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Los Angelos California, February 18-19, Welland’s Male Athlete of the year 2010 Anthony Romero won for the second straight year at the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation’s kids Pan American Championships.
Burlington ON, February 25-26 2012, Athletes from Modern Vision MMA of Welland and Muay Thai Niagara of St. Catharines competed at the National Kickboxing championships this past weekend and came home with and couple national titles as well as some hard earned silver and bronze medals.
Chris Bonfoco, head MMA and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Coach at Welland's Modern Vision MMA and St. Catharine's Muay Thai Niagara, was invited and fought on the Canadian SubX Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Superfight Show which featured some to the top BJJ talent in Ontario.
Saturday January 21, 2011, Cleveland Ohio, Brendan Fang of Wainfleet and Chris Jurgensen of Vineland travelled to Cleveland Ohio with MMA Coach Chris Bonfoco to showcase their skills at Rocktagon MMA’s Amateur Elite 12 event and outshined their opponents. For Jurgensen it was his debut match while for Fang it was his third fight.
2011 Year in Review:
First of all we would love to thank all of you for being such amazing students, competitors and friends. With every year our school, now schools get bigger, better and more fun than each previous year. The joy Blayne and I get each and everyday teaching and mentoring all of you from the youngest little ninja to the professional fighters makes us so happy and blessed to be able to do what we do.
Here is the Year in Review:
January
We wasted little time getting 2011 started as our adult training camp can full steam ahead out of the gate having our first MMA card of the year on January 22 @ Rocktagon MMA in Elyria Ohio (suburb of Cleveland). The card was highlighted with not just our victories but with our team bonding with our cowboy theme, also Matt DiMarcantonio and Kevin Johnston's grappling match which covered the entire hotel from the rooms to the hallways, lobby elevators etc ... not quite sure who won.
All the while the adults were gearing up for intense competition our children's programs continued to grow at an amazing rate with everyday seeing new eager faces. The kids, from the 3 year olds up are a real inspiration to all the instructors with their hard work and positive attitudes.
February
Early February saw us compete at the OJA Team Ascension BJJ Open where as Ascension we continued our domination in medals and sportsmanship. Many first time competitors performed well and had a great time doing it.
Anthoney Romero was named Welland's Male Athlete of the Year for 2010 and I was fortunate enough to be named Welland's Coach of the Year for the second straight year.
Sensei Blayne took 3 of our top kids competitors to the Pan Am BJJ championships in LA California seeing Anthony Romero win gold while Cody Williams and Marcus Belcastro both won silver ad had a great time with their families.
At the end of the month we participated as a team for the first time in a CASK event and were welcomed with some really tough matches ... It took us a little while to figure out that striking MMA style makes it tough to win in K1 ... CASK frowns on ground and pound.
March
March was the month of "The Bully" as Matt DiCenso improved his MMA record to 3-0 @ Raging Wolf in Niagara Falls NY and only 3 weeks later fought a very intelligent fight against a very tough fighter winning his first title (Ohio Fighting Championships 205 lbs title).
Our little ninjas program began having matches on Saturdays and with the numbers growing so quickly Blayne and I decided it was time to entertain opening another school.
April
Right out the gate in april we had the Ontario BJJ Open in Toronto and was highlighted by a wonderful day of the kids competition as we won almost every division we were in and our kids made for such a joyous atmosphere. Kudos to Sensei Blayne for helping all the parents and kids get ready for the competition. The day was highlighted with our team lunch at Pizza Hut.
Mid April I personally got to experience New York City for the first time as I brought myself, Mitchell Muir, Dalton Brady and Gregory Foran (Actually it was Gina Brady and Paula Muir who brought me I get easily confused at airports ... However, it was Gregory Foran who got us back :P ). What an amazing trip and boy does the IBJJF know how to put on a tournament.
Late April was the UFC fan Expo as the First UFC in Ontario happened and me and Eric Attard went incogneto and competed at the Grapplers Quest tournament (actually eric didn't decide to compete until an hour before his division) while a day before Cody Munroe fought for the second time in Thai Kickboxing and won his first match. We got to discover that Cody is a bleeder ... don't go anywhere near his nose.
May
Early May saw the return of "The Cat" Matt DiMarcantonio to the cage at Purgatory MMA in Toledo Ohio as he earned his first professional win. Two weeks later we returned to our "home town" MMA event in Erie Pennsylvania where our fighters fought for the "Bragging Rights" Team Championship and won it with two Highlight Reel KO's by Amir Niknazar of Salvosa BJJ and Matt DiCenso while Matt DiCenso continued to build his MMA Belts by winning the EFC Light Heavyweight Belt.
Earlier that day Andrew Cseh fought BJJ Brown Belt Dan Swift in a no-gi submission grappling tournament twice winning both time the first time in 50 minutes by triangle choke and the second time in an inspiring 1 hour and 40 minute match by armbar earning him the EFC title Submission King. What an amazing performance.
Mid month in between MMA fights we participated in another CASK event seeing Anthony Romero win yet again this time in low kick.
All while our competition craziness was happening, Sensei Blayne held up the school with our now insanely large kids program bursting at the seams. Many nijas in the first 5 months got to graduate to the older kids classes. It is so awesome to see these youngsters over the years grow to the Jiu-Jitsu beasts that they are becoming.
June
The first couple days of June myself, Blayne, Andrew and Arthur and Graham from Salvosa BJJ flew out to LA to compete at the Mundials (World BJJ Championships). Wow what a great 5 days, none of us medaled but an Absolutely fantastic time. Wait Graham won a bronze medal.
The day after we got back a new chapter in Modern Vision History began as we opened The Niagara MMA Training House by Modern Vision MMA in Welland's South end. Exciting times as jet lag or no we had to get the club open.
After a nice first week at The Training House came our first MMA event in Ontario at "The Slammer in the Hammer" hosted by our Colleague and Friend Jeff Joslin. Amazing performances by Andrew Cseh and Eric Attard as Andrew lost and Eric won but there was no argument that both of their fights were the best fights of the night leaving Jeff quoting "wow your guys are warriors" a great complement to any coach. It was also the first time Omar and I worked the same corner in a match and it was great having Omar's energy in there.
The end of June saw lots of support from our members participating in classes @ the training house while it was beginning to grow.
July
What is this ... it's summer and our kids and ninja classes were still full with excited members training to reach their goals. Amazing attendance in such a beautiful month.
Mid July saw Andrew Cseh fight in Ontario once again and on the same night Matt DiCenso and Dalton Brady fought at Muay Thai Niagara's Battle for the Cure as Coach Michelle Maleshanko cornered to perfection as I was away in Windsor with Andrew with both Brady and DiCenso winning.
At the End of July it was time for us to return to Rocktagon MMA as "The Bully" Matt Dicenso won yet again and earning yet another MMA title and Kevin "Slippery" Johnston (who we should also refer to as the 'quote machine') both won impressively.
August
Upon our return from Rocktagon (Civic Holiday weekend) we met with Kru Roger Lumyoung and agreed to work together with us taking over the MMA program at MTN and Roger taking the lead of our Muay Thai Program. In just 3 days of meetings we realized how well we work together and quickly maneuvered our staff and on August 8th took over the MMA and BJJ programs at MTN and welcomed MTN Combative Arts to Ascension Niagara.
On our first weekend as a team Kru Roger and Professor Salvosa met as the 3 of us corned Eric Attard together at Global Warriors in Hamilton. What an event, amazing dynamic in the corner, great performance by eric and by the way ... what a sick entrance ...
At the end of the the Month we got ourselves into more fights as Jessie Munroe and Dalton Brady both won their CASK fights.
September
September started with Brendan Fang winning his first MMA fight at Ohio's Ohio Fighting Championships in Columbus Ohio. Matt DiCenso attempted to defend his title but no one wanted to fight him ...
A week later we competed in the OJA event the Bravado Jiu-Jitsu Open where with only 14 Ascension Athletes we managed to win the overall points championship which was a great honour for the team.
As September progressed the school was busy with an amazing buzz and the kids just keep on keeping us energized. More ninjas graduated as our program continues to mature. The Training House was buzzing as well with us having to split the kids classes as we had a full mat everyday for the kids.
October
Early October we got to breathe as we were competition free for the first time this year. So we held two awesome MMA training camps bringing in Ascension bretheren from Buffalo and Toronto to sharpen up our fighters for our final push in 2012.
What awesome camps as we had 30 plus for both and the energy in the club was incredible. We blinked for a minute and it was time for Andrew's fight on The Score Fighting Series in Gatineau Quebec Oct. 29.
What a great venue and hotel to stay in, although Andrew lost a very controversial decision he put on a great show and showed the country how awesome he is.
November
Training, Training, Training getting ready for the provincial championships. The Training House was packed every Saturday with our dedicated kids team and every week we saw our kids develop into better Jiu-Jitsu athletes everytime.
Friday, December 9 Erie Pennsylvania, Professional MMA fighter Matt DiMarcantonio of Welland quickly silenced a hostel capacity crowd at Erie’s Avalon Hotel by defeating Paul Waite four minutes and 19 seconds into the first round by rear-naked choke.
It goes to show how committed our team is when we feel disappointment at placing 2nd in the province as a Team. The Niagara Team represented by Modern Vision MMA ( Welland North )Muay Thai Niagara ( St. Catharines ) and The Niagara MMA Training House by Modern Vision MMA ( Welland South )
Andrew Cseh got his first taste of National TV as he battled Randy Turner in an exciting MMA fight. He earned the respect of the crowd, the commentators and the thousands watching live on thescore.com.
On June 6, 2011 Modern Vision MMA School owner Chris Bonfoco was happy to be opening a second location in Welland (601 Southworth St.) while being excited as two of his professional fighters were about to break out onto the Ontario MMA scene fighting at Copps Colliseum June 17 at Hamilton’s “Slammer in the Hammer.”
MMA and Martial Arts is a Business The one thing that people forget when looking for an MMA trainer is that they forget to look at it like they would for a doctor, university, dentist, contractor etc ... basically, this is a business transaction