Interview Thursday: Say What You Will About Eddie Bravo

....but he did way better than most of the guys I've watched roll with Marcelo Garcia.

Food for thought.

Interview Thursday: Yuki Nakai

Right up there with Royce and Rickson, we have Yuki Nakai. The diminutive Japanese fighter fought Rickson and among other things was instrumental in bringing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to Japan. He has mentored the likes of Shinya Aoki and countless others.

Interview Thursday: Jimmy Harbison/Allegory of the Cave

I've posted this on here before, and you may have ignored it or let Lloyd Irvin's internet marketing distract you from what is by and large still a quite useful interview.

In large part, essentially what Harbison talks about when he refers to the "concrete" in our brains that fills up and gets piled on and hardens while closing our minds to opportunities and other possible positive changes in our life is Plato's Allegory of the cave:

I'll elaborate. Many of us grew up thinking kung-fu and ninjas were the deadliest of the deadly. We saw board breaking demonstrations and guys magically defeating dozens of assailants and we wanted to believe in that capability.

We believed in Dim Mak and the death touch and a lot of other largely unproven claims.
Hope, and the desire to believe in something which will empower remain very powerful lures promises.

Then came the UFC and we saw behind the curtain in Oz. We saw the wizard for what he was: part-time snake oil salesman and fraud.

The cult-like brainwashed continue to believe they can become deadly and defend themselves without full-contact training and 12 year olds grow up thinking their spinning back scorpion axe kick will defeat anyone who stands in front of them.

My point is that if you've tuned out everything Lloyd has and downplay his students' accomplishments to rationalize your prejudice based on his internet marketing, you are missing out.

The cave up above is your own mind. You eventually had to see the efficacy of Jiu-Jitsu over other styles of martial arts.
Hopefully, you will see the efficacy of adapting some other grappling styles in part to benefit your Jiu-Jitsu as well. Believing Jiu-Jitsu is the silver bullet is also living in the cave and staring at shadows.
Believing that wrestling is boring or that Judo doesn't have its place in Jiu-Jitsu competition is living in the cave. Judo players who avoid mat work or cross training by telling themselves Jiu-Jitsu is too complicated to be effective, or wrestlers who think "I can just punch my way out of the guard" are living in the cave.
They are deep in the bee hive. The Queen or whoever has programmed them to believe in only one solution. In only one way.
Rather than seeking the way that best suits them.
If you think learning a couple takedowns will not improve your game you are rationalizing your own deficiency. If you think your mat work will not benefit from spending time with ground work specialists, you are rationalizing your own deficiency. If you want wrestling practice and complain that it is too physical, too reliant on athleticism, you are rationalizing your own laziness and lack of knowledge.
When you watch black belts in Jiu-Jitsu win by takedown points but tell yourself Judo causes injury or that you are not a high level player, you are finding an easy way to say you just don't want to do something you're not comfortable doing. The same goes for the guy who tries Jiu-Jitsu, gets tapped out and says it was the Gi that made that happen. Without the Gi, or in the street, he would have smashed the guy with elbows. Go back and watch the UFC.
Royce took many of those guys down himself, then proceeded to finish them. Watch the Gracies in Action tapes...watch Rickson.....clinch, takedown, finish.

Empty your tea cup.
Break up the concrete and *&^% that has been filling your brain. Stop rationalizing the things you want to avoid to protect your pride, ego, and vanity.

Double Dose - Interview Thursday/TMA Friday

To account for my failure to post yesterday, I'm going to hit you with a double plus good post for both yesterday and today. I could make excuses about working 2 jobs, and not having time to start the posts ahead of time, but those would be just that, excuses.

Up first, we have an interview from This Week in BJJ from Budovideos feat. Romulo Barral:

And for the second dose, we have Lloyd Irvin discussing BJJ B*&^^*&^ness. I know I've posted this before, but it is worth repeating.




For TMA Friday -

 

Some one-legged yellow shirt Ninja striking combinations:


And some anti-grappling moves that are taught by someone who has clearly never wrestled before:

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:

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.

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:

Interview Thursday: The One, the Only, Marcelo Garcia

The biggest single thing I've tried to take away from studying Marcelo Garcia is "joy".
Yes, "joy". That happy, fruity, high in the clouds, super smiley feeling.
B/c from the moment he begins speaking about Jiu-Jitsu/grappling/competing, the guy is smiling.
This is probably one of my favorite interviews of his as it touches on some of the ways in which he views training, competing, et cetera.

He absolutely loves what he does.
And that, in a completely cool, macho, manly way, is awesome even if we as grapplers, fighters, competitors, sometimes forget that taking Joy in Jiu-Jitsu is the single most important quality to retain.

If this video isn't enough to sate your visual appetite, head on over to BJJHacks.com as they have a plethora of high quality training, interviews, and short docu-pieces that are all kinds of awesome.

Interview Thursday: What it Takes to Be a Champion wi/ Yuri Simoes

From over at the original, visonary, aesthetically pleasing, and always informative BJJHacks.com, we have a piece with Yuri Simoes regarding the drive, commitment, and desire necessary to become a Champion.

Without further ado:

BJJ Heroes: Brief Bio of Yuri Simoes

Rolled Up/Interview Thursday: Samir Chantre

As I recently read about Samir Chantre's rise to prominence, becoming 2010 NoGi World Champion and beating Zak Maxwell via DQ at the recent Las Vegas Open at the IBJJF podium and as he was featured on IBJJF TV's most recent episode, today's interview comes in the form of a Rolled Up Episode from Budovideos and has some sweet stuff from half-guard.

Click HERE for the video and support Budovideos. Their coverage of the IBJJF and broadcasts (technology glitches aside) of the Pans and Mundials has only brought more Jiu-Jitsu to the masses and to us hardcore fans as well.

Samir discusses how he got into the sport (his brother, shocker, right?), his progression to black belt/faixa preta, and his move from Brazil to the USA.

Interview Thursday: Robson Moura

Documentary-ish/Highlight/awesome - with Robson Moura

Interview Thursday: Shameless Plug Edition

With the cat out of the bag in my personal life (that I have a blog), today's interviews (sorta) are of my 2 coaches. Borrowed from my gym's website, get to know Royce Gracie Black Belts, Billy Dowey and Jason Culbreth. My two mentors in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.