Mourning the loss of a friend!

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of a friend and MMA icon...Charles "Mask" Lewis, co-founder and 
face of Tapout died Wednesday morning in a tragic auto accident.  We send out our deepest sympathies to everyone
at Tapout, as well as, all his family. He will be deeply missed by us all!


 

                                       



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12th Copa Pacifica

Our kids Brazilian Jiu Jitsu team had the opportunity to join forces with our Paragon sister schools to attend the 12th 
Annaul Copa Pacifica in Westminster.  We are happy to announce that they brought home the 3rd place team trophy, 
as well as, numerous indiviual medals! Special congratulations go out to:

Myka Gonzalez- 1st place, Orange belt
Hank Poulis- 3rd place, Orange belt
Seyenna Cavazos- 1st place, Girls White belt & 2nd place, Co-ed white belt
Peyton Krasner- 2nd place, Boys White belt


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Rumble in the Redwoods


We would like to congratulate all of the Paragon team members that attended the latest Jiu Jitsu tournament in
Watsonville, Ca.  Everyone did an excellent job and a special congratulations goes out to the following:

Adults:

Lance Glynn - 1st place Purple belt
Joe Stanley - 1st place Blue belt
John Letters - 2nd place Blue belt
April Widman - 2nd place White belt
Greg Reed - 3rd place White belt

Kids:

Wyatt Bunka - 1st place White belt
Nicholas Zarate - 2nd place White belt


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Brazilian Jiu Jitsu community looses icon

Helio Gracie died Thursday morning (1/29/09) at the awesome age of 95. He passed in his sleep at his home  
in Itaipaiva, Rio de Janeiro, after he had been admitted to a local hospital a few days prior for stomach problems.
The youngest of Cesalina and Gastao Gracie’s eight children, he learned traditional jiu-jitsu by watching his brother, 
Carlos, teach it, but his small frame made it difficult for him to execute the moves. As a result, he adapted techniques 
to fit his limited physical ability and gave rise to modern-day Brazilian jiu-jitsu. His impact on the sport of mixed martial 
arts was profound. His son, Rorion, was credited with developing the concept that became the Ultimate Fighting
Championship, and another of his sons, Royce, won the first two UFC tournaments in 1993 and 1994. Two other sons, 
Rickson and Royler, also competed in MMA. He will be deeply missed by all and our condolences go out to the Gracie
family on their loss!


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Paragon holds special belt promotions

The Paragon family was very excited to hold it's first belt promotion (at the new location) for the Kids & Adults 
American Kickboxing program. We had the opportunity to show off the new facility to everyone that attended and also 
introduce our special guest, UFC fighter, Joe "Daddy" Stevenson, who was here to help tie belts and show his support.  
The evening included 3 very special belt promotions. The first was to our son, Hank Poulis, who after 7 years of training 
was presented with the rank of Black belt. This is the first time we have given out this rank to a student under the age of 
18. The other two promotions were given out to Myka Gonzalez, who received his Jr. Black belt and to assistant Instructor, 
Alex Rodriguez, who received his brown belt. A special congratulations goes out to these 3 for the years of commitment 
and dedication!  We finished the evening with all of our kids and adults receiving their next ranks and tons of commpliments 
from Joe Daddy on all our students and the amazing support they received from family and friends. Thank you to everyone 
that attended!!


Adult promotions:
Israel Diaz - Purple belt
Francis Lucas - 3rd grade Blue belt
David Hernandez - Blue belt
Aaron Lyons - Blue belt
Makani Sarellano - Green belt
Casey Manfredi - Green belt
Troy Breedlove - Yellow belt


               Hank, Joe "Daddy" Stevenson, Corby and PeeWee Tanner Poulis



             Corby, Joe "Daddy" and Franjinha congratulate Myka on his new rank

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BJJ Belt Promotions


On Tuesday, December 2, 2008 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, Jeff Glover along with head instructor Corby Poulis, decided 
to present belts to a few students in the BJJ program. We would like to say congratulations to the following students:

Brandon Holladay - Yellow belt
David Alvarado - Yellow belt
April Widman - Yellow belt
Tina Poulis - Yellow belt
Ian Latta - Orange belt

Best of luck to them and all our our students!!



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2008 No-Gi Worlds

We would like to send out a special congratulations to Paragon team leader, Corby Poulis on an impressive win at the
2008 No-Gi Worlds.  This was his first no-gi event at Brown belt and after months of hard training he took it to the other
competitors and ended up bringing home the GOLD! We are extremely proud of his achievement and it just goes to 
show that even at 40 yrs old, there's still no stopping him!!






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Tuff -N-Uff

Paragon MMA was presented with an awesome opportunity thanks to SB Fight Team owner, Anthony Arria. 
We were asked to bring in some of our fighters to participate in the first ever sanctioned amatuer MMA fights 
held in Las Vegas, Nevada. With over 15 fights and hundreds of fighters looking to be included in the show we 
were able to have 2 of our fighters included in this special event. We want to say congratulations to Jason Quintero 
for his 35 second, 1st round knock out Bill Cooper for his 31 second, 1st round knock out and also job well done 
to David Hernandez who lost to a close split decision. This was an awesome opportunity for our fighters and our 
gym and we look forward to participating in the Tuff-N-Uff events!  

Keep an eye out for the next event being held in Las Vegas on May 23, 2008. Jason gets another opportunity to 
show off his skills and also on the fight card is assistant instructor Alex Rodriguez.

                             
       Jason hits hard!!                           David throws the overhand right              Cooper goes for the win


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Pan American Jiu Jitsu

We wanted to say congratulations to everyone that participated in the 2008 Pan Am's!  Everyone put on an excellent show.
A special congrats goes out to team leader Corby Poulis for bringing home the Bronze in his first brown belt competition, Chris 
Hammill also took the Bronze in his brown belt division and the Gold in the absolute, Ricardo "Franjinha" Miller brought home the 
silver in his black belt division and Katie Weilbacher brought home the Gold in her purple belt division and the Silver in the
absolute!!  Great job everyone!!  

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Paragon holds belt promotions for kids and adults

On Saturday, March 22, we held a very special belt promotion for the kids and adults of the American Kickboxing
program. It was the first time in our schools history that we have promoted students to the rank of Black, Brown &
Jr. Black belts. After many years of training and hard work we are happy to announce that instructor Jesse Galindo
received his Black belt, instructor Tina Poulis received her Brown belt and 3 of our kids were promoted to the rank 
of Jr. Black belt...Corby Poulis, Jr., Hank Poulis & Nikki Furnari.  We are very proud of them all and we look forward 
to seeing these students achieve even more.  It just goes to show that had work and determination does pay off!
Congratulations again!!

      
          Corby ties Jesse's new Black Belt                                Hank, Tina & Corby, Jr with their newest belts


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Another BJJ promotion

On Saturday, February 23rd, Jeff & Corby decided to run class a little different. They made class our own mini 
jiu jitsu tournament among the students.  The class was broken into brakets and each match was timed depending
on belt rank. It turned out to be an awesome event for all the students that attended and gave everyone that has 
not competed before an idea of how a tournament is run. After 2 hours of serious competition everyone walked 
away a winner with some quality mat time. 
Also at the end Jeff & Corby made the decision to advance another student to the rank of Blue belt...we want
to say congratulations to Jon Hergert for all his training and effort, it is definately well deserved!!



              Jeff, Jon Hergert & Corby


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Gracie Nationals

We would like to say congratulations to a few of our jiu jitsu team members that attended the Gracia US Nationals 
on February 16th & 17th. One of our adult team members, Alex Rodriguez, competed in the blue belt adult division
winning his first match and losing in his second.  Our kids team included, Corby Poulis, Jr, Hank Poulis, JP Zuniga,
Nikki Furnari and Ian Latta.  They were unsuccessful in placing on Saturday, but made a strong comeback Sunday
in the no-gi competition.  Ian took first in his division and Hank & Nikki took second in their divisions. Congratulations
again and good luck in the future!!


        Alex gets the win                       Ian takes 1st in his first BJJ event           Nikki takes home the Silver



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BJJ Belt Promotions


We want to say congratulations to our newest Brazilian Jiu Jitsu belts.  Chris Hammell was promoted to the 
rank of Brown belt. He has been with us since our gym opened and has dedicated himself to the sport. He has 
won numerous BJJ titles as a Blue and Purple belt and we look forward to him doing the same at his new rank!  
Also promoted was Alex Rodriguez, Manny Marquez, Ryan Diego, Emmanuel Gracia, John Letters, Francis Lucas,
and Steve Iliff to the rank of Blue belt.  All of these guys have proven themselves and we look forward to seeing 
them perform at their new level.  Congratulations again!! 

Front row: Jeff Glover, Alex Rodriguez, Manny Marquez, Francis Lucas & Corby Poulis
Back row: Ryan Diego, Steve Iliff, Emmanuel Gracia, John Letters & Chris Hammell

 
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Kickboxing Promotions

We would like to say congratulations to our members that were tested February 1st in our Kickboxing program.  
They all showed heart and dedication as they were put through an hour of conditioning and then several rounds 
of strenuous sparring with head instructor, Corby Poulis and sparring instructor, Jesse Galindo.  Corby & Jesse 
pushed these guys to the limit with none of them backing down, awesome job! 

Congratulations again, to:

James Bautista - Green belt
Alex Rodriguez - Blue belt
Emmanuel Gracia - Orange belt
Casey Manfredi - Orange belt
David Hernandez- Orange belt 

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BJJ's Newest Promotions

We want to say congratultions to our 2 newest promotions!  On January 31, 2008, Jeff Glover, the cheif instructor of 
our BJJ system, presented head instructor, Corby Poulis with his Brown belt.  Jeff stated that Corby's promotion was 
well deserved because of his intense training and dedication to the system and our students.  Corby is looking forward
to the Pan Am's and hopes to bring home the gold at his new rank.  Also promoted was, Lance Glynn, with his most sought 
after belt, the rank of Purple belt.  He has trained hard for this rank and is excited to get out there and start competing at
this new level.

 
               Corby, Jeff & Lance                                            Corby receives his whipping from the class


   Lance has to walk the line to receive his purple belt 

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The Pit Fight Night

West Coast Martial Arts joined forces with Luke & Christina Riddering of The Pit North to host Santa Maria's first fight 
night! It was an exciting night of kickboxing for all that attended, with a total of 15 matches, including one kids match 
and one ladies match.  John Hackleman (The Pit Master) over saw the event as referee along with Glover Teixeira filling 
in as ref and also judging a few of the matches.  We received tons of positive comments from everyone and we look 
forward to hosting another event soon! Thank you to all the schools that attended and had students participate!!  
For pictures of the event please look under the photo gallery page and look for "The Pit Fight Night"

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~Hawaiian Kempo has newest promotions~


We would like to congratulate some of our adult West Coast members that have achieved the 
prestigeous Hawaiian Kempo ranking.  These students have shown true dedication and commitment 
in a system that puts it's students to the test!!

Tina Poulis- Green belt
Israel Diaz- Green belt
James Bautista- Blue belt
Billy Alvarez- Blue belt
Tony Pena- Purple belt
Gary Pintor- Purple belt
Freddie Cortez- Purple belt

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Congratulations!!


We are happy to announce our newest BJJ promotions.  All of them have worked hard to get to this point 
and continue to show their commitment to the sport of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and to the West Coast/Paragon family!

Chris Hammell- Purple belt
Ted Martino- Blue belt
Bill Buress- Blue belt
Ray Comaduran- Blue belt
Tony Ferrer- Blue belt
Nikki Furnari- Yellow belt
Myka Gonzalez- Yellow belt
JP Zuniga- Yellow belt

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West Coast has rare opportunity!

Recently, West Coast had the opportunity to train with Ronaldo "Jacare the Alligator" dos Santos. BJJ World Champion
 Jacare offered a Brazillian Jiu Jitsu Seminar to our students while he was here.
            
                    Corby & Jacare hanging out                                Corby gives Jacare some pointers

   
            Taking a break between rounds                              Keeping a close eye on our kids bjj class

    
                    Just a few guys from our bjj class hangin' with Jacare
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Newest BJJ Belt Promotions


Congratulations goes out to our newest Blue and Yellow belts!!

Lance Glynn, who had recently been injured, gave himself some much needed time off and 
came back strong to test and advance to Blue belt.

Israel Diaz, another one of West Coast's amazing adults, came in and tested with instructor "Franjinha" and 
showed great skill and passed with flying colors!

We also want to congratulate 4 of our very impressive kids for achieving the rank of Yellow belt:

Corby Poulis, Jr
Sirena Sechslingloff
Joshua Moore
Jason Eckenrode

                    
 Sirena Sechslingloff & Corby Poulis Jr

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New Shorei "Blue Belt"

 After months of very intense training, Tina Poulis tested on May 26, 2005 before her "Hanshi" Terry Lettau.
 The testing took approximately 2 hours and covered all the requirements from White belt all the way 
through to Blue belt. Considered one of the toughest tests aside from Black belt, she passed with flying 
colors. We wish her the best and look forward to seeing her achieve her goal of "Shodan".     
Congratulations again for earning the rank of "Gokyu" or Blue belt in our traditional martial arts style of 
Shorei Ryu Kenpo Karate.