Gracie Barra’s Romulo Barral at the 2010 BJJ World Championship defeating Gracie Humaita’s Xande Ribeiro.

Like other stellar objects in the stratosphere of Brazilian jiu-jitsu talent, Romulo Barral is one of the nicest, easiest-to-approach people you will find. Now located at Gracie Barra Encino, Barral began martial arts as a tae kwon do student as a kid. But when his friend showed him early UFC matches featuring names like Royce Gracie and Vitor Belfort, the self-described “hyperactive kid” began dedicating his energy towards learning the effective art of Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Today the Draculino student is one of the sharpest arrows in the quiver of global jiu-jitsu power Gracie Barra. Although he was severely injured while defending his medium heavyweight title at the 2010 BJJ Mundials against Tarsis Humphreys, his competition record tells the tale of his jiu-jitsu technique:

• 2010 Black belt medium heavyweight silver medalist, silver medalist in the absolute division
• 2009 Black belt medium heavyweight gold medalist, silver medalist in the absolute division
• 2008 (out due to shoulder injury)
• 2007 Black belt medium heavyweight gold medalist
• 2006 Black belt medium heavyweight bronze medalist
• 2005 Brown belt medium heavyweight gold medalist

Today on our humble Brazilian jiu-jitsu internet radio show, we will sit down and get to know Barral. We will learn more about how he became so dominant, an update on his injured knee, and tons more!

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Sergio Penha is one of the newest members of an elite club in Brazilian jiu-jitsu who have earned the red and black belt. After being a black belt for thirty-one years, he was awarded his red and black belt on June 7th at the 2010 BJJ World Championship alongside Romero “Jacare” Cavalcanti and Mauricio Motta Gomes (Roger Gracie’s father).

Perhaps you have also heard of Sergio Penha for being “the man who almost beat Rickson Gracie“. That’s right, Penha was the closest to breaking the aura of invincibility of the lion of the Gracie family: Penha had racked up a significant lead against Rickson when in the final moments Rickson came back and submitted Penha just before the whistle blew.

And how many jiu-jitsu practitioners who have reached black belt do you know that were never a brown belt? I didn’t know any, until now. That’s right, Penha skipped brown belt altogether.

We will hear about all the above stories and much more straight from Rio de Janeiro native Sergio Penha himself in this episode of The FightWorks Podcast. But if there is one theme in the show, it is his sincere appreciation for the wonderful benefits that jiu-jitsu brings us.

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Sergio Penha displays the certificate awarded by the IBJJF certifying that he has reached red and black belt.

Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu (Carlson Gracie Team) sets up an arm attack against his opponent at the 2010 BJJ World Championship. Photo courtesy cohost Dan.

Although now two weeks ago, the 2010 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Championship is still a major topic for discussion. How many times do you get to see the world’s best jiu-jitsu practitioners all in the same building at the same time, competing against each other? There is so much to talk about!

With that in mind, we brought back our good friend and Brazilian jiu-jitsu scribe Kid Peligro. I don’t think Kid needs much introduction as he’s been on The FightWorks Podcast several times in the past but suffice to say he’s been documenting jiu-jitsu technique and events for the better part of a decade, and is (of course) the author of The Gracie Way.

Kid and I will recap the 2010 BJJ Mundials considering the big players as well as some themes you may have missed in the event itself.

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Roger Gracie (Gracie Barra) looks for the choke against Nova Uniao’s Ricardo Abreu Pinto aka “Demente” in the finals of the super heavyweight division of the 2010 BJJ World Championship. Photo courtesy cohost Dan.

We have had World Championships before here on The FightWorks Podcast, but I do not think we have ever had coverage like you will find in today’s show. Among the frenzy of activity among Brazilian jiu-jitsu’s best competitors, there was a similar tornado of reporting taking place. This episode contains comments from big players at the Mundials this year (in no particular order):

• New red and black belt Mauricio Gomes, father of 2010 absolute and super heavy weight champion Roger Gracie
• Multi-time world champion Saulo Ribeiro (Gracie Humaita)
• 2010 Ultra heavyweight world champion Rodrigo Cavaca
• Lloyd Irvin, head of the ever-stronger Team Lloyd Irvin
• Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles, who earned the silver medal after a narrow loss to Atos Jiu-Jitsu‘s Rafael Mendes
• Romulo Barral, whose injury in the finals of his weight division prevented him from competing in the absolute final against Roger Gracie.
• 2010 medium heavyweight champion Tarsis Humphreys
• Brown belt British competitor Oliver Geddes
• 2010 rooster weight bronze medalist Felipe Costa
• Romero “Jacare” Cavalcanti and Fabio Gurgel, the leaders of 2010 male and female team champions, Alliance.

Finally, before winding down, we will hear from the elite combat sports trainer Martin Rooney, whose book Ultimate Warrior Workouts was recently published. Rooney follows up on a conversation we had with him at the beginning of this year where he offered ways to help jiu-jitsu practitioners reach their goals in 2010. A timely conversation given the accomplishments we hear about in today’s show!

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Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles (Alliance) on his way to the finals at the 2010 BJJ World Championship.

Rodrigo Cavaca (CheckMat), the 2010 ultra heavyweight world champion at black belt.

Roger Gracie (Gracie Barra) towers over Tarsis Humphreys (Alliance) at the 2010 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Championship.

What a day! The first day of black belt men and black / brown belt females is behind us at the 2010 BJJ World Championship and what a tornado of action. While every year’s Mundial showcases the best jiu-jitsu athletes on the globe, no event has ever felt as stacked as this year’s. Big stories of the event of course include Roger Gracie’s continuing dominance, the dense field of talent in the men’s middleweight division, Alliance’s female competitors, Team Lloyd Irvin’s persistent ascendance, and of course many others.

In this recap of the action on Saturday, we speak with the following jiu-jitsu personalities and try to bring just a taste of the intense competition here yesterday:

• Tracey Goodell (Team Lloyd Irvin)
• Hillary Williams
• Lloyd Irvin
• Vinicius “Draculino” Magalhaes
• Luca Atalla of GracieMag

Make sure you join us on Sunday June 6 for the live broadcast of the BJJ World Championship on budovideos.com/online!

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Kayron Gracie came up big this weekend with a triangle victory over Tiago Alves.

Tracy Goodell (Team Lloyd Irvin) celebrates a victory over Alliance’s Jackeline Oliveira at the 2010 BJJ World Championship. Goodell won both her weight division and the absolute division.

Carlos Gracie Junior

This week’s episode of the FightWorks Podcast is really two episodes in one. Each of the two interviews we present here would normally be a week’s worth of content but we are feeling especially generous with the 2010 BJJ World Championships on the way this coming weekend!

The first feature interview is with Carlos Gracie Jr.. Many of the Gracie family are key characters in how jiu-jitsu became what it is today Carlos Junior is no exception. He is the head of all Gracie Barra schools, the president of the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation, and the publisher of GracieMag. Influential indeed!

The second of our interviewees is none other than Jean Jacques Machado. One of the five Machado brothers (and a cousin to Carlos Gracie Jr.), Jean Jacques won his weight class in the 2001 ADCC Submission Grappling Championship and is highly regarded for his teaching skills. Another terrific interview brought to us by FightWorks Podcast contributor Christian Simamora.

Of course we will also review some listener email, voicemail, and go over the plans to cover the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Championship coming up this weekend at the Long Beach Pyramid in Los Angeles!

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Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belts Tatiana Garcia and Emily Kwok.

Last week on our show we highlighted elite female grapplers Leticia Ribeiro and Beatriz Mesquita, of Gracie Humaita. This week on our show we continue our coverage of the women’s jiu-jitsu scene with Tatiana Garcia and Emily Kwok. In a contribution from our east coast correspondent Christian Simamora, we learn more about what it takes to overcome obstacles to achieve the difficult dream of becoming a black belt in jiu-jitsu. Consider this excerpt from the conversation:

The FightWorks Podcast: Did you find that in your circle of family of friends that there was opposition to you doing jiu-jitsu?

Tatiana Garcia: My parents never watched any of my matches. I don’t think they even know what [jiu-jitsu] is. I had to train two years without telling them. And when they found out they took my car so I couldn’t drive. I had to take the bus. It was a challenge. Now, they accept it because they have no other choice. But it was hard. I used to do classical ballet before I got into jiu-jitsu so for them it was like a shock. I was in college in the U.S. as a freshman. I came to the U.S. to study and then I went back to Brazil for a couple of months for vacation and I started jiu-jitsu. So I quit school. I didn’t want to come back, and I wanted to do jiu-jitsu. So that was even worse. But you know what? Today I can say I’m so happy with what I do. I do what I love to do. No matter what other choice I could wdo with my life, I did what I wanted and I’m so happy about it.

Lots of good lessons for all jiu-jitsu practitioners about fighting hard on the mats and in life. For more on Tatiana check out MGinAction.com (yes, she is Marcelo Garcia’s wife) and Emily would be mad if we didn’t send you to WomensGrappling.org: jiu-jitsu camps just for the ladies.

We will also speak with Antonio “Nino” Schembri, who has been away from jiu-jitsu for a while but is now back in action. Schembri was the 1996 absolute black belt champion at the Brazilian National Championship, and now has a school in Manhattan Beach. We were able to speak with him at the Fabio Santos Open in San Diego last week (check him out in this video from the event if you haven’t seen it yet).

Finally we will speak with Rener Gracie about a very promising opportunity for jiu-jitsu! With enough votes, the Gracies of Torrance (Rorion, Ryron, Rener, Ralek, Reylan, and others!) will be bringing jiu-jitsu into homes across the nation on a reality show based on making kids safer from bullying by showing them jiu-jitsu techniques. Rener will bring us up to speed on that, but in the meantime, make sure you go vote! Multiple votes are allowed.

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Beatriz Mesquita and Leticia Ribeiro, two cornerstones of Gracie Humaita’s womens competition team.

Do not let the smiles fool you! Four stripe brown belt Beatriz Mesquita and her black belt instructor Leticia Ribeiro are some of the toughest female grapplers on the planet. Mesquita, aka “Bia” has hit the competition scene like a tsunami, winning world championship after world championship as she has progressed through the belt rankings. She also recently came in second place in the World Pro championship in Abu Dhabi. Did we mention that she is not yet twenty years old? Many consider her the top talent among new women’s jiu-jitsu athletes.

Leticia Ribeiro is a black belt under Royler Gracie and is the heart of the Gracie Humaita female team. World champion Penny Thomas has nothing but high praise for Letty, who organizes the competition preparation for Gracie Humaita’s womens team, which earned first place among female competitors for the last three years. And did you ever watch the episode of MTV’s Wildboyz where Steve-O was choked out by a woman? Yes, that was Leticia.

Also in this episode, we will discuss some listener email, a listener voicemail (who called us at (877) 247-4662), and of course we’ll also discuss the most recent BJJ Poll!

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Xande Ribeiro watches from the sidelines at a 2009 Grapplers Quest in San Diego.

So much to talk about this week on our humble Brazilian jiu-jitsu internet radio show! This week brought a lot of chatter about the convergence of BJJ and yoga. So we brought on Phil Migliarese, of Balance Studios in Philadelphia. Phil’s been a subject matter expert in both yoga and jiu-jitsu forever, having practiced both for over twenty years. (He was also one of our first ever guests on The FightWorks Podcast, for those who remember back that far!) Phil will share some insights on the best steps jiu-jitsu folks should take if they’re making the wise move of trying yoga. More of his work can be found on Yoga for Fighters.com.

We’ll also speak with Xande Ribeiro, the two-time black belt adult absolute champion in International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation competition (and four time champion in his weight class). Xande has been absent from jiu-jitsu competition for two years, as he was pursuing a career in mixed martial arts. For the time being that plan is on hold according to a blog post from Xande earlier this week. We met Xande at the University of Jiu-Jitsu in San Diego and discussed his return to action. As you’ll hear in the conversation, he is pursuing his third absolute title, which will be a record for anyone! But his old friend Roger Gracie has the same dream this year, setting the stage for a very exciting 2010 BJJ World Championship!

Finally we catch up with Brazilian jiu-jitsu researcher Alex Rosenstein. Earlier this year Rosenstein began work on his thesis for his graduate program in psychology, investigating character traits in jiu-jitsu practitioners. He returns to The FightWorks Podcast this week to share his results, and discuss future wishes for ongoing study into what makes Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners different from others. If you are interested in his work you can connect with him on the website for his research.

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Ryron and Reylan Gracie during a recent visit to Virginia.

Last week two of Rorion Gracie’s sons, Ryron and Reylan visited FightWorks Academy in Northern Virginia, where cohost Dan runs the school. This week on the show we bring you a conversation between Ryron, Reylan, and Dan. Ryron and Reylan discuss what it is like to grow up as a member of the Gracie family, with its corresponding pressure and expectations; their thoughts on whether competition is necessary to earn your jiu-jitsu black belt; the past contributions of the Gracie family and what they believe the future holds for Gracie family members.

We will also cover a ton of listener email from the Mighty 600,000 on topics as varied as Atos Jiu-Jitsu in San Diego, women’s weight divisions in competition, and more!

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