Local papers writes about Blacklist L.L.C.

Duo prepares for world championships
Perry PitreSports Correspondent
Published: Monday, June 2, 2008 at 3:00 p.m. Last Modified: Monday, June 2, 2008 at 10:56 a.m.

Perry Pitre/Correspondent
Gabe Barahona (left) and Derrick Breaux practice their grappling move in preperation for the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship, which begins Thursday in California.

LOCKPORT -- It’s 10 a.m. on a Saturday in a small hot building on Main Street. Seven pairs of men and boys, paired off by size, eye each other warily. Derrick Breaux and Gabe Barahona, look around, and give the signal. And everyone begins to grapple.
At Blacklist Mixed Martial Arts, it’s just another day, as the students grasp each other, jockeying for position, leverage, anything to put their opponent on the ground. Elbows hook under knees. Forearms are pushed into opponents’ faces. Sweat rolls profusely.
A buzzer sounds, and the exhausted grapplers relax, panting, as Breaux and Barahona prep for the next drill.
It’s Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, a martial art derived from judo. For Breaux and Barahona, it’s a calling, and a profession. And on this particular Saturday, it’s a final tune up.
Breaux and Barahona will be traveling to California this week, along with 2,000 other athletes, to compete in the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship, held at Cal State-Long Beach. There, they will literally grapple with the best of them.
Breaux and Barahona took different roads to end up in the same place.
"A cousin of mine, who’s a black belt in Japanese Jitsu, was in the Marine Corps, and the Marines uses Jitsu for its ground fighting. Back then, in the early 90’s, they had just started Ultimate Fighting in California. So when he moved back to Louisiana, we went into his shed and built a cage and started putting on shows at the local civic centers. I used to help him put on the shows," said Breaux, who had no previous experience with martial arts.
"My cousin is about 5-(foot) 5, and he’s about 135 pounds soaking wet. So one day we’re sitting in the cage, and at the time I was into weightlifting. So we’re messing around, and he just slams me into the ground and chokes me unconscious. I’m out for like 30 seconds. So I wake up, get my bearings, go after him again, and he takes me out again with no effort at all. After that, I had to learn how someone so small could manhandle someone twice as strong as him," Breaux said chuckling.
Barahona said he and Breaux didn’t meet until 2003, but they started training around the same time.
With previous experience in Tae Kwon Do and karate, Barahona wound up fighting in Breaux’s cousin’s promotions, where the two met and began to train together.
"I was working the door, so I kind of knew who Gabe was. I ended up learning a ton from him, so I quit training locally, and started training with him and a few other guys. Since then, we’ve gotten very competitive, and we’re competing at a world level now," Breaux said.
Since they started training, the sport has grown in popularity.
"We matted out the floor in my garage at home and started training," Breaux says. "Then the word started spreading in the neighborhood, and before you know it, neighbors were complaining about all the cars."
Blacklist is currently occupying its second building in its short history, and will soon be moving into a third, larger facility, due to expanding class sizes. Jiu-Jitsu is gaining popularity, the two say, both because of its utility in mixed martial arts fighting and its easy translation into the real world.
"If you look at any bar fight, the two guys throw a couple of really bad punches, then they grab onto each other and start to roll around," Breaux said. "The guy who ends up on top usually wins. That’s the whole point here."
Danny Dufrene of Chauvin, whose son Drey, 11, is a student, said that the self-defense aspect of Jiu-Jitsu appealed to him, but that his son has other motivations.
"He wants to fight in a cage, and they use a lot of this," Dufrene said.
Eric Weaver of Lockport, whose son Joel, 9, grapples with the somewhat-larger Drey, watches the two intently.
"That’s the beauty of it. You’ve got a nine year old and an eleven year old, and the smaller guy can easily keep up and defend himself," Eric Weaver said.
Barahona concentrates on teaching adult classes while Breaux takes charge of the younger students.
"I don’t have any discipline. If the kids want to run around, I don’t have the heart to tell them to stop. So I’ll just say ëOk, y’all run around,’ " Barahona said.
Breaux has a more disciplined approach. School-age students are required to present their report cards.
"Only A’s and B’s are acceptable," Breaux says, adding that lower grades will be met with lots and lots of push-ups.
"They’re either going to be smart, or they’re going to be strong."
Or, they could up being both.
The World Jiu-Jitsu Championships will be held Thursday to Sunday in Long Beach, Calif.

Tri-Parish Times

Jiu-jitsu latest rage at Blacklist By KYLE CARRIER

A joint-lock submission and chokehold may sound like moves that belong in a World Wrestling Entertainment ring, but instead they are the backbone of a form of martial arts gaining interest in the Tri-parishes.When Derrick Breaux and Gabe Barahona opened Blacklist Jiu-Jitsu of Houma in July, they weren't sure what the response would be. After all, there are only two schools that teach the combat sport exclusively. Both are Blacklist sites owned by Breaux and Barahona. The duo opened their first location in Lockport three years ago. Based on the sport's popularity, they decided to open in Houma to expand business. The expansion has paid off so far; enrollment is on the incline. Jiu-jitsu is a Brazilian form of martial arts that uses a variety of locks, holds, grabs and submissions between competitors in an attempt to score pins or get the opponent to submit. Jiu-Jitsu promotes the principle that a smaller, weaker person using leverage and proper technique can successfully defend himself against a bigger, stronger assailant. Because of that, It's an effective form of self-defense, according to Barahona. "It's one of the more practical forms or martial arts," he said. "Jiu-jitsu uses a lot of locks and submission holds. It can get someone out of trouble or danger. They don't need to be proficient at it, but it is useful as a self-defense tool." Unlike traditional martial arts such as karate, tae-kwon-do or others, jiu-jitsu uses a more hands-on approach, especially during competitions. "It's a matter of staying in shape and understanding the competition," Barahona explained. "It's important to make sure you can go the entire match and pick up as many points as you need. In martial arts, the point scoring is more traditional and fitness isn't as big of a part because you'll still get points. "Jiu-jitsu is quite competitive. In fact, federations across the nation hold annual competitions throughout the year. Louisiana has roughly a dozen competitions. Depending on the division, competitors are given a certain time limit during which they can score points by making their opponent submit or by pinning them to the mat. Barohona competes at the national and world level. He recently missed the American Nationals because of the hurricanes, but that hasn't slowed him any. He continues to arrive each day at Blacklist to teach the art of jiu-jitsu to all who are willing to try. In the three years he's been teaching, Barohona said the most common misconception - and his first lesson - involves the number of chokeholds available to competitors. "When I first joined I thought there were only 10 submissions and their weren't many more that that," he recalled. "I was quickly educated that it's not a matter of how many submissions there are but a matter of how many sets are there. You can take one submission, and get to it three different ways ... like an arm bar or a leg lock. "He added, "There are an endless variety of submissions or chokeholds. "Barohona knows locals may know little about the sport, but that's where the idea for Blacklist was derived. "We have guys who have been with us for a while and who came in and just loved the idea of having a school open," he said. "Our kids' program is also a big hit in the area and our adult program has grown. There are a lot of people who hop right into it even they don't quite understand it initially. We offer a variety of classes so they don't have to be with the experienced guys. They can learn at their own pace. If they want to take the training up a notch, it's there. " Classes are available in several age ranges: 4 to 6 years old; 6 to 12 years old; 12 to 15 years old and 15-and-over. Barahona stressed that parents of younger kids don't have to worry about their children working with the older crowd. Instead, they will be with their respective age groups. With the Lockport location undergoing repairs caused by Hurricane Gustav, all operations have moved to the Houma location. All Blacklist enrollees are welcome at the Houma site until work at the Lockport site is completed. "We are definitely going to reopen at that location," he said. "We had great success with it. Our students are begging for it to come back." "We really want to thank the area with the way they responded to us," Barahona added. "We grew up in Houma and it's great to be able to do this for the area."ri-Parish Times