Grappling champ trains for competitions out of Pompton Lakes

Sunday, October 17, 2010

BY STEVE JANOSKI

Sixty years ago, thousands flocked to the borough to gawk at legendary heavyweight champion Joe Louis as he laced up the gloves and stepped into the square circle to spar at Doc Bier's training camp on Perrin Avenue in Pompton Lakes as he prepared for such famed opponents as Max Schmeling and the "Cinderella Man" Jim Braddock.

Now, in 2010, a heavyweight champion of another sort trains in Pompton Lakes, for competitions no less fierce – some against opponents no less determined.

His name is Anthony Argyros. Instead of boxing, he competes in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu; instead of Perrin Avenue, he trains at the Cannonball Gym on Cannonball Road.

Argyros, 42, is not your run-of-the-mill MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) wannabe, however. He's been in the game for about 12 years and has over 250 fights under his belt, and has finished in first place in over 90 tournaments.


He has finished first in North American Grappling Association (NAGA) tournaments for his weight class and division every year since 2000, and has the distinction of being named the organization's first-ever recipient of the "Fighter of the Decade" award for the years 2000-2009.

He also was honored to receive Gladiator Magazine's "2010 Golden Gladiator Award" on Aug. 7 at NAGA's annual "Battle at the Beach" tournament in Wildwood for his continuing support of submission grappling.

"I'm still ingesting it, trying to understand it," Argyros said of the award. "To get that, considering who has competed in NAGA over the decade… to be the one guy who got recognized, that was big."

Argyros isn't kidding— the list of those who have competed in NAGA tournaments over the years reads like a "Who's who of Mixed Martial Arts"— huge Pay-Per-View names like Forrest Griffin, Frank Mir, Kenny Florian, and Dante Rivera have all gotten on the mats to roll at one time or another.

He's even written a book about his long journey, named "Inside the Combat Club," which documents his experiences in grappling tournaments over the past 10 years.

Now, he splits his time between his home in Hawthorne and the gym in Pompton Lakes, training himself, as well as athletes of all types, in both weightlifting and grappling.

Cannonball Gym owner Austin Wall said that having Argyros train and teach at the gym is "invaluable" because of his experience.

"A lot of guys train in a dojo, and their belt is mostly because of the time they've spent there," Wall said. "But he's been traveling around the country, competing against the best guys, and you can't get that kind of experience just training on the mat."

"To be able to translate that to the students…we can't put a price on that," he said.

An innocuous start for future champ

Argyros, who is 5 feet 8 inches on his best day but, at around 215 pounds, is nearly as broad as he is tall, was a high school and semi-pro football player back in his early days.

He didn't get involved in combat sports until the 90s, when the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) began to gain traction and attract attention.

Those brutal early competitions had few rules and no time limits, and were dominated by Brazil's Gracie family, which brought a grappling style to American soil that had been previously unknown: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (commonly called "BJJ").

BJJ is a martial art based on getting opponents on the ground, and then manipulating them into what are called "submission holds."

Once caught in a hold, competitors must either "tap out" or risk suffering a shattered limb.

"Thousands of people saw Royce Gracie beat all these big guys, and I said, 'I gotta learn that," Argyros said.

Still though, Argyros was nearly 30 years old, and wondered if he was too old to learn and compete in an art where the best of the best have trained since youth. He went forward anyway, and his first match was in December of 1998.

"I completely ran out of gas," he said. "I lost a decision after six minutes, and I couldn't breathe…it was then I realized that this is a really tough sport."

Just four months later, he would suffer an injury that very nearly ended his career before it began — during a match in South Plainfield, he was caught in a hold called an armbar that ended up ripping the ligaments in his arm.

To this day, he can't completely straighten his right arm because of the scar tissue that's in his elbow joint.

"I had a hard beginning because I was jumping right into the advanced divisions because I thought that's what you were supposed to do," he said.

"I don't recommend that people do that," he said with a laugh.

He kept training, and in 2000, he began to win his matches. In June of that year, he won his first NAGA Championship; every calendar year since, he has taken the title in the heavyweight class.

Argyros has also come in first place in the "Battle at the Beach" tournament each year except 2005, when he lost to Rhadi Ferguson, a US Olympian in Judo. He's still the only grappler that's competed at every BATB; five years later, that's where he would receive his "Grappler of the Decade" award.

"They announced my name, put the belts on me…that was really sentimental for me because that was the first NAGA tournament I did," he said.

Argyros' hardest fight, he said, was against current MMA fighter Jeff Monson.

"He's the best…he was 240 pounds of muscle and skill and experience and knowledge," he said.

Argyros entertained thoughts of pursuing MMA as a career, but was convinced otherwise after two matches early in 2002.

In his second match, he fought professional MMA fighter Tom Murphy, and it didn't go so well.

"He beat me up bad," he said. "I survived, I went the distance, but I thought my eardrum was broken… I remember I threw a kick at him, and he kicked me back and my leg hurt for probably three weeks."

Argyros said that he learned that day that MMA is "a dangerous game,"— and a game that, at 33 years old, he didn't want to be a part of.

He sticks with grappling tournaments now, and, as a black belt in BJJ, most of his time is spent training himself or others at Cannonball.

"Literally, in my case, fights are won in the gym," he said. "If two guys have equal skill, but one guy has a tremendous work ethic, that's when (strength and conditioning) becomes important."

After 250 fights, one might believe that he knows what he's talking about.

Currently he trains five days a week, alternating body parts in a maniacal workout that will sometimes feature him doing 20 sets of chin-ups worked in with 20 sets of some other weightlifting exercise involving either dumbbells or kettlebells, with just 30 seconds of rest between sets.

"I try to develop a real Spartan environment, an old school one, at Cannonball," he said.

The workouts have paid off—in his last tournament on Oct. 2, Argyros took a bronze and silver medal, losing first place to a famed BJJ player named Fabio Clemente when, while up on points, he was disqualified on a questionable call by the Brazilian referee.

Regardless, Argyros said that he's proud of all that he's accomplished, especially earning his black belt from teacher Carlos Catania.

Now, he only competes when he wants to, and said that he's got nothing to prove anymore.

"I only do this because I enjoy it now," he said.

A family affair

Argyros has been married for 16 years, and has both a son and a daughter who are involved in the sport; his son, he said, might one day follow in his footsteps and compete.

He has no desire to train his son though, and said that he'd "rather just be his dad."

Argyros has said that he would enjoy coaching others in combat sports, however, and has already been to tournaments with adult students.

He also has advice for any kids who watch shows like "The Ultimate Fighter" and entertain dreams of being a cage fighter: Be careful what you wish for.

"I hope my guys stick with grappling tournaments, because cage fighting is a whole different thing…and to be in a guy's corner and watch those four- ounce gloves make contact with the head...," he said, trailing off and shaking his head.

"You've got to have a legit reason for me to coach you in cage fighting, because whatever you're wishing for, you just might get," he said.

E-mail: janoski@northjersey.com