BJJ World TV - Khabib's Mgr Grappling Challenge, Caio Terra Ducking Jon Calestine, Gordon Enters HW Grand Prix, et al

It's pretty amazing how much combat sports news is pouring in most days now. I remember when it was cool that UFC was finally one event per month and it was a big deal. That shift from a handful a year that you had to order on PPV (couldn't stream illegally) or rent from Blockbuster on VHS, ish was a chore to stay on top of the game. Now, the news just pours in with dedicated coverage to grappling, MMA, Gi JiuJitsu, Submission grappling, et cetera. Fight2Win and others putting on grappling specific events across the country.
Love it.

I'll say this, I know for a fact that Agazarm and some other names have directly and verbatim said no to Calestine. There's a lot of famous guys hiding behind promoters who've offered them matches, they've said no, and they sit around twiddling their thumbs afraid to face anyone who might expose them.

Tuesday's Grappler Spotlight: Caio Terra's Keys to Jiu-Jitsu Success

I love me some BJJHacks.
If not for the interesting grappling folks and fighters and coaches and competitors for the soothing ambient music and soundtracks placed to expertly cut footage of Jiu-Jitsu, grappling, and such.

Monday Morning Video Mailbag: Jeff Glover vs Caio Terra - Jiu-Jitsu Expo

Well, I blogged about the bad blood leading up to it HERE and HERE...and here it is. Enjoy.

World Jiu-Jitsu Expo Superfight Results

From over at MMAMania.com:
"Nick Diaz vs. Braulio Estima (No-Gi) (Diaz no-showed)
Rafael Lovato def. Lucas Liete via points (Gi)
Kron Gracie def. Victor Estima via advantage points (Gi)
Bill Cooper def. Nino Schembri via referee decision(Gi)
Kyra Gracie def. Alexis Davis via points (No-Gi)
Jeff Glover def. Caio Terra via points (No-Gi)" - this was a gi match?

and from MMAWeekly.com:
"Jeff Glover def. Caio Terra by points 10-6
Kron Gracie def. Victor Estima by one advantage
Rafael Lovato def. Lucas Leite by points 2-0
Bill Cooper def Nino Schembri by referee’s decision after tie in points and advantages
Kyra Gracie def. Alexis Davis 5-0"

I've heard internet rumblings about both sides accusing the other of not making weight.
I'm going to let the dust settle and the gossip hounds chill out before I comment.
I was also not aware Leite was subbed in for Kayron due to injury, but no way would I have bet on Leite against Lovato and his ridiculously long frame.

Who does Caio think will win the superfights this weekend?

OpenMat Radio has a last minute interview with Caio Terra HERE.

Caio's picks for the superfights and discusses upcoming stuff for him.

World Jiu-Jitsu Expo Superfight Predictions

Now, I have not seen the rules for the superfights coming up at this weekend World Jiu-Jitsu Superfights, but the matches and my predictions are as follows:

Nick Diaz vs. Bráulio Estima (No-Gi)         - Braulio by triangle - props to Nick Diaz for jumping into the
                                                                    shark tank. Hopefully he does better than GSP did in ADCC

Kayron Gracie vs. Rafael Lovato Jr (Gi)     - Kayron by sweep then guard pass

Victor Estima vs. Kron Gracie (Gi)             - Kron by  2 advantages. I think he was tired from the Absolute
                                                                    which hindered his performance at the Pans.

Nino Schembri vs. Bill Cooper (Gi)            - Cooper by ? I haven't watched him play much as of late  

Kyra Gracie vs. Alexis Davis (No-Gi)        -   Kyra by head/arm triangle

Caio Terra vs. Jeff Glover (No-Gi)             -  Caio by sweep and 2 advantages

In other Expo news, here's an article about Otavio Sousa (a guy I've posted about quite a bit on here, who comes from Gracie Barra Pernambuco, one of the places I trained while visiting Brazil).
Here's a mount attack from the man himself, Otavio Sousa:




Happy Trainingz!

Caio Terra and Jeff Glover Agree to the Gi

From over at Graciemag HERE, Caio and Glover have agreed to fight in the gi at the upcoming Jiu-Jitsu expo.

Straight from Caio, “Even though I like Gi as much as No-Gi, it makes no sense for me to have a No-Gi match two weeks prior to the IBJJF Worlds. Even though Jeff hasn’t competed in awhile, he understood that it might affect my performance at one or both events and sent me a polite message inviting me to make the change, so we made a deal. As he agreed on competing with the gi, I agreed on having no weight limit. I believe this will make the fight more interesting, as Jeff won’t need to suffer from the cut and a little guy in the absolute is always fun to watch. I think the public was the one who most benefited from this, and as Jeff has told me, we will make this an epic fight, with both of us looking for the submission."

Awesome.

Caio Terra Versus Jeff Glover at Jiu-Jitsu World Expo

Well, Jeff Glover, it's time to back up your foray onto Caio's facebook post about winning the World's despite injury. More concisely, Glover's claims that Caio was a whiner and should quit complaining about competing while hurt.

As is rarely the case, the war of words will be settled at the World's 1st Jiu-Jitsu expo.
Graciemag highlighed some other matches of the day HERE and HERE. 

For Grappling Fanatics, the event now features superfights between:
Kyra Gracie Versus Alexis Davis (Cesar Gracie)
Victor Estima Versus Kron Gracie

Nino “Elvis” Schembri Versus Bill "the Grill" Cooper (Paragon)
Bráulio Estima (Gracie Barra) Versus Nick Diaz (Caesar Gracie)

Kayron Gracie (Gracie Barra) Versus Rafael Lovato Jr.

In addition to that, the Jiu-Jitsu Expo will feature a Special Spring Tournament with the "likes of Otávio Sousa, the winner of the NY Open absolute division, as well as Rodrigo Simões, Gustavo “Sirizinho”, Ricardo “Franjinha”, Magid Hage" and others.

Amazing.

Enemies of Jiu-Jitsu Part Trois: Lack of PED/Steroid Testing

Click HERE for Part One of my Enemies of Jiu-Jitsu Series: Sandbagging
Click HERE for Part Two of my Enemies of Jiu-Jitsu Series: The Gentleman's Agreement
 
And...we are now on Part Three of our Enemies of Jiu-Jitsu Series: Lack of Steroid/PED Testing.

Lack of PED Testing is the pink elephant in the room of the grappling community.

Much like the Mixed Martial Arts of Pride, where drug testing was nonexistent, we find ourselves with a highly competitive sport, yet NO oversight nor testing whatsoever to even dent the use of PEDs in our sport.
This post isn't about the debate over Testosterone Replacement Therapy or anabolic steroids.
It is simply an attempt to address the fact that we have a sport whereby the training, preparation, and competition at the highest levels is a truly elite level sport, yet there is No TESTING whatsoever.

Caio Terra in the controversial interview following the 2011 Pan Championships (below) asserted that many of the competitors in his division and others were juicing.

The General, Fabio Gurgel of Alliance, replied and categorically denied that any Alliance athlete was using PEDs and that Alliance warns its competitors to not use steroids/PEDs. I find such a blanket statement nearly impossible to be statistically true/factual given the size of Alliance's pool of competitors. But then, that's my opinion.

Caio goes on in this interview to discuss what he feels is widespread usage to aid in recovery and to log more training time on the mat.
More shocking (maybe, maybe not if you look at how the IBJJF protects and caters to the high level black belts/coaches) is Caio's claim that the IBJJF is complicit in taking their time moving toward steroid/PED testing to allow the black belts/users to figure out a way around it or to cycle off altogether.

"The IBJFF said they would wait until this year to start testing. Now they say, we’re not going to test this year because we didn’t have enough time to plan. What? They told me something last year and now they’re not doing it, so I brought it up on the microphone."
AND
"Two days before the 2010 Worlds tournament, there was an IBJJF meeting and I said we should start testing for steroids. The black belts laughed. They said, 'We just won’t compete anymore.' After the black belts left, the IBJFF approached me and said they are planning to test for steroids but they need to time to give the competitors a chance to clean up before they start official testing."

You won't see much about statements like this on Graciemag and other grappling websites as they too cater to the IBJJF and follow it's lead.
The article HERE, goes into a lot more of insder/whistleblowing info you won't hear about too many other places. Caio also in direct fashion shoots down many of the commonly touted false arguments as to why testing is difficult/cost-prohibitive and basically shows that the IBJJF is unwilling rather than unable to test due to a cadre of elite athletes that it would effect.

Like him or not, Caio does not mince words.

Happy Trainingz and food for thought.