Kimbo Hitting Mitts

Yes, its true!!  The man they call “Kimbo” has begun his training at the main ATT  academy in Coconut Creek, FL.  

Here he be preparing himself for his next fight in the UFC, rumored to be sometime in December. Kimbo will be training under the watchful eye of ATT’s head coach Ricardo Liborio 

Today at training, Liborio introduced Kimbo to all the pro fighters who all greeted him with open arms and offered their encouragement and help as he begins his training camp. There was a great vibe in the gym as Kimbo worked with our boxing coach, Olympic Gold Medalsit Howard Davis Jr on the finer points of boxing for mma.

In additon to Kimbo training, Denis Kang is back home with us after a 2 year absence due to visa problems. Its is a great sight to see Denis back training, as he always brings a tremendous work ethic with him that carries over to the rest of the team.

We also had WEC Champ Mike Brown getting ready for his Nov. bout with Jose Aldo, along with Yves Edwards, Luis “Banha” Cane, Wilson Gouveia, Antonio “Pezao” Silva, Jorge Santiago, Tibau, Pitbull, Hector Lombard, Jorge Masvidal, and Thiago Silva as they were all training hard, or helping their fellow teammates get ready for their fights.

For more info on American Top Team and their award winning programs -please visit our website;
www.AmericanTopteam.com or stop by the academy for a free tour.

Main Academy
4631 JohnsonRoad
Coconut Creek, FL. 33073
Ph: (954) 425-0705

Liborio, Levitetz take new leadership roles with USA Grappling;

USA Wrestling picked to host 2009 Grappling World Championships in Florida in December

 USA Wrestling is excited to announce a new alliance to provide leadership for USA Grappling, its national program in the sport of Grappling.

 International respected coach Ricardo Liborio of Coconut Creek, Fla. has been named the National Coach for USA Grappling.

 “Ricardo Liborio brings credibility to our Grappling program,” said USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender. “We are confident that we will not only sustain our competitive excellence but will take it to a new level with Ricardo on our team. USA Wrestling is committed to maintaining our dominant position in international Grappling.”

 Jeff Levitetz of Boca Raton, Fla., USA Wrestling’s 2004 Man of the Year, has been named Managing Director of USA Grappling.

“Jeff Levitetz has had a significant impact on the programs at USA Wrestling,” said Bender. “Our Grappling program will significantly benefit from his leadership and involvement. We look forward to working with Jeff to build, expand and improve the sport in America.”

In addition, FILA, the international wrestling federation, has notified USA Wrestling that it has been selected to host the 2009 World Grappling Championships in the United States.

The 2009 Grappling World Championships will be held at the Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center, Dec. 12-13. The No-Gi competition will be held on Dec. 12, with the Gi competition on Dec. 13. The U.S. is the defending World Team champions in both disciplines.

Ricardo Liborio is the co-owner and head instructor for American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Fla., one of the top Grappling and MMA academies in the world. He was a champion in international Jiu-Jitsu, and has trained numerous champion athletes in Grappling, Jiu-Jitsu, Mixed Martial Arts and other disciplines.

 In his new role, Liborio will help develop the national Grappling program. He will serve as the head coach of the 2009 U.S. Grappling World Team. Liborio will organize and conduct the 2009 U.S. Grappling World Team Training camp at the American Top Team facility in Coconut Creek. He will also help coach U.S. Grappling athletes from around the nation as part of the USA Grappling program.

“I am honored to be named the National Coach for USA Grappling,” said Liborio. “I understand the responsibility of this position. Our athletes will need to fill in their knowledge in comparison to other countries. Our intention is to get the best athletes to compete under the flag of USA Grappling and to represent our nation at the FILA World Grappling Championships.”

As an athlete, Liborio was awarded a Black Belt in 1993 under Master Carlson Gracie.  He was a 1996 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World (Mundial) Champion, and was voted the Most Technical Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitor in 1996 Mundial. A three-time Brazilian National Champion, he placed second at the Abu Dhabi Submission Tournament in 2000 and third in 1999. Liborio was a Brazilian national champion in judo, and also was a state champion in wrestling in Brazil.

Liborio was a co-founder of Brazilian Top Team, a successful program he directed in Brazil for two years. He moved to the United States in 2001 and along with Dan Lambert, developed American Top Team into a championship program. He was voted NAGA Coach of the Year in 2005 and has been inducted into the NAGA Grappling Hall of Fame. He is the trainer of multiple World Champions and MMA fighters. Among the champion Grapplers he has coached are Ricardo Arona, Marcelo Garcia and Jeff Monson. Liborio is expected to receive his American citizenship later this year.

“Hosting the National Team here for training will allow our athletes to go to the next level,” said Liborio. “It will improve the level of technique and training in our nation. Hosting the World Championships will provide a lot of tough competition because it is held in the United States. It will be hard work for our team. We will have more competition than ever before.”

Levitetz, a longtime leader within USA Wrestling, has developed an involvement in Grappling through his sons, who train under Liborio. His personal friendship and association with Liborio and American Top Team has developed over time. He has worked with USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender and American Top Team owner Dan Lambert to formulate plans to improve the U.S. program.

Levitetz will be involved in USA Grappling in program development on the National Team level, as well as developing the brand for the sport. He will also serve as a spokesman for USA Grappling. He is excited about USA Grappling and its potential for growth and success.

“We start with the best coach we could ever hope for,” said Levitetz. “We are both very excited to work together. I will act as a liaison between Ricardo Liborio and USA Wrestling to help identify where the USA Grappling program is headed. The alliance between USA Grappling and American Top Team is very exciting. We welcome the prospects of what this can become. We are interested in exploring all possibilities for Grappling in the United States.”

Levitetz served as Team Leader of the U.S. Olympic Team for Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. He was a team leader for other U.S. international teams, including the 2003 Senior Greco-Roman World Team, the 2003 Pan American Games Greco-Roman Team, the 2002 Senior Freestyle World Team and the 1999 Senior Freestyle World Team.

 He served as Co-Chairperson of the successful “Wrestling for the Next Millennium” capital campaign, which benefited USA Wrestling, the National Wrestling Coaches Association and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum. Levitetz developed The Levitetz Family Memorial Fund, which provides scholarships for worthy athletes to attend summer wrestling camps they would not have otherwise been able to afford.

Levitetz is the Chairman of the Board of Purity Wholesale Grocers, Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla. His company has been listed among Forbes top 150 private-owned companies. In 2002, Levitetz was named as an Outstanding American by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, which recognizes former wrestlers for their success in all walks of life.

FILA hosted its first Grappling World Championships in Lucerne, Switzerland in December 2008. The competition features divisions for both men and women in two disciplines, No-Gi Grappling and Gi-Grappling. The United States won the team title in both disciplines at the 2008 Grappling World Championships.

The last time that USA Wrestling hosted a World Championships event in the United States was in 2003, when the Freestyle World Championships were hosted in Madison Square Garden in New York City.

American Top Team

Mike Brown successfully defended his WEC World featheweight title with a stunning submission victory over Leonard Garcia at 1:57 of round one!
Mike caught Garcia early in the fight with a beautiful counter right hand that dropped and almost ko’d the challenger. Mike unleashed a brutal ground and pound attack until he transitioned for the choke and tapout win.
This was Mike’s first win as WEC Champion after his stunnig knockout over former Champion Uriah Faber.

Mike has now firmly established himself as the #1 145 fighter in the World!
Mike trains and fights out of the main American Top team academy in Coconut Creek, Florida

Congratulations to Mike and ATT on a great victory!!

For more info on their programs please visit our website
www.AmericanTopTeam.com or visit us in person at:
4631 Johnson Road – Coconut Creek, FL. 33073 Ph: (954) 425-0705

featuring classes in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, MMA, Boxing, Muay Thai, Fitness, Self- Defense,  and award winning kids programs. Stop by today to see how we can help you get started!

Mike Brown WEC Champion

Jason Chambers who starred on the television hit Martial Arts show “The Human Weapon” has officially joined American Top Team. Jason comes to us with a professional MMA record of 18-6-2. He will continue his jiu-jitsu training with Eddie Bravo and come to train with us when preparing for his MMA fights. We welcome Jason to the ATT family and look forward to working with him on his future fights.

Welcome Jason!

Champion Nutrition and American Top Team Announce Partnership

July 1^st,2008 – - Champion Nutrition announced today that it will become the Official Sponsor and sports nutrition provider of world-class Mixed Martial Arts organization, American Top Team (ATT). Champion Nutrition is providing science-based nutrition to the world-class fighters at the ATT Coconut Creek, Florida training facility as well as becoming a resource to them. “We found there was a real need to educate and provide quality nutrition and supplementation to these fighters” says Director of Marketing John Jarmul. ATT co-founder Ricardo Liborio says of the joint venture “the margin between world champion and the top 25 in the world is getting smaller every day, and our athletes need every possible advantage to stay on top. Champion has a storied tradition as the brand athletes trust to take their performance to the next level, and so our partnership with them came naturally.” Champion Nutrition’s products and expertise will be available to fighters at all 20 American Top Team locations in Florida and across the US. 

Champion Nutrition is a Sunrise, FL based marketer and manufacturer of performance-based sports nutrition products. Champion maintains its own 135,000 square-foot GMP-certified manufacturing facility. Currently in their 25^th year, Champion’s attention to product formulation, quality, and taste have kept it as one of the most well-respected sports nutrition companies in the industry.

American Top Team is one of the most successful MMA teams in the world. ATT has more than 50 professional MMA fighters competing in the U.S and abroad in events such as; UFC, WEC, Elite XC, K-1 DREAMS, among others. The team is based out of Coconut Creek, Florida in their 20,000 sq. ft. facility which offers training in all disciplines of martial arts consisting of; Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Boxing, Wrestling, and MMA.

AMERICAN TOP TEAM
CHAMPION NUTRITION

American Top Team is proud to support our troops overseas whenever possible. That’s why we donated 144 square feet of grappling mats to Alpha Company, 603rd Area Support Battalion (Apache maintenance) in Baghdad. The Battalion’s combatives instructor, Sergeant James West, contacted ATT through Real Fighter magazine and asked for assistance. His soldiers only had a paper-thin puzzle mat, which didn’t provide enough support to train takedowns and throws and the Battalion didn’t have the funds to purchase more. “We’ve been using what we can in a small room above one of Saddam’s old hangars,” West says. “It’s hot and small, but you have to make due with what you have.” The mats donated by American Top Team doubled the area West and his soldiers have to train and provide enough padding to train vital hand-to-hand techniques. “These mats are very appreciated by a group of guys who live to train,” West says. “When we have free time, we don’t have all the opportunities that you do back in the States like heading down to a movie theater or going out for dinner. Troops don’t want to just sit around in their rooms and watch TV or play video games either, so hand-to-hand combatives gives them an outlet that’s very therapeutic. Even our Chaplain gets in on the action.” American Top Team is proud to help.

Pics of the soldiers

American Top Team has always strived to give back to the community locally and abroad.
To learn more about our programs please visit us at:

American Top Team
4631 Johnson Road
Coconut Creek, FL. 33073
www.AmericanTopTeam.com
www.MySpace.com/AmericanTopTeam

Photo Courtesy Omar Vega Sun-Sentinel Staff

Sharon Robb was nice enough to come to American Top Teams main academy in Coconut Creek, FL., and spend several weeks with our team interviewing our fighters and learning more about the growing sport of mma.  We think she did a great job of educating the casual fan and introducing the sport of mma to a wider audience.

Click HERE for link to article.

Once again, Big thanks go out to Sharon Robb, Omar Vega, and the publisher of the Sun-Sentinel for covering American Top Team and MMA. THANK YOU!!

If you are interested in finding out more about American Top Teams programs,  please visit our website. Classes available for beginners, thru advanced students. Award winning kids programs, women classes and more!!

www.AmericanTopTeam.com
www.MySpace.com/AmericanTopTeam

Main Academy:
4631 Johnson Road
Coconut Creek, FL. 33073
Ph: (954) 425-0705

The #1MMA team in Florida! 
Learn MMA the ATT way!

ATT had 3 of its fighters competing tonight  and went 2-1.

Marcus Aurelio started and finished his fight quickly, as he dropped Ryan Roberts with a right hand and then followed up with an armbar to end the fight at just 16 seconds into the first round! Marcus is now 2-1 since coming into the UFC. Great to see Marcus coming out and being aggressive! 

Din Thomas took on veteran Josh Neer and lost by unanimous decision.  I know Din trained hard for this fight so it is disappointing to see him lose. Din had his opportunities, but Josh proved he was the better man tonight. Congrats to Josh and his camp on his win over a great fighter in Din Thomas. I hope to see Din back in there soon.

Last up for ATT was Thiago “Pitbull” Alves, who took on Karo Parisyan one of the top Welterweights in the game today. Thiago won by TKO of round 2 landing a solid knee that dropped Karo, followed by strikes before the ref halted the bout. Tremendous win for Thiago who has put some himself right in line for a title shot. Our team has great respeect for Karo and we wish him the best going forward.

Photo Courtesy Pishna MMAWeekly.com

Thiago, Din, and Marcus had a great training camp leading up to their fights. To prepare, they went out to Colorado early and were put through some tough workouts by our coaching staff and training partners. Our conditioning coach (and heart) Benkei, Muay Thai coach Ouali, and training partners Jorginho Santiago, Yves Edwards , Rafael Dias, and Roan “Jucao” Carneiro all helped tremendously, along with Dan and Liborio to help make a great camp for the guys.

We are proud of all their efforts – Congrats!

To learn more about American Top Team please visit:
AmericanTopTeam.com
www.MySpace.com/AmericanTopTeam

Main American Top Team Academy
4631 Johnson Road
Coconut Creek, FL. 33073
Ph: (954) 425-0705

Here is a highlight video of our professional  mma fighters competing in various events around the world. 

If you want to learn more about American Top Team’s award winning programs please visit our academy.  We have programs for the novice to the professional in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing, Muay Thai, and of course MMA. We even have kids MMA prorgams starting as young as 3!

AMERICAN TOP TEAM
Main Academy
4631 Johnson Road
Coconut Creek, Florida 33073
www.AmericanTopTeam.com
www.MySpace.com/Americantopteam
 

American Top Team’s Rich Attonito and Jessica Aguilar fought tonight in Tampa, and both won by TKO in the third round. Rich and Jessica were in control throughout the bout before ending it in the third.

Jessica always puts on an exciting fights, and it was good to see Rich back out there battling.
Job well done!  Congratulations Rich and Jessica!!

Also, here locally in Ft. Lauderdale there was an amateur Muay Thai event. Steve Bruno, who teaches our Muay Thai program successsfully coached one of our students (Eric) to his debut win. Way to go guys!

AMERICAN TOP TEAM
Main Academy
4631 Johnson Road
Coconut Creek, Florida 33073
www.AmericanTopTeam.com
www.MySpace.com/AmericanTopTeam