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"Martial Arts Planet owner Mike Sweeney's pursuit for excellence is evident not only in his training but also his teaching. His extreme dedication to martial arts can be seen through his continual desire to refine both his personal training and his training methods. While Mike's positive leadership has encouraged me to achieve new levels on the mat, it has also influenced me to attain new levels as a person." Adam Zugec - North American and Canadian Submission Champion

"Mike Sweeney is one of those rare Coaches who possesses the unique combination of personal skill, and teaching ability. Mike has a very high level of performance skill in all areas of fighting: stand up kickboxing, clinch, ground, and weapons. In addition, Mike has a great way of communicating, coaching, and helping others reach their own personal best within the field of functional Martial Arts. I would highly recommend his classes for anyone, of any skill level." Matt Thornton - SBG Founder and President

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2005 COMPETITION RESULTS

November 13, 2005 - Joslin's Grappling Championships, Hamilton, Ontario

On Sunday November 13, 2005, 7 students from Martial Arts Planet traveled to Hamilton to compete in the Joslin's Grappling Championships; the largest tournament of the year. Some guys did great winning textbook perfect matches. Others won matches (though not quite textbook) and still others lost. I think everyone walked away learning something though which is the best thing in my opinion. In addition to this, all of our guys showed excellent sportsmanship which makes our school look good. Final result for our guys was two 4th place finishes: one in the kids 15-17 advanced for Eric Morrin and the other in the heavyweight intermediate division for Rob McArthur. Congratulations also to Chris Wellstood, Tim Baker, Bob Bush, Jean-Martin Brault and Kyle Norton for putting it on the line! I am very proud of you all and I am happy that I was able to be there to coach and cheer you on.

November 12, 2005 - Wagnney wins Grapplers Quest Pro Tourney

Congratulations to our BJJ teacher Wagnney Fabiano for coming out on top after competing in a stacked 8 man tournament. Here is how the matches went down:

1st Round:
Bill Cooper over Daniel Aguilar
Wagnney Fabiano over Gilbert Melendez
Sandro "Batata" Santiago over Scott Bieri
Jeff Glover over Phil Cardella (9-0 points)

Semifinals:
Wagnney Fabiano over Bill Cooper
Jeff Glover over Batata via rear naked choke

Finals:
Fabiano Wagnney over Jeff Glover

August 13, 2005 - Muay Thai fights at Siam 1, Toronto

Rebecca Sweeney traveled to Siam 1 in Toronto to compete in another Muay Thai match, which she accepted on only 8 days notice. In spite of pressing the action and landing countless hard head shots, Rebecca lost a majority decision to a very game Jenypher Lanthier. Congratulations Jenypher!

May 28-29, 2005 - ADCC World Submission Wrestling Championships

Congratulations to our teacher Wagnney Fabiano and teammates Leonardo Santos and Rob "Spider" Discenso for their excellent showing at the World Championships this weekend. In the lightweight bracket Wagnney won his first match but then lost a very controversial decision in the quarter finals. Also in the lightweight bracket was Wagnney's student Spider who, after having only received an invitation to the event days before it was to take place, progressed all the way to the Semi-finals!

Wagnney's brother, world champion Leonardo Santos, had an incredible showing as well, also making it to the semi-finals before losing on points to the eventual winner of the division Marcelo Garcia.

We are all super-proud of our teachers and friends. Congratulations on the excellent showing!

April 30, 2005 - 3rd Montreal Open Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Championship

Our only representative in this tournament was Rob McArthur, who decided at the last minute to make the trip to Montreal, along with his dad to cheer him on. Seeing how he looked so intimidating to everyone , they put him up into the blue belt division and then matched him up with Scott Edwards, a Black Belt Judo Champion (that makes two tournaments in a row where Rob has had his first fight with a Judo Black Belt). Although Rob was not victorious, he represented us well both in skill and in character. Hopefully next time he will get a better draw and/or there will be more people in his division.

SBGi Athlete Forrest Griffin declared "Ultimate Fighter!"

Although not a student at our school, we cheered for him as if he was! In the best mixed martial arts fight in recent memory, Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar, competing in the finals of the inaugural “Ultimate Fighter” reality show, each eying a UFC contract, fought with the pace and speed of lightweights in front of a packed Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas. Forrest trains out of fellow SBGi location, the Hardcore Gym in Athens, Georgia with coaches Adam and Rory Singer. We couldn't have been cheering any louder for him. Way to go Forrest!

Forrest and Stephan clown around for the camera at the pre-fight weigh-ins.

April 9, 2005 - Bravado Invitational Tournament Report - By Sam MacLeod

"Introducing your intermediate -225 and masters intermediate +225 bravado invitation gold medallists Sam MacLeod and Rob McArthur...

Now, if there were only some guys in our division to actually fight for those medals.

After an uneventful, but very early drive to Toronto, we got to the venue before the tournament was even set up. The tournament looked to be well organized, but looks are sometimes deceiving. After finding our mat assignments and warming up, Rob and I found that the volunteer helping with the weigh-ins had made a mess of the filing system, having -90 lb. kids mixed with +185 men mixed with the women's category and so on. In an impressive, if not hectic rally, Tony Issacs (one of the organizers) did the best he could to correct the mistakes, starting the advanced division directly after the kids so as to provide some action while the mess was being cleared up. Unfortunately, somewhere in the jumble it was found that neither Rob nor myself had any other competitors in our division. Tony called all the "walk-throughs" over by the medal table and explained the situation. The group of six was split into two exhibition groups, intermediate and advanced. This was where the fun began.

Unfortunately I don't remember his name, but Rob and Peter know him from Joslin's as "the Russian Guy": Ontario Jr. Judo champ, OFFSAA wrestling champ, Judo black belt... Yep, Rob got to fight him! In his first match Rob made a valiant effort, shooting on the Russian giant, taking away the high-flyers stand-up game. Once on the ground Rob continued to impress, pulling guard, attempting submissions, even almost clinching a front gi choke from guard... but Mischa just had too much experience. He passed Rob's guard and landed a quick armbar for submission. In his next match Rob was more evenly matched with another white belt with some wrestling experience. Unfortunately, the battle with the Russian had zapped him a bit. After pulling guard Rob got in a bit of trouble, his opponent ending up in side control. Rob never gave up, slipping out of Americana after Americana. Eventually, unable to get out from the bottom, his opponent finally caught one of those V-armlocks and Rob tapped. (Side note: When Rob first saw the Russian walk into the gym he said he wanted to tape his match... ironic!)

My matches were nowhere near as exciting. I fought 2 +185lb'ers; one of Wagnney's blue belts and another younger blue belt. My first match against Wagney's student I was tapped in an armbar after 3 mins. or so. I won my second match, beating up on a younger smaller kid, tapping him with a sleeve choke after around 4 minutes. Definitely not the way I wanted to come home with the gold, but hey, at least I got a t-shirt. Thanks again Rob for the ride and the coaching. It was a pretty good tournament despite the disorganization and I look forward to competing in it again next year."