Bruce Irons, Hawaiian pipeline master, is in town competing in the US Open and hung out with BJ at a local movie premier.
Nicknamed "The Prodigy", BJ Penn was introduced to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Hilo Hawaii at the tender age of 17 by neighbor Tom Callos. It was through Tom Callos that BJ met Ralph Gracie in 1997 and decided to relocate to Mountain View, CA to further his jiu-jitsu training.
From that time on, BJ Penn launched his storied career through the ranks of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and is today the world UFC champion.
Website - www.bjpenn.com
BJ Penn Making headlines
This video has been all over the internet, featured on YAHOO.com homepage, nearly 3 million views. It is an incredible feat, jumping out of the 3ft section of a pool onto the deck… kinda like Leo grinding up a handrail.
Venice Basketball league
Venice Basketball League is an awesome organization that showcases the best talent in street ball and also gives back to the kids through a youth program. It takes place every Sunday for 8 weeks starting next weekend. check it out www.veniceball.com and www.kvbl.org
Nick Ansom, one of the head organizers of VBL. Born in France, moved to LA in High School and went to Fairfax High.
PM and Nick
Nick’s partner in VBL
BJ and Urijah
BJ’s is in town training out of the new MMA fitness center at RVCA and a lot of MMA superstars have been dropping by to check things out. Last weekend Urijah Faber hung out and watched the UFC fights at PM’s house. A few weeks before we were all watching Urijah fight Mike Brown, a true battle, Urijah was dominating Mike in the first round but suffered 2 broken hands. He fought with tons of heart for the next four rounds but lost in a close decision. Definite rematch in the future.
BJ Penn • VAl Kilmer
Apparently VAl Kilmer is a big BJ Penn fan and he stopped by RVCA to check out BJ’s training camp. As you can see the Iceman is pretty pumped up. There are some other great photo ops circulating the blogs..(skate blog is hilarious).
BJ Penn @ the RVCA Fitness Center
RVCA is putting the finishing touches on a state of the art MMA Training and Fitness center. BJ Penn will be training out of the facility every day for the next two months, for his upcoming fight on August 8th. Along with MMA, there will be Yoga classes, cardio workouts, outreach programs and boxing classes at the Fitness center.
BJ @ BJJ World Championships
BJ is back in town. He’s going to be training out of RVCA HQ’s, getting ready for his upcoming fight against Kenny Florian. On his down day he headed over to the BJJ World championships in Long Beach to watch and cheer on of his training partners Lucas “unibrower” Leite. Everyone was excited to see BJ cruising to the tournament, beyond being a UFC superstar, he is also a BJJ legend
