We all know the first rule of fight club is to not talk about fight club, but this fight club is worth talking about. Especially after the weekend they just put together. Ok, this is just a catching title for an article the covers an amazing group of people based right here in the Ohio Valley but read on. The main rule of this fight club is to not win, but to just improve. However, after the performance they had this past weekend, you could very well make a case for their main rule to be is win, because win they did!
First, as for the club itself. Bullpen Fight Club started way back in 2008 when Mike Napple’s Boxing club joined forces with Thomas Hasting’s Jiu-Jitsu club. People wanted to get into mixed martial arts and there were no places around to provide this type of instruction. For them to do this properly, the two realized that they needed to join forces to offer both the best striking and the best grappling instruction that they could.
Mike Napple had an amazing career and has since step back from an active coaching role with the club. His record was an impressive 10-2 as a Pro Boxer and a 5x Bando National Kickboxing Champion.
Mixed marital arts was in its infancy here in the Valley with a few really taking it serious and wanting to compete at a high level. Back then you had the likes of Josh Baker, Chris Goldbaugh, Todd Bevan, and Eric Bledsoe putting in the time to train and compete at a high level. Many times, they trained three times a day six days a week. With the dedication of people like this Thomas Hasting realized forming a club such as Bullpen was an absolute necessity. All this was at a time when MMA wasn’t quite the fad that it is today.
Speaking of today and where the club is now. Josh Baker has since surpassed Thomas Hastings as the lead coach due to both Baker’s drive and Hasting’s work schedule. As mentioned, Baker trained relentlessly and competed as a pro MMA fighter and retired with a record of 8-0. In addition, to the MMA career Baker had, he added 6 pro boxing matches where he earned a record of 5-1. Do not for a second think that’s it. Baker even entered one kickboxing match and yes, he won that too, finishing his kickboxing career with a record of 1-0.
As we all know nothing worth having comes easy and when you are talking Jiu-Jitsu its even more the case. When speaking with Thomas Hastings, he told me that this is one of the most difficult mixed marital arts to increase your rank, or belt. There are 5 belt classes: White, Blue, Purple, Brown, and Black. Hastings compares the skill and effort to get to the next belt as what college degrees are.
“A blue belt is like getting your associate degree, sometimes taking years to acquire. A purple belt is equivalent to getting your bachelor’s degree, again maybe taking years to progress from your blue belt. Your Brown belt is like getting your master’s degree in jiu-jitsu and as for your doctorate, the black belt, let’s just say the doctorate might be easier” according to Hastings.
When you look at the record of the members of this fight club you really understand that what Hastings said rings true. Hastings also added “There are no pity belts given here.” This past weekend the members of Bullpen Fight Club went out and displayed this firsthand earning victory after victory.
It started Friday night at the Barstool Rough N’ Rowdy Brawl held in Wheeling, WV at Wesbanco arena. Bullpen had two fighters compete and both earned themselves wins giving themselves and the club a 2-0 start to the weekend. Both Cal Kildow and John Weaver won their fights convincingly. Cal won his fight by a brutal first round knockout against a much more experienced opponent. This knockout was even featured on Barstool’s social media pages.
We then head into Saturday where the club took their show on the road down to Charleston, WV for the WVGO Grappling Tournament/WV Games. This is where the club really started setting the bar high. This is a tournament that the club has won the overall West Virginia State Grappling Championships in both 2012 and 2013 before taking a leave of absence from attending. Only to return in 2022 where they won again. You care to guess how they did this weekend? You don’t have to, I’ll tell you. They won the overall again. It wasn’t even close this time. Seeing the text from the event organizers, who also had a team there “With our combined stuff we were second but not that close. You guys took all the golds. You know what the hell you’re doing obviously.”
What they did this year was equally amazing. Starting with Martins Ferry native, Brayden George, who won double gold in the 11–12-year-olds 70lbs division, both in Gi and No GI. Then you also have Roman Deroam and Colton Walz, both from St. Clairsville, taking home double golds as well in the Gi and No Gi divisions. This made for a clean sweep for the three youth competitors that Bullpen took to Charleston. Moreover, these three studs participated in 6 divisions in total and took home 6 gold medals with all of them coming from submission wins!
We asked Brayden what he thought of the tournament this weekend and he emphatically stated “It was a blast!”
You also had Sam Suarez, a John Marshall student, competing in the 16–17-year-old division. This was Sam’s first tournament and he took home 4 medals. Asking Sam about his experience he stated, “It was fun, but I was a little nervous.” He added: “What I really liked about it was the chance to test my skills and what I have learned over the last 11 months. I am already looking forward to next year when I have another year under my belt. I want to see what I can do then when I know more and have more time to train.”
As for how the adults did, we will start with the ladies. You had Kristen George, Martins Ferry, take home 4 medals competing in her first tournament, 2 gold and 2 silver. Kristen competed in Gi, No Gi, and absolute (an open weight class division). Kristen has only been at jiu-jitsu for about 8-9 months. When I asked her about her thoughts, she immediately complemented her coaches. “Josh Baker, Haley Zahnow, and Thomas “Justin” Hastings are all amazing and some of the best coaches around!”
Add in fellow lady and badass Kersten Paige McAbee, a cook at the Wheeling Country Club, and her 4 medals these ladies absolutely rocked it this weekend. Kersten competed in Gi, No Gi, and absolute. She also has been at jiu-jitsu for about 8 months and took home 1 gold, 2 silvers, and 1 bronze. When I asked her what her thoughts were about jiu-jitsu and the weekend, she told me “It’s a lot of fun.” She added the following advice for people “do things that make you nervous.” This is great advice for anyone wanting to get better and improve their life.
If you think the guys let the ladies and the youngsters get all the limelight you would be sadly mistaken. Starting off with Michael Kidwell who put on an absolute show Saturday. Kidwell took home five medals in all, 4 golds and 1 bronze. Kidwell completely dominated his weight class and even bumped in weight divisions to continue to compete and win. He even competed in open weight classes as well. On the day Kidwell had 15 wins and at least 10 of them came from submissions. Kidwell commented “Jiu-jitsu is an art form you have to perfect. That every day is a new lesson and that’s what I like about it, it’s a challenge.”
Alexis Martinez also had a stellar day on Saturday earning himself a total of 10 submission victories. Martinez took home a total of 3 golds and 1 bronze. One of Martinez victories was even an amazing 12 second armbar win in the open weight division against a much larger opponent.
Chris Baker, an HR generalist at Wheeling University, also won gold in his division as well as winning an open weight division by tapping out a much larger opponent. Baker, weighing 178lbs, took on an opponent that tipped the scale by nearly 100lbs more than himself. His opponent came in at a whopping 270lbs. Baker finished him with a rear naked choke. Baker took home a total of 4 medals overall. Baker wanted to share his thoughts on his coaches as well, saying “this is the place to come and learn. We have the best coaches around and that includes places like Pittsburgh as well.” Baker should know. He performed very well and has only been at BJJ for about a year now.
We must give a special shout-out to Josh Broverman, who bumped up to the purple division, as a blue belt, and took home gold with ALL submission wins. You know from reading this article how much of a challenge that had to be for him. Josh speaks very highly of his club and his coaches, but he wanted to add “that this is a great place to get healthy and learn some good self-defense techniques.” We do want to add one more thing about Mr. Broverman, is that he has the best taco truck around. If you know anything about Ohio Valley Athletics you know we love good food. Broverman’s truck, Gringo’s Tacos, is one of our favorites trucks to find some amazing food. You can find out where the truck will be here.
Isaiah Caprita also did well on Saturday where he competed in a huge Gi division and took home gold in the tournament to add to the team’s total medals won. The Gi division that Caprita competed in had 12 men in it. This helped Bullpen Fight Club to claim the overall victory yet again in the tournament.
We wanted to wrap up the summary of what people did with Bobby George. If you think the last name George is jumping out at you right now, it is. You have already heard that last name twice in this article. His wife is Kisten, and their son is Brayden. They both were already mentioned as winning multiple medals this past weekend. Bobby even has his daughter, Callie, who didn’t compete this past weekend doing BJJ. We are sure she will do outstanding when she decides to compete given the track record of the rest of the family. Bobby has been at BJJ for about 4 years now and is a blue belt. His day Saturday ended with 4 medals, 2 golds, a silver, and a bronze. Baker competed in the absolute division where he tapped out a 220lbs opponent. That is very significant because Bobby only weighs in at 147lbs. This just re-reinforces how good these fighters are that’s coming out of the Bullpen Fight Club. Bobby did have one very direct message about his coaches: “Our coach would kick your coaches ASS!”
The love for the coaches at this club is undeniable. It has been echoed by fighter after fighter.
This weekend just added to Bullpen’s already amazing accolades they already have, including:
- Over 85% team win rate in sanctioned mixed martial arts fights
- 6 Brazilian Jiu-jitsu black belts
- 6 professional mixed martial arts fighters
- 13 professional boxers
- 57 Toughman championships
- Home of the multiple year pound for pound highest ranked MMA fighter in the state
- Home of the first female in WV state history to achieve the rank of Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu
Bullpen achieved all these accolades because of the people that coach and go there. Jiu-jitsu and boxing are not easy things to do, but this is one of the most welcoming groups you will ever run into. They are very willing to help anyone. It doesn’t matter if you’re a seasoned veteran or someone that hasn’t had a day of training, this is the place for you. They all want you to learn, grow, and accomplish your goals. They have people that are hobbyists or people looking to compete and get into MMA, boxing, or more.
As mentioned in the article earlier this fight club is not all jiu-jitsu. They even have boxing classes here. The reviews from everyone I spoke to that competed this weekend had nothing but positive things to say about that coaches. They absolutely love them. So, it’s only fair to end with the list of coaches and what the teach. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu classes are taught by Thomas Hastings (BJJ Black Belt with 20+ years of experience), Josh Baker (8-0 Pro MMA Fighter & BJJ Black Belt), and Alex Hilton (BJJ Black Belt). The boxing lessons are taught by Josh Baker, Ronnie Green Sr, his sons Ronnie and Ronell Green (11-1 Pro Boxer).
If you are thinking about getting into Jiu-jitsu, MMA, boxing, or more you definitely want to reach out to this club. They offer both private and group lessons for both youth and adults. They have locations in both Wheeling, WV and Morristown, OH. Visit their website here to learn more about this amazing fight club.
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