Rich “Super” Power – A Force to Be Reckoned With

By Taff Davies

With so much focus on MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) these days, more and more people are being drawn away from the United States’ original combat sport, Boxing. If you asked fight fans to name the top 3 pound for pound fighters in MMA, many would be able to name BJ Penn, George St. Pierre, and Anderson Silva. Would they be able to do the same for Boxing? It’s gotten to the point where some sports experts are predicting that Boxing will eventually drift off into obscurity while MMA continues its dizzying climb as the world’s fastest growing sport.

However, as MMA and its practitioners have evolved, the game has changed. No longer is the sport dominated by ground fighters and no longer does Grappling win the majority of the matches. Jiu Jitsu and Wrestling are still very important skills for fighters to have in their arsenal, but now Boxing is just as important for success in the Octagon. MMA fighters’ abilities to neutralize ground attacks are constantly increasing, which is why there are more and more knockouts as the level of Boxing increase. Ironically, as long as MMA continues to grow, the need for solid Boxing abilities will continue to grow with it.

Enter Rich “Super” Power, San Diego’s newest addition to the professional fighting scene. At 6’5” and 245 lbs., Power stands out in a crowd. But what really sets him apart are his Boxing skills. Currently managed by the same group who managed former Heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis, Power is being looked at as a potential star in the Boxing world. A Southpaw, Power is currently 10-0 as a Pro Heavyweight, with 7 wins coming by way of Knockout.

He recently moved from his hometown of Detroit to San Diego to further advance his career in Boxing. Although not as well-known for Boxing as it once was, there is still some great Boxing training to be found in San Diego with local trainers like Ernest Johnson Sr., who is father to well-known San Diego boxer Ernest “EJ” Johnson Jr. and trainer to numerous professional and amateur boxers. There is also access to some tough sparring in the So Cal region in gyms like The Rock and Wild Card, where Manny Pacquiao trains.

But Power also plans a career in MMA. Seeking the best gym in the country for MMA training, Power chose The Arena, the San Diego MMA gym that houses the largest professional fight team in Southern California. There, Power gets the opportunity to work with numerous high-profile MMA athletes such as 6x World Jiu Jitsu champion Xande Ribeiro. At The Arena, Power instructs these athletes in the finer points of Boxing while getting some hard-core MMA training in return.

Power has also had the chance to do some serious sparring at The Arena, including going rounds with UFC striking standout Junior Dos Santos, who is being viewed as a potential heavyweight champion in MMA. During these sparring sessions, Power learned there is a big difference between pure Boxing and MMA. But Power is a natural athlete who was both a collegiate boxer as well as collegiate basketball player. He is quickly picking up the skills needed for success in MMA and anticipates launching a professional MMA career within the next year while continuing his quest for Boxing glory.

Like his fellow teammate at The Arena, Professional fighter K.J. Noons (former MMA champion and boxer who now fights in Strikeforce), Power wants to blaze a trail across both sports. With his determination, athleticism, and access to some of the best training in the world, one thing is certain. Rich “Super” Power is a force to be reckoned with and will be making a big name for himself in the near future, whether in Boxing, MMA, or both.

For more info or to contact Rich Power or The Arena, go to http://www.TheArenaMMA.com or call 619-222-5554.

The Arena’s Top Female MMA Fighter in the World, Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos, was recently interview by Sherdog as she prepares for her Strikeforce title defense in Miami on Saturday January 30th. To read this great interview, go to: Cris “Cyborg” Santos Interview

San Diego MMA Gym The Arena was featured in the fight media world once again, this time in the UFC Countdown show for UFC 107. The UFC typically films the Countdown show before its highly anticipated MMA fights. The UFC’s traditional preview show for December’s UFC 107 will debut the second week of December 2009.

UFC 107, featuring the Diego Sanchez vs. BJ Penn Lightweight title fight, will take place December 12th, 2009 at the FedEx forum in Memphis, Tennessee. The highly anticipated Sanchez/Penn fight will be the main event, with the card also featuring Frank Mir vs. Cheick Kongo, Jon Fitch vs. Mike Pierce, Kenny Florian vs. Clay Guida and 7 other bouts.

“Countdown to UFC 107″ goes behind the scenes as Sanchez and Penn ready for a fight that will determine the UFC lightweight champion of the world. The 60-minute preview show has earned rave reviews as the UFC has continually created better shows with each filming, including high quality production values and close access to the fighters.

Sanchez was interviewed and filmed training at the Arena, under the watchful eye of head coach Saulo Ribeiro, the 6x Jiu Jitsu World Champion. The Arena is the Premier MMA gym in San Diego, and where Ribeiro calls home.

Besides its own MMA program, The Arena houses Ribeiro’s University of Jiu Jitsu, one of the most successful Jiu Jitsu programs in the world. The Arena is also home to other UFC and WEC fighters including Fabricio “Morango” Camoes and Rani Yahya, as well as many up and coming young MMA fighters.

The Arena – The San Diego MMA Gym. Training in Boxing, Jiu Jitsu, MMA, Muay Thai and Wrestling in San Diego

The Arena is THE MMA Gym in San Diego that trains professional fighters as well as students who want to train like fighters. The Arena offers training in Boxing, Jiu Jitsu, MMA, Muay Thai, and Wrestling in its San Diego MMA gym. For more information on The Arena, go to http://www.TheArenaMMA.com.

Rani Yahya is MMA’s King of the Submission Jungle. Although the man with the memorable name might still be unknown to some MMA fans out there, the reputation of San Diego MMA fighter and Jiu Jitsu ace Rani Yahya is rapidly growing. Currently training and teaching at The Arena, the Premier MMA gym in San Diego, Yahya is a 135 pound fighter in the WEC, the MMA organization owned by the parent company of the UFC. Yahya has the highest submission percentage of any ranked fighter in the MMA world. With a record of 15-4, an amazing 14 of his wins have been by submission.

This incredible 93% submission rate is due to Yahya’s Jiu Jitsu skills, which have also landed him 3 Jiu Jitsu World titles as well as the 2007 ADCC lightweight championship (the ADCC is the most prestigious submission grappling tournament in the world). Since signing with the WEC in 2007, Yahya has submitted 4 out of his 5 opponents in the first round. His last 3 fights have each earned him Submission of the Night awards, a record not matched by any other fighter in MMA.

So how did Yahya get so good? And why does his Jiu Jitsu work so well for MMA when other, more famous Brazilian Jiu Jitsu champions haven’t come close to matching Yahya’s submission rate in MMA? To answer these questions, it’s necessary to find the source of Yahya’s Jiu Jitsu. In finding that source, a story is uncovered that could have been written for Hollywood, instead of drawn from real life.

Born in 1984 in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, Yahya started training in Judo by the age of 4. A natural athlete, Yahya was on his way to becoming a Judo champion when fate intervened in the form of a near fatal snake bite at the age of 11. Rushed to the hospital, Yahya was close to death until a man known simply as Ataide came to save him, bringing the anti-venom Yahya needed to stop the poisoning. Fortunately for Yahya, Ataide is the Head of the Reptile Dept. of the Brasilia Zoo. A man known by some as the “Crocodile Dundee” of Brazil, Ataide is one of the foremost experts in the world on deadly reptiles. But Ataide is an expert in another area as well, Jiu Jitsu.

Like Yahya, Ataide trained in martial arts since he was 4, learning from one of the 5 original Red Belts (Jiu Jitsu’s highest rank) of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Because of his intense study of snakes, Ataide eventually transformed the style of Jiu Jitsu he was taught into his own special system, which features snake-like chokes and strangles. Thus was born Ataide’s Constrictor Jiu Jitsu.

Constrictor Jiu Jitsu’s practitioners suffocate their prey just like the snakes that Ataide still handles daily. This style is particularly effective for MMA because it doesn’t rely on fighting from the back like many Jiu Jitsu fighters do. Because of this, Constrictor Jiu Jitsu fighters are not as susceptible to ground and pound and can quickly neutralize opponents who make the mistake of going to the ground with a Constrictor fighter. Besides Yahya and many others in Brazil, UFC fighter Paulo Thiago (who defeated Josh Koscheck in Thiago’s 2009 UFC debut) is also a student of Ataide.

When Ataide saved Rani Yahya’s life, he recognized something special in the young boy, and adopted him as his martial arts son, teaching him the secrets of Constrictor Jiu Jitsu. Because of this influence, Yahya developed a passion for snakes as his mentor Ataide did. Like a modern-day Spiderman, Yahya feels the snake that bit him also transformed him, giving him special powers along the way. Since that first bite 14 years ago, Yahya has never been sick. Incredibly, when another poisonous snake bit him several years later, it had almost no effect.

Today, Yahya has left the real jungle and concentrates on a different one in the MMA world. He lives, trains and teaches in San Diego, where he is the Head Instructor of No Gi Jiu Jitsu for The Arena in San Diego, the well-known San Diego MMA gym where fighters like UFC standout Diego Sanchez train.

Besides his skills as a fighter, Yahya also possesses a great ability for teaching, sharing the Constrictor techniques with students who are looking for a submission grappling system that works well for both MMA and Jiu Jitsu. At The Arena, Yahya is establishing the roots of the Constrictor system in San Diego and eventually the rest of the U.S., as more people learn about this incredibly effective Submission Grappling style.

Whatever happens for Yahya in the future, one thing is certain. Whoever he faces next in the WEC better bring their A game. Because if they don’t, Yahya will strike as fast as the snake that originally bit him, earning yet another victory for MMA’s King of the Submission Jungle.

The Arena – The San Diego MMA Gym. Top Training in Boxing, Jiu Jitsu, MMA, Muay Thai and Wrestling in San Diego

The Arena is the Premier MMA Gym in San Diego that trains professional fighters as well as recreational athletes who want to train like fighters. The Arena offers training in Boxing, Jiu Jitsu, MMA, Muay Thai, and Wrestling in its San Diego MMA gym. For more info on The Arena, go to http://www.TheArenaMMA.com.

Many people who follow the rapidly exploding sport of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) have noticed how quickly the sport is evolving. The first major MMA promotion in the U.S. was UFC 1 held in Denver November 1993, when Brazilian fighter Royce Gracie came out in his Jiu Jitsu uniform to beat a boxer, wrestler, and kickboxer one after the other, easily winning the 8 man single elimination tournament. From those humble beginnings 16 years ago, today we have numerous fight promotions across the world, including the UFC, WEC, and Strikeforce in the U.S., with thousands of professional athletes striving to make it to the top.

As the sport has evolved, so has the caliber and skill set of the athletes. No longer does Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) dominate the sport as it once did. Now, besides BJJ, the true combat athlete needs to be skilled in other disciplines such as Boxing, Muay Thai, and Wrestling. Perfect examples of these well-versed athletes are MMA World Champions BJ Penn, George St. Pierre, and Anderson Silva.

But even rarer than MMA Champions who are skilled in multiple martial arts is the athlete who is able to successfully compete in multiple fighting disciplines at a high professional level. One such athlete trains and fights out of San Diego. His name is Karl James Noons, better known to his family, friends and fans as KJ. Although there has been a lot of news lately about the return to Boxing by well-known MMA fighter Nick Diaz, the upcoming fight will merely be Diaz’s second Boxing match. In comparison, the talented and charismatic Noons has a professional Boxing record of 10-2 with 6 KO’s, a Kickboxing record of 13-1 with 10 KO’s, and a MMA record of 6-1 with 6 KO’s.

This ability to fight on multiple fronts is a testament to KJ’s upbringing, training, athleticism, work ethic, and coaching. The son of Karl Noons Sr., who was a professional kickboxer in Hawaii in the 1970’s, KJ was raised in Hawaii until he was 16. He started martial arts training when he was 5, earning his black belt in Kenpo Karate at the age of 11. When he was 10, KJ started Boxing and by 12, he was Kickboxing. When he was 15, he began training Muay Thai and by 17, won the ISKA Super Middleweight championship. After making it to the semi-finals in the 2004 Olympic boxing trials, KJ turned pro as a boxer and in 2005 won the Pride Fighting Championship’s auditions as best striker.

In 2006, KJ signed a deal with Elite XC that allowed him to participate in both Boxing and MMA. He then fought Nick Diaz in November 2007 for the Elite XC Lightweight MMA Championship. After cutting Diaz so badly in the first round the match had to be stopped with KJ winning by TKO. In June 2008, KJ defended his Elite XC title, beating MMA veteran Yves Edwards in 48 seconds of the first round, once again by TKO. Afterwards, KJ continued his Boxing career, with his thirteenth Boxing match with TKO World Championship Boxing set at Pala Casino in Oceanside CA on August 22. After that fight, KJ has another Boxing match in Fall 2009, to be followed by a MMA fight at the end of the year. With such a demanding schedule in multiple sports, KJ truly embodies the spirit of the combat athlete.

It’s often said that to be the best, you have to train with the best. Nowhere is this truer than in the fighting arts. To further his quest for future championships in both Boxing and MMA, KJ has enlisted well-known trainer and fellow Hawaiian Rob Garcia, who spent the past 8 years as the conditioning coach for Golden Boy Promotions and Oscar De La Hoya until Oscar’s retirement this year. Besides having an extensive competitive Boxing and Jiu-Jitsu background himself, as well as two decades of athletic performance coaching, Garcia spent the past 8 years working closely alongside world-class Boxing coaches Freddie Roach and Floyd Mayweather Sr., learning everything possible along the way from two of the best in the Boxing business.

Armed with his weapons of knowledge and experience, Garcia is determined to bring KJ to the top of both the Boxing and MMA worlds. In this quest, the duo have been training at the best gyms they can find, including Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Boxing in Hollywood as well as The Arena (http://www.TheArenaMMA.com) in San Diego, the well-known MMA and Boxing gym that caters to professional and amateur fighters, with one of the best fight teams in Southern California.

With all his skills and the strong support in his corner, KJ Noons is truly able to bridge both Boxing and MMA, becoming a pioneer in the process and setting an example for all the young combat athletes who will follow in his footsteps as Boxing becomes more integrated with MMA and vice-versa. Without a doubt, we will see much more of this versatile athlete in the future as he continues to blaze a trail across the fighting world.

About The Arena – The San Diego Boxing and MMA Gym

The Arena is a MMA and Boxing gym in San Diego that trains professional fighters as well as recreational athletes who want to train like fighters. The Arena offers training in Boxing, MMA, Muay Thai, No Gi Jiu Jitsu and Wrestling in its San Diego MMA gym. For more info on The Arena, go to http://www.TheArenaMMA.com. For more info on KJ Noons, go to http://www.KJNoons.com.