Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Fighting Politics
Check out this Doco clip about Matt Lindland and the politics of the UFC. Be keen to see the whole thing. And visit the youtube channel for more clips. Very Interesting. I think I just figured out why Sherdog has been banned from covering the UFC in the last few days. Go get the popcorn because the proverbial has hit the fan. Someone has decided to take a torch to the UFC Brand which until now has been a largely untouched giant.
Monday, March 22, 2010
BJJ Competitions
There has been some talk amongst the group about how to approach the competition season after this weekends Vic State Titles. Lots of guys seem to have caught the bug and want to compete more often. There are a few options up our sleeve between now and the Pan Pacs in November. The Champions Cup which we have attended over the past three years moves to a different State Capital each year and this year is in Perth, over two days in mid September. This is a big trip for those willing to make the journey. In the mean time there is a few options in between, primarily Events BJJ in NSW, who are hosting some events between now and the Pan Pacs. Might be worth a look as the event runs on a single Sunday and we can get there and back on a quick turnaround. There is also the AFBJJ Qld State Champs on the 15th May, which is also on a Sunday in around six weeks. If we can gain a consensus I can arrange a team trip to one or two of these events.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
10 Fights You've Never Seen Before
Here the Fight Nerd goes through 10 old school fights that I've never seen before.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Paquet V Viera
Red belt is the highest rank in Jiu Jitsu and is awarded after a lifetime of dedication to the art. Here Leozinho rolls with a 75 year old red belt and they joke and tease each other. I guess there is some hope for the old boys yet. Hope I am the mat at this age. Great to watch. And if your wondering why Leozinho isnt wiping the floor with the old guy you have missed the point.
UFC Primetime Pt2
Slym has been kind enough to host this PPV event at his house on Sunday 28th March from 1pm. Talk to Slym or myself for details.
Friday, March 19, 2010
UFC Versus
Talking at training last night and it seems UFC Versus will be screened on ONE HD at 9pm on Monday. This is pretty close to a live broadcast as it will be a Sunday night event in the US. Its a good card with Vera v Jones and Gonzaga v Dos Santos. Seems more live and relevant MMA is making its way in to the mainstream media.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
2 takedowns from front headlock
Watch the first 2-3min and last 2-3min of this clip. Only the guys who have wrestled a bit will see the value in these two moves. The Dresser Dump and Heel Picks, but if you pay attention there is some nice technique and coaching on hand here from a very common front headlock position.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Freddie Roach Interview
First time I've agreed with what this guys says. Roach hasn't been too supportive of MMA until this point. Still he makes some interesting observations in this interview.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
More from the Global Training Report.
Many of the guys who train with us have spent time on the Judo mat looking to improve their stand up throwing skills. There is also a long standing rivalry between Judo and Jiu Jitsu as to which is more effective in various situations either street applications or competitions. For me at least circumstances dictate tactics, in that the answer to what works is in what do you need to achieve?, a competition ippon throw? a tournament submission? surviving and escaping a physical confrontation? Because the answers to these simple questions ultimately dictate the direction of your training. Don't get me wrong, landing someone on their head with a good judo throw in the street, is better than rolling around on the floor looking for a submission in my opinion. But the multitude of rules in Olympic Judo, removing what works for what looks nice is a backward step in combat effectiveness if thats what you hope to achieve. Even BJJ competition training encourages very bad habits like pulling guard to start a match, which is an effective competition strategy but a terrible street application. Anyway, here is more from the global training report discussing this issue in more depth, where someone has gone to Japan to study Judo and try to incorporate aspects in to his BJJ training. I think it makes for interesting reading.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Romulo Barral HL Clip
Thats Trav blowing his knee at the 4.50 mark against Romulo in the first round at ADCC.
Belts in BJJ
The following is taken from The Global Training Report, a website come travel diary of a guy who has travelled to Brazil for training since the late 90's. Makes for great reading, particularly if your interested in the history of BJJ and what it might be like to train in Brazil.
"Judging by some of the more popular internet forums, belts are an obsession with North Americans, and from my experience in Japan, jiu-jitsu belts (but not belts in karate or judo, where dan ratings rather than belt colors are more meaningful) are highly prized. But Brazilians, at least in Rio, do not care much about belts. There are two reasons. One is that belts are relatively easy to obtain. If you train alot and with the required intensity, in due course you will receive new belts. Jiu-jitsu is not quantum physics (although it might seem that way to most white belts, myself included 12 years ago). Everyone knows that if you train long enough, listen to what the professor says, and do what he tells you to do, you will acquire the skills and then the belts to go with the skills. The requirements for belt promotions in Bolão's academy are based on (1) frequencia of training, (2) assidudade of training, and (3) competitions. Frequency means training regularly, which of course is subject to interpretation but might equal three days per week. Assiduity means training with focus, intensity, and balls, i.e., doing what everyone else is doing (they train hard here), ducking no one in sparring, not being too tired to roll, not making excuses, and basically performing at a level equal to others with the same belt color, and maybe a little better. Competitions are a way to test your courage, but Bolão acknowledges that some guys don't have jobs and can't afford the entrance fees, and other guys just don't care about winning medals. Or at least the value of the medal is not worth the stress and hassle of waiting for the matches to start (fighting is easy, waiting is hard). The second reason is that having a belt, even the coveted black belt, doesn't provide much prestige or economic advantage, because so many people already have them in Rio. You are not going to take your new black belt and open an academy in Rio, even if you win the gold medal in the Mundial. There are simply too many well-established academies in Rio with professors who have accomplished more than you probably ever will. Now if you are ready to set up shop in a foreign country that would be a different story, but most Brazilians do not plan to do that. And even in this case, making an economic success of it requires much more than a belt and some medals. So, in short, Brazilians focus more on the day to day training and less on the belts. Belts will happen when it is time for them to happen, like most other things. Bolão makes this even more clear by scheduling a "new belt" day once a year, after than Mundial of Masters and Seniors in August. The rest of the year no one wastes time obsessing about belts. At the same time, everyone knows that with consistent effort and diligence, their time will come and they can pretty much predict when it will happen too. The key is consistent and assiduous effort--otherwise known as "training hard". Other academies have different, but similar, policies. I asked Alan Moraes, professor at the Carlson Gracie Academy, located a few blocks down the road on the corner of Rua Figueiredo de Magalhaes and Rua Silva Castro. A group of juvenil white belts were training, one rolling with an adult blue belt, and seemed to be about equal in skill. I asked Alan how long the white belt had been training. "Six months," he said. What does he need for have blue belt? I asked. Alan explained, when a white belt shows an interest in jiu-jitsu by asking questions and training everyday, and entering competitions, then he is ready for a blue belt. Do you award belts on a particular day of the year, like Bolão (who formerly taught at the Carlson academy and who Alan knew well) does, he replied "sometimes but not always." I asked other professors the same question. No one mentioned particular skills, techniques, or demonstrating dominance over lower belts. Belts are awarded based on commitment to the art. It is simply taken for granted that with the right sort of training, and enough of it, the skills will be acquired. Some professors have special days for awarding new belts--Oswaldo Alves did for example--while others just award belts when the student is "ready." When he student is ready is a more or less intuitive judgment. No one as far as I could tell had anything like a checklist of techniques that a student needed to know in order to be promoted to any particular belt."
"Judging by some of the more popular internet forums, belts are an obsession with North Americans, and from my experience in Japan, jiu-jitsu belts (but not belts in karate or judo, where dan ratings rather than belt colors are more meaningful) are highly prized. But Brazilians, at least in Rio, do not care much about belts. There are two reasons. One is that belts are relatively easy to obtain. If you train alot and with the required intensity, in due course you will receive new belts. Jiu-jitsu is not quantum physics (although it might seem that way to most white belts, myself included 12 years ago). Everyone knows that if you train long enough, listen to what the professor says, and do what he tells you to do, you will acquire the skills and then the belts to go with the skills. The requirements for belt promotions in Bolão's academy are based on (1) frequencia of training, (2) assidudade of training, and (3) competitions. Frequency means training regularly, which of course is subject to interpretation but might equal three days per week. Assiduity means training with focus, intensity, and balls, i.e., doing what everyone else is doing (they train hard here), ducking no one in sparring, not being too tired to roll, not making excuses, and basically performing at a level equal to others with the same belt color, and maybe a little better. Competitions are a way to test your courage, but Bolão acknowledges that some guys don't have jobs and can't afford the entrance fees, and other guys just don't care about winning medals. Or at least the value of the medal is not worth the stress and hassle of waiting for the matches to start (fighting is easy, waiting is hard). The second reason is that having a belt, even the coveted black belt, doesn't provide much prestige or economic advantage, because so many people already have them in Rio. You are not going to take your new black belt and open an academy in Rio, even if you win the gold medal in the Mundial. There are simply too many well-established academies in Rio with professors who have accomplished more than you probably ever will. Now if you are ready to set up shop in a foreign country that would be a different story, but most Brazilians do not plan to do that. And even in this case, making an economic success of it requires much more than a belt and some medals. So, in short, Brazilians focus more on the day to day training and less on the belts. Belts will happen when it is time for them to happen, like most other things. Bolão makes this even more clear by scheduling a "new belt" day once a year, after than Mundial of Masters and Seniors in August. The rest of the year no one wastes time obsessing about belts. At the same time, everyone knows that with consistent effort and diligence, their time will come and they can pretty much predict when it will happen too. The key is consistent and assiduous effort--otherwise known as "training hard". Other academies have different, but similar, policies. I asked Alan Moraes, professor at the Carlson Gracie Academy, located a few blocks down the road on the corner of Rua Figueiredo de Magalhaes and Rua Silva Castro. A group of juvenil white belts were training, one rolling with an adult blue belt, and seemed to be about equal in skill. I asked Alan how long the white belt had been training. "Six months," he said. What does he need for have blue belt? I asked. Alan explained, when a white belt shows an interest in jiu-jitsu by asking questions and training everyday, and entering competitions, then he is ready for a blue belt. Do you award belts on a particular day of the year, like Bolão (who formerly taught at the Carlson academy and who Alan knew well) does, he replied "sometimes but not always." I asked other professors the same question. No one mentioned particular skills, techniques, or demonstrating dominance over lower belts. Belts are awarded based on commitment to the art. It is simply taken for granted that with the right sort of training, and enough of it, the skills will be acquired. Some professors have special days for awarding new belts--Oswaldo Alves did for example--while others just award belts when the student is "ready." When he student is ready is a more or less intuitive judgment. No one as far as I could tell had anything like a checklist of techniques that a student needed to know in order to be promoted to any particular belt."
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Larry Owings ends Dan Gables 181 win streak
Gable is in the yellow and black of Iowa. Known as a fierce competitor, (whens the last time you won 181 matches in a row?) Gable has dedicated his life to wrestling as a coach and mentor for a generation of athletes. His tough training sessions are legendary and his commitment to his sport is fanatical.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
How good is 5-0 in the UFC?
Here is a link to an article about George Sotiropolous and his amazing record in the UFC. It sure places him in some pretty good company. Makes for interesting reading.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
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