Pedigo Submission Fighting Los Angeles

He just doesn’t stop amazing me. Troy registered for another tournament on his own, alone. He loves the challenge. He loves that he has to think and can use his brain to strategize and work at getting better. The kid just isn’t affraid to work hard.

He just walks up to me and says, “I’m competing this weekend” lol. Aight, where we goin?

Troy won both his matches in the no gi. He looked incredible. He’s starting to build a little game under there : ) We had been focusing on keeping people off our legs when wrestling, he did that. Sprawl was much better.

In the gi Troy avenged a loss. A tough 2-0 match. Troy got a sweep and ended up back on bottom in half guard (still 2-0). Got crossed up, lost the underhook and got absolutely smashed up for the last 2 minutes. But my boi held onto that foot though. He sucked it up and toughed it out. He learned more about himself in that two minutes than he could by scoring 100 points. So proud.

I’m sure we’ll be coming to a gym near you soon lol.

Double gold at the No Gi IBJJF San Diego Open. I told you it wouldn’t be his last double gold, and it didn’t take too long. LA and SD for his first two IBJJF division and open titles. So proud of you, Matias.

This no gi season is going to be your time to shine. Let’s fu**in goooooooooo!!!!!!

no gi/wrestling at 6pm every Tuesday and Thursday.

It’s very hard to take shots from no ties/setups unless you’re Jordan Burroughs. So, here’s one I learned from Matias Wajner.

When people keep their hands in front and start to get close enough to reach for ties, he makes hooks with both hands and bashes you forearm to forearm as he takes his pe*******on step, moving their hands slightly out as he reaches to the legs. (My elbows are a little flared exaggerating the hand movement) This makes it much harder to stop and even when they can still sprawl their hands are going to be out of position, making cutting the corner easier too.

Imagine the ego it takes to think you can’t learn from a lower belt or even a kid. Imagine the ego it takes to not train because you’re scared to lose to a lower belt. A lot of people forget that ego at the door thing.

Troy did that thing he does where he just tells me we goin to the tournament on Sunday …. Aight. Let’s get it.

He did incredible. It’s so fun watching his work start to pay off and watching his confidence in himself and his game grow. That focus and drive to be better will translate wherever we aim it in life.

Troy won his division in the gi. Won first match by arm bar and won a very close, very tough 4-2 match in the final where we scored in the last 15 seconds for that gold : )

No gi Troy won his first match by RNC and and in the final of no gi we were down 2-4 and couldn’t quite get back on top to tie it up. Another very tough, very close match.

So proud of you, Troy. On to the next.

Wrestling has been getting packed on Tuesday and Thursday night at 6pm. No gi season and wrestling season are both coming up quick. The wrestling and our back to back no-gi pans team titles go hand in hand.

What are you doing to get better?

“You can beat anyone if you get them tired. Fatigue makes cowards of us all.”
- J. Robinson
University of Minnesota Wrestling

The boys put in a little work yesterday at Grappling X in Azusa. Came away with 2 golds, 1 silver, and another great day with some of my favorite people.

KO and Garrett both looked great and won 2 matches and their divisions.

I didn’t realize until after that it was Drew’s first competition. Def would have never known or thought that, especially after watching him defend a good bolo attempt and get the knee bar.

Brick by brick

Another trip around the sun complete yesterday. So thankful for all the messages and texts. Thanks to everyone at the gym for making it special and especially to Auriell for the balloons, Sprinkles cupcakes, and food.

The best part of my day came when I got home. I got a message from one of our white belt competitors, Jakob Pettit, from one of the Illinois gyms. Just puts it all in perspective, made my day ❤️

So happy to have Alec Gillies with us this morning. Another good friend from Orlando’s.

Did I say I was happy to have him with us ?
❤️❤️❤️

Exhausted physically.
Beat down mentally.
Drained emotionally.
Overheated.
Soaked through.
It’s hot af and the humidity is a wet blanket.
I can rest, Heath will let me.
I don’t have anything to prove.
F**k all that.
Ready for the next round.
There’s no success in comfort.

I haven’t won masters worlds, …. yet.

📸 by Alejandro Wajner

Always the student. Always paying attention. Always trying to soak it in. Always studying. Always breaking it all down. Always looking for ways to improve and be more efficient. Always grindin, hard.

Thankful for every moment I’ve spent with Heath, on and off the mat. It’s never lost on me how lucky I am.

“The only place success comes before work, is the dictionary.”
-Vince Lombardi

📸 another one by Dorian Brownlee

RDLR/Half guard lab session with Gianfranco Yucra Mancilla. With and without the lapel. Ideas were shared ❤️

S**t look like a shoyoroll ad.
📸 by Dorian Brownlee

2 years sober and his first competition at blue belt, gold at IBJJF Indianapolis, my older brother, Sean Featherstun. It’s so much more than jiu jitsu.

Always the proud little brother. Always.
❤️❤️❤️

2 Years Sober Thanks To Jiu Jitsu States Attorney Sean Featherstun wins gold at BJJ competition!Anyone who purchases the Daisy Fresh White Belt Curriculum on BJJFANATICS.COM is welcome to sh...

“Most of you say you want success, but you don’t want it BAD, you just KINDA want it”
-Eric Thomas

Vive la revolución

❤️❤️❤️ No one could ever replace this one. Briana was my first student in Los Angeles and it was only her and I for a long time. My first adult student was her dad. He was so impressed with her hard work that he joined her.

Briana hasn’t trained in at least 2 years. She’s into dance/drill and lots of other things at school. I was always in contact with her parents, always watching and supporting her and her little sister, Bianca, (she has 2 sisters now) in whatever activities they pursue.

Happy to get to have her back in the room this summer. When they are taught right, look what happens….. Technique and sparring both ridiculous after 2 years no training. Like riding a bike, get on and start pedaling.

Mobbin
#618

📸

I’m only sad I wasn’t there.
I 🤎 you brotha.
So much fu**ing

You’s a bit of s**t now innit

I’m always so happy to spend time with Spatch and Alita . Spatch has always been one of the people im closest to, we been through it. Now, I still talk to Spatch often of course, but Spatch, Alita, and I have our own group text message too when I want to talk to them both.
❤️❤️❤️

What an incredible night last night. The Cens Academy crew from Belgium popped in. Jose Steve .jj and the boys: Halimm , Nassim .bjj, Zac , Ilias .h and some others I didn’t get to tag.

Incredible people, incredible jiu jitsu, incredible times. Living the dream.

And the ladies at PSF showed out last night too ❤️

Riley’s new video for Hobbyist Inc is up on the Hobbyist YouTube channel. Filmed at PSFLA . It came out so 🔥. Check it out …

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mh6rdsG-rE0

Open Mat: Pedigo Submission Fighting Los Angeles • 5.20.2023 A hobbyist production.PSF LA's Saturday 10am open mat run by professor Derek Featherstun. Find them on instagram at @ psflosangeles and find hobbyist there a...

Overcome with JOY ❤️❤️❤️

Repost - He finally did it. After years of and pushing for Heath to release the fundamentals system on .fanatics it was released this morning. The teams success has came from these fundamentals. Learn what we've learned the same way we learned it and became the best up and coming team in Jiu-Jitsu! LINK IN THE BIO!!!

Open mat was amazing today, and my friend, Riley Stearns , was here to shoot the first video for his latest project, Hobbyist Inc .

So grateful for Riley’s friendship and for him thinking of PSFLA to kick it off.

Weekend was crazy. I picked up Dante and Max at LAX around 11:15pm Friday. Coached Troy Saturday, then rushed to meet Dante and Max for some pre comp food and off to UCLA for then both to win their super fights. Bang bang, gang gang. Street taco celebration on the way back to LAX and off they went. So much good times for a 24hr. trip

Once again, my life has become surreal, because of Heath. My first time “in the chair” with an adult black belt world champion and ADCC medalist. So cool thar it was Dante too, he’s been there for me, when it mattered, and I’ll never forget. What’s understood needs no explanation.

I’m blown away by one of my kids, Troy. He lost at lost at ADCC Open and came up to me at practice last week and said, “Derek, I registered for two tournaments this weekend. You don’t have to go but if you could maybe come to one, that’d be cool”

So we spent Saturday at nabjjf and Sunday at jjwl. Won some, lost some. Did a lot of things right, did some things wrong. Back to work and on we go.

The highlight ….. Troy won his division in the no gi on Saturday. Two very tough, very close matches where we got to our spots and scored.

I’m so proud of Troy. He takes it upon himself to do whatever it takes to improve. He already trusts the process and sees himself growing. He’s already leading by example and has no idea. The world is his oyster.

KO looked great at the ADCC Open last week. 3rd in the masters intermediate blue/purple as a white belt. All the work he’s been putting in was on display. Back to the grind.

Our Saturday open mat at PSFLA Pedigo Submission Fighting Los Angeles continues to grow. We want everyone from everywhere to come and get it in. Let’s gooooooo



**side note, no open mat this weekend due to ADCC Open in Costa Mesa.

Great wrestling class last night. So happy to have my friend Kevin James with us last night, down from the Bay Area. Kevin wrestled at Cerritos College and Menlo college. Had him teach one of his favorite setups and takedowns.

Always good to see you my brotha.
Thanks so much for the knowledge

“When you finally find that, when you find a group of people that TRULY want you to be successful, it’s amazing what a human being can accomplish.”
- Heath Pedigo

Sick open mat yesterday at . 10am every Saturday. Everyone is welcome, always. We want to have the biggest open mat in LA. Let’s gooooo.

15 at class last night. No visitors. Slowly but surely creating exactly what you expect from us.

Sometimes people come into your life at the perfect time and it feels like you’ve been waiting on them. Shoutout to Jared and Mike. And Matias for continuing to step up and take things on for me and the team that aren’t his responsibility.

We are primed for blast off 🚀 🚀 🚀
Vive la revolución

13 years ago today I medaled in the adult blue light feather division at Pans. It was the first Pans/Worlds medal we ever won (other than Heaths). I was already 34. Chasing it, hard.

Today, 13 years later to the day, Heath and the boys are in the middle of a sold out seminar tour in the UK. Our lives are surreal.

**gi check wasn’t quite the same in 2010.
That belt tho.

3rd at Pans seemed insignificant when I saw this picture. A lot of people will say, cool shot of Derek and Heath.

For me, I had tears running down my face when I saw it. I can’t thank Dorian enough for this picture. Getting it blown up and framed for sure.

You hear people say that your life can flash before your eyes. When I saw this, I remembered everything we’ve been through thus far. My jiu jitsu journey and my relationship with Heath and his family before jiu jitsu all flashed before my eyes.

We stood here when I was a white belt. Together. Alone. No fans. No Daisy Fresh. No one cheering. No “heyyyyyyy”. Just 2 kids from the 618 trying to figure it out.

Now, my brother is an icon and the whole jiu jitsu world knows what tf it is when they see Pedigo Submission Fighting on the board.

Only the beginning.
Vive la revolución

PSF secret training sesh.
My boyz always got me.
One last sweat with Spatch , Matias , Jared , and Chris

Thanks so much to my brother Anthony . Gratitude.

Flight got canceled. F**k it. New goal is to eat all of this.

We did actually get a new flight but gonna have to go straight from the airport to the venue. Whatever it takes. Here we come.

Most people know he’s my family, my brother, my main support and go to for everything in this life.

Most people DONT know …. He saved my life too. Literally. I’ll always say, “I’m nowhere without you.” But it’s closer to the truth to say I wouldn’t be here without you. My physical health was only one thing on a long list that needed changed.

My boy got that Midas touch and fu**ed around and is changing the world.
I ❤️ you Heath.

Came home from a brutal wrestling practice on Tuesday to some love from the fam at shoyoroll. So grateful for Bear and the whole crew at shoyoroll. Real recognize real, the rest is history.

We rockin black and PSF red at Pans.
Lets fu**in goooooo!

Some things just fall in line even when it feels like nothing will ever line up again. I’ve been there.

The homie KO is a long time friend/family of my brother, Justin . He also trained with Big O in Pasadena. He’s already family twice over.

Sometimes life is unfair and it’s hard to make things that you used to love make sense anymore. That’s why everything we have is built on love and support. We move forward, together, and when it’s hard, we lean on each other, or carry each other when that’s what it takes.

Thankful for KO and the talk we got to have about jiu jitsu and Big O, for Mooch for linking us, and to Big O, still being the glue helps people bond to us.

Absolutely filled with joy today. Matias looked incredible at the IBJJF No Gi LA Open.

A lot of people talk about what a beast Matias is, and they’re right …. But this was actually his first IBJJF gold and he turned around and made it two, by winning the open division too. Matias works, full time, in the film industry, he is not a full time athlete, but Matias works HARD. I don’t ever have to worry about him putting in the work when he’s not at class. He’s always working out, running, whatever it takes to stay sharp.

Im just so happy to see his work paying off and to see him truly start to believe in himself. . And for me ….. my first IBJJF Double Gold as a coach, won’t be the last. We just gettin started.

** last pic - Rockin the Mt. Vernon Rams Wrestling Regional Title shirt for Dro Alejandro.

Good times and tough training this morning at PSFLA open mat.