The Winway Pilgrimage

[Jack Hanley]

Where are the locusts of beautiful women my city is known for in cafes with wi-fi and pretentious coffee and tea selections? Well actually that's plentiful, but even that is losing steam as all women in the city retreat to anti-aging hypo-hottie-hibernation chambers where they incubate until the snow melts. Now the city is all squeegees and pub crawling hipster infants.

This is awesome. Also good to know for timing of any visits to Montreal. Thanks!

[Jesse Bell]

Wednesday October 22 2014


Chelsea Ferrando aka "Thunder Girl" was a total sweetheart and a babe. On her wall it said "I'll be a Thunder Girl, till I'm 6 Feet Under Girl". She has this WWE Diva aura, except she can kick somebody's ass for real. I am looking forward to following her dance career and grappling career, she is a Winja for real. The academy she trains at "Openmat" was an interesting experience as the techniques were mostly 10th Planet. It's nice to finally see others being open to our style. Carlos E. Rios is not only an excellent grappler but a hero, as he like myself, sacrifices a lot for the love of our sport. Support Neo Jits the way you would WINWAYeb. Training camp has definitely started as my neck is stiff this morning, carrying this pack is unrealistic, I'll have to get rid of some stuff. Hopefully by the end of the trip I don't look like one of the homeless guys outside the most flamboyant Starbucks in Toronto. I miss Montreal cafés. They have a certain "Je ne ces't quoi". Mike made it to Toronto finally. But the bad news is our rideshare fell through again, so tomorrow we will take a train and get this show on the road. Where are we sleeping? No idea. I'm just looking forward to getting to the roc tomorrow. Enough with Canada already. Enough. The ones who I will miss, know it. Until then, I must separate myself from my northern relationships temporarily. <3

[Michael Romano]

Our next stop is Atlanta Georgia. Gonna do some training there hopefully meet up with Griffin Lambert. After that its looking like Decatur Alabama with the prolific and eloquent Brandon Mccaghren... also very handsome.

[Brandon Mccaghren]

Our next stop is Atlanta Georgia. Gonna do some training there hopefully meet up with Griffin Lambert. After that its looking like Decatur Alabama with the prolific and eloquent Brandon Mccaghren... also very handsome.

YESSSS

When are you guys coming by? We could use you for the ADCC training camp.

[Brandon Mccaghren]

Mike, I sent you a PM with my cell #

[Jesse Bell]

Thursday October 23 2014

We made it to Merica. Two Winjas in a Tim Hortons watching the Ottawa shooting on the news. Apparently it's very much like being in Canada with a fraction of the pretty girls. Chris Herzog picked us up and showed us our sleeping arrangements, his 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu and Bang Muay Thai affiliated Empire Academy. We were pumped to sleep on the mats but we got offered a place to shower from the new homie and gamer enthusiast Huan Yu Chen. If only we didn't sweat we could just eat bananas, train, pass out and repeat. After only a few hours I knew we lucked out. Just as I expected, my 10th Planet Family is showing us love. Looking forward to kicking it with my homie and Rochester's own Desmond Green, but he is up in the Tristar Dorms preparing to fight another dorm mobster, Miguel Torres on Titan FC. (Miguel, Where are those Magic Cards?). I don't want to see a loser in that fight so I refuse to watch it. Speaking of brotherhoods, it's good to have Mike back with me on the road now. We may enjoy this so much it becomes a bad habit. As long as we don't sell our imaginary fishing boat and horse to marry and start a family, we can be smelly martial artist nomads, (or as we like to call it, "Winjas"), for the rest of our youthful lives. Who am I kidding, I'll probably end up staying in New York City and taking over Wall Street in a couple of weeks. Ha! No I won't... Because... "I do what I'm not supposed to do son-son." - Bill Cooper

[Jesse Bell]

Saturday October 25th 2014

I went to the corner store the other day carrying a small slip cover bag for my IPad Mini. The girl working there said "You should put that in you sweater pocket because it looks like a bag of goodies, not that it's the worst neighbourhood but it's not the best." Rochester needs Martial Arts. It's a place where you can easily fall into the trap of boredom. Don't get me wrong, it's actually pretty laid back here. But it's a place where the manufacturing has left and the students have come. The economy is transitioning and with that so will it's citizens. The hoods can take its most talented athletes and spin them into a chaotic path. Often the solution for this demographic is to physically express themselves. If you can convince them to put the guns and drugs down for the expression of martial arts you can turn potential undesirables into community mentors and even celebrity athletes. The consciousness here is turning towards health it seems. If someone is looking to stay out of trouble and instead be active through exercise and diet, they can have fun, over come the daily stress from the grind, and transform themselves all in Rochester, NY. Visit Real Life Food and Fitness, Empire Academy or simply walk to Wegmans. Wegmans is Heaven. It makes Canadian grocery stores seem third world. I was sold when I found a beer called "Miles Davis Bitches Brew". Don't hate the player. Also, we hear Danny Wegman is a pretty cool billionaire. We may not have time to eat at The Dinosaur restaurant as we need to continue our pilgrimage south. Ribs were not part of our diet anyway. Tonight we got backstage passes to the amateur mma fights where coach Herzog has four guys fighting on the card. Chris is a unique coach in that he is very technically sound and has a loud passionate voice. I'm sure the crowd will only hear his voice while cornering all night. I'll be taking plenty of pictures as I miss shooting fighters doing what they do best. I'm putting out lots of videos this week so make sure you keep an eye on our profiles and social networks.

[Jesse Bell]

Sunday October 26th 2014

Our time in Rochester was priceless. The hospitality was beyond our expectations. But what really stood out as something special was how professional Chris Herzog is as a coach. He truly has his fighters best interest in heart both in and out of the ring. Chris, through all the struggles, just keep reminding yourself that real people are envious of the family you have surrounded yourself with. Thank you for being such an important role model to me and our community. All of you have your hearts in the right place. I feel like I waited six years to join my extended family in Rochester, and just like my family back home, they do how 10 do. Watching you guys do your thing in the ring last night was beautiful in so many ways. To all the fighters at Empire Academy, as an outsider, I am validating that you have found yourself a real academy. Real coaches are rare breeds, it's a privilege when you are able to live near ones like Chris Herzog and Wally MacDonald. They have what it takes to lead an empire. You guys are all very defensively sound and your sensitivity for leg locks is hard to find in training partners. I look forward to more crash courses from Zog in the Roc. When I tap haters out at competitions with leg locks, remember that I dedicate it to you guys. They should have listened to Chris years ago about one of bjj's biggest holes. Most bjj competitors are focused on tripping legs rather than ripping legs, which gives you guys the edge. Congrats on all your success guys. Huan, your too generous. We will pay you back big one day. To the giants we rolled with, thank you for being so gentle. To the boys who fought, you did excellent, Empire is that team. Joey, although you didn't scrap, I know you have what it takes, one day you will be fighting in Vegas instead of Ithaca. Wally, you crack me up man, coolest cop ever, keep being the weapon. All of you are very inspiring and progressive thinkers. You impressed me with your devout energy towards positive lifestyles. Which reminds me, Zog, you really do need a dispensary. You also need a black and white zombie killing Jiu Jitsu virtual reality game to play called... The Locking Dead. I miss you all already, especially that cute ring girl Alisa Penerton, don't hate the player. Now off to New York City to find Ottavia Bourdain, Renzo Gracie and Marcelo Garcia. Hopefully after this 8 hour bus we won't have to sleep on the streets in Harlem tonight. Poor Mike has a tooth ache and barely slept last night. We both need a good nights sleep, good food and recovery time so that we can train hard this week. Here's to the city that never sleeps, unless we put it in a rear naked choke.

[Jesse Bell]

Monday October 27th 2014

I'm realizing that the community in New York City is similar to the community in our sport. Some people are more conservative and some are more liberal, and a bunch of nut cases peppered in the crowd. One thing is for sure, fear, controls New Yorkers. The fear of not being rich, the fear of terrorism, the fear of Ebola, the fear of being a small fish in a big ocean. What the fish here need to start realizing is that just by being in a sewage full cess pool does not make you by default, a New Yorker on the rise to the American Dream. In fact, people here are living in a modern tragedy. I knew this when Starbucks kicked me out for not knowing what was in my luggage, the dogs sniffed my bags before boarding the ferry to Staten Island and the cab driver picked us up and told us he never sees his family because he works around the clock for $5.50 an hour. Not fully happy people. So far the ones who shatter this generalization are those in the Grappling community. Mike Broe is an up and coming talent out of Marcelo Garcia's academy, he literally treats BJJ like pursuing a University degree. That is something I can relate to as I often feel the same way about this alternative education called Jiu Jitsu. It's like being part of a demographic of people who truly feel healthy and happy everyday because of the martial art they chose. It's beyond addictive and can convince even the most ambitious to completely stop their lives solely to master how to gently kill someone with their bare hands. Marcelo is one of those few people on earth who can honestly say he could physically dominate 99.9 percent of the worlds population in a one on one combat, but he's too humble to say that. I was honoured when he let me film in his school on short notice. He really is the nicest guy in BJJ. Being in his academy gave me a feeling of joy as I saw a room full of passionate people sharing success together. Leandro Lo, Gianni Grippo, Bernardo Faria and Paul Schreiner were in the house. But I was there to interview Alexander Condos, a brown belt who recently competed at EBI 2. The Eddie Bravo Invitational is special because it presents a progressive rule set that is the closest thing to the WINWAY our sport has. Alex is a complete character and awesome grappler. I felt like he could relate to the WINWAY and answer some questions about the future of the sport. Keep an eye on him if you want to see someone with the right attitude and approach to competition. He is another example of a New Yorker with plenty to look forward to everyday. Somehow guys like him can find a peace of mind and quality of life even in a concrete jungle like NYC. Personally, I'm a country boy at heart so training at Marcelo's full time is not an option. But if you can handle this pace of life, there is absolutely no better option in North America then to train at Marcelo's. I am inspired by both Mike and Alex's dedication and attitude towards Jiu Jitsu and I consider them both my homies now. Speaking of homies, I finally got to meet one of my favourite sport photographers and story tellers Anthony B. Geathers. Anthony, you and I understand each other, like I said, right now it doesn't make total sense why we do this but later the world will appreciate our art. I need you to take over NYC for me because you have what it takes. Your stories from war are a clear reminder of why NYC fears so much. I hope one day we can work together again. Finally I would like to point out that this city is full of the nicest assholes In the world and that's why... I love New York.

[Jesse Bell]

Tuesday October 28 2014

New York City is a trap. It can be very easy falling in to the pace of life here. But it is equally easy to stay in the routine. It's like smoking cigarettes, you know it's bad for you but you keep doing it anyway. Rat race is the right term, and I have not seen a New York rat yet. In fact, the squirrels run shit here. They squirrels are the real hustlers, not the guys standing in Times Square selling tickets. Speaking of Times Square, we were there for 10 minutes and Shaquille O'neal showed up. He is the largest Winja in the world. I wish we could have trained together. I am not complaining because instead I got an even "bigger" surprise. Stephen Koepher, New Yorks Sambo pioneer. It was a true privilege meeting Stephen as not only did he completely upgrade my straight ankle lock, but he told me the history of Sambo over lunch and let us sleep in his gym. I was surprised to hear that one of the founders of the sport, Vasili Oshchepkov, shared the spirit of Jeet Kune Do's Bruce Lee and 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu's Eddie Bravo. Oshchepkov developed a version of freestyle wrestling from his Judo and Japanese Jiu Jitsu training. His open mindedness to implementing new practical techniques was met with much resistance, even a theory that involves him being set up by his superior and executed by the Japanese for espionage. People don't like forward thinkers until you fast forward to a time when it is ready to be appreciated. Today we admire Bruce Lee for many things, but certainly we look up to him for developing his own martial art through the sum of all the martial arts he studied. Even Bruce Lee offended the traditional overseers of the arts. But that did not stop him from changing the world. Oshchepkov was that man, for Sambo. Over 70 years ago, he knew that he was on to something. Here I am today, learning his techniques. It was a very special epiphany for me as it meant that the WINWAY was a modern manifestation of something that has been going on for centuries. The powers that be can only mass produce their soldiers for so long because the ronins are coming and your armies are not prepared for the new version of the art of war. It was one of Oshcepkov's students who founded the sport, and today that spirit remains an integral part of Sambo. If something works, it must not be ignored. IBJJF... you will not ignore my knee reap the same way you ignore everyone who tries to question you. Take your medals and shove them up your ass. If you are not paying me to shut up, then I won't. You are scared of sambo leg locks and you are scared of forward thinkers. Your monopoly will not last forever. The WINWAY will. It seems that through discovering what lies ahead for the future of our sport that I keep being brought back in time. Martial Arts is cyclical. UFC's Kajan Johnson once said that eventually Mixed Martial Arts will return to Kung Fu. That sounds crazy to a casual fan, but to a true student of martial arts, it make a lot of sense. Now I am off to meet up with Ottavia Bourdain at Renzo Gracie's Academy. I don't know who I am more excited to see. Meeting Renzo is a dream come true, but hanging with Ottavia is why... I love New York.