Blackzilians

The Blackzilians was a professional team of fighters in mixed martial arts, boxing, kickboxing, amateur wrestling and catch wrestling located in South Florida. The team had included former UFC champions Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort, Eddie Alvarez and current UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman.

Blackzilians
Est.2011
Primary trainers
  • Neil Melanson
  • Jorge Santiago
  • Henri Hooft
  • Greg Jones
Past titleholders
Training facilitiesBoca Raton, Florida
Websitehttp://www.henrihooft.com/

History

Owned by Glenn Robinson, the super-camp, commonly referred to as the Blackzilians, started when MMA fighters Jorge Santiago, Danillo Villefort, Yuri Villefort, and Gesias Cavalcante decided to leave American Top Team. Glenn Robinson, CEO of Authentic Sports Management, which managed these fighters, found a small gym in Boca Raton, Florida that only had 6 athletes training in it. Robinson struck a deal with Imperial Athletics to take over rent payments on the gym, then relocated the team to the world-class training facility JACO Hybrid Training Center in Boca Raton. Rashad Evans met Robinson through one of his partners, John Rubenstein, and his manager at the time, Jervis Cole. Evans later asked Robinson to take over as his manager. Michael Johnson was brought in as a temporary training partner, and he liked the atmosphere so much he never left. The trend continued as they brought in training partners for upcoming fights. Many of the training partners who were brought in for a training camp decided not to leave, and the Blackzilians soon had a number of notable MMA fighters.[1] The name 'Blackzilians' was coined when Strikeforce Middleweight Danillo Villefort was looking through their management's website and pointed out to Robinson that every fighter (at the time) was Black or Brazilian.[2]

It was reported on September 20, 2018 that Glenn Robinson, Blackzilians founder, had died of a suspected heart attack.[3]

Instructors

Notable fighters

See also
  • List of Top Professional MMA Training Camps

References
  1. "Glenn Robinson: The Man Behind The Blackzilians". Bloody Elbow. Retrieved 2014-01-14.
  2. "Video: How the Blackzilians Got Its Name". Sherdog.com. 2012-08-18. Retrieved 2014-01-14.
  3. "Blackzilians founder Glenn Robinson dead". MMAjunkie. 2018-09-20. Retrieved 2018-09-21.
  4. Time Till Next Fight (2013-04-03). "Two-Time Olympic Gold Medalist And Champion Guillermo Rigondeaux Joins The Blackzilians, Becomes The Team'S First Pro Boxer". BlackZilians. Retrieved 2014-01-14.
  5. Idel Torriente's profile blackzilians.com
  6. GLORY 15: Randy 'Boom Boom' Blake talks Jean-Claude Van Damme, Chuck Norris, training with Tyrone Spong, and more!
  7. Daniel Ghita moving to Florida to train with Overeem and "Blackzilian" team by Dave Walsh (liverkick.com) 24 February 2012
  8. K-1 Champ Murthel Groenhart is Training with Alistair Overeem at Blackzillians
  9. Paul Slowinski to debut in MMA September 21 on MMA Downunder 4
  10. Andrei Stoica training at The Blackzilians
  11. "Tyrone Spong Returns to His Roots, Faces Melvin Manhoef This Weekend". MMAWeekly.com. 2012-01-27. Retrieved 2014-01-14.
  12. ""Suga" Rashad Evans - Official UFC® Fighter Profile". Ufc.com. 2013-11-17. Retrieved 2014-01-14.
  13. "Vitor Belfort Joins Blackzilians; Rashad Evans to Serve as Head Coach for UFC 152 Training Camp". MMA Fighting. Retrieved 2014-01-14.
  14. http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2013/4/23/4257552/ufc-mauricio-rua-training-cezar-mutante-blackzilians-mma-newsh. Retrieved June 13, 2013. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  15. "Belfort and the shelf life of a 'Phenom' - MMA Blog - ESPN". Sports.espn.go.com. Retrieved 2014-01-14.
  16. Meet the Blackzilians: A Family of World Class Coaches and Fighters By Joshua Carey (bleacherreport.com) on December 23, 2011
  17. Imperial Martial Arts and Fitness Center (2013-11-17). "Fabio Mello | Imperial Martial Arts and Fitness Center". Imperialathletics.com. Archived from the original on 2014-01-16. Retrieved 2014-01-14.
  18. Imperial Martial Arts and Fitness Center (2013-11-17). "Marcus Aurelio | Imperial Martial Arts and Fitness Center". Imperialathletics.com. Retrieved 2014-01-14.
  19. "Siyar Bahadurzada Joins Blackzilians". 5thRound.com. 2012-06-28. Archived from the original on 2013-12-24. Retrieved 2014-01-14.
  20. "Antes de voltar ao Strikeforce, Guto analisa duelo Belfort x Jones". TATAME. Archived from the original on 2014-01-16. Retrieved 2014-01-14.
  21. Luiz Firmino's profile blackzilians.com
  22. Claude Patrick's profile blackzilians.com
  23. Ryan LaFlare's profile blackzilians.com
  24. Tom Niinimäki's profile blackzilians.com
  25. Volkan Oezdemir's profile blackzilians.com
  26. Beslan Isaev's profile blackzilians.com
  27. Musa Khamanaev's profile blackzilians.com
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