SHANE POPPLETON
2nd Degree Black Belt
Shane Poppleton started martial arts late in life at 28, initially with Tae Kwon Do for a short time before trying Boxing and then finally settling on Sakura Ryu JuJitsu. He studied in this art for close to a year, but found his passion laid in the lesser taught aspects of the art – ground-fighting. It was in the pursuit of this specialisation that he found Fight Club Jiu Jitsu and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in 2007.
Shane is a very detail-oriented instructor, is constantly honing his skills, and is still an active competitor. He has participated in over 40 competitions, winning more than 20 titles. His highest achievement was 3 golds and a silver at the 2013 Pan Pacific Championships in the brown belt senior division.
Shane is currently a first degree black belt in BJJ under Professor Daniel Lima.
Shane also is very active in the competition scene by performing referee duties at most local competitions. He also is helping competitors and instructors stay up to date with the current rules by running an information service where people can ask BJJ rules related questions called “Ask The Referee” (https://www.facebook.com/AskTheReferee/).
His competition record is available online at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Codemonkey76
ALLAN POPPLETON
Black Belt
Allan has developed a passion for the art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and since starting his training in December 2009 has rarely missed a class. He has trained under the guidance of Professor Shane Poppleton and Fight Club Head Instructor, 4th degree black belt Professor Daniel Lima. Allan currently holds the rank of black belt and competes regularly at local and state competitions. Some of his competition achievements include: 2015 purple belt gi Pan Pacific champion, 2015 no gi purple belt State champion, 2016 brown belt gi State champion, and 2016 open weight masters State champion. Allan is also one of our senior Muay Thai and MMA students, holding the rank of purple white armband in Muay Thai and black belt under our current MMA curriculum. He is currently 1-0 in MMA as an amateur.
Even with a vast striking knowledge, Harley’s main focus for the past few years has been grappling. He is currently a black belt in BJJ, an orange belt in Submission Arts Wrestling, and also regularly practices and trains in both Freestyle Wrestling and Judo.
At Fight Club Jiu Jitsu Beenleigh, Harley is both the Muay Thai and the MMA Coach, passing on his knowledge in these styles using the Black Dragon Kai systems. His passion in teaching lies not only in bettering himself and achieving goals, but helping others reach their goals.
ELLA WARE
Brown Belt
Ella is the ladies and kids instructor at Fight Club Jiu Jitsu Beenleigh. She is currently a Brown belt.
Ella started training Jiu Jitsu roughly 5 years ago in Mackay under Professor Henry Walpole, and now is under Professor Shane Poppleton. She loves training as much as she can, as well as passing on the basics she knows to the women and children she teaches.
Jiu Jitsu gives her an outlet. As a mother of 2 beautiful children who also train BJJ and a wife to a BJJ blue belt, it is important for her and her family to stay fit and active while also helping instil in her children core values of respect and mateship.
During her time training BJJ, she has competed in numerous BJJ competitions and has also competed in an amateur boxing match in 2012, as well as an MMA fight in 2016, both of which she won. She loves the skills that she has acquired over this time, and she loves the relationships she has built along the way.
“Fight Club Jiu Jitsu has opened up a new world to me, and given me a second family. The bonds I have formed, my partners are like my brothers and sisters”.
Ella is very passionate about her fitness, having completed her Cert III in Fitness, and Level 1 in Strength and Conditioning Coaching through ASCA.
“My goal is to one day promote to black belt. I have a passion for learning as well as passing on the knowledge and lessons I learn along the way”.
Ella currently teaches the kids BJJ classes on a Monday and Wednesday alongside Professor Shane Poppleton, and also teaches the women’s class on a Saturday afternoon.
JOHNNY MENDEZ WALKER
Johnny started his martial arts career learning Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) in 2009, and competed in his first MMA competition a year later winning gold for his weight division. He earned his a black belt in MMA in 2014.
Johnny was motivated to start training MMA as a result of suffering bullying throughout his high school life. He met another MMA fighter just out of high school,l Jason Preece, this motivated him to want to start fighting. He developed a deep passion for the sport and he started down the path of learning MMA which gave him a lot of confidence.
Along his MMA journey, Johnny started to learn Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in 2011 and is currently a second degree brown belt. During his martial arts career Johnny fought in amateur MMA and quickly moved in to fighting in professional MMA and was sponsored by Planet Max, Punch, Body Science along with other small businesses.
In total Johnny has had 12 fights altogether between 2012- 2017, 4 amateur fights and 8 professional fights, with majority of his fights won by RNC.
Johnny has a love for martial arts and is passionate about passing on his knowledge and sharing his passion for martial arts to anybody and everyone. He is one of our kids instructors, teaches our BJJ Fundamentals on a Thursday evening and is our head MMA coach.
Here are some links to Johnny’s fights:
ACB 76 Johnny Walker VS Justin Van Heerden
Eternal MMA 7 Johnny Mendez Walker VS Michael Tobin Featherweight Title
Eternal MMA 5 Johnny Mendez Walker VS Brett Jacobsen
