Erik - ProfilesArchive

About Me

My current mission: Travel the world studying, practicing, and training Martial Arts in countries where they originated. Also to enjoy everyday as much as possible!More: I was born in Florida(near Miami) but I grew up in Northern California(the Bay Area). I went to Chico State University for 6 yrs(way too long)...Where I taught Karate, competed around the country, partied my brains out and sometimes studied. After graduating(yes, I graduated..LOL), I moved to Sacramento where I had a short stint in Finance until I realized that my true calling was martial arts(which I'd been practicing since the tender age of 7)...So, I moved to Okinawa, Japan where I lived for three years training and fighting Mixed Martial Arts, and teaching Karate and English to Junior High School students. The whole experience was very cool. Now I'm living in Brazil training Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. To help pay the bills I teach English classes and do translations. I love training, going out with friends, partying, and traveling. Brazil is nuts! I love it here. Not sure where I'll end up next but everything always seems to work out how it's suppose to...let's wait and see.more pics: http://erikgringo.fotopages.com

My Interests

Martial Arts...Especially Brazilian Jiu-jitsu! But I love Mixed Martial Arts, Submission Grappling, Muay Thai, Karate, etc. All fighting sports and traditional Martial Arts too. If I'm not training I love going out with my friends. Sitting outside a bar on a warm summer night. Going to the beach. Being in the sun by the pool. Hitting a cool night club. Meeting new people. Traveling around the world. Driving up the California coast(when I'm back home)...I guess in general, I just love life.

I'd like to meet:

New friends, old friends, whatever...you just better be cool!

Music:

T.I. - Let's Get Away
Music Video Codes

Books:

Mastering Jiu-jitsu by Renzo Gracie...fowgedabaudet!!! This guy's a genius!

Heroes:

Rickson Gracie (The greatest fighter ever...for defending his martial arts style and his family name against anyone...at a time when no one was willing to), Kazushi Sakuraba (for showing,"where there's a will there's a way", by defeating many great fighters, some of which were considered invincible)...Enson Inoue(for never giving up and always fighting 'til the end)...Toshihiro Oshiro (My life long teacher who taught me to go beyond what is expected in order to succeed...to seek out the truth amongst the emense amount of B.S. in the Martial Arts)...Sunabe Mitsuyoshi (for teaching me about courage, and determination...and for introducing me to the world of grappling and MMA)...Fabio Leopoldo(for being an example of a truly great teacher and friend...as well as a fierce competitor and warrior) And last but not least my Mom and Dad...for working so hard to ensure that I had the best chances to succeed and the best opportunities to reach my goals and grasp my dreams.

My Blog

Brazilian National Team Championships

We got to Barra da Tijuca in Rio De Janeiro the night before the Tournament. Everything was set for the fights which were to start up the next morning. We were representing Gracie Sao Paulo in the Bra...
Posted by Erik on Mon, 25 Dec 2006 08:52:00 PST

RIO DE JANEIRO

A 4 day weekend in Rio...all I can say is UN! BE! LIEVABLE! What an amazingcity. By far one of the most beautiful beach cities I've ever been to. Went with some friends and we stayed at Copacabana bea...
Posted by Erik on Tue, 07 Nov 2006 04:23:00 PST

Carnaval...

Was a few months ago but I realized I haven't written a blog in a while so here it is; Carnaval...insane! The entire country shuts down for about 4 days...If you're lucky enough to remember any of it....
Posted by Erik on Sat, 17 Jun 2006 12:26:00 PST

New Years...

I can't believe I forgot to mention New Years...Well here goes: I flew back from the Dominican Republic and went straight to the beach again! Me and 8 friends headed to Sao Lorenco do Riviera here in ...
Posted by Erik on Mon, 03 Apr 2006 07:49:00 PST

Perfect vacation...

Well, I have now seen the most beautiful beaches...well, the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen, that's for sure. The Dominican Republic was amazing! A beautiful island smack dab in the middle of t...
Posted by Erik on Wed, 11 Jan 2006 09:46:00 PST

15 minutes of fame...

...Well, I'm definitely enjoying my 15 minutes of fame. Kind of nice not having to introduce yourself to girls when you go out at night...Really cool when they just come right up to you and say 'are y...
Posted by Erik on Wed, 07 Dec 2005 01:30:00 PST

Tequilla shot

Hmmmm...Pretty sure this was a first for me. The girl's checking me out, she starts to move closer. I'm at the bar just chilling with my beer. She approaches and says, "you like Tequilla?"...I'm like,...
Posted by Erik on Mon, 07 Nov 2005 04:05:00 PST

Today was a good day...

You know those days when everything just seems to "click"...Everything just seems to go your way and workout perfectly. Well I think that was the inspiration for Ice Cube's song, "Today was a good day...
Posted by Erik on Mon, 10 Oct 2005 07:09:00 PST

Beja Sapo

So, This was probably the FUNNIEST experience of my life! And beleive me...there's a lot of those...I went on MTV Brazil's Beja Sapo and had a blast! Ended up making out with a hot Brazilian Samba dan...
Posted by Erik on Tue, 13 Sep 2005 07:17:00 PST

MTV called...

Well, looks like I'm gonna be famous...hehehe. Well, kind of. MTV called me on Friday, and I'm gonna be on the dating show Beija Sapo. The first gringo(foreigner) on the show! Life is crazy. Let's see...
Posted by Erik on Mon, 29 Aug 2005 05:01:00 PST