Posted by Mike Calimbas on December 2, 2009
Kudos to the Underground’s PTM2020 for posting this video of Renzo Gracie rolling with Mauricio Gomes. For those of you that are not familiar with Gomes, he is the father of none other than world champion Roger Gracie. I believe it was filmed in Japan circa 1997. Enjoy.
Posted in Videos | Tagged: Gracie, Mauricio Gomes, Renzo | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Mike Calimbas on December 1, 2009
Guys, if you do anything this week, I would suggest heading over to Fightworks Podcast to check out the war of words between Renzo and Relson Gracie through their recent interviews with Caleb and Dan.
The war of words started out during Relson’s interview, where he vehemently speaks out about his feelings on what real BJJ is and goes on to speak about Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, discounting the various open guard (x-guard, spider guard, etc.) techniques along the way. he also had this to say about world champion Roger Gracie, who Relson claims is the only one on the Gracie Barra team using true “Gracie Jiu-Jitsu” in competition:
Roger is the only one that keeps the Gracie style. He closes the guard, attacks the neck, sweeps, gets a good mount, and he submits everybody from the mounted position. You don’t see many Gracie Barra guys doing that. Only Roger.
More recently, the guys over at Fightworks Podcast had a chance to interview Renzo Gracie as well. The interview starts with Caleb asking Renzo about Relson’s comments and Renzo saying the following:
Now its funny, now that you mention, I had a very strange experience this past week. One of my students, he actually went to California, and he ask me where he should train. I say, “the Gracie Academy,” because that was the closest place to where he was going. I sent him to Rorion’s Academy, the one in Torrance. He goes in, and they told him that he shouldn’t train there, because that place was the “real jiu jitsu place.” It was like they were saying he doesn’t know jiu jitsu, and is learning from a source that doesn’t know how to teach.
(Continued…. and a little later, after a lot of words from Renzo….)
A lot of times, people only respect the hammer, so let me be honest: I am tired of being the nice guy. I have the fucking hammer in my hand! These people keep talking nonsense and insulting others. So they better be ready to step in there and stand up for their beliefs, because I’m ready to get in there and stand up for everything I believe. I also have a beautiful pair of brass balls to do it.
You can only presume where it goes from there but I guarantee you Renzo does not mince his words. Seriously, go read the interview now and it will shed all kinds of light as to how Renzo feel about “Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.”
When you’re done with the interviews, come back here and let us know how you feel about this controversial debate.
Posted in BJJ & MMA News | Tagged: BJJ, Gracie, Gracie Academy, Gracie Barra, Jiu-Jitsu, Relson, Renzo | 1 Comment »
Posted by ThinkAlpha on November 27, 2009
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Mike Calimbas on November 17, 2009
Interesting article out of GRACIEMag.com today, as they report that ex-UFC champ and catch wrestler Josh Barnett aka “The Baby-Faces Assassin” invaded his 2nd Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament in as many months. Coming off a division Gold at the No-Gi Worlds, Barnett showed up at the California BJJ Classic this past weekend thinking it was also a No-Gi event.
Simultaneously, Romulo Barral and Otavio Sousa heard there was money in the event so they decided to have a go at it as well. And apparently, upon getting to the Riverside tourney location, they ran right smack into Barnett – who proceeded to ask for a gi.
Well, after Romulo got past Joao Asssi of Check Mat and Barnett submitted the aforementioned Sousa on the other side of the bracket – what resulted was an epic final of Romulo Barral versus Josh Barnett in a battle of one of BJJ’s best at 195ibs. versus one of the most feared heavyweight grapplers in MMA.
Catch the article and the video of the action-packed tournament finale at GRACIEMag.com here.
Posted in Tournaments | Tagged: Barral, BJJ, CA, GracieMag, Josh Barnett, Romulo | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Mike Calimbas on November 6, 2009
November 6th 
Interview from www.dncworldwide.com
We’re sitting here with our very dear friend and fellow ninja, Ricardo Talavera, who is finishing up final preparations for his Mixed Martial Arts fight at the Legacy Fighting Championships, this Saturday at the Arena Theater in Houston.
Ricardo, how are you feeling heading up to this fight?
Oh man, I feel very, very good. Very well prepared, physically and mentally.
You’re set to take on Danny Taylor of Bushi Ban. How much do you know about this guy? Do you feel that there is anything specific you need to prepare for?
I dont know much about Danny Taylor. He fights out of Bushi Ban, a very good and well-known gym. Bushi Ban is a very good gym, their fighters are pretty aggressive, they like to bang, love to strike and come ready to fight. So, to prepare for this fight i have been including a lot of Muay Thai training, Boxing and of course always to my basics, BJJ. I have been preparing to take care of Danny anywhere. If he wants to bang, then we bang, if he wants to clinch then we clinch, ground, he’ll be crazy. Whereever he wants to go, i am going to make sure he pays for it.
Who’s helped you prepare for this fight overall? What team are you training with and how have those guys prepared you for Danny?
I fight out of ELITE MMA. I train under Eric Williams and Hai Nguyen mainly, however, for this fight we have also included the instruction of Romelle Agra to take care of my Muay Thai training and also Pat Swan for my Boxing. To add to this, Coach David Campbell has been the one taking care of our conditioning out of hell training. plus of course all my teammates at Elite MMA that some how have given me and helped me through out my training.
Any predictions on how the fight will end?
Lights out. whether I choke him out, or KO him.
Are you looking forward to any other fights on the card?
Definitely, I want to see my teammate Sting Ray Blodgett kick some ass. I also want to see Robo’s fight to see what the whole fuzz is all about.
Anything else you’d like to say to your fans and loved ones before you step into the cage?
To my beautiful wife and momma to be. I am sorry for all the long and lonely nights i have put you through, Thank you for your love, patience and support. I love you.
And to my fans, thank you for the support and push through out the years…let’s get this win over with and go eat and party!!!
Ricardo Talavera is an Undefeated Professional MMA Fighter with a 1-0 record. He is also a Petroleum Engineering graduate of West Virginia University and a die-hard Mountaineers fan. When he’s not fighting, Ricardo works as a software consultant for the oil & gas industry. You can hear more about the life and fights of Ricardo Talavera by following him on Twitter.
Posted in BJJ & MMA News | Tagged: Arena Theater, Elite MMA, Houston, legacy, MMA, ricardo talavera | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Mike Calimbas on November 1, 2009
A lot has been said and debated on the mystique of Rickson Gracie throughout the years. As the Gracie Family Champion, Rickson has been the standard bearer for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for a many, many years. Below is a an unbiased writeup of Brazilian Black Belt’s World Champion Felipe Costa on training with Rickson Gracie:
I was at Rickson Gracie seminar in Rio de Janeiro.
I´ve been asked a lot how was Rickson seminar, I guess a lot of people hear so much of Rickson that they want to know how he is, how he teaches and if he is really good like everyone says.
Here I describe how it was in a sober way, not putting him as a God and also not saying lies just to try to put his reputation down, so here is goes…
Rickson seminar was very interesting, first of all It was expensive for Brazilian standards, I would never imagine it to get so full like it did. It was 2 days with 6 hours each (3 morning and 3 afternoon), around 150 people.
Every technique he showed was basic and he went over basic details and concepts, he took almost 1 hour on each technique, not only because there was 150 people, but also because of the way he teaches, that is very unique, for example, he pick people from the “audience” and tell them “Mount on me, I will try to get out, I will not use technique, I will get out like a person on the street would do, so just pushing you out of my belly”
So out of 10 he choose from all sizes, 10 cannot keep the mount, than he gets those same people and tell them that now he will mount and they should take him out… nobody can take him out, after that he show what is the details he is doing that makes such a good difference.
EVERY technique he teaches he uses this system, so that give a lot of people the chance to be “one-o-one” with him, at least for a few seconds, which is not the same as rolling, but is already cool to have this chance. Besides how could he roll with 150 people? A lot of people would feel left out.
He also says that the reason he teaches like this is because if he just tell the details right away, many people will not appreciate, so doing this helps him to proof a point.
Most of his stuff I liked, some I already knew, some I disagree a bit (meaning that I would do or teach like him, but Im sure it works good for him and many people), but everything was very interesting to see and hear coming from him.
On the second day for example the first full hour he was just talking, he showed the famous respiration he does and I think was cool to see it life (the belly thing he does), he talked about his father, Gracie diet and for the first time I heard he saying that his so waited “last fight” is almost certain not to happen.
You can see that he is pure confidence and he really believe BJJ is the best, believe me that he did not sound cocky or crazy when he said that he believed he could win from Fedor.
In the end he must have show around 15 techniques, the big questions I hear all the time is:
WAS IT WORTH?
YES, I would do it again and I will go to his next seminar if I´m in Brazil at the time.
Competition Video – Rickson Gracie Copa Lightning 86
Posted in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu | Tagged: BJJ, Black Belt, Brazilian, Gracie, Rickson, Rio | 1 Comment »
