Team Odyssey Wins Its 

25th 

Team Championship Title

Team Odyssey of Odyssey Martial Arts Academy/Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu VA, located in King William County, has become one of the world’s most well-known and respected Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu & Mixed Martial Arts academies through its quality instruction and performance in top notch competitions. The team has competed and won titles in State, National and World competitions through the sport’s most prestigious touring circuits. Team Odyssey competitors have won countless individual titles, medals, trophies, belts etc… However the team prides itself on “Team Titles”, in which they just earned their 25th team championship title this past weekend.  

Team Odyssey traveled to Riverdale, Georgia to compete in the North American Grappling Association (NAGA) Georgia State Championships. Team Odyssey, led by head instructor John Simons III, travels the country hunting for the country’s toughest competitions to test their combat skills. The team houses youth and adult competitors ranging from beginners to experts. Team Odyssey competitors are not only King William locals, they have acquired competitors from North Carolina, Chesterfield, Richmond, Henrico, Hanover, New Kent, King and Queen, Essex, Tappahannock and more. NAGA is known as “The World’s Largest Grappling Competition” and is used as a farm league for Mixed Martial Arts organizations as large as the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC).  The NAGA Georgia State Championships packed out two gymnasiums with over a thousand competitors ranging from children weighing under 49.9lbs to Professional adult fighters over 250lbs. 

Team Odyssey had some serious competition at NAGA facing teams from all across the country. At the end of the day the team had managed to dig deep and earned 26 Gold Medals, 19 Silver Medals and 9 Bronze Medals. With nearly every Team Odyssey member medaling at NAGA they acquired enough over all points to win the NAGA Georgia State Championship Title making the team undefeated at NAGA and 2 time Georgia State Champions. Team Odyssey has now earned the NAGA VA State Title, GA State Title and the US National Title.  The team continues to press forward in every aspect of Combat Sports; Team Odyssey is now focused on Team Odyssey competitor and assistant instructor Emily Dawson (15 years old) in her upcoming Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) debut on September 18th at the Showplace in Richmond, VA.  

Odyssey Martial Arts Academy and Team Odyssey would like to thank all of the families and fans that traveled and supported the team and academy in their battle in Georgia. We would also like to thank the US Army of Fort Eustis VA for supporting the team and supporting its Army competitors. Last but not least Team Odyssey would like to thank Tammie Dawson ofwww.Dawsonsphotos.com for being the team’s official photographer.

King William Combat Challenge

Odyssey Martial Arts Academy rocked the Hamilton Holmes Middle School Gym at Spring Fest 2010 with the first Mixed Martial Arts event ever held in King William County. The gymnasium was packed to capacity surrounding the 30’ MMA Cage by 5:00pm when the Benedictine Color Guard did the presentation of the colors and a two man rifle demo to get the event started. Directly following was a Modern Army Combatives demonstration led by Level 4 MACP instructors John Simons III and SFC Mike Craig. The demonstration was performed by SSG Joseph Cole, SSG Jamal Deward, SSG Jason Tramell, and SSG Jeremy Wilkens who are all graduates of the first Level 3 MACP instructor certification course ever held at Fort Eustis US Army Base. Over 100 US Army soldiers were bused from Fort Eustis in support of the event and their US Army fighter, SGT Scott Colley, who was the main event of the night.

Local and nationwide competitors graced the mat for this Mixed Martial Arts event. Youth and adults of all ages gathered to witness America’s fastest growing sport live. This event was requested by the King William County Chamber of Commerce and was hosted as a fundraiser for the Mattaponi Volunteer Rescue Squad. 

The fight card included local MMA competitors such as Markia Anderson, Paul Bourque, John Cross, Emily Dawson, Bobby Harding, Kayla Hill, Jonah Ibanez, Bryce Leuchtman, Chase Leuchtman, Darwing Mesa, Eric Nichols, Alex Nizami, Safia Nizami, Randy Oakley, Zak Perkins, Shaun Price, Travis Price, Chris Shipes, Alex Taylor, and Ryan Wood. Other MMA competitors represented hometowns as far as Michigan, California, Oklahoma, and Florida from US Army and Air Force, Such as AJC Mike Gray, SrA Davis Weeks, TSgt Antonio Tamayo, and SGT Scott Colley. 

This night of action was one to remember with an onslaught of action being performed by the top notch competitors. Action included powerful strikes, big throws and take downs, snake like submissions, and nonstop ground & pound. Every competitor on the card showed great skill, class, and sportsmanship before and after their entertaining battles. At the end of the event the crowd was asked if they would like to see live Mixed Martial Arts again in King William County and the crowd exploded with cheers of support for this honorable sport’s return.

If you are interested in becoming a student or competitor of Mixed Martial Arts, Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu, Self-Defense or even After School Martial Arts and Summer Camps please contact us. Spread the word that Odyssey Martial Arts Academy trains all active duty US military FREE OF CHARGE!

 

Recently the US Army and The US Air Force have joined together in training hand to hand combat tactics in the Modern Army Combatives Program. This took place at the Fort Eustis Modern Army Combatives Academy located on Fort Eustis US Army base. 30 Airmen from Langley US Air Force based traveled to its new joint installation to train in the Modern Army Combatives Program Level 1 40 hour instructor course.

This class is instructed by Level 4 MACP Subject Matter Expert instructor John Simons III of Odyssey Martial Arts Academy located in King William, VA. Simons is the chosen instructor for this course due to his expert instruction and experience in running well structured Combatives & Mixed Martial Arts programs. During this course for the first time in history Airmen and Soldiers trained together in MACP techniques such as fight strategy, dominate body positions, take downs, submission holds and weapon awareness. 

 At the end of the 5 day 40 hour MACP Level 1 instructor course was completed 30 Langley US Airmen were certified MACP instructors and are prepared to spread the combative culture into the US Air Force. This inspired Langley US Air Force Base to bring John Simons III and the Modern Army Combatives Program to Langley to teach a class of over 70 Airmen in the Shellbank Gym.

Langley US Air Force Base 
Host First Ever
Modern Army Combatives Program
Instructor Course

After such a successful joint training course at Fort Eustis US Army Base the US Air Force decided to host its first Air Force Modern Army Combatives Program Module 1 instructor certification course. This course housed over 70 Airmen which included Air Force Security Force Officers and civilian Mixed Martial Artist in a joint effort to gain exposure to the prestigious MAC program. The lead instructor for this instructor train the trainer course is John Simons III a Level 4 MACP Subject Matter Expert Instructor that has been involved with the MACP since the inducting Level 4 MACP class in February of 2006. Simons was assisted by MACP instructors SGT Mike Craig and SGT Jedadiah Eustaquio "BEAR" through out the course, their assistance helped make it possible to run a top notch MACP Module 1 Course.

This was an extremely large class due to the popularity of the Modern Army Combatives Program and had a 30 person waiting list on top of the 70 participants already enrolled. Airmen and civilian MMA practitioners where trained in MACP curriculum which includes combat strategy, dominate body positions, take downs, submissions and weapon awareness. Students engaged in live fully resistant sparring and a live “Achieve The Clinch” drill which test the Airmen's willingness to close the distance with the enemy and engage in a hand to hand combat scenario.

At the end of the 40 hour MACP Module 1 instructor certification course all 70 Airmen had successfully completed all requirements and received their Module 1 instructor certificates. This was also a special course due to the historical mark that the civilians participating in the course made. MMA artist Markia Anderson a 13 years old female and Mariah Upshaw a 17 year old female both successfully completed the MACP course making Markia Anderson the youngest Module 1 instructor ever certified. Both Anderson and Upshaw are paving the way for females in Combatives and MMA through their involvement and instruction in the Modern Army Combatives Program and MMA classes at Odyssey Martial Arts Academy where all active duty military has the opportunity to train FREE OF Charge.

Lead instructor John Simons III was awarded with a F22 Raptor replica award by Langley US Airforce Base and a etched glass award from from joint Eustis/Langley installation presented by Command Chief Master Sergeant of the 633rd Air Combat Command Martin Klukas. Both John Simons Jr. and John Simons III were coined by Command Chief Master Sergeant of the 633rd Air Combat Command Martin Klukas in recognition of excellence in the Combatives program.

Fort Eustis US Army
host first ever Level III MTT
for Fort Eustis MACP School

Fort Eustis, VA just recently hosted it's first ever Modern Army Combatives Program Level III instructor course at the Fort Eustis MACP school. A MTT from MACP HQ Fort Benning, GA was tasked to instruct the 160 hour course; featuring Level 4 instructors Iako Kalili and Scott Burton.



This course instructed close quarter combat techniques such as striking, grappling, edged weapons and stick fighting. To put these techniques to the test the MTT hosted it's combat sessions at Odyssey Martial Arts Academy in King William, VA. The students engaged in full contact sparring in Odyssey's 30' MMA Cage while expert instructors guided them to victory. 





After 160 hours of full throttle MACP Level III training the students were ready for graduation. The students were awarded there Level III certification while special awards were presented to Iako and Burton for there superb instruction. Odyssey head instructor John Simons was awarded a plaque for his continued dedication and service to the soldiers of Fort Eustis and a challenge coin from Col. Georgi & CSM Reid as an award of excellence.
 

Odyssey Fighter Dan Chuchill
wins second MMA fight!

Special congrats to Odyssey fighter & US Army soldier Dan Churchill for his MMA victory at the Modern Gladiator Fight Challenge hosted at the Surfside inn in VA beach. This was Dan's second MMA fight with this victory giving him a undefeated record of 2-0. Keep up the great work Dan!


Odyssey Fight Cage Rentals
returns to Baltimore MD
for Shogun MMA Fights II



Odyssey Fight Cage Rentals set the stage for the first ever MMA event in Baltimore MD "Shogun Fights" in October 2009. Now Odyssey will return to set the stage once again for Shogun Fights II on Saturday March 27, 2010. Shogun Fights leads the way for MMA in Baltimore MD featuring Odyssey's 30' Pro Arena Elite Series MMA Cage. Don't miss the action!
 

www.ShogunFights.com