Hillary Williams at the 2010 Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship.

The United Arab Emirates was the place to be last week, where some of the world’s best Brazilian jiu-jitsu athletes met for the rare chance to compete for big dollar prizes. Like its no-gi cousin the Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Grappling Championship, the Abu Dhabi Pro is only possible because of the generous patronage of the Emirati Royal Family.

To get a little better idea of what the event was like, we will speak with BJJ brown belt Hillary Williams, who took third place in the under 63 kilogram female division. Hillary is one of the busiest BJJ athletes out there today, regularly competing on the global stage on the weekends while working on her undergraduate pre-medical classes during the week!

Cohost Dan and I will go over some listener e-mail and of course, review the most recent BJJ Poll data.

Don’t forget to check out Hillary’s website after you listen to the show!

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Alliance’s Bruno Malfacine defeats Brasa’s Felipe Costa for the gold medal in the rooster weight division of the 2010 Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship.

The 2010 Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship is now in the books, and Alliance continues its winning streak. According to Alliance founder Romero “Jacare” Cavalcanti, Alliance came in first place with 146 points, followed by Gracie Barra’s 44 points, and Gracie Humaita’s 21 points. Today on our show we will begin our conversation with Alliance founder “Jacare”, who proudly shares that the competitors just from his own school in Atlanta scored 55 points. We discuss the improving female competition team from Alliance with competitors like Luanna Alzuguir and Gabi Garcia, new stars like heavyweight and absolute champion Bernardo Faria, as well as the internal work Alliance does to keep its standards high.

We’ll also speak with the highest performing American competitor at the Pan Jiu-Jitsu, Rafael Lovato Jr. Lovato earned the second place in the heavyweight division. We will hear what it was like facing Faria, about some more recent techniques seen in tournaments, as well as Lovato’s overall impression of the tournament.

Our third interviewee is Budo Jake, who visits to discuss how Budo decided what to show during their live web stream on Sunday during the finals.

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2010 Pan Jiu-Jitsu heavyweight champions from left to right: Joao Assis (Checkmat, 3rd place), Leo Iturralde (Alliance Atlanta, 3rd place), Bernardo Faria (Alliance, 1st place), Rafael Lovato Jr (Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu, second place).

Fabio Gurgel, the leader of Alliance in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

This weekend the 2010 Pan Jiu-Jitsu Tournament is underway in Irvine, California. The Pan, formerly referred to as the Pan-Ams, is widely regarded as one of the most important Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitions held anywhere in the world. As of this writing, none of the champions have been decided yet but yesterday was full of very high-end talent. We will reflect on some of the action with Alliance Jiu-Jitsu’s Fabio “The General” Gurgel, the Sao Paulo-based instructor who is responsible for some of the most dominant jiu-jitsu competitors today.

The majority of our show today is a conversation with Antonio Antonioli, a brown belt in jiu-jitsu from Porto Alegre, Brazil. Most of us have an idea of what we think Brazilian jiu-jitsu is, and we know what our personal experience in jiu-jitsu is like, but not many of us have experienced jiu-jitsu from Brazil itself. Antonioli will give us a glimpse into the everyday way jiu-jitsu is felt by the multitudes back in the nest of Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

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Antonio Antonioli (left) demonstrates a half guard position with Alex Brandao.

Penny Thomas (far right) with some of her women’s jiu-jitsu crew in San Diego.

This week we continue our coverage dedicated to the upcoming 2010 Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship, which takes place April 8-11 in Irvine, California. In last week’s show we discussed how teams like Alliance and Gracie Barra are gearing up their competitors for this important competition. This week we continue learning about the preparations of another traditionally powerful team, Gracie Humaita. Our representative from Gracie Humaita is the 2010 black belt medium heavyweight world champion and returning guest on The FightWorks Podcast Penny Thomas.

Cohost Dan and I will then speak with Dave of Budo Videos. We brought Dave on the show* to discuss the ways people around the world will be able to watch the Pan tournament live on Sunday at budovideos.com/online. In addition to the live blogging I plan on doing on Saturday here on thefightworkspodcast.com, it should make for a very exciting weekend!

We also go over voicemail and email from the Mighty 600,000. One listener asked for tips on how to download old shows from us, so here you go!

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*Full disclosure: I will be compensated for my work commentating the event on Sunday

Antonio Braga Neto (Gordo Jiu-Jitsu) defeats Romulo Barral (Gracie Barra) on his way to to the gold medal in the black belt absolute division at the 2009 BJJ Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship.

The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Pan-Ams is run by the United States Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (a subsidiary of the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation) and is easily the second most important annual gathering of BJJ talent in North America. This week on the show we showcase the preparations made by two of the teams that have historically had the most success at the Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship: Gracie Barra and Alliance. In 2006, 2007, and 2009 Gracie Barra won first place, and in 2008 Alliance took home the gold.

From Alliance we hear from Romero “Jacare” Cavalcanti, the founder of the team who has made Atlanta, Georgia his home for over a decade. Jacare brings us up to speed on his team’s training camp and who we can expect to see at the Pan-Ams, all the while keeping in mind his desire to win the “Grand Slam”: 1rst place in the Europeans, Pan-Ams, Mundials, and Brasileiros.

Gracie Barra’s preparations are delivered by two big names from the organization, Marcio Feitosa and Flavio Almeida. Both now run GB schools in southern California and they will share details of Gracie Barra’s efforts in the near term with the Pan-Ams as well as their long term investment in competition success with the Gracie Barra Competition Network.

Of course cohost Dan and I will go over some correspondence from the Mighty 600,000, and review the good news about the finals of the Pan-Am being streamed live online on April 11.

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Rodrigo Cavaca (left) gives advice to CheckMat teammate Nivaldo Lima at the 2009 Pan-Ams.

The next few months contain some of the most important Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitions of the year. The 2010 Pan-Ams take place on April 8th – 11th, and the World Championships are June 3rd – 6th. All over the world, BJJ athletes are preparing to step onto the mats and test themselves against their peers from other academies.

We spend weeks, if not months, getting ready. We train jiu-jitsu, we eat right, we get our cardio in gear… But what about the all important support that comes off the mats when we’re at a tournament? The advice and support we receive while we are in the heat of battle can play a significant role in how we do after we have slapped our opponent’s hand and the clock has begun.

We recently received a voicemail from one of the Mighty 600,000 on our toll free number (877) 247-4662 from Hawaii, asking if we would tackle this topic.

I don’t think this has been discussed, on the issue of coaching during matches and its importance, how it’s done, how certain coaches do it… because I find that for me it’s very helpful and maybe for others, I don’t know, maybe it’s not. If you could talk about that, it’d be cool.

Our pleasure! This week on The FightWorks Podcast we speak with Georgette Oden, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner from Texas, who has compiled a list of do’s and don’ts for people who are cornering us in our BJJ matches at tournaments. Her 16 tips are sure to come in handy the next time you are walking out on the mat. Share these details with your friends and there’s a good chance you will do better at your next tournament!

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Chris Moriarty

Chris Moriarty is an Alliance black belt under Romero “Jacare” Cavalcanti. As a brown belt, Moriarty won the heavyweight division of International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation’s World Championship two consecutive years, as well as the Pan-Ams.

With such a fearsome record, Moriarty is a veteran of Brazilian jiu-jitsu competition, having competed in one year as many as 16 times. He has been giving advice to listeners of The FightWorks Podcast going all the way back to 2006.

Today we are going to examine balance in BJJ. Not the ability to maintain one’s balance on the mats when sparring, training, or competing against an opponent, but making sure that we do not push ourselves too hard in jiu-jitsu so that we eventually neglect other important aspects of our lives. It may seem impossible. On The FightWorks Podcast we generally endorse the idea that one can never get enough Brazilian jiu-jitsu. However, like anything, too much of a good thing can be bad. We explore this in BJJ with Chris Moriarty and discuss ways to make sure we keep balance in BJJ.

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Royler at Gracie Competition Team.

Four and a half years ago, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu internet radio show called The FightWorks Podcast began. The show began as a project at FightWorks in Northern Virginia, and here we are at our 200th episode!

We celebrate this occasion with an interview from Royler Gracie, Helio Gracie’s fifth son and renowned competitor for Gracie Humaita. Royler has relocated to San Diego, California and when he is not travelling, he can be found at Gracie Competition Team where he sometimes teaches and sometimes just comes to train.

Thank you for the questions you sent in to us to our twitter page! In addition the questions you asked about competition, training, what’s going on at Gracie Humaita in Rio, we will also learn about his eventual promotion to red and black belt and much more.

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Students observe Royler showing guard tactics.

Vinicius “Draculino” Magalhaes. Image courtesy Draculino.

Vinicius “Draculino” Magalhaes is one of Gracie Barra’s big names, having trained since 1985 alongside Carlos Gracie Junior and Renzo Gracie. After beginning judo as a youngster in Rio de Janeiro, he went on to take up surfing as many young men do. Through surfing he met Renzo and Ralph Gracie, and began training jiu-jitsu in 1985. Draculino originally intended to become a lawyer in adulthood but as we know now, he set that aside and concentrated on competing in jiu-jitsu and producing students who would become champions. Draculino has produced such talent as Romulo Barral, Albert Crane, and Samuel Braga.

In addition to telling us stories of the old days in Rio, Draculino introduces his brand new online BJJ training platform called Draculino BJJ Training.

Also in this episode we will discuss the unprecedented closure of last week’s BJJ poll, and introduce our newest poll.

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Rickson Gracie, Henry Akins, & Kron Gracie on the day Akins received his black belt. Image courtesy Akins.

Have you ever felt like you were not progressing in Brazilian jiu-jitsu? How often do you get the sensation that all the other jiu-jitsu students are getting better and you’re the same BJJ student you were a month ago? We recently received an email from Gary, one of the Mighty 600,000 along these lines, saying:

My question is about training frustration. I haven’t heard anyone address this topic on the show and was wondering if you or any one of your guests had any comments on training plateaus and the frustrations of training hard and sometimes feeling so good and accomplished and sometimes feeling as if I know nothing at all.

Today we start our weekly BJJ internet radio show with a conversation with Luis Pantoja on this very topic. Pantoja is a skilled jiu-jitsu black belt and a product of Yamasaki Jiu-Jitsu in Maryland, and gives us several valuable tips on how to get out of training slumps, and how to avoid getting in them in the first place.

Our feature interview is brought to us by FightWorks Podcast correspondent Christian Simamora, who speaks with Los Angeles-based Henry Akins. Akins is one of the few to receive a black belt from Rickson Gracie. Such a fortunate proximity to one of jiu-jitsu’s biggest names has given Akins a unique perspective on Brazilian jiu-jitsu today and how it has changed in the short time it has been in the United States. Akins reminds us that we can never forget the original reason for jiu-jitsu: self-defense. Of course, there are some very interesting Rickson anecdotes as well.

Luis Pantoja. Image courtesy Pantoja.

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