THE RED CORNER

NEWS AND UPDATES FROM THE NORTH STAR ACADEMY OF MIXED MARTIAL ARTS

WEEK OF AUGUST 17th, 2026

Happy Monday team!

 

Wow!  What a weekend!  Out team of six athletes put it on the line in Maryland at the WKA 2026 Team USA National Trials.  Tournament fighting is its own beast — basically, if you’re not first, you’re last.  There’s only one champ in each division and everyone else ends their experience on a loss.  Further, you can’t cherry pick your opponents.  You fight the person in front of you.

Not great for the types of athletes who want to curate a perfect record or guarantee highlight reel clips for their Instagram, but ideal for athletes who want to test themselves and grow from every experience, whether it ends in their favor or not.

Let’s give a big shout out to Joel, Andy, Ayden, Brandon, Jason, and the new 2026 WKA Champion Ade Solebo!  Ade picked up the gold in our last fight of the weekend with a 2nd round TKO via knees against a very aggressive opponent.

Make sure to give these athletes a special high five when you see them in the gym this week.

 

On the grappling side, make sure to block of this Wednesday night at 7:15pm for our TEAM SPARRING DAY!  We’ll get started a little early on Wednesday to make sure we can get a ton of rounds in.  This is a gi and no-gi event, so come with both or however you like.  It’s always a good time.

 

Speaking of Wednesdays, we’ll be making a small adjustment to our grappling programming.  Starting in September, we’ll dedicate the first Wednesday of the month to the North Star Wrestling Club.  This will be a monthly wrestling workshop and live training session.  Wednesdays will otherwise revert to no-gi training and programming.

Why?

Modern no-gi has diverged from the traditional “get on top, pass the guard, attack the upper body” philosophy of traditional jiu jitsu and moved into a more optimized approach that accounts for the challenges and nuances of grappling without a gi.  Modern nogi style has a larger emphasis on wrestling up, leg attacks, and scrambling.  We’ll be ensuring that our nogi programming highlights these skills to provide a more competitive and modern training environment for everyone.

And don’t worry — with the emphasis on wrestling up and wrestling in general, we’ll still be addressing wrestling dynamics in our nogi classes.  However, the NSWC will officially only meet once per month (as per the original plan) starting in September and beyond.

 

That’s about it  See you on the mats!

 

–Coach Jackson

 

You can find this week’s Monday Mindset HERE

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