strikes delivered by Smith. Smith was successful in dominating the fight and after 3 Rounds of fighting, she defeated Roig by Unanimous Decision.

Rachael Smith:

When asked if she felt the fight went her way, Smith said, "Actually, I did better than what I expected. She (Roig) put up a great fight for such a little person. She didn't stop, she kept on going, she's a tough girl." Smith said that one of her toughest challenges in this fight was that Roig kept moving, which made it difficult for her to transition.

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"SPORTSMANSHIP IS KEY"-SOUTH SIDE DOJO'S, CHRIS FLACH

At Ruthless, Chris Flach, a member of South Side Dojo fought against Jordan Yunis, a member of Team Ramrod out of Gurnee, IL
This fight was similar to "David and Goliath's" battle. Yunis had the reach advantage but Flach didn't back down one bit. Even after being dropped/taken down numerous, Flach remained in the fight.

At times, against the cage, Yunis connected many strikes to the face and body. Flach fought back with kicks to the body, legs and knee strikes.

Both fighters fought until the had no more gas but in 1:29 of the 2nd Round, Yunis won the fight after catching Flach in a Guillotine Choke.

Flach:

"Just like anything you do, there are things you need to work on, you need to take every loss to heart and you need to improve. I definitely have some things I need to work on," said Flach.

Flach also said that he has was happy with his performance and thought that Yunis was a good opponent.

Toughest Challenge:

"Definitely dealing with his reach and my inability, well I just have a hard time taking people down but I was happy after the 1st Round, I felt good. It was a good fight," said Flach.

Final Comments:

"I think sportsmanship is key and that teams need to act accordingly. I think the opponent I fought had excellent sportsmanship and I would like everyone to act like that. I don't like the bad stigma about cage fighting. I really dislike it. I just want people to act honorably," said Flach.

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