12/18/2021 – Year end award announcements: Pura Vida BJJ & MMA would like to congratulate the following award winners: Rookie Grappler of the Year – Dustin Deibitz. Rookie Striker of the Year – Olivia Griepentrog. Rookie Fighter of the Year – Linzy Hudson. Most Improved Grappler of the Year – Nick Dawson. Most Improved Striker of the Year – Krista Bowens. Most Improved Fighter of the Year – Jordan Clark. Grappler of the Year – Nolan Phalin. Striker of the Year – Ben Schauer. Fighter of the Year – Wes Schultz. Adam Vanderveen Award – Josh Ruiz. Thank you for your hard work, and we look forward to seeing who wins in 2022!
1/11/2022 – We had a special and impromptu no-gi BJJ class when all four of our grappling coaches teamed up to teach a class together! First degree BJJ blackbelts Jake Klipp, Zak Ottow and Courtnie Korpela and BJJ brownbelt Mike Waltz all taught various guard passes to a group of forty-five students in our Tuesday night advanced class. With over 65 years of grappling experience between the four of them, it was a special and fun night for the students who happened to show up! We love seeing the melding of the minds that goes on between our coaches, and watching the way they built techniques upon each other’s techniques was a really fun experience.
1/15/2022 – Two of the members of our fight team competed on the IGNITE FIGHTS card in Austin, MN and both came away with impressive submission victories! Joe Boyle made his amateur debut against an experienced kickboxer and BJJ bluebelt. After a too-close-to-call first round, Joe showed off his grappling work with a great sweep and some aggressive ground and pound in the second round, clearly winning it on the scorecards. He then dominated the third round, and finished by taking his opponent down and submitting him via RNC! Congratulations to Joe “Slim Reaper” Boyle on winning his first! Gym leader and MMA pioneer Zak “The Barbarian” Ottow closed the show with his main event fight. Looking to become the first member of the Pura Vida BJJ & MMA fight team to hit 20 wins, Zak was methodical in his victory. His opponent was a veteran of 17 pro fights and came out aggressive early. Zak rode the wave, landing opportunistic punches and elbows and he got a feel for the flow of the fight. After opening up a cut over his opponent’s eye, Zak latched onto an arm-in guillotine that he had setup earlier in the round. His opponent tried to slam his way out, but The Barbarian wouldn’t be denied! Big congratulations to Zak on moving his professional record to 20-7!
*DATE CHANGE* 2/19/2022 – Don’t miss our upcoming seminar with the legendary Henry “The Don” Matamoros! Henry is a 4th degree blackbelt under Pedro Sauer and Rickson Gracie. He is Wisconsin’s first BJJ blackbelt, and a true pioneer in the Midwest’s MMA and BJJ scenes. Henry developed a unique Open Guard system, and demonstrated it’s effectiveness in over 60 professional MMA and NHB (No Holds Barred) bouts. He brings an extremely fun style of grappling, and a truly hilarious delivery with his instruction. Some of you may already know the origins of our gym’s name, but for those who do not – “Pura Vida” translates to “pure life” but more accurately reads as “the good life” and is the national saying in Costa Rica, which is where Henry was born. We wanted to honor Henry by paying homage to his motherland with the name of our gym. And If you don’t know, now you know!