John Cumming
John & Alex Cumming
John is Renegade MMA’s resident coaching consultant in combat shoot wrestling, and is a takedown specialist. His experience in grappling comes from over 30 years as a Freestyle and Greco Roman competitor at an extremely high level. He has represented Australia in numerous international competitions, is a silver medallist at the South Pacific Games, silver medallist at the Australian titles, was a member of numerous Olympic and Commonwealth Games training squads, and has won numerous State titles.
John is on the mats most nights, and is happy to impart his wealth of knowledge on the dynamic art of stand-up grappling, and then show you a range of less than subtle ways of getting an opponent to the floor. Takedowns are must-have skills in both modern MMA and Jiu-Jitsu competition, and we are lucky to have someone regularly on the mat with this much experience. Pick his brain, as he is an extremely easy person to talk to and learn from, and makes takedowns look effortless.
Alex Cumming
Alex (John’s son) is the current 2010 Oceanic Greco Roman and Freestyle champion, and specialises in throws, leg attacks and groundwork. He has had BJJ experience with medals in State competition, but has a burning hot desire to represent Australia at the Olympics in wrestling – and the way he is currently travelling, who is going to stop him?
A Goliath of a young man, Alex is a humble and accomplished competitor. He, like his father, is a coaching consultant at Renegade MMA.
His future is bright, and when Alex gets to adding triangles to his repertoire, things are going to get a whole lot ‘heavier’ in the heavyweight division at any given BJJ comp. Look out for him tearing through the ranks of all types of grappling meets in the future, while simultaneously tuning up your takedown game at Renegade MMA. We are incredibly proud to have competitor of this calibre regularly in our facility.
Dennis Iverson
Dennis Iverson started judo at 12 years of age with his brother Brent at their local PCYC. Dennis later spent time training in Europe with his brother and won the 2008 Oceania Championship. This secured his berth in the 2008 Australian Olympic Team, making his Olympic debut in Beijing. Dennis is Renegade MMA’s new Gi takedown coach, and will be running regular seminars at Renegade MMA when he’s not overseas fulfilling his coaching role with the National Olympic Judo team.
He also coaches Judo at Australian Elite team where he holds a Blue Belt in BJJ. Dennis is extremely qualified at taking advanced Gi throwing techniques from Judo and assimilating them to BJJ. It’s our pleasure to welcome an athlete and coach of this caliber into the fold. Welcome to Renegade Dennis!
Merhdad “Daddy” Tarash
Daddy is a 2 x Commonwealth Games Bronze medalist, 11 x Australian champion, as well as representing Australia 3 times at the esteemed world wrestling championships. He is also currently going hard at it to get into the Australian Team at the London 2012 Olympics.
So, if your takedown game is lacking, and you want a bit of expert guidance when it comes to taking your game to the ground – Daddy is your man. He is also one of new takedown coaches, and a welcome addition to Renegade MMA. His recent No-Gi seminars at the club were both highly successful and informative, so it is only fitting that we got him on board as a coach. He’ll be on board at Renegade lots more in the coming year. Welcome Daddy!
Gene Kapaufs
Though Gene has found a new love for BJJ and MMA, it is wrestling that he has initially excelled in. Gene is a high level competitor in the sport, and it is great to have him as one of our new takedown coaches at Renegade MMA. Gene has had over nine years experience in Greco/Roman and Freestyle wrestling, and is four times Australian champion. He has competed, and sometimes medaled, at events like the Commonwealth Games, Oceana Championships, and World Championships.
Gene is a ferocious and almost unbelievably strong athlete, who uses both the brutality and brains needed to be an elite competitor in his chosen sport (wrestling) to a high degree. Fast to learn, and an exceptionally hard roll – in any style – Gene is a great asset to the club.
Look out for him training for pro MMA fights in 2012, as well as being a sparring and training partner for all our other fighters. If you see him on the mats, pick his brain for some takedown advice. Just don’t get on his bad side! And if your rolling with him, don’t let him get hold of your head either – he may just take it home with him! Seriously though, Gene is a friendly and forthcoming guy, who will love to help you out. When he’s not running his own coffee shop, he’ll be at Renegade. Welcome to the team Gene!
