Page 4 - Issue 3

GRAPPLER Summer 2019

F ROM THE E DITORS

Welcome back, friends. It’s been a while, to say the least.

A lot has happened since we’ve been gone. TK made a victorious amateur MMA
debut via rear naked choke with seconds left in the first round. Rome traveled home
to Louisiana for some well-deserved R&R over the holidays and returned to Taiwan
focused and fueled. And Brandon’s wife had a baby girl in December. Cecilia Ibarra has
already shown a strong butterfly guard and excellent grip strength.

We kept in touch via the website and social media while we took our time getting this
issue together, and we are very proud of the results.

Rome paddles us into the issue and describes how sharing waves at a new surf spot is
kind of like going to a new gym. We linked up with the Pretty Dangerous Women and Jiu
Jitsu Gypsies at their annual United in Sisterhood Open Mat. We sat down and learned
how Kelly Beech got the nickname ‘Blue-Eyed Hellion’.

Josh Russell explains how grappling benefits his active lifestyle. Diaz catches up to
answer the (new) age-old question: Gi or NoGi? Diamond Dave walks us through the
importance of breathing and Marshall guides us through some of his favorite meditative
techniques. Then our very own Javier Torres illustrates his time in Myanmar and how he
fell in love with the sport of Lethwei.

We have big plans for the summer. Keep an eye out for the next installment of our
Roll Thru series from the beautiful disaster that is Florida. Until then, enjoy Issue 3.

We are inspired to do everything we can to make this brand succeed and bring you,

our favorite audience, insight into the grappling arts through content that will broaden
your awareness and understanding of different disciplines and cultures. The magazine
is just the start. We recently updated the website (www.grapplermag.com), check us out
on social medial (@grapplermag), and if you really want to be our best friend, visit the
GoFundMe page as well (https://www.gofundme.com/grapplermag).

Credit: @ROME7R

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