Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Supplement Marketing

How do you spell Fraud? P-A-R-E-D-E-S J-U-J-I-T-S-U


As a black belt in Judo and blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, this guy has clearly not studied either as he claims.

Paredes Jiu-Jitsu.
He's clearly never studied Judo or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu of any kind or form.

NoGi Worlds Competitors This Weekend



From over at Gracimag, some of the big names competing at the NoGi Worlds this weekend.
I've put into red & bold my picks to win each division.
Some of the divisions are packed and some are much more open than when the Mendes brothers and other notables have shown up.

"ROOSTERWEIGHT
Caio Terra (Gracie Elite), Raul Marcello (Gracie Humaitá), Fabbio Passos (Alliance)

LIGHT FEATHERWEIGHT
Gabriel Moraes (CheckMat), Laércio Fernandes (Lotus), Rafael Freitas (GB), Henrique Costa e Silva (Alliance)

FEATHERWEIGHT
Rubens Charles “Cobrinha” (Alliance), Justin Rader (Lovato), Ed Ramos (Atos), Samir Chantre (Gracie Elite), Osvaldo Moizinho (Gracie Elite)

LIGHTWEIGHT
Lucas Lepri (Alliance), Leandro Lo (Cícero Costha), Augusto Tanquinho (Soul Fighters), Jonathan Torres “JT” (Lloyd Irvin), Zak Maxwell (Gracie Humaitá)

MIDDLEWEIGHT
DJ Jackson (Lloyd Irvin), Murilo Santana (Barbosa JJ), Clark Gracie, Vitor Henrique (GFTeam), Marcelo Mafra (CheckMat), Thiago Abreu (CheckMat), Bill Cooper (Paragon)

MEDIUM HEAVYWEIGHT
Romulo Barral (Gracie Barra), Pablo Popovitch (The Avengers), Ezra Lenon (ATT), Marcello Salazar (BTT), Filipe Meirelles (Alliance), Marco Antonio Giudice (CheckMat), Victor Bomfim (GFTeam), Kleber Buiú (GB), Bruno Antunes (GB)

HEAVYWEIGHT
Rafael Lovato (Ribeiro JJ), Eduardo Telles (Brasa), Roberto Tussa (Gracie Barra), Nivaldo Oliveira (CheckMat), David Avellan (Lloyd Irvin), Diego Nosferatu (Gracie Elite)

SUPER HEAVYWEIGHT
Xande Ribeiro, Bernardo Faria (Alliance), Antonio Peinado (Alliance), Paulo Tarcisio (CheckMat), João Assis (CheckMat), James Puopolo (Ribeiro)

ULTRAHEAVYWEIGHT
Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu (Avengers), Leonardo Henrique (Atos), Gustavo Elias (Gracie Humaitá)

BROWN BELT
Keenan Cornelius (Lloyd Irvin), Francisco “Sinistro” Iturralde (Alliance), Victor Silvério (GFTeam), Carlos Rosado (Gracie Barra), Wilbur Leonard (Lloyd Irvin)"

E:60 GSP vs Condit Preview Episode

Props to Fightlinker.com for my favorite MMA Logo

I remember having to scour over sherdog and korean-language forums to download Pride events as a teenager.
Now I get to watch preview specials on ESPN quality production.
How far we've come from human cockfighting.

As GSP is coming off of ACL surgery/recovery, I'm more interested than usual in seeing his return to form after such a layoff and debilitating injury.

Sinistro vs Tanquinho - LW Absolute Abu Dhabi Pro Trials Final

One of the coolest parts about the Pro Trials is seeing brown and black belts mix it up.
Not long ago, Rodolfo was a brown belt punching his ticket to the World Pro at Abu Dhabi.\
Looks like Samir Chantre is the one refereeing as well.

Tanquinho tries a leg grab, then settles for pulling half-ish guard.
Tanquinho sweeps shortly thereafter then a scrambly-fast-paced guard passing battle ensues. Scoring some advantages, Tanquinho forces some turn-outs from Sinistro, there's a weird semi-dangerous looking leg lock/knee bar position Tanquinho escapes, threatens the back take, they restart, Sinistro threatens with another leg lock which turns into a sweep, Tanquinho wins by advantages, I believe. The score board is not visible in the film.

 

Thesis Wednesday: Priorities

Got the video from over at Lex Fridman's Blog: Go read it there.

Paraphrased: Of all the things you'd like to do before you die, if you were to die tomorrow, which one would you regret not doing the most?

For me, it is becoming a world champion.
I'm not here to discuss valuing belts over skill and progress and all that.

It is a specific goal that I know will motivate me to get out of bed at 6am in order to go train before both of my other jobs back to back.

It is a goal that will require every single fiber of my being and perhaps more than that will force me to hold myself accountable for diet, socializing, and other distractions.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

How do you spell Impossible?


One handed boxer wins in the ring.

Seriously.

Yes, tell me how you don't have time to train or the time to train more than a couple times a week.
Please, do tell.

What is Ryron and Rener's favorite topic? Themselves.

This will probably be the last Gracie Breakdown I post.
Unsurprisingly, Ryron and Rener have a million awesome things to say about Ryron's stall-fest match with Galvao.
The Gracie Breakdowns usually clock in at 20 min's or less. Because the subject this time is their favorite subject themselves, it takes 52 minutes.

I have been kind enough to provide an abridged summary to save you one hour of your life:
It was everyone's first time in that rule setting.
But everyone else is the best in the world.
Helio Gracie.
That was me, Rener, I was unbiased minus all the talk about how surviving is winning, y'know, that thing Ryron was doing at a Submission Only event.
Surviving is winning.
Train and let yourself be mounted.
Helio Gracie.
Galvao should work more on defending and be like Ryron.
Souza's guard was passed and then he lost. This proves that completely defensive Jits is best.
Helio Gracie.

Tournament Proof Tuesday: Insist on the Pass


In the months leading up to my trip to Brazil, I'd spent a lot of time on top position and guard passing.
Bullfighter, leg drag, you name it. My goal was to bring my guard passing up to about the level of my closed guard game so as to not be completely unbalanced. Coming from Judo, I'd spent years grappling but with not a lot of finesse or much of an arsenal off my back. I spent about 4 1/2 years once I started going to Jiu-Jitsu classes playing off my back, closed guard, sweeping, et cetera.

At any rate, the biggest thing I took from my trip to Brazil was the emphasis on passing with pressure. It may just have been the 2 schools I visited, but at both places, the emphasis was on driving forward, insisting and forcing the pass in order to develop that crushing pressure.

"Butt down" and "hips lower" were what I heard every time I rolled.

While not aesthetically pleasing perhaps, DJ Jackson shows the efficacy of this insistence on the pass in beating Cyborg at the Pro Trials in NJ/NYC.
3 years ago, I watched Cyborg walk through the black belt division at the Pro Trials without hardly breaking a sweat.
Seeing DJ beat him him is pretty damn impressive.
 
 


Ultimately, Cyborg's decision to let DJ try to pass and try to pass and try to pass and accept bottom position runs down the clock and leaves him with too little time to recoup points near the end of the match. Cyborg finally gives up an advantage around 5:30 on the video (not sure the time left in the match exactly) and is now forced to get moving. DJ needs only drain the clock and does so to get the cash and plane ticket to Abu Dhabi.

6 minute matches at that level are an interesting time limit that forces a different pace and different approach to time management. They also magnify the value of even an advantage as one advantage just made the different in thousands of dollars cash and a free trip to Abu Dhabi.

On a sad note, having done the Pro Trials in the past, the registration portion is such a hassle now, that it's become essentially the big schools trying to win a free trip to Abu Dhabi, and the smaller schools of less renown not filling out the brackets.
You have to register your school, and your instructors have to be verified and blah blah *&^%ing blah. So, you either have to have your school/instructors foot that bill or that gets tacked onto your travel, hotel/hostel, food, car rental if necessary, and registration fee.

Way to make it harder for competitors to participate.

Monday, October 29, 2012

Keenan Cornelius vs Cyborg Abreu, and DJ Jackson wins Pro Trial Absolute

Say what you will....the guy produces champions.

Wow.
Say what you want about Lloyd Irvin but he produces champions.
Period.
I've had my doubts in the past b/c of the marketing, but no one else out there is consistently producing guys for sport competition that come close to the machine that is Team Lloyd Irvin.


Keenan Vs Cyborg


DJ Jackson wins the absolute/beats Cyborg:

100 Knockouts From Around the World

Jump to 2:47 for all the brutality:

Monday's MMA Multimedia Mailbag/Old School & New School BJJ


Not a super busy weekend in the MMA books.
I guess those of us who complained about "oversaturation" of UFC events are eating some crow right now.
The cancelled event was one of the best things that could've happened taught us all a valuable lesson about ruing too much of a good thing in events. The UFC does need to balance out some of these cards that are virtually non-PPV worthy without the main event in case of injury which is increasingly common these days.

In other News, a stand n' bang-fest-bonanza-face-punching contest has been booked with Pat Barry vs Shane Del Rosario on the TUF Finale.
Speaking of which, here's a recap of the latest episode if you weren't one of the 13 people watching from around the world.

In case you missed it, here we are with a brief Bellator Video Recap I posted the other day:


And a little something to tide you over on Monday morning at work in the cubicle:
Jean Jacques Machado vs Wallid Ismael : )



Whereas, here we have Durinho vs Leandro Lo:

Friday, October 26, 2012

Shoulder Throw without Movement

This is what happens without movement and room for the entry: 1:30

Skip to 1:30 for the moment. To his credit, the other guy does the exact right thing to counter. Keeps his grip and puts him flat on his back to capitalize for throwing from a static position.

When Jumping Guard Goes Horribly Wrong

Sometimes your guard pull lands you directly /low int the other guy's guard. And you get swept then lapel choked.

Extended 10 min Preview of St. Pierre vs Condit


I'm impressed. They edit the Condit/Diaz fight to look like Condit wasn't running/backpedalling the whole time. They also edit GSP's more recent fights to look more like the wrecking machine that ran through BJ Penn and Jon Fitch and Alves, rather than the Borefest that smothered Dan Hardy, jabbed Koscheck, and jab/crossed Jake Shields.

Pot Calling the Kettle Black Alert: Antonio Silva



You may vaguely recall Bigfoot Silva pissing hot for EliteXC awhile back. I guess he's hoping you've forgotten b/c he's saying he wants to fight Overeem "even if Overeem was made in a lab."
Ah, yes. The sweet sound of hypocrisy in the morning.

TMA Friday: Real Kung-Fu Fighting

Well, it actually exists.
Cool.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Supplement Marketing

GSP: Life after ACL Surgery


Bellator 78 Preview and Rodolfo Ambars Another Guy in Brazil

Remember when this organization was on Fox Deportes? No? And you call yourself an MMA fan?


Bellator comes to us Friday night  well, to those of us with MTV2 and on SpikeTV.com.
I'm actually looking forward to Bellator's move to SpikeTV in January as more MMA and non-UFC fighters making money is good for the sport and b/c I'm anti-monopoly.


In continuing his domination over people not named Buchecha at the Worlds specifically, Rodolfo recently armbarred another guy down in Brazil:

Interview Thursday: Shawn Williams & Rodolfo Continues the Cross Grip Massacre


Before we get to Interview Thursday, here's Rodolfo hitting the cross grip seionage on Tarsis Humphreys recently down in Brazil.



In case the above makes you curious, I posted some drills and explanation of the throw/entry for the throw HERE.

I was listening to the Inside BJJ/This Week in BJJ segment with Shawn Williams, and I'd forgotten how much I like his interviews, so for today's Interview Thursday, if you were bad and didn't catch this episode of Rolled Up with Shawn Williams:


Wednesday, October 24, 2012

The Best Way to End the Day

Lessons with Lance

If a sport as stringently tested as cycling can have a culture of cheating, what do we assume about an untested sport like Jiu-Jitsu?

This Week in BJJ: Video News


From UFC over saturation to the wasteland....

This is what were waiting for at the next UFC event? And no one will see it bc it's on FuelTV

Thesis Wednesday: Play-Jitz



If you are unwilling to go and see if the armbars, chokes, and escapes you learn in training work in a tournament, then you don't really want to know if what you're doing works against someone you know nothing about (like an attacker).

I'm already over this whole wave of self-defense Jiu-Jitsu that is now going to pop up for awhile thanks to 4 hours of Rener/Ralek/Rorion framing not getting subbed as winning at the Meta-bortion.

That is all.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Supplement Marketing

Tournament Proof Tuesday: Terrere Knee Shield Guard Pass


When you start focusing on guard passing, the shield is something you will eventually come across.
In the above, notice the left knee of the player on bottom creating space at a roughly 90 degreen angle. While relatively simple in theory, passing the knee shield can prove difficult.

Guys with strong legs, and particularly longer legs will use this to stuff much of your guard passing and keep you from getting the knee in the middle and knee through or cut through pass depending on your particular preference. But if you do as Terrere does, "No can defend!"


I dunno who else teaches this or who invented it, I just call it the Terrere guard pass for lack of a better description.

It's one of the passes I can still do when moving around even though I'm about 3 1/2 months post op from ACL surgery. The Jiu-Jitsu I'm most interested in right now is what works even though one of my legs is very weak and lack quite a bit of range of motion.
You can see me lace the legs and do the Terrere pass at 2:59 below:
If I can do it moving around the first few times back from surgery, I'll add it to the list of techniques to keep in the repertoire.

Father Time Waits for No Man


One of the harshest realities an athlete must face is the slow defeat at the hands of Father Time.
In college I go do wrestling and Judo practice back to back and grind through. Just some water, maybe a Gatorade after dual practice. Go home, eat some chicken and pasta, maybe go out and party, and do it all over again.

A night out nowadays take 2-3 days to feel almost back to 100% but really more lke 4-5 days if I'm being honest and getting back to form in the gym. If my diet is off or god forbid I skip a meal I pay for it that day in training. I can tell when I've eaten bad food the day of training and sometimes even the day before.

From over at MMAJunkie.com, an interview with Ben "Smooth" Henderson.

Highlights:
"When I was in college and wrestling, I would wrestle all day long and not get tired," he said. "I remember wrestling hard for five hours – literally five hours hard – and be just fine. I would eat friggin' Taco Bell, be fine, and wrestle again."

"Older fighters in his gym used to say that time would catch up to him, and all the things that came easy to him as a youngster would be doubly hard at 30. Being a natural study, Henderson tried to cut that moment off at the pass.

"I read articles about guys like Steve Nash, who's 37 and made decisions 10 years ago to take care of his body and eat smart or healthy," he said. "Because of that is why he performs at an all-star level at the age of 38, and the same thing of Grant Hill. Reading that at 24 or 25, I thought, 'Hey, I should probably do that.'"

"I think I'm getting older right now, and it's getting harder for me to lose the weight … and it's harder for me to keep the weight off,"

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Lloyd Irvin TV: The Next World Champion

I have a rare day off from work...so I'm perusing the internetz.

Look at this gem I found:

Piss Goblet

The guy who makes these is hilarious.
Buddy of mine at open mat told me about this:

Bellator 77 Video Highlights


In terms of excitement and quality fights per card, Bellator nearly always delivers.
The Dave Jansen Magomed Saadulaev fight has some incredible grappling and transitions in particular.
Bellator 77 yesterday was more in the same of that tradition:
SPIKE
Bellator 77 Highlights
www.spike.com

Spike Full EpisodesSpike Video ClipsSpike on Facebook

Friday, October 19, 2012

Kron Talks Metamoris Win over Otavio



TMA Friday - Learn teh Deadlyz: Dim Mak World



Title of doctor, sifu, or master? check.
Chinese looking outfit? check.
Chinese writing on walls on scrolls? check.
Students wearing sashes of various colors and kung-fu shoes? check.
Deadly fighting techniques? check.
Lack of full speed sparring? check.
Cool 80's sounding electric guitar solo soundtrack? CHECK.

We have a TMA.


And a military/police/"tactical" (whatever the *&^% that means) version:

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Supplement Marketing

So you want to make money with Jiu-Jitsu Part II



So you want to make money with Jiu-Jitsu?
My system will do just that.
Real money making ideas here. The faint-hearted need not apply.

Interview Thursday: Steven Seagal


For those who don't know, I have a morbid fascination with Steven Seagal.
I've seen virtually all of his films (earlier theater releases and his more recent direct to video productions).

At any rate, if you haven't seen it, here he is with the annoying announcer known as the "Voice" best known for screaming incoherently when there's a KO in K-1.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Thesis Wednesday: Overcoming Injury



Sucks to be you moment of the day. Hendo just got Karo Parisiyan'd (see: injury leads to loss of title shot)

3 months ago, I woke up in the recovery room.
The nerve block was not working and I had this vague sense that my leg was in serious pain.
After being rushed out of the recovery room and sleeping much of the day I spent two days barely able to get up onto my feet. My wife had to help me get up to go to the bathroom.

I was more dependant upon someone than I had been since I was a child.

The day before my surgery, I had trained twice that day at Jiu-Jitsu. I had managed to compensate for my injury in many ways, compete in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, submission grappling, and even a Judo tournament and still win matches. But long term, the orthopadist made it clear that I would never resemble my pre-injury ability
Now, I couldn't even lift my leg off of the ground.
The thought of even doing Jiu-Jitsu didn't cross my mind.
I couldn't even stand up by myself.

I had torn my ACL, meniscus, and broken my leg 9 months prior, but due to work and financial considerations put off the surgery until the summer.
Now I was faced with the thing I was most afraid of: being off the mats for months on end with no answer as to when I would even be able to shrimp or stand and base again.
I'd read about athletes being unable to train for 6-9 months depending on the outcome of the surgery, physical therapy, and complications.

Stuck in bed. The first 3 days were the worst.
The third day while my wife was at work, I got on my crutches, went downstairs, and did some arm exercises with the bar bells.

I felt like the sport, and life period were going to pass me by while I was in a sort of limbo.
It was terrifying to be completely honest.
The one outlet that I always went to after work, b/c of work, b/c of life, the thing I enjoyed most was completely off limits to me. I didn't know how I would handle the free time or what I would fill the collosal amount of time I once spent training day in and day out.

3 months later, here I am, back moving around. No spazzing white belts, no one much bigger than myself, but back on the mats, doing what I love.
Below is probably the 3rd or 4th time I 've moved around since the surgery.
 

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Tournament Proof Tuesday: Drills for Cross Grip Seionage



Details on fitting in and form for the cross grip seionage:



Details on a moving/dynamic drill for practicing the cross grip seionage:


Metamor-wtf-hangover-self-defense jiu-jitsu/gracie diet/university Pro

Professional....yes, why yes indeed.

 
First, before I begin with the doom and gloom: I'm glad a number of the sports biggest names got together for a submission only tournament (well, not Ryron, but everyone else did. I'll disagree with Woody Allen for once regarding his statement "80% of success is showing up").

Cash money for competitors. Cash money (supposedly) for best submission, though no clarification for the determination of that ranking.

And a "fight card" rather than watching brackets play out over the course of however many hours.

And just in general, I'm glad someone stepped up and made the "attempt" at a professional event.


The quality of matches minus Galvao/Ryron was exciting:
***Spoiler Alert***
Half the matches ended by submission.
2 of the 3 that went to a draw came so close to ending by submission they were still exciting.
Hearts were broken. Reputations made and/or challenged.


However, when launching a professional event, despite the understanding there will be glitches, there were some serious errors in packing the product:
4 hours of watching for 6 MATCHES
1) Starting an hour late

2) dead time between matches. My wife commented, "I would have rather seen commercials than just a logo for Metamoris" (a made up word)
3) at one point the commentator said, "no heel hooks, right?"
4) a clarification that reaping the knee was legal (for the initiated/knowledgable grapplers among us)

5) as a "Superbowl" of Jiu-Jitsu, the program and the packaging were atrocious. My wife has been to plenty of grappling tournaments (both Judo, BJJ, Submission Only and MMA events) and she said that as a spectator it was unbearably long

6) a white tournament mat with several matches where both competitors wore white gi's

7) no clarificiation of the rules during commentary/play-by-play about legality of submissions (though they did clarify that slamming from the guard was not permissable)

8) no program or idea of how long the event was, when there would be an intermission (that there would be one to begin with)
9) overpriced tickets. it was clear that not a lot of people bought those $350 matside seats

As a commercial for the Gracie Diet, Self-defense Jiu-Jitsu, Gracie University (notice a trend there?) the marketing was barely a subtext.   - though, in retrospect, with Rorion heading it up, that should have been expected by those of us familiar with history










I could have also passed on the hammering into the brain part about how "even if you're not in a dominant position, by not getting tapped out, or by escaping you are somehow winning."

I regard it as a disservice to tell grapplers out there that to show up to a SUBMISSION ONLY tournament and stall your way to a 20 minute draw is somehow winning.

I'm not here to watch "moral victory Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu".

Surviving is not the same as winning.
 

Monday, October 15, 2012

Monday's Multimedia Mailbag: Arm Attack Weekend/UFC/Metamoris Pro



Study on the effects of Arginine on Grapplers

Lots happened this weekend.
Bonnar got outclassed:
 
-------

The Metamoris Pro took 4 hours to air 6 Jiu-Jitsu matches.
****SPOILER ALRT****


Otavio got armbarred.
Glover got armbarred.
Ryron survived.
Roger almost got armbarred.
Lister almost got armbarred.
Kayron got kimura'd.


And...I have to finally just call it what it is: Anderson Silva is one of if not the best of all time.

 
 
Minotauro reminded us why we love him:
------
Phil Davis D'Arce'd/Gator Rolled Wagner:
-------
Demian Maia made short work of Rick Story:
-------
Eddie Alvarez showed he's still dangerous:







 

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Supplement Marketing

Interview Thursday: Carmen Basilio


One of my favorite retro/throwback fighters of a bygone era.
For those who don't know, boxing is actually what got me interested in combat sports.
Amateur boxing was my first organized/sanctioned fight experience.

In some ways, it really was tougher back in the day for fighters in some regards:

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Metamoris Pro Video Countdown: Xande Ribeiro Vs Dean Lister


I think I have to work the day this takes place.
Looks like I may be quitting my job if I can't get anyone to cover my shift.
*notice the finger grabbing to defend the collar choke. sigh. 

Jimmy Pedro Vs Marcelo Garcia (newaza)

Props to Marcelo for how open he is with his techniques and training on MG In Action.
Props to Jimmy Pedro for doing what a lot of other grapplers won't which is be filmed and roll with another high level grappler.

Thesis Wednesday: A Fish Rots From the Head

Disclaimer:
The following groups may be offended:
those who don't cross train.
those who believe their one grappling style by itself is the magical bullet to grappling invincibility.
those who can't admit what they don't know or understand.
those who have neglected to go experience and try other grappling styles firsthand.

I don't bother much posting on Judoforum.

When dealing with a certain sub-sect of long-time Judo players and associations, I'm fondly reminded that "The Turks have a homely proverb applied on such occasions: they say 'the fish stinks first at the head,' meaning, that if the servant is disorderly, it is because the master is so."
The sad part, is that I'd be willing to bet Judoforum is the biggest English-language Judo forum on the internetz.
Seriously.

Posters on Judoforum consist primarily of two classes: 1) those that acknowledge Judo must change adapt to remain relevant as a sporting endeavor and Olympic sport as well as self-defense applicable AND 2) those that lose their *&^% anytime someone questions the status quo of Judo. The interesting part is they freely admit Judo has changed from its early days, and yet, for someone who hasn't been playing Judo for 50 years to say change to the current paradigm is necessary provokes virulent responses.

It's primarily full of the stereotypical closed-minded older Judo players or the younger armchair experts who cant see the forest for the trees because they get a boner enamored with the bowing, and the respect, and "mutual welfare and benefit" and the talk of Budo and the like. All good traits IN MODERATION.
It becomes counter-productive, however, when they enter begin ignoring the ever changing world/landscape of martial arts.

I figured by posting in the "Other Martial Arts" section, I might get some feedback on my "Cross Grip Seionage for BJJ" from players who actually cross train. But....wait for it......


......as expected it so happens, it quickly degenerated into a "THAT's NOT HOW YOU DO IT IN JUDO" or "THIS IS NOTHING NEW" list of responses.

- "Doesn't anybody teach Eri seoi nage properly anymore? This is just reinventing the wheel ....but this time it's square! :hap: "

- "youtube is fun like that. anyone can make an instructional video, regardless of skill level. "

- "But for me there is a right Judo way and a "WRONG" way. :P "

And people wonder why Judo schools can't make a buck with dwindling enrollment while Tae Kwon Do schools make money hand over fist. It must be something other than a closed minded attitude on the part of a martial art that has been in America for 50 or 60 years. That certainly doesn't explain the lack of schools contributing to the stage for national level players and the fact that most Judo programs are non-profits taught on old mats at YMCA's.

Whether its a tourament director characterizing Jiu-Jitsu as little more than "dirty Judo" to the generalization that mat work in BJJ is too complicated and it doesn't work if you don't have all day.
I've heard the gamut of remarks.

The inculcation to ignore the fundamental reality of mat work and the likelihood that Judo players can learn from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu begins early. For those first few white belts and up.
From instructors, a source that they respect and respect is emphasized in Judo passively and actively with the bowing et cetera admire, they often hear those first prejudices depending on their individual club and the instructors present.

This is the attitude of many grapplers.
There is nothing wrong with choosing to focus on a particular style of grappling.
I would argue that you need to have one base skill set of grappling before you begin cross training.
I'll use MMA as an example: guys walk in to learn "MMA" and they burn out and quit b/c they are trying to learn something new standing up, striking, take downs, and Jiu-Jitsu (plus diet, and strength and conditioning).

This results in being mediocre at everything.

Back to the grappling-centric world:
They may claim to be open-minded. They may claim to believe in Judo and the idea of using what works, but in reality, they adhere to and espouse a mythical belief in "standing Judo" and this golden age of Judo from the time of rose-colored glasses and how Judo is somehow so much better and superior special or different b/c of it's "mutual welfare and benefit" creed.
Again, there is nothing wrong with these ideas IN MODERATION..

The problem arises when grapplers would rather look at a book with grainy pictures of Kano or Mifune and argue endlessly about the sleeve hand being at this position or the rotation being exactly this many degrees. If you don't believe me, go read the forum for about 20 minutes and you'll see what I mean.


I say this not to disparage a sport in which I clearly believe and furthermore used to compete/fight/win in MMA, submission grappling, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, but as evidence of a larger systemic problem.

When I google "Tae Kwon Do schools" and my city's name, I get 10 schools in a radius of roughly 10 miles, it proves that Judo has not faltered due to parents who do not wish to enroll children in martial arts.
It's proof that Judo has fallen by the wayside in recruitment.
Through apathy, or whatever, it proves that there is a body of students available, they simply have not been recruited.

It must be hard to teach grappling for 50 years, then this upstart style comes along and you're forced to acknowledge that you've never competed in it, don't understand the rules, and lack the information to present a truly informed opinion.

This blog is a testmanet to the crossover power of Judo in other sports.
But to do that, one has to at least have seen firsthand the alternative sport being discussed.
Or, God forbid, gone and done a class.

You can go sign up for a class.
Check your ego at the door.
Learn something, or you can stick your head in the sand.
Or you can pontificate about a sport that you've likely never even seen in person at a tournament.


Evolve or die.





Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Supplement marketing

Tournament Proof Tuesday: Shoulder Throw


Continuing the theme of the shoulder throw, below is none other than Jacare pulling off the shoulder throw several times starting right at 17 seconds. The first one in particular you can see the movement and effort to make the space for the entry.
The other two standing shoulder throws (impressive) he pulls off from a relatively static position (based on how brief the HL is) but still hits them nonetheless.
You'll also notice he hits the cross grip seionage around 21 seconds.




Someone from Judoforum.com would probably want to debate the placement of a hip and the exact distance between two of the feet or whether the leg came up to finish the throw or what to call it with one leg up and the other day. But they're shoulder throws nonetheless.

And a bit more contemporary, here's current Mundial Champion, Rodolfo Vieira hitting several shoulder throws, most of them from a cross grip. Notice how quickly when he misses the first he pops up and then enters again.




I've put together a companion piece for the cross grip for seionage focusing on some more specifics for the entry as we call it in Judo.Coming next week, a piece on practicing the entry for the throw with movement/in a dynamic fashion.
Enjoy:

Monday, October 8, 2012

Hell Has Frozen Over: Batista Fights MMA (and Wins!)


I was one of the "Batista will never fight" naysayers. It looked less than promising after various cancelled fights and cans opponents backed out.

I have to give credit where due: Batista takes some big shots that other wrestling converts like Brock and Lashley would have used to quit have not withstood in the past.

Metamoris Video Countdown: Lovato Jr. vs Kayron (et al)

Monday's MMA Multimedia Mailbag



First and most important: from Bellator we have the Axe Kick of Doom on another mans coin purse.
Bigfoot + Hamstring = First Loss for Browne

Dodson gets his crack at Demetrious Johnson who fights like he does but much more effectively
The Dentist gets Jiu-Jitsu'd
Johnson shows he may just be a legit contender in his division