Who is Matt Barvo BJJ Black Belt in Idaho?

[idahoroller]

Hello All:

I am new to the forum but wanted to enlist the help of the bullshido investigators because I have come up short on this. You guys tend to be good at finding more info.

I am a BJJ student here in the Treasure Valley (Idaho) and am curious about a fellow named Matt Barvo. He showed up on the radar last year and opened a school called Team Beast. Now, I remember hearing about him last year and checked out his website at that time. He had a lot MORE information on it back then including a belt certificate from some federation (sorry, no picture because it is gone). He has never listed his teacher or where he got his belt from. At one point, Team Brasa was mentioned but Felipe Costa has no record of Barvo or his team on his site.

Now, a year later, his site: http://www.teambeastbjj.com/ and http://www.myspace.com/teambeastmma
Picture with his rather new looking belt: http://img684.imageshack.us/i/8498928.jpg/

Now I could be way off base but there was a tourney here in Boise this weekend where he and his students showed up. There are a LOT of LEGIT black belts in the area (and at the tourney...which was a well run by the way) and I heard people talking at the tourney. I also saw a black belt at the tourney that was UNDER Barvo (a big black guy named Ricky). Now, I've been in the game for a little while and I watched his matches with keen interest. I must say from the extended arms while trying to break guard to his tap out from a standing guillotine made my flags go way up. This Ricky guys wasn't a black belt 6 months ago. I don't think he had a belt at all to be honest.

I asked a few of his students who Barvo's BJJ teacher was and none of them knew?! He is belting these guys too. I feel bad for them because IF Barvo isn't the real deal, these guys belts won't be recognized by anyone. Like I said, there are a ton of great BJJ teachers in the area.

I am not sure if any other people from Idaho know of this guy or have more info but I am sure there must be.

Thanks
Idahoroller

[Iainkelt]

I noticed on his site that they mention him being a black belt over and over again, but his bio page contains little to no information about his training background other than the fact that he started in Jiu-Jitsu (I'm assuming traditional JJJ) and then later studied BJJ. It doesn't mention how long he has trained in BJJ or, as you mentioned, who gave him his belt. They also mention that their gym is where "Black Belts Choose to Train", but they don't give any other information on who these black belts are, or what style they hold belts in.

To be honest I'm hoping that this is just a case of poor website management, because the pictures of the facility are pretty impressive and I like the overall tone of their website in terms of how they view students etc. But with so little information posted, I would say the only real way to find out is to simply contact him and ask where his belt comes from.

[sweats]

Idahoroller,

Why don't you take him up on his free week of training and go roll with him and his students? Clear it with your instructor first, but that would answer a lot of questions about everyone's ability.

[LThornton]

I was looking at the pictures of the school and noticed that in the first picture at http://www.teambeastbjj.com/school.html his school logo is (poorly) edited into the picture, which made me curious about where it is they're training.

Googling the address came up with http://eagleata.com/index.html, which also has a link off their page to Team Beast's site. It doesn't really indicate anything shady (I'd teach classes out of that facility--looks nice), but it caught my attention because it's not mentioned on the Team Beast site.

This also makes their slightly odd training hours make more sense. 2-4 PM and 8-10 PM being rather early and late for most people.

[Uncle Skippy]

Information Dump:

YouTube

Workout videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/mzifish

Team Beast's Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/BeastBJJ

Miscellaneous

Matthew Barvo is the Jiu-Jitsu and Fitness Instructor at Team Beast MMA Training Center. He brings ten years of Martial Arts training experience and over five years of instructing experience to Team Beast. He Holds a Second Degree Black Belt in Japanese Jujutsu and a Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He has trained in Muay Thai Kickboxing, Judo, and Mixed Martial Arts. He is Boise State University's only Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor. Matt is a contributor to Submissions 101, the most viewed Jiu-Jitsu tutorial site on the internet. Matt has used his skills to dominate the MMA cage, he holds a 4-1 Pro record and looks to add to his wins in 2009. Matt has also successfully utilized his martial arts knowledge in several real life self defense situations against multiple armed attackers.

http://wikibin.org/articles/team-bea...ng-center.html

Matt started his training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Japanese Jujutsu in 1999. He received a Black Belt in Japanese Jujutsu in September 2003, and continued on to receive a Second Degree Black Belt in May 2006. Matt Received his Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in October 2007. Matt has also trained in Judo, Muay Thai, and Mixed Martial Arts. Matt is affiliated with Team Beast MMA Training Center, the premier Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA gym in the Northwestern United States.

http://wikibin.org/articles/matthew-barvo.html



It is stated that he has contributed to Submissions 101, but I can't find references to him anywhere.

Also, I can't find any pro fight record.

I found his Facebook page, but there isn't anything of interest to this thread there.

[BKR]

Typically Japanese Ju Jitsu(sic) does not use the dan-i (belt system). Interesting he does not list his lineage in either BJJ or Japanese Ju Jitsu (sic). BJJ guys typically will list who they trained under, right?

That facility was awesome to say the least!

Ben

[Cy Q. Faunce]

Team Beast claims Barvo's BJJ black belt was awarded by Tom Cicero:

http://naming-schemes.org/~chardin/m...ambeast-1.html

So, who's that?

[Dak]

Was the tournament recently held called grappler's quest? at the quest arena?

[Cy Q. Faunce]

Isn't there a Thomas Cicero under Ralph Gracie?

[It is Fake]

Was the tournament recently held called grappler's quest? at the quest arena?

Grapplers Challenge #1.

http://www.grapplerschallenge.com/

I can't find results online so, someone may want to email them. No, I have some major papers due otherwise, I'd do it myself.