On January 29, 2011, in front of a sold-out crowd in Clarksburg, WV, Mike Sheppard defeated Justin Howes for the state heavyweight boxing title. This was Mike’s second state title but one of his most dominating victories in a long time.
“It feels good to go out and win this one for all of my friend and supporters. Justin is a tough guy and he hits hard but luckily it was my night,” says Sheppard.
Mike Sheppard has a long list of accomplishments that include boxing titles, kickboxing titles, and huge MMA victories. WV should be proud to have him as one of our own. He is trained by Leon Ramsey and often works with the guys at Butch Hiles Gym in Charleston.
Butch Hiles Brazilian Jiu Jitsu & MMA, LLC is pleased to announce it’s partnership with Rich Sports Management. Rich currently has several players in the NFL and has several in each and every draft, including many big names entering this years draft from WVU and Marshall.
The players are getting top notch training and and new tools that will help them continue to progress and better themselves.
We would like to thank the players and Rich Sports Management for being part of the team.
Our very own, Mike Sheppard, will be fighting for the WV State Heavyweight title this Saturday in Clarksburg, WV. Please come out and support our team!
They have had several MMA champs, NAGA champs, and are a great group of guys! We are going to work together to help build an even stronger, united, team. Most importantly, these are top notch individuals. I have been proud to call them my friends for years.
I will try to post some more information on the website soon…
Wanderlei Silva is awesome and we all had a blast. The seminar at Butch Hiles BJJ & MMA set a record as Wanderlei’s largest seminar in history. There was over 200 people there and we all witnessed some great techniques and sparring. The experience was topped off by a great night at Quaker Steak & Lube as well as Impulse Night Club in Charleston, WV.
Butch Hiles BJJ & MMA would like to personally thank each and every person for coming out and supporting Wanderlei as well as MMA in WV. Events like these are important for WV. Ironically, in a state where we cannot compete in the sport that we love we broke an attendance record for an MMA seminar. There were also thousands of people at Quaker waiting to see him and thousands more at Impulse.
Quaker Steak & Lube, Impulse Night Club, and Leon Ramsey also deserve big recognition for making a special day an even more special night. Thanks for
everything guys!
Here’s a personal note from Wanderlei followed by some pictures:
Butch:
I wanted to thank you and Lisa for a wonderful time this past weekend. Your entire crew were absolutely amazing to work with. We really appreciate all you did and thank you for making our trip there so special.
Our WV experience was incredible and by far the greatest seminar I’ve ever attended!
Wanderlei Silva, who is possibly the greatest mixed martial arts fighter to ever live, and definitely one of the most respected fighters of all time, will be coming to Butch Hiles Brazilian Jiu Jitsu & MMA, LLC to do a seminar. The amazing thing about this is it’s finally bringing many martial arts schools together for the first time.
Unfortunately, many martial arts schools have the attitude, “You’re either with us or your against us!” They are more or less isolationists, and this is very unfortunate, especially is such as small state as West Virginia. Without open lines of communication, none of the martial artists will continue to grow and succeed.
Fortunately, it looks like this seminar is starting to break down some of those walls. We are very pleased to see such a positive response from the local martial arts community and look forward to opening new lines of communication with groups we haven’t yet met. Of course, there are many who still refuse to come out of their shell. In fact, there are students who are just miles away who have been told they were not allowed to come to Wanderlei’s seminar by their instructors. I feel very sorry for these students and ultimately gyms like that will fade away and their own isolation will be their demise.
We are proud to be part of such a great event and look forward to training with everyone. We also look forward to talking to and building new relationships with fellow martial artists both in and out of the state. This seminar has already been more successful then we could have ever hoped for.
To all of the local martial artists who are coming, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts and look forward to possibly doing more things in the future with you all. I truly feel privileged to get to be in the same room with so many great athletes and instructors from all over our state as well as our neighboring states including VA, OH, PA, KY, NC, MD, etc.
For those who were talked out of meeting and training with one of the best MMA fighters of our time, be very careful what you got yourself into. This is something you chose to do for fun. Martial arts schools are not gangs and more times then not when people keep you away from something it’s because they are afraid you will find out that everything isn’t exactly how they are telling you it is.
Thank you to Wanderlei Silva for making martial arts better in WV already! I look forward to a great seminar and a great night afterwards with new friends from all over the east coast.
The Wanderlei Silva seminar is just one week away!!! You still have time to get a spot for the seminar and you definitely don’t want to be left out of this incredible opportunity. In fact, the seminar is featuring a lot of national attention:
Yesterday was our first day of implementing the new BJJ assessment forms and I am really happy with how everyone did. This will definitely help improve your game at a much faster rate and before you know it, you will all be the next generation of BJJ black belts!
If you need a assessment for, or have any questions, please shoot me an email.
Also, please leave any feedback you might have about the class and forms here, so we can all share.
See you all soon!
Butch Hiles
www.advancedbkj.com
www.theWVgames.com
www.WVfighter.com
You guys are all helping me tremendously and last nights workout was just another example of that (having folks like you to roll with is a gift - other gyms I've been to really don't compare). I appreciate the patience to teach me, too, since I know I'm very behind curriculum wise. Definitely getting lots out of the workouts!
