The Official Site of Matt Arroyo

I was pretty happy with myself that I only tapped out 16 times this time instead of 19.  Check out these transitions!!!!

Here is my UFC 100 Video blog...Great time!!  Possibly going to the next one in Philly!  I will do the same for that one.  Enjoy!! click link below..

First off, I took a trip out to New York the Friday before Grapplers Quest and did a 2 hour seminar at my good friend Sam Sterns school...It was awesome, there were over 30 people who attended, I was very happy with it..Thanks to Sammy and his students!!

Ok Grapplers quest...I was a little frustrated that I got slated with a huge muscle bound wrestler named Tom Manelski in my first match.  He had great wrestling skills and was a pro at staying away the rest of the time.  After a minute or so of us on our feet, he did a sweet armdrag to the double leg take down.  It was so fast!  Then he stood up and tried to run around my guard for the rest of the match never really engaging.  Any time I grabbed him to do "Jiu Jitsu" he would stand up and back away..I butt scooted because I didnt want to stand up again and have him score more points with another take down.  He was like a brick wall and very  hard to move or pull in.  He stayed standing up the rest of the match and I never really came close to submitting him, but i was NEVER in any danger either...It was a very boring match, and I never got to test my skills or see how I matched up with some of the best in the country like I wanted to.  A match between me and Bill the Grill Cooper, or Efrain Ruiz, or Pablo Papovitch would have been way more exciting and I would have tested my abilities. But its all good!! Tom manelski did the same thing he did to me to Efrain Ruiz, And Bill Cooper earning him a spot in the Finals against Pablo Papovitch..It turned out Pablo had better wrestling than Tom and was able to rack up points on a few takedowns winning the tournament.  I'll get em next one... Below is a video link of the first three minutes of the match...My boy Tom was filming it and if you listen carefully you hear Grapplers Quest owner Brian Cimins tell him he cant film the match, then it cuts off, lol...Stayed tuned for next blog...Goin to UFC 100 and will have some great footage from there (Fighter after parties, etc. lol)

Whats up guys!! So, my last fight was Jan 31 at UFC 94 vs Dan Cramer where I lost a very close split decision.  No Excuses!  I should have finished him when I had the chance.  Since then, I have been taking time off from fighting to focus on my school (www.gracietampasouth.com) and training to get my black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu..I am currently a brown belt under Rob Kahn (Royce Gracie Black belt) and have been for 2 years.  To up my game and get a different perspective on the art, I have been training with Marcelo Garcia (ranked number 1 in the world for jiu jitsu in my weight class) once a month in private instruction classes.  My game has made leaps and bounds because of this!

I will be competing in the New Jersey Grapplers Quest Pro division (invite only) this Saturday June 27.  I will be competing against some of the best black belts in the country (Pablo Popovitch, Bill Cooper, Lucas Leper etc.)  Looking foward to testing my skills.  Check back on my site for results!!

Also I have been training 3 of my students (one of them being Allen "Monsta Lobsta" Berube) for their RFC (real fighting championships) fight July 24 2009....You may have seen Allen on Ultimate Fighter season 5.  I can honestly say that he has improved 100% since the show and he is making his debut at 145 in July.  Keep your eye on him..SERIOUS!!

I will be posting several videos in the next few weeks of :  Me rolling with top black belts around the country, Jiu jitsu techniques, and some very accurate and hillarious impressions (trust me, you will see soon) of people you all know..  Feel free to ask me questions about anything..I am an open book!! out!  Also if you are interested in knowing when I put my next video up (believe me, you will want to see these lol) then put your email address in the box to the right!! Out!