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.

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (recommended)
[mp3] Download the show

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

by Jon Broster

Manchester, in north west England is famous for many things: Manchester United (the world’s most famous football team), Oasis (leading exponents of Brit-Pop music), it is home to a number of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu academies and is also the location of the British Amateur Wrestling Association’s headquarters, as well as being only a short distance from Wigan, the home of Billy Riley’s Snake Pit the legendary catch wrestling gym. As such, it is perhaps surprising that it has not held a BJJ competition over the last few years. Perhaps even more surprising is the fact that this competition was organised by Gus Oliveira of Grab & Pull who is based in Brighton on England’s south coast, some 200 miles away. Gus has been running the Grab & Pull Brighton Open for some time now, so I was expecting a well run event.

Sugden Sports Centre is part of the University of Manchester and is a very pleasant venue – it was clean, airy and spacious enough for the number of competitors involved. The competition was run over six mats and started pretty much on schedule. Right from the start it became clear that although there were six mats, there were not six referees in attendance. In fact, anyone used to attending competitions held further south would have been surprised to see no black belts refereeing at all – the highest ranking referee was Oli Geddes who is a brown belt under Roger Gracie. The standard of refereeing was, however, good, with very few complaints about bad decisions. The lack of referees did mean that the event progressed a little more slowly than was expected and meant that there were no absolute divisions contested. The event was well organised, with relatively clear announcements and divisions running when the organisers said they would.

As is becoming the norm at UK competitions, the standard of competition was high, with some excellent displays of skill in all divisions. It was good too to see a large number of academies represented on the results table.

One thing that must be mentioned is the excellent medals, specifically designed and cast for the event – truly worth competing for. Overall, I had a thoroughly enjoyable day and will almost certainly compete again next year.

---

Jon Broster trains under Victor Estima at Gracie Barra Midlands. He placed 2nd at senior middle heavy.

This is an installment in our Tournament Review Tuesdays column, where FightWorks Podcast listeners submit reports about Brazilian jiu-jitsu and grappling competitions that happened the weekend prior. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of The FightWorks Podcast. Through the rest of 2010, if you submit a Tournament Review Tuesday piece, you might win an Isami gi!

- Caleb

Moments before Barral had to signal his injury to the referee. All photos courtesy cohost Dan.

It was shaping up to be another excellent year for Gracie Barra’s Romulo Barral. Barral was the gold medalist of the medium heavyweight black belt division and silver medalist in the absolute division in 2009, and he was on track to repeat in 2010. Going in to the final day of the 2010 Brazilian Jiu-jitsu World Championship, Romulo was set to face Tarsis Humphreys in a rematch of last year’s final at the medium heavyweight division, and had another rematch in the finals of the absolute division later that day lined up against fellow Gracie Barra athlete, the indestructable Roger Gracie. But it was not meant to be.

Romulo Barral is attended to by paramedics at the 2010 BJJ World Championship in Long Beach.

During Barral’s match against Humphreys, he sustained a knee injury that ended the match. Humphreys, who has been incorporating more leg attacks since 2008, torqued Barral’s knee in an unusual leg lock just under the six and a half minute mark in a scoreless match. Barral was done for the day.

The FightWorks Podcast caught up with Romulo Barral yesterday to learn how his knee is doing. Barral visited a doctor last week who referred him for an MRI. The MRI results have come back and reveal that Barral has an MCL that is mostly torn, and a partially torn ACL. He is now wearing a “big brace”, and has been told to return in 30 days for another MRI to determine how well his body recovers on its own, or whether surgery will be required.

At this point “it’s 50-50″ said Barral, who was not referring to the 50-50 guard but the chances he will indeed need surgery. Barral is hoping to know sooner rather than later so he can begin recovery and get in gear for the 2011 Pan-Ams and Mundials.

Bruno Malfacine received by his Alliance teammates after his victory over Caio Terra for the 2010 rooster weight gold medal. All images courtesy Cohost Dan.

by Philippe Balmant

I traveled from New York City with the (mG)inaction team to Long Beach California for the 4 day Mundials event for my first time ever. I found myself in a feeling of Jiu-Jitsu Nirvana. When first arriving at the Walter Pyramid I was blown away. This looks like something out of the movie Stargate. I said to myself, “What a perfect venue to host the Mundials.” Once inside the electricity is running through my body. I felt a great festive atmosphere inside the Pyramid. This event marks my first time linking up with the entire Alliance team. Meeting Mestre Jacare and the General Fabio Gurgel to me was worth the trip alone. Watching the white/blue belts competing in 8 rings at the same time kept me looking everywhere.

The acai stand was my source of a much needed refreshing energy boost when one was needed. I limited myself to two acai bowls per day. One thing was obvious from jump street, that this energy I felt was only going to go up, till the black belt finals on Sunday exploded in full effect! From Friday through Saturday the matches were coming and going non stop. One thing I found hard was when there were 3 or 4 world champions fighting in different rings all at the same time, now that was crazy. When Sunday June 6th arrived, where there were 8 rings are now only two.

There is a connection at the Mundials, like to the BJJ life source we all share, within your own team, between academies from fighters to supporters. It’s a high dose of Jiu-Jitsu on its biggest platform with a sprinkle of a carnival type atmosphere. I fell in love with it. My best experience was meeting Rickson. My favorite moment was when my professor Marcelo Garcia won his 4th black belt Mundial title, even though the last 8 seconds had me on Skype with God. Yes!!!!

Great matches, great victories, gracious defeats, quick submissions, a back and forth war, by 1 point, by 1 advantage, or by judges decision, with BJJ history being made. Mega props to Roger Gracie. The 2010 Mundials had it all. By the end I had pretty much lost my voice, was running around on pure adrenaline and hollering at Caleb and Dan from The Fightworks Podcast. Podium, medals, pictures. That’s all folks. Except for the voice of Tony Torres still in my head saying, “You have now been DQ’d………” Nobody says it better than that guy.

A few hours later with a celebratory dinner for team Alliance, the General gives us our first toast in which he brings to light that today June 6th 2010 marks 28 years since the legendary Mestre Rolls Gracie passed away. With Alliance winning its 5th World title, and Mestre Jacare receiving his red & black belt, our entire Alliance team ended this amazing night with joy, laughter and happiness.

---

Philippe Balmant is a BJJ purple belt under Marcos Santos/Rigan Machado. He is currently a student of Marcelo Garcia, training in New York City.

This is an installment in our Tournament Review Tuesdays column, where FightWorks Podcast listeners submit reports about Brazilian jiu-jitsu and grappling competitions that happened the weekend prior. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of The FightWorks Podcast. Through the rest of 2010, if you submit a Tournament Review Tuesday piece, you might win an Isami gi!

- Caleb

The author and his Alliance teammates.

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!

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (recommended)
[mp3] Download the show

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.

Tarsis Humphreys celebrates his first gold medal as a world champion after defeating Romulo Barral.

From the proverbial “thirty-thousand foot view” to examination of microscopic details that others miss, not many are able to put together a review as detailed as this piece volunteered by J-Sho on the men’s competition at the 2010 BJJ World Championship. (If anyone would like to contribute a review of the women’s brackets, please get in touch.) All photos courtesy of cohost Dan. Enjoy! – Caleb

---

With the free live web stream provided by Budovideos and the live blogging of Caleb on the FightWorksPodcast giving many 1,000s of BJJ fans a window into proceedings, this, the 15th Mundials of the modern era did not disappoint. Upsets, submissions, controversy and the crowning of the greatest player of our generation.

10 male Black Belt finals, 2 advantage decisions, 1 referee’s decision, 1 close out, 1 injury, 2 submissions, 3 points victories – that was what this weekend came down to.

Some numbers to start us off…

28: Brazilian quarter finalists (from a possible 36). Well, it is called Brazilian Jiu Jitsu…

16: Roger Gracie’s row of submissions in these past 2 Mundials ended by a game Ricardo Abreu

15: The numbers of Black Belt medals Roger has picked up at the Mundials since 2003; the number of Mundials that Wellington “Megaton” Dias has competed in.

10: Roger Gracie’s black belt gold haul since 2003

8: The number of absolute finals Roger has been in since 2003

7: Number of degrees on those Red & Black belts now worn by Mauricio Gomes and Romero “Jacare” Cavalcanti (2 of Rolls Gracie’s “Famous Five”) and Sergio Penha.

6: Felipe Costa now has six bronze medals in his division.

5: The absolute silver medals that remind us Roger is human too sometimes; the number of men’s titles Alliance took this year, matching their haul last year – still some way short of the 8 Gracie Barra managed in 2002 (admittedly after Nova Uniao removed themselves from CBJJ competition).

4: The absolute semi finals that Xande Ribeiro has faltered in (2004 Jacare Souza, 2005 Braulio Estima, 2007 Romulo Barral, 2010 Romulo again); the number of Gracies contesting black belt divisions (3 of whom were in Medio); the number of Americans quarter-finalists (Rafael Lovato Jr, Bill “The Grill” Cooper, JT Torres, Ryan Hall)

3: The number of absolute gold & double golds Roger has won; the number of Gracies contesting Medio Black Belt this year (Clark, Kayron, Kron); the number of Japanese quarter-finalists (Naoya Uematsu, Makoto Sawada, Matsumo Yoshihiko); the number of major finals Rafael Mendes has now beaten Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles in (World Pro Gi, ADCC, and Mundials).

2: The number of records Cobrinha missed out on (most titles in one division in a row; most Pan Ams and Mundials in the same year in a row);

1: Closed out finals. Granted a small number of but still 1 too many in my opinion; the number of Gracies other than Roger to have medaled at Black Belt since Royler Gracie in 1999 (Kayron); the round that saw the shock exit of the reigning champ Guilherme Mendes to Paulo Melo; the number of Australian quarter-finalists (Mick Wilson); the number of non-Brazilian Medalists (Lovato).

Tarsis Humphreys’ leg attack ends the Mundials aspirations of Romulo Barral.

Meio Pesado

Tarsis Humphreys (Alliance) vs. Romulo Barral (Gracie Barra)

A repeat of last year’s final (and with the prospect of more déjà vu for Romulo to come) saw Romulo control much of the match from the top before Tarsis caught Romulo’s foot and twisting his leg in all sorts of seemingly unnatural positions. Romulo was forced to submit due to his injury and hobbled past Roger waiting for his own match. Tarsis was ecstatic to get what some may be surprised to learn is only his first black belt Mundials gold. Fans would be left waiting to see if Romulo could possibly recover for the Absolute final or if Roger would get a walkover.

Tarsis wins by leg lock @ 6m23s.

Roger Gracie refrains from snapping Demente’s arm in two.

Super Pesado

Roger Gracie (Gracie Barra) vs. Ricardo “Demente” Abreu (Nova Uniao)

Déjà vu for Roger as well, a repeat of last year’s finals on the cards for him as well. Gracie has submitted all en route to both finals. Would the end of this match be the same as last year? Abreu (no relation to Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu) pulled guard and seemed to try to sweep Roger but Roger’s base was proof against this initially. Another attempt and he swept Roger to get some points on the board but Roger promptly reversed, Demente then reversed, almost took Roger’s back (had the hooks in but no control) forcing Roger to regain his composure and successfully defend the position.

Abreu found himself defending from the half guard, with Roger briefly passing, taking the back, trapping an arm and leg and then engaging in some seemingly armbreaking armbar attempts from different positions. Demente, living up to his name perhaps, did not tap even though from some angles the arm seemed clearly hyper-extended. The commentators speculated Roger was being a good sportsman by not cranking it on further. With a scramble ending out of bounds, Roger pulled guard and then dragged the arm, looking for the back (as per his earlier match vs. Bruno Bastos). Taking the back again and stretching out Ricardo, he secured 4 points to take it to 4-2.

Demente’s attempts to protect his neck were initially successful but Roger then underhooked an arm, rolled to his back and then worked for a choke. Demente had put on a very solid defense, proving more game than any other competitor Gracie had faced this weekend but Roger worked to transition to the mount and started looking for his trademark choke from mount. Demente was again able to put up some very solid defense and Roger was not able to repeat his feats of last year (winning all matches by submission and beating Demente in the final by submission), winning by 13-2. Roger secured his 7th weight division black belt gold in a row and 9th Gold overall and would be left waiting to see if he would contest the Absolute final for his 10th.

Roger wins 13-2.

Galo

Bruno Malfacine (Alliance) vs. Caio Terra (Gracie Elite)

Another rematch from last year saw Malfacine looking to continue his domination of this weight, having won both the CBJJ and CBJJE Mundials last year and the Pan Ams and Brasilieros this year. The match saw Terra, representing the newly formed Gracie Elite team, on the bottom and Malfacine on the top for the majority of the match, doing an excellent job of negating Caio’s guard. Terra’s sweep attempt and scramble to take the back at the death almost unseated Bruno, but the advantage awarded was not enough to snatch victory.

Malfacine wins 0-0 (3-2).

Pluma

Samuel Braga (Gracie Barra) vs. Pablo Silva (Gracie Barra)

The shock exit of Guilherme Mendes to Paulo Melo in the first round was unforeseen; the closing out of the bracket was not. Braga bowed out to Silva, taking his first gold, with Samuel giving up the opportunity to take his third. Braga gets to take this silver home though, having been DQ’d last year after showing disdain at Guilherme Mendes’ post fight celebration.

Silva wins by gentlemen’s agreement.

Rafael Mendes’ hand is raised in another defeat of his rival Cobrinha.

Pena

Rafael Medes (Atos) vs. Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles Maciel (Alliance)

The king vs. the pretender to his throne. With Cobrinha having already submitted former champ Mario Reis again and looking to surpass the kind of featherweights Royler Gracie and take his 5th consecutive gold, Mendes shot straight to pull half guard and then started working for a leg or foot lock rather than going for his trademark 50/50 guard. With Mendes and Cobrinha tied 3-3 in head to heads so far and Cobrinha’s avowed intention to retire from competition (temporarily at least), would the king leave on a high, or would he be forcibly dethroned? Mendes was 2-0 up for an early sweep but Cobrinha returned the favour for 2 points of his own at the 4 minute mark.

Leg spaghetti (trademark Caleb) ensued with both men jockeying for position and both men then going for toeholds. Cobrinha’s flexibility was defense enough but Rafael managed to score another sweep and 2 advantages in the meantime. Cobrinha threatened a kneebar and used that to get another sweep to tie the match on points if not advantages. Cobrinha snapped on a wickedly tight footlock, Rafael took one too but neither man could finish.

A kneebar by Mendes also went nowhere but 2 points appeared and then disappeared from the board for Cobrinha, 4-4 (3-1) for Mendes so far with 90 seconds left and all to play for. Cobrinha looked for another footlock, Mendes replied in kind, the clock ticked on, less than 30 seconds to go. More footlock attempts, Mendes lost his but Cobrinha is dethroned, 4-4 (5-3) and Mendes and Atos have finally stopped the relentless Alliance medal haul this weekend. Let us hope Cobrinha changes his mind and we see these two continue their rivalry.

Mendes wins 4-4 (5-3).

Leve

Michael Langhi (Alliance) vs. Celso Vinicius (Gracie Elite)

With Langhi looking for his 2nd gold and Celsinho his 4th, the number 0 figured heavily here, with no points or advantages scored in the first 9 minutes. A sweep attempt by Langhi saw some frantic attempts by Celsinho to seal his victory as this one went to the referees. Almost nothing to call between them! Would Langhi get it for the near sweep or Celsinho for maintaining his top position? Langhi had done enough with the sweep and took his second gold. By Michael’s own reckoning, he has not lost in more than 2 years. Celsinho will no doubt be looking to break that run at the next suitable juncture.

Langhi wins by referee’s decision.

Marcelo Garcia works to escape the closed guard of Claudio Calasans.

Medio

Marcelo Garcia (Alliance) vs. Claudio Calasans (Atos).

A very strong field this year with all 8 quarter finalists confident of victory (3 CBJJ world champions and 2 world champions under other federations amongst them). The final was another Atos/Alliance contest, with Calasans looking to maintain his momentum of 2010, having beaten ADCC and Mundials champ Braulio Estima twice at the World Pro Gi this year (and under BJJ math, if Calasans beats Braulio and Braulio beats Marcelo, can Claudio beat Marcelo too?). Garcia, who has dominated middleweight since 2004 and the disappearance of Terere from the competition scene, was looking for his 4th black belt gold here and probably some personal redemption having lost out to Pablo Popovitch in the ADCC final last September. He had been impressive en route to the final, but so had Calasans. Calasans attempt to launch Roger into orbit in the absolute of last year was not totally successful, but his top game was initially match for Marcelo’s guard game. Claudio pulled off a butterfly guard pass on no one in particular and then got wrapped up for a footlock sweep by Marcelo.

Calasans worked from guard and looked to work a cross collar choke, but to no avail. Wristlock fans were briefly elated then disappointed. You won’t see Marcelo’s posture in guard advocated on his instructional videos, but when you make the rules, you can break them too I guess (don’t try this at home kids). Calasans working grips to try set up an unconventional looking omoplata, tried to threaten the sweep but could not fix the requisite grips and with the clock moving regularly (even if the competitors weren’t) he would still need to score to prevent the online BJJ community inventing new superlatives to describe Garcia. Calasans shot his leg out but Garcia stuffed it and went for his high step over guard pass. Claudio worked from open, then half guard and was rolled by Marcelo in a scramble. 8 seconds to go. A takedown would be needed to draw. An awesome flurry of sweep and throw attempts by Claudio was not enough and Marcelo’s ownership of the title best Middleweight in the world continues, for the moment at least.

Marcelo wins 2-0.

Alliance’s young title hunter Bernardo Faria defeats Xande Ribeiro.

Pesado

Xande Ribeiro (Gracie Humaita) vs. Bernard Faria (Alliance)

Garcia was all smiles after his final, by contrast when the camera panned to Saulo and Xande, they were deep in thought, Xande not having not had a great day yesterday, tested by Antonio Braga Neto and then beaten by Romulo Barral in the Absolute division. Pesado has seen a number of young guns emerge recently, with Alexandre Ceconi, Cyborg, Faria, Rodrigo Pinheiro adding to the elite ranks of Braulio & Xande. With Braulio injured and Cyborg campaigning successfully at Ultra Heavy this year it was Faria (who has taken double gold at the Pan Ams this year) who made it to the final hurdle. He started brightly, shooting for half guard and starting to look for his omoplata game. Xande’s day seemed brighter on Sunday, storming to another final, the last person to beat Xande in a weight category here was Roger and that was back in 2005 when Xande stepped up to Super Pesado to go after Roger.

Faria working mostly from the bottom and Xande on the top, Faria worked hard for a takedown with Xande desperately defending; Faria even pulling Xande back into the centre of the mat to try to launch the throw. Faria went back to the deep half guard, from the other side this time, 0-0 (2-1) in favour of Xande with little time left. Xande looked to flatten out Faria and work for mount, but with a double underhook Faria managed to sweep and get 2 pts. 0-2 (2-1) with 2 minutes left. The Alliance cheering squad prepared themselves to explode. 90 seconds and Xande trying to work his legs in, but Faria took control and prevented his game plan. Faria then pulled Xande back into the centre of the mat to maintain his momentum and prevent the restart. Xande indicated Faria was stalling to win the match, but he himself has probably benefited from riding out the clock before and he could not break Faria’s grip on his belt, his gi pants, or on the title.

Faria wins 2-0 (1-2).

Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu peers from the depths as Rodrigo Cavaca seals his fate.

Pesadissimo

Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu (Carlson Gracie Team) vs. Rodrigo Cavaca (Checkmat)

An oft-maligned division with few serious competitors, not this year, a very deep talent pool this year with the presence of Peinado, Cavaca, Braga Neto, Abreu, Luiz “Big Mac” Teodoro, Gabriel Vella, Roberto Tozi, Marcio “Pe de Pano” Cruz and Marcio Corleta (4 of them World Champions) making for some intriguing match ups. The surprise of this bracket surely the giant Australian “Big Mick” taking the back and choking the versatile “Big Mac”.

The final came down to Cyborg, seeking revenge for Cavaca beating him by footlock in the absolute quarter finals yesterday and Cavaca having easily triangle one legend of the game (Pe de Pano) on his run to the final, seeking a gold to help blot out the memory of another (Roger) manhandling him yesterday. Cavaca has already won this category at the Brasilieros this year and his run must have left him confident. A different Abreu (in case anyone (Caleb) wasn’t sure) from the one who went the distance with Roger earlier, had triangled Braga Neto in the semis and looked to continue a successful campaign at a weight 2 above his normal division. Cavaca fighting from guard, Cyborg looking to pass, but Cavaca with a sweep to go ahead. Cavaca eying Cyborg’s foot hungrily like Pe de Pano & Big Mac at a churrascaria, he set his grips slowly then changed his mind and went for a straight footlock. Fixing his position, then arching back and Cavaca has his first Mundials black belt title, 6 wins from 7 this year and the memory of his defeat to Vella in the final erased.

Cavaca wins by leg lock @ 2m49s.

Absolute

Roger Gracie (Gracie Barra) vs. Romulo Barral (Gracie Barra).

With Romulo badly injured in his final against Tarsis, and the women’s absolute final closed out by Alliance team mates Luanna Alzuguir and Gabi Garcia, the day’s proceedings were bought to a close. Roger as three time Absolute, 3 time Double Gold winner and now ten time black belt world champion, his 2010 campaign ending on a whimper and not a bang this time, but not before making clear that closing out a division is not an option in his world and additionally that he is going to be back on these mats for some time to come. Barral was clearly disappointed to have not contested the Absolute final, but can take heart in having put on some amazing matches this weekend; we wish him a speedy recovery.

Roger wins by walkover.

And the aftermath

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, like it says on the tin, it’s Brazilian: Still only two non Brazilian gold medalists in 15 years and based on this year, no stand out likely to join them soon. Of the 36 quarter finalists, only 8 were non Brazilian with 4 Americans, 3 Japanese, and 1 Australian all adding up to 1 medal this time around. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu continues to go from strength to strength in the United States and elsewhere and there are many talented and accomplished players, particularly from Japan and the US, but it seems we are still some way from breaking the Brazilian domination of the sport.

Anti-Venom: Mendes proved again he can win by taking Cobrinha out of his comfort zone, albeit the place he takes them to is sometimes light on action. Cobrinha will surely not let the advantage of 4-3 lay with his rival for too long and I think their rivalry will continue shortly.

Many could quickly dismiss this as another 50/50 stall-fest, restating that the goal of BJJ is to positionally dominate and/or submit your opponent, but that is predicated on you actually being able to do that to them. That does a disservice to this particular final, which I think was an intriguing technical battle. Perhaps the casual observer is spoiled by getting to see Roger and others dominate and finish their opponents in short order and this raises an unreasonable expectation as to how a match should look – if you are submitting or dominating your opponent at the black belt level, it is probably because there is a gulf in skill and/or fitness between you and your opponent.

In many combat sports, when two very similarly or evenly matched people are competing, it is probable that the ensuing match will not be visibly spectacular. By the time you reach the semi finals, one should assume that the competitors are all likely to be reasonably matched. An additional consideration, to quote the old chestnut “styles make fights”, not every match is going to be the perfect visual feast of 100 mile an hour acrobatic top game vs. tricky inverse rolling guard game. Sometimes with a clash of styles or where two people with the same style meet, the resulting match will be hard on the eye. This does not mean it is not a skillful affair, just not perhaps to your taste – if you don’t like watching this style of match, then don’t.

Let us give credit where it is due; Mendes handily beat most of his opponents with the exception of Ryan Hall, in part because Ryan Hall plays a similar game to Mendes. Cobrinha blitzed all his other opponents, including a former world champ Mario Reis, seemingly able to impose his game pretty much at will. But he had to engage in the “leg spaghetti” of the final because Mendes is just as good as he is – you don’t become the only black belt to beat Cobrinha (and 4 times at that) just by being able to stall. Cobrinha in this one instance does not possess the necessary incremental skill over his opponent to impose his game or to prevent Mendes from playing his own game. Evolution in positions and movement and tactics and counters is a key facet of BJJ; the 50/50 is just one such evolution that Atos’ opponents are still coming to terms with.

Can’t tap this: Ricardo “Demente” did something improbable this weekend, somehow defending an armbar from Roger Gracie on a hyper-extended limb and thwarting multiple other submission attempts from Gracie to deny him another perfect Mundials. Reports he rushed outside to buy a lottery ticket and discovered the Higg’s Boson on his way to the store are unverified at this time.

All your base belong to us: Alliance repeated their feat of 2009 with 5 of a possible 10 male black belt golds winging their way back to Atlanta. But for Mendes, it could have been 6, a recent record, albeit still short of Gracie Barra’s 8 in 2002 after Nova Uniao pulled out of CBJJ competitions. With champions like Garcia, Malfacine, Faria, Tarsis & Langhi and strong supporting cast in Peinado, Nogueira, Lepri, Moraes & Cobrinha, let alone the small army of warriors at lower belts, they are THE dominant force on the competition scene. They took a very good new addition to the team (Malfacine) and helped him become the most dominant rooster weight in a decade, the first back to back champion at that weight since Omar Salum in 1999/2000.

That having been said, there are still a few gaps in their armory. With the departure of Gabriel Vella, they have lost a decorated veteran campaigner in the Ultra Heavy and Absolute divisions With Leo Leite turning out for his cameo appearances for Brasa these days and Comprido a). also part of Brasa but even so b). retired, they miss their other active Super & Ultra Heavy players of previous years. For a team which can claim 2 of the best 3 or 4 players in the world in Leve and Medio, they are still reliant on one elite individual in Feather and Medium-heavyweight and have arguably had no serious contender in Light Feather since Ricardo Vieira in the early 00’s.

Quibbling over this is may be like trying to point out a small speck of dirt on a fine cashmere jumper, but the Absolute title defines these games to an extent and Alliance have not had a viable challenger for the throne since Comprido back in 2000. Other teams can, for the moment rest easy knowing that there is still gold to be struck out there.

Atos Jiu-Jitsu’s cheering section celebrates Rafael Mendes’ gold medal.

A New Act: Guilherme Mendes was surprisingly defeated in the first round when many (myself included) considered him a shoe-in for the final. Melo deserves full credit for the win, although some will wonder if the weight cut for Mendes was in some way a factor. Regardless, Atos Jiu Jitsu have been consistently showing us that at major tournaments that they have strength in depth in the lighter weights, with their team of Claudio Calasans, Rodrigo Caporal, Bruno Frazatto, Jonatas Gurgel, Gustavo Campos, Gilbert “Durinho” Burns, Eduardo Ramos, Rafael Mendes, Guilherme Mendes. Alliance will have worthy competitors from this team for some time to come.

Gracie Humaita’s cheering section at the 2010 BJJ Mundials.

Look on my works ye mighty and despair: In stark contrast to the riches on their teamsheet for much of the past 15 years, Gracie Humaita have shrunk to having only a handful of potential medalists, one, granted, is one of the best of the last decade, but even he has off days as evidence by this weekend and the next best chance is his student, also in his division, limiting their options for Gold.

Royler, Saulo & Xande make up the most dominant teacher/student force in the history of the sport, with 26 black belt gold and 44 medals at the Mundials, ADCC and Copa do Mundo between them. But with the former two retired, of Humaita’s 8 golds in the last 7 years, Xande alone has won 6 and if he retires to focus on MMA or if training for MMA prevents him from recapturing his past form, does that spell the end of Gracie Humaita as a force at the Mundials at this level?

Lonely at the top: The stats are impressive: 1st 3 time absolute champion; 1st 3 time double champion; 8 absolute finals in a row; 7 weight class finals in a row; 7 weight class gold medals in a row; 2009/2010 run of 16 submissions; 15 black belt medals at the Mundials (10 Gold, 5 silver) and submitted 2 of the other champions at the weekend (Cavaca and Tarsis).

With the records books updated, we must reflect that often a Mundials will be made by Roger being taken to the wire, being beaten, even if just by the tiniest of margins, but with Xande in a poor (for him) run of form, with no Jacare prowling the mats, with Pe de Pano now gone as a force on the mats and despite the emergence of a lot of talent in the Pesado ranks, no other real contender on the scene, how long will the sport hold his interest? For Ali to be the greatest, he needed Frazier, Norton, Foreman to propel him to that peak and keep him there. Roger similarly needs at least one great rival to make next year compelling since this year was another Godzilla vs. Tokyo affair. Either Tokyo needs to learn to fight back, or one of the rival teams needs to perfect their Mecha-Godzilla and fast.

Close outs, a necessary evil?: The odds are stacked against such things happening, but some teams do have real depth in a given division – thankfully we only saw one this weekend, but to many fans it tarnishes the victory of the “winner”, regardless of the arguments that sometimes when people are team-mates and friends, they don’t want to compete against each other. At least Braga didn’t ask for a game of Rock/Paper/Scissors.

(Left to right) Sergio Penha, Mauricio “The Bear” Motta Gomes, and Romero “Jacare” Cavalcanti receive certificates for their red and black belts from the IBJJF.

The Three Seven Degrees: Certificates commemorating their elevation to the small group Black and Red belts were presented to Mauricio Gomes and Romero “Jacare” Cavalcanti (2 of Rolls Gracie’s “Famous Five”) and Sergio Penha. These men have been living and breathing Jiu Jitsu longer than many competitors this weekend have even been alive. For their legacy, Mauricio has produced (both literally and through coaching) the greatest BJJ player of our age; Jacare, created one of the strongest sport BJJ team’s of the decade and Sergio, also a very successful coach, will always been known as the person who came closest to the impossible feat of defeating Rickson Gracie.

A Free Lunch: An amazing gift to BJJ fans, a free live stream for both days of the weekend. Gone are the days of brief text messages from people at Tijuca Tennis Club to the outside world, now with the FightWorksPodcast live blogging by Caleb, the Live stream and the Twittering by Graciemag and others, technology has helped revolutionise how we enjoy the Mundials, in as much as those not there can actually enjoy it without relying on terrible hand shot footage on YouTube or waiting a few months for the DVD.

Shawn and Caleb again did a great double act presenting the Budovideos live stream and we must all thank Budovideos for that. Having said that, with only one camera and the matches selected at the whim of the producers, often changing mid match, I wonder if there is an opportunity for Budovideos to enhance this offering, maybe have multiple cameras to choose from and to charge an appropriate fee for this service. Few might quibble with paying 20 or 30 dollars for premium access to action over the weekend.

Hail to the Chef: It would be remiss to remark about the free lunch and not mention all those who pulled together this feast of BJJ. From the organization and direction of Marcelo “Siriema” Araújo, Alvaro Mansur and others, to the referees and judges, desk staff, mat officials, first aid team, to the unmistakable voice of Tony Torres and those poor souls he DQ’d and of course to all the competitors, coaches and supporters… well done.

See you next year.

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!

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (recommended)
[mp3] Download the show

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.

Six fighters have come up clean, including Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem. The fighters were tested after their performances last Saturday’s “Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery” event.

The independent test were ordered by the Strikeforce organization over concerns that the Missouri Office of Athletics would only be doing random drug testing instead of testing all contestants for performance enhancing and/or drugs of abuse.

“Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery” took place last Saturday at the Scottrade Center in Missouri.

Overeem, who has faced countless accusations in the past, including ones from his opponent Brett Rogers, came up clean.

Other fighters tested included Antonio Silva, who had served a previous suspension for testing positive for banned substances in the past, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Joey Villasenor, Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante and Antwain Britt.

Not yet available, were the test results for Brett Rogers, Andrei Arlovski, Roger Gracie and Kevin Randleman.

HT: MMAjunkie.com

Would you prefer Alistair Overeem fought Fedor Emelianenko or signed with the UFC before the end of 2010? What would you tell Andrei Arlovski after watching him lose for the third straight time? Is Matt Lindland on his last leg where current relevance in MMA is concerned? Are you more excited about the heavyweight headliners at Moosin MMA or the battle between bad-ass Betties a few fights down on the card?

Keyboard warrrrriors….come out to plaaaay-yay!

If you’re reading these lines you’ve made it through another work-week and are back in the friendly digital confines of “Grappling with Issues”, our site’s resident Friday feature highlighting insight and opinion from Adam Tool and myself on six subjects plucked from the Mixed Martial Arts landscape. However, just because we staffers get the fancy set-up, please don’t feel precluded from dishing out your own thoughts on each matter in the comments section at the bottom of the column…

More appealing match-up at this weekend’s Moosin MMA event – Tim Sylvia vs. Mariusz Pudzianowski or Tara LaRosa vs. Roxanne Modafferi?

Adam Tool: In essence this question is asking which fight I’ll be looking for first when I hit the internet Saturday morning to catch up on some fights, and the answer is LaRosa vs. Modafferi. I could care less about anything Tim Sylvia does anymore; he lost a big chunk of whatever respect I had for him following is 36 second clowning at the hands of Fedor Emelianenko. He could have salvaged his career by coming back with a hard-fought win over a respectable opponent, but instead he got knocked out in less than 10 seconds by a 48 year old boxer making his professional MMA debut. The headlining bout at Moosin seems like it’s designed to give Pudzianowski (who comes up second to Krzysztof Soszynski in the “Fighters Whose Name I Hate Typing” category) a legitimate name to add to his meager record. A win over the former body builder does little to help Sylvia’s reputation, and a loss just sends him further down the heavyweight rankings.

LaRosa and Modafferi are two legitimate fighters in the world of women’s MMA, with LaRosa being one of the top P4P female fighters in the world. We’ve got the always intriguing striker vs. grappler dynamic for this bout, and Modafferi will no doubt be hungry to avenge her loss to LaRosa in their previous meeting. Strikeforce is supposed to be the home for women’s MMA but so far this year they’ve dropped the ball as far as promoting new talent. With a win here Modafferi could easily be pegged as an upcoming contender for Sarah Kaufman’s championship, but it’s tough to see where LaRosa goes from here unless she’s willing to move back up to 135 lbs. In any case this should be an entertaining scrap between two aggressive young ladies, and I’m looking forward to watching it in grainy flash video on Saturday morning.

Brendhan Conlan: Tool essentially squished my opinion into a little ball and smacked it over the fence for a homerun. Though the result of Sylvia’s almost-guaranteed slop-fest with Pudzianowski is fascinating in a sick way I’m far more interested in seeing how the action unfolds in LaRosa vs. Modafferi.

I don’t fault “The Maine-iac” for taking what he felt would be an easy win against an opponent with some name value (Ray Mercer) on the heels of losing 3-of-4 against top shelf competition. It was a calculated risk and a gamble he ultimately paid for by sacrificing his already-wavering reputation in the sport with both the loss and by showing up as though he’d trained at Pillsbury Top Team for the bout. However, embarrassing knockout aside, it has to be noted Sylvia had only finished a single opponent in the four years prior. Looking at his record seems to indicate Tim-meh benefited more from a distinct size advantage coupled with a shallow heavyweight pool, rather than a particular set of skills, to earn his reputation as a two-time UFC champion. His physical dimensions and past praise will always make Sylvia an attraction, but then again the same can also be said about the “World’s Biggest Ball of Yarn”. Fighting a 2-0 former strong-man who once tested positive for performance enhancing drugs has “freak show” appeal but doesn’t compare from a competitive standpoint to the other pairing mentioned in this topic’s subject line.

Modafferi is 7-1 since 2007 with the lone loss coming in a match she took on short notice against Marloes Coenen, a naturally bigger and equally respectable Mixed Martial Artist. LaRosa is currently riding a fifteen-fight win streak and is 18-1 over her eight-year career. They fought to a decision in 2006, so there’s a familiarity there that should breed engagement because both already have a fair idea of what to expect when they lock horns or stand and bang. Their combined skill, heart displayed in previous fights, and styles should make for an entertaining scrap and definitely one I find to be more appealing than that featuring 4X the weight.

What advice would you give Andrei Arlovski on the heels of losing his third consecutive fight?

Tool: Honestly, I have no idea. He’s spent the last two years dedicating a bulk of his training to boxing, yet he was clearly being handled on the feet by Antonio Silva. I don’t know if that owes more to Arlovski’s decline or Silva’s improvement, but there’s little left of the mystique “The Pitbull” once had. He’s still got plenty of name value amongst casual fans so he’ll keep getting fights as long as he wants to but there’s no reason to believe that he’ll have a spot amongst the heavyweight elite any longer.

If I had to mark one area for improvement it might just be cardio. Late in the fight it looked as though Silva had all but punched himself out (at least, that’s the only reason I can think of as to why he insisted on continually clinching against the cage) and Arlovski could have turned things around if he would have had to the gas to really pour it on. He’s got to be feeling better about his chin after taking some of Silva’s best shots, and I still believe that his striking looked awesome against Fedor (right up until the flying knee of course), so I don’t think I’m ready to write Andrei off completely. The long layoff between his last two fights might have played a factor, so I think he should try and get back in the cage as soon as possible if he’s to have any hope of breaking this losing streak.

Conlan: If I was in Arlovski’s ear I would concentrate on the positives stemming from his loss to “Bigfoot” Silva, encourage him to continue training outside of his comfort zone, and get him in touch with Georges St. Pierre (or comparable high-level athlete) to discuss the benefit potentially derived from speaking to a sports psychologist.

As Tool mentioned, “The Pitbull” absorbed a few clean shots from Silva and never went limp in the process. Obviously Arlovski is interested in actual victories, not moral ones, but his retention of consciousness is an important fact to note when owing 3/4 of his career losses to having it taken from him while Silva has an equal ratio of career wins by TKO. The bout as a whole was relatively close and essentially up for grabs. A few tweaks in strategy and perhaps a bit more mental focus between bells would have likely resulted in a Belarusian victor rather than a Brazilian one.

Moving on, my understanding is that Arlovski spent some time training at American Kickboxing Academy and Greg Jackson’s Submission Fighting rather than working with his regular group of pre-fight handlers. I think it was a wise decision on his part regardless of result, as I truly believe improvement goes hand-in-hand with the type of preparation Mixed Martial Artists receive in camps as deep and experienced as those mentioned (as well as 5-10 others). There’s no doubt in my mind Andrei would get an infinite amount more out of sparring and grappling with actual peers rather than peons, and the type of knowledge found in places featuring guys like Jackson or Dave Camarillo is an asset any fighter is lucky to have in their corner.

Finally, though I have no idea if he’s already sought counsel on the matter, I think it would behoove Arlovski to spend some time speaking with a sports psychologist. There is no underestimating the influence an athlete’s mental state has on his/her performance during “go” time. I would be shocked if the manners in which Emelianenko and Brett Rogers beat him don’t still play his mind at some level, and I suspect his hesitance to fully engage against a lessened Silva in the final round may have actually been evidence of doubt-laced caution rather than questionable conditioning. I don’t think it’s far-fetched to think his self-esteem may have taken another dip with a third consecutive loss nor is it crazy to think Arlovski may enter his next match-up with additional stress/anxiety due to the possibility of going 0-4. Talking to a professional equipped to handle people in similar situations could genuinely help the former UFC Heavyweight Champion regain his mojo and get back to baring his fangs in the cage.

Of the four Brazilian’s to emerge victorious at “Strikeforce – Heavy Artillery”, who were you most impressed by – Rafael Cavalcante, Roger Gracie, “Jacare” Souza, or Antonio Silva?

Tool: Each fighter’s win was impressive for one reason or another, but the fighter whose performance stood out the most to me would have to be “Jacare.” I’ve been watching Souza’s career with interest for a few years now and I’m pleased to see him starting to make waves here in the U.S. While the announcers on Saturday night might have wanted you to think that “Jacare” and Joey Villasenor were having a great back-and-forth battle, the reality is that Souza dominated the fight from bell to bell. His cardio may not have been where he wanted it to be in the third round, but that’s only the second time in his career he’s gone the distance (and he won both times). As Jason High pointed out on Twitter, Souza isn’t like most jiu-jitsu fighters when it comes to taking the fight to the ground. Whereas Demian Maia or Thales Leites might pull guard, Souza has a mean shot that worked almost every time on Saturday. Once he’s on the ground there are few fighters in the world that can match his grappling ability, and I’ll give credit to the toughness of Villasenor for surviving and getting out of some bad situations. I’m sure he would have preferred to get the finish but in the end “Jacare” gave a dominant performance that puts him right at the top of the list of contenders for the Strikeforce Middleweight Championship. Now we just have to wait and see who he’s going to fight for that title (note to Scott Coker: please not “Mayhem” Miller).

Conlan: Credit to all of the names involved, and I can’t argue against Tool’s choice of “Jacare” (though I wouldn’t mind seeing he and Miller give it a third go-round with the Strikeforce title involved), but I was actually most-impressed by Rafael Cavalcante’s performance against Antwain Britt. “The Juggernaut” may not quite be at Villasenor’s level in terms of experience of success in the cage, but he also wasn’t coming off nearly a year’s layoff between bouts and has twice as many fights in the last two-and-half years as “Smokin” Joe does. Britt has heavy hands and put them on “Feijao” a few times to no avail only to end up slumped against the cage, then finished, due to some well-placed strikes from the blackbelt in BJJ. Cavalcante is now 9-for-9 in terms of finishing opponents he’s beaten in the first ten minutes of action and has yet to rely on his submission arsenal to pull out victories. The performance was too impressive as far as I’m concerned to opt for someone who fought to a decision.

Which would you rather see: Alistair Overeem fights Fedor Emelianenko before the year is up, or Overeem goes to the UFC and mixes it up with the new class of top heavyweights?

Conlan: Tough question! I’ll go with Overeem vs. Emelianenko by the width of a thread plucked from the Russian’s favorite sweater. I’m confident “The Demolition Man” will eventually end up in the UFC regardless of when the move actually takes place, while I think the number of Fedor’s future fights – especially against top competition – is a bit more debatable and its limited nature should be capitalized on. Also, assuming Emelianenko emerges victoriously from his San Jose showdown with Fabricio Werdum on June 26th, an added bonus to a bout with the imposing Dutch striker is it serving as a proper Strikeforce Heavyweight Championship match rather than inviting criticism of the title due to the involvement of lesser competition or enormous gaps in the strap being defended.

I’d love to see Overeem slugging it out in the UFC against Junior dos Santos, Cain Velasquez, Shane Carwin, or Brock Lesnar as much as anyone else, but all involved parties are young enough to see those outcomes to fruition within the next couple of years. On the other hand, “The Last Emperor” has recently dealt with a slew of nagging injuries and has little left to prove in his career outside of the Octagon (a possibility seeming less-and-less likely with each passing day). Putting the two together before year’s end would give Emelianenko a chance to further solidify his legacy against a respected, and much larger, heavyweight while also allowing Alistair an opportunity to become the first fighter to legitimately beat Fedor and reap the benefits attached to such a feat.

Tool: At the moment I would also probably have to lean towards Emelianenko vs. Overeem myself, if for no other reason than because Overeem represents the lone interesting opponent for Fedor at the moment. If Fedor can’t fight Alistair then what is there left for him to do? Fight worthless cans in Japan on New Year’s Eve? Take on guys out of their weight class like Dan Henderson and “King Mo” Lawal? I know Fedor doesn’t really care about taking on the best fighters in the world, but it’s something his fans would like to see if they’re going to have any ammunition in the ongoing pound-for-pound debate.

Overeem will have to make his way to the UFC sooner or later if he wants to considered the best in the world, but he does have the luxury of time. The UFC’s heavyweight division has four guys at the top right now, and none of them have faced each other yet. There’s still some work to be done in establishing the pecking order amongst Lesnar, Carwin, Velasquez, and Dos Santos, and by the time things start to sort themselves out the timing should be right for Overeem to come in and establish his place. If he enters the UFC as the man who shattered Fedor’s mystique, then the interest level shoots right up for any potential dream bout he takes in the octagon.

Should the winner of tonight’s Tyron Woodley/Nathan Coy fight become the top contender to Nick Diaz’s Strikeforce Welterweight Championship?

Conlan: I can see Woodley receiving a title shot with a win, especially with Jay Hieron’s Strikeforce future currently in limbo, but in no way should Coy get a crack at Diaz’s belt regardless of how convincing his method of victory might be. The three-fight streak he’s riding was preceded by back-to-back losses and involves competition with a combined record equating to a single win over even. Tonight only marks his second appearance in Strikeforce with the initial bout coming more than two years ago. Beating a rising star like “T-Wood” would be impressive but isn’t enough to thrust him into championship contention.

However, if Woodley walks away winner he’ll move to 7-0 as a professional and 4-0 in Strikeforce. He’s finished five of his six opponents in the first round and the sixth only made it through about ¾ of the second stanza. Another early submission or TKO would further establish the 28-year old as one of the company’s legitimate rising stars, and with a roster of welterweights thinner than Cory Hill trying to cut to 135-pounds it would make sense to give the Mizzou alumnus a shot. Additionally, if Strikeforce wants to capitalize on the recent heat between Jason “Mayhem” Miller and champ Nick Diaz, they can always make a future catch-weight bout for the two rivals while pairing Woodley against either Marius Zaromskis or Evangelista Santos (depending on who walks away winner at June 16th’s Strikeforce event in Los Angeles) to keep him active and erase any leftover doubts about how deserved his contendership is.

Tool: Brendhan’s right on the money here, as Strikeforce has a very real prospect in Tyron Woodley. His run on Strikeforce Challengers has been impressive, but with a win tonight the time will be right for him to take on a bigger role within the company. The welterweight division in Strikeforce is so devoid of talent that Woodley makes as much sense as anyone else. He also represents a great stylistic match-up for Diaz, as his wrestling pedigree could likely allow him to dictate where the bout takes place, and his heavy hands would be a good test for Diaz’s legendary chin and peppering punches. Other than the aforementioned Hieron, I can’t think of anyone else that Strikeforce could get to represent a credible threat to Diaz’s title.

TRUE/FALSE – His headlining spot on tonight’s Strikeforce Challengers card represents Matt Lindland’s last chance at relevancy in the current MMA scene.

Conlan: False, though certainly a loss to any associate of reality television whore Spencer Pratt would destroy the bulk of his remaining credibility as a contender. Lindland may be 3-4 over his last seven bouts but keep in mind the people he’s lost to over that period – Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (a split decision by the way), Vitor Belfort, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, and Fedor Emelianenko. It’s not as if low-level fighters are mopping the mat with the Team Quest founding-father. Yes, he’s 40 and on the downside of his career, but he’s not on the border of crossing over into “Ken Shamrock” territory. It would take a string of consecutive losses to fighters of Casey’s caliber before I’d comfortably state Lindland had lost all relevance in the sport.

Tool: I’ll go with true, as I can’t see Lindland doing anything of note in the near future should he fall to Kevin Casey. Personally I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror anymore if I lost to a guy that uses Spencer Pratt for credibility, but that’s me. Brendhan has a good point about the quality of opposition Lindland has lost to, but it’s also fair to point out that his last win was two years ago against the less-than-impressive Fabio Nascimento. “The Law” has gone 1-3 since then, and the only real interest he’s garnered from the MMA media is centered around his attempt at a political career and the upcoming documentary about his life. He doesn’t have the fan support of somebody like Jens Pulver, so will anybody still want to see Lindland fight if he can’t get a win or two along the way?

Reila Gracie’s book, Carlos Gracie, the Creator of a Dynasty.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu fans all over the world like to do one thing when they are not on the mats training jiu-jitsu: they like to talk about and learn more about BJJ. In 2008, jiu-jitsu practitioners received a just what they need to feed that hunger, in the form of Reila Gracie’s book Carlos Gracie, the Creator of a Dynasty. Two years later we bring you this interview with Reila Gracie, with new information about the book’s availability to those outside Brazil.

The FightWorks Podcast: You wrote a book about your father’s life. Tell us about the book.

Reila Gracie: The story is too long and complex to be summed up in a few words. But I can put forth that I did not make a book just for jiu-jitsu practitioners, although this group may identify most with the story. The book could be of interest to any person for the unusual stories and for tackling subjects that go beyond the martial art. There’s an interlacing of various lives that came together in the life of my father, be it from jiu-jitsu or the mystical influence he exerted inside and outside our family. And the book also discusses the diet that he created based on the chemical combination of foods and their use, complemented by medicinal herbs, and the treatment of many illnesses.


The FightWorks Podcast: The Gracie family is not only is the family internationally known for spreading jiu-jitsu around the world, but it is a particularly large family. What was that like for you personally as you were growing up?

Reila Gracie: Growing up among many brothers was not easy at all, mostly because the family’s professional project was directed exclusively for men. On top of being immense, my family also possessed particular characteristics and was structured like a clan. But, despite the difficulties, I feel privileged for having been able to coexist so closely with such people and having a rich diversity of experiences and feelings. Thanks to the support I always received from my father I learned to observe events from a certain distance and this made it possible for me to find my own path and later write this book.

The FightWorks Podcast: Was the book popular in Brazil? Did it sell many copies?



Reila Gracie: The book was very well received in Brazil. The first edition sold out in two months and and the second edition is coming to an end. As it’s a book of historical reference, and deals with basic human questions, I consider it timeless and as such will always attract an interested public.


The FightWorks Podcast: Carlos Gracie, the Creator of a Dynasty was already written for several years before it was published. What caused the delay?
 
Reila Gracie: There was no delay in getting it published, as the publisher was ready to go. It was I who took ten years to write it, because researching the life of one’s own father and of the whole family was not an easy task. To reach the necessary distance and avoid that my own emotions contaminate the book with my view and understanding of the facts, there were times I needed to stop working and that’s why it took so long.

The FightWorks Podcast: The book was critical of some members of the Gracie family. What type of feedback have you received about the book from family members?

 
Reila Gracie: The majority praised the book a lot and some did not want to give an opinion. But I know that even those who have benefited from the false of our history that has been spread in the last twenty years, enjoyed the book because I was very careful in telling the facts without resorting to sensationalism. I wrote a serious book, that places Carlos Gracie in the place that he earned, and no one can deny the facts when they are shown with documented proof. And all those who participated in my father’s life, including himself, are exposed as human beings who sometimes make mistakes and sometimes get things right, not like gods or supermen. “I understand that each person has their own time; it’s necessary to respect the moment of each.” I ended the book with that sentence.

Roger Gracie victorious again in jiu-jitsu competition.

The FightWorks Podcast: Your son Roger Gracie is the most dominant Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitor today. When he was growing up, was there any sign he was going to be special? What is it like being the mother of a jiu-jitsu athlete in the Gracie family?


Reila Gracie: Roger always demonstrated a physical ability, but because I found him especially sensitive and devoid of aggression, I feared that the fight world would turn him into a brute. With the death of my brother Rolls, I became cynical about the future of jiu-jitsu and stopped going to tournaments. I felt that I should offer Roger more options so he would have the liberty to chose, and find his own options. I took him to swimming, soccer, visual arts courses, music, and also jiu-jitsu. At 13 he decided to participate in some jiu-jitsu tournaments and he didn’t perform well, lowering the expectations of him. There were others in that generation who showed more ability and possibilities. At 15 years old Roger got tired of losing, lost weight, and began to take training seriously. From 16 years old onward he began to win all the tournaments until he reached becoming the best Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner in the world.

The FightWorks Podcast: What is it like being the mother of an athlete in the Gracie family?

Reila Gracie: Being Roger’s mother always filled me with pride, and the fact that he allowed me to actively participate in the contruction of his career broke a taboo in the family: that a female Gracie does not have an opinion about fighting and does not participate actively in decisions related to jiu-jitsu. As his professional career took root at the same time as I was writing the book, I was able to feel like my father was sending him important philosophical lessons.

The FightWorks Podcast: Brazilian jiu-jitsu has spread outside Brazil to the rest of the world. What are your thoughts on the direction Brazilian jiu-jitsu has taken? And how do you think your father would view jiu-jitsu as it exists today?


Reila Gracie: I particularly feel like there should be greater investment by the academies in transmitting the philosophical aspects that my father instilled in this martial art. Because for him jiu-jitsu was more than a way to help a student overcome physical and psychological difficulties and to be able to integrate with the world in a way that is more safe and confident. A way of preserving health in all aspects and becoming a better and wiser human being.

The FightWorks Podcast: How do you think your father would view jiu-jitsu as it exists today?

Reila Gracie: My father was an optimist and he was always looked to focus on the positive aspects of life and of people, so, I’m sure that he would adore the amazing diffusion that jiu-jitsu has reached all over the world.

The FightWorks Podcast: Many people outside Brazil are interested in reading the book in English. Are there any plans to translate the book to English, and if so, when will it be available?

Reila Gracie: The book is being translated into English already and I believe that in September the translation work will be done. It will probably be available to Americans in this coming year, that is to say, in 2011.

The FightWorks Podcast: If your book has one message, what is it?

Reila Gracie: The reader will find various positive messages in the book, because above all it’s a book about life lessons. The trajectory of a man with few possibilities, who searched for direction in his life and when he found it, positioned himself ahead of his own destiny and made history. A collective story that transcends the Gracie clan and conquered the world, and that today belongs to everyone who wears a gi and practices Brazilian jiu-jitsu with honor.

---

Many thanks to Reila for the interview. For more background on the book, check out this FightWorks Podcast video!