This past weekend Level Up would get an opportunity to train with one of the UFC’s rising stars, Matt “The Immortal” Brown. Matt is riding a 6 fight win streak, his last fight earned him a Knockout of the Night Bonus, and the previous fight a Fight of the Night award. Of the last 6 wins, 5 came by way of KO or TKO, with only one win by decision, which was over Stephen “Wonder Boy” Thompson. Thompson was billed as a new superstar in the making, with his flashy style and traditional martial arts background. Wonder Boy even got the thumbs up from current Welterweight King Georges St. Pierre. GSP’s head striking coach Farais Zahabi claimed that Thompson was “one of the best strikers he’d seen in any sport”. The Immortal was unfazed by the hype, and put on a striking clinic from bell to bell. Fast forward to now, we find Matt preparing for the biggest fight of his career so far. The Immortal faces Carlos “The Natural Born Killer” Condit. Carlos has lost two of his last three fights, but those losses include the Champion St Pierre, and number one contender Johny Hendricks. A win here could put Brown next in line to fight for the Welterweight Title.

Brown’s Coach Mark Beecher moved his camp from his home in Ohio, to Virginia Beach VA. The idea was to be away from home so that the focus could be on the fight only. Matt’s team of coaches include Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt Carlos Carvalho, Muay Thai Fighter Dorian Price Sitmonchai, and Kru Mark Beecher. Each bring a wealth of experience and knowledge into the fight camp. One of Virginia Beaches own, Chase Walden has been a steady sparring partner during the camp in preparation for Condit.  Condit a long lanky striker, has a style unlike many. Mark Beecher asked Chase to put a call out to gyms with guys able to spar with Matt, and when Level Up’s Head Coach Jason Farrell got the invite, he jumped at the opportunity. “I make all my fighters watch footage, I personally spend at least an hour every day studying fights myself. Even for MMA fighters I work with its pretty rare that  I tell someone to watch MMA footage for striking purposes. Matt Brown is without a doubt one of the few exceptions. Any well trained fighter or coach can watch Brown for a couple minutes and see that he is the real deal. I’ve personally been a fan of his for sometime and was extremely excited to get to work with him.”

 

Level Up has been on a the grind since opening up in August. With 10 fights and multiple training trips over the last few months there hasn’t been much down time. This young team is hungry for success, and is looking to make a lot of noise in 2014. This past weekends travel team included Head Coach Jason Farrell, our recently crowned Amatuer Heavyweight Boxing State Champion Luther Smith, 2013 165lbs WKA Kickboxing Champion Patrick Rivera, and Amatuer Kickboxer Will Anderson who is coming off a 1st round TKO victory in his last fight. The team arrived at Olympus MMA in VA Beach about 30 minutes early to get a chance to stretch their legs out after the 4 hour drive. When Browns team showed up, introductions were made, and then the warm up began. Before training started Dorian Price brought every one out to give them specific instructions of how to spar with Matt to mimic Condit. The training was excellent, under the watchful eye of Mark Beecher who has trained talented fighters such as Kevin Ross, Kat Zingano, and was Forrest Griffins striking coach. He also holds multiple titles in Muay Thai. This was a great opportunity for the fighters from Level Up. Luther Smith who plans to fight professionally next year, and Patrick Rivera who will look to fight professionally in MMA in the next couple years were able to learn a lot and grow from this experience.

After roughly 10-12 rounds, we all posed for pictures, and wrapped it up for the day. Everyone was ready to eat so we walked over to a nearby restaurant and grabbed some food. Matt graciously paid for the whole tables dinner, and thanked us for coming out to spar. We said our goodbyes and got back in the car for the long trek home. It was an honor to train with Matt, Mark and Dorian. We look forward to working with them all in the future, and wish Matt the best in his December 14th fight on Fox.

 

 

 

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The Level Up Fight Team was back at it again this weekend. The event would see “Iron” Marc Julian make his return to the ring, and Luther Smith making his Amatuer Boxing Debut. The event, was held at Club 1 Fitness in Millersville Maryland, and run under the Jeter Promotions Banner. Jeter Promotions has a long standing reputation for putting on great Pro and Amatuer cards here in Maryland. The Amatuer shows have been a springboard for many local boxers with ambitions of fighting at a professional level. This event promised to be all action, Tony Jeter who does all the matchmaking for these events, put together 18 fights for this packed show. Each fight was a battle! There weren’t any easy wins to be had. With some of the staples of the Club 1 Events on the card, including Champion Andre Harris, Bob Breslin, and an exciting matchup between two youngers brothers up the DMV’s Rising Stars Gary Russell and Alantez Fox. Myke Fox and Gary Antuanne Russell were set to headline the event, but there would be nothing but exciting fights through out the card.

Kicking things off for Level Up for the night was Marc Julian. At 2-1 Marc appears to improve every fight. Coming off a tough decision loss that many felt he won, and then an injury that forced him out of a title fight, Marc looked forward to return to the ring. Marc would draw Cong Ngyun of Rockville for this bout. These two young fighters wasted no time. From bell to bell they would look to exchange big flurries and hard body shots. With each shot landed the crowd got louder and louder. By the end of the second round everyone was on their feet, excited to see how the fight would end. Both young warriors fought to finish the other. In the end Marc came up short on the scorecards, but we are all very proud of him. If it wasn’t the fight of the night it was tied for first. Marc always puts on an exciting display of technique and speed in the ring, we look forward to seeing him back in competition.

 

Luther Smith found out the night before his fight with Shawn Elam, that the two would be fighting for a vacant Maryland State Title. The 34 year old Smith has only been training for a little over a year, but show tremendous potential. With a work ethic adopted from his time in the Military, and a supportive family atmosphere at home and in the gym, Luther looks to do big things with his fight career. Although his start time is not the stereotypical life point that people begin, Luther has a determination that not many younger guys understand. What separates him from many other up and coming fighters is his excitement to fight. All fighters have a desire for competition, but only a few look forward to the fight the way Luther does. Knowing this about Luther, his Coach Jason Farrell thought about holding off to tell Luther about the Title until the day of the fight. “I wasn’t worried about it making him nervous, I was worried he’d be so excited he wouldn’t sleep!” said Farrell. Nevertheless the call was made and met with much excitement.

 

The day of the fight, Luther came to Level Up in the afternoon. He felt that he just needed to be in the gym, not to train, but to absorb all the energy and hard work that he puts in there. The toughest part of any fight is the waiting game. After getting wrapped up, Luther began the process of waiting his turn in the ring. He was set to go right before the headlining fight. He spoke to the DJ about playing a specific song that he wrote produced and performed to walk out too. As his song boomed through the speakers the only thing louder in the arena was Luthers Family, Friends, and Teammates. Roughly 80 people showed to support him, they all let him know they were there with him with their cheers. Once in the ring, the two big men were announced, given their instructions, and ordered to their corners to await the bell. At the sound of the bell they took to the center of the ring and got right to work. Both fighters threw heavy leather back and forth, Luther would use his footwork to move around his opponent, looking to create angles and opportunities. At roughly a minute into the fight Smith landed a short, but very accurate lead hook, that sent Elam staggering backwards and eventually to the canvas. The Ref gave him somewhere close to 30 seconds to recover, which was met with protest from Luthers Coach and Fans. Once cleared to continue Smith pounced on his opponent landing a big flurry that brought the Ref back into play to waive off the fight. Luther Smith wins his Amatuer Boxing Debut, and Maryland State Championship by Ref Stoppage in the First Round. Luther was also named Outstanding Fighter Of The Night as well! His was one of only two stoppages on the card.

As always Jeter Promotions put on a non-stop, high paced, action packed fight card. Level Up looks forward to being on these events and working with Tony Jeter in the future. We would like to thank all the teammates that were able to make it out and show support, as well as all of Luther’s friends and family. Your energy was felt, and gave Luther what he needed to bring home the belt. Also a special thanks to Matt Zinder of Cutman Pro for working the corner with us, Urban Ninja for the design of the walkout shirt, and Eze of Ink Generation for printing the shirts.

 

 

Luther Smith Wins Heavyweight Title At Club 1

 

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Another action packed weekend comes to a close for the Level Up Family. This weekend the Team traveled to the National Harbor for the Zombie Run. The Zombie Run is a 5K Adventure Race, what separates it from other adventure races is the fact that you have Zombies spread throughout the course trying to take you out! Unlike what you are used to seeing the movies, the zombies here aren’t as deadly, instead of sinking their teeth into you, they attempt to capture flags that hang from a belt around your waist. The set up is similar to Flag Football. You begin the race with 3 flags, if at any point you lose all three you are officially infected. Most people compete in teams of 5, as long as one member of your team makes it to the finish line with at least one flag the team wins.

 

The Team arrived at 10am to get signed in and grab their gear and wait for their turn to run. The heats would go off roughly every 20 minutes. The atmosphere was electric! Everyone was excited to be there, and you could feel it in the air. Under the tent at the registration area you could watch the Zombies having their make up applied. The transformation was fun to watch, from normal to abnormal in a matter of minutes. Some teams showed up in costume, the most notable being the Avengers. Complete with Captain America, Ironman, Black Widow, and Thor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Level Up had two teams in the race, as well as Team Bob Zombie lead by MD State Boxing Champion Bobby Breslin, who does mittwork with Level Up’s Coach Jason Farrell. All three groups were able to run in the same heat. The race kicks off near the harbor, and takes off down along the coastline. The group has approximately 100 runners in it, so the pace begins slow as to not bump into each other and cause a domino effect of downed runners. At about a quarter mile into the race we encountered our first Zombies. From here on out it was a steady stream of attackers. Some runners stayed in groups in an attempt to stay blocked from the Zombies, others would look to outrun and outmaneuver the Flag Thirsty Attackers. This was no steady pace 5K. You had to be prepared to sprint at a moments notice. The Zombies proved to be worthy adversaries, taking out the members of the team quickly. Erin Jimenez and Yasemin Jamison would make it roughly three quarters of the way before being taken out. In the end it was young David Jamison, a student at Anne Arundel Community College and WKA National Runner Up that would make it through with one flag remaining.

 

 

 

Overall the race was a fun experience, and had it been possible the team would have gone right back through it again. We look forward to competing in more upcoming races this and next year. If you are active in the Adventure Race scene and would like to train with us for your next race, or have been thinking about doing one of these exciting runs but are afraid you aren’t in good enough shape, come try out our 30 DAY FREE TRIAL!! We can have you race ready in 6 weeks! Call today to schedule an appointment to take a tour of our 9000sq ft. facility!

 

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