Thank you: Over twenty five years I have taught out of the dojo of my teacher Renzo Gracie. I have been blessed to have so many extraordinary students. I began teaching introduction classes as a blue belt, never dreaming that it would one day be my livelihood. In time I began teaching full time and was fascinated by the overlap of Jiu jitsu with MMA. As fate would have it, a young Georges St Pierre became my student and this began a decade of study in that area culminating in Mr St Pierre as one of the most dominant champions in history and Chris Weidman defeating the other great champion of that era, Anderson Silva. When Georges retired I shifted focus to no gi Jiu jitsu. Once again fate blessed me with outstanding students as garry tonon, Eddie Cummings and the Ryan brothers, Gordon and Nicky formed a core of grapplers that changed the game. Through all of that development were my daily students – the core of my classes – far too many to name but you all know who you are. You were my rock and my foundation. Without you all neither myself nor my more well known students could have done what they did. Thank you all so much for your dedication and sacrifices over a quarter of a century. Thank you for tolerating my shortcomings as a person and a teacher. Thank you for making a room in which ideas could be tested, theories spawned and champions made. We all remember training days before Georges fights or ADCC camps averaging over a hundred people on the mats in morning and afternoon class – today it's an empty room that i look but my memories will last as long as I do. Thank you for those memories – without you they never would have happened.
