Ego Assassin

P.S. Grappling has firm roots in Rome way before the asians got into it. And saying that they steal moves is like saying I stole my car after losing it in the parking lot. Grappling has a birthplace where who knows we can only debate but I can asure you it lacked nothing. I believe this to be true in all fighting styles.

Without partners how do you judge yourself , how do you work timing and angles without a moving, resisting opponent. You might as well do yoga.

I recieved my blue belt in two months and then recieved my purple belt two years later. But my progress has been based on ablility which had to be proven publicly in BJJ and submission grappling tournaments. My instructor is Luiz Palhares a 6th Degree under Rickson Gracie.

It took me three years to acheive purple belt in BJJ. Belt ranks go - White - Blue - Purple - Brown - Black

I WOULD like to know when and where have BJJer's been jumping out of the bushes attacking people? The only reasons these discussions take place is fear of the unknown. The only reason a person should train BJJ is to make themselves a more effective and confident individual.

All you need against who? People can say they train on the ground but knowing an armbar and saying you grapple is like doing a jab and saying you box. Unless you spend at least two years on the ground (BJJ) you'll get slaughtered by grapplers in general.

Mike the Tekken tournament is every month thru next year and they are establishing champions. It is a good way to boost your schools name. Call Cliff and he will get you the info.

The coveted Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt. Try obtaining one of those.

I've said it before and I'll say it again CROSSTRAIN if there are other schools in your area stop making excuses why you shouldn't better yourself take advantage of the information offered. Martial arts nowadays are seperated by names and the way we train and whether or not we will or can fight on the ground. Fact is they all come from the same place, but so and so wanted to do things his way and some 17 year old black belt wanted his own school and everyone wants to do it their way and stuff gets divided. When the Samurai went into battle, if you cross reference you will find that grappling determined the outcome of one on one battles and that they were known to throw horses to the ground.

I checked my street fight hand book and it didn't mention anything about dirty techniques. So I think its still fight for your life.

Just a question for the Instructors.

Yes Sambo focuses on leg locks and throws, BJJ mostly armlocks, chokes and sweeps. That is until it came to the U.S and now it has elements from all grappling styles. BJJ in the U.S. has now been combined with Judo, Sambo ,and wrestling and rightfully so because sport is the only reason they were ever seperated. When the Olympics began Wrestling was in from day one but in those days the winner left crippled and the loser died. In fuedal Japan Jiu Jitsu was the dominant art and as Japan moved froward making an effert to be competitive with the rest of the world it exported karate the striking side of Jujitsu and Judo the throws. The ground game was considered brutal and went underground. Jujitsu schools constantly went into other schools to prove their superiority and the practitioners were looked at as thugs. The Gracies continued the tradition of open challenge and so do many BJJ schools. I tried to be as brief as I could while hopefully shedding some light.

Judo can be used without a gi but I believe most schools teach strictly in a Gi. I train at a Mixed Martial Arts School where they teach BJJ and JUDO with and without the GI.

Are we being philosophical OR are we finding excuses why we shouldn't reach our full potential. The body is a temple and should be treated as one and the mind should be cultivated. One cannot be mentally and emotionally balanced if the body is fat and lazy. Strengthen the body and the mind!

My thoughts are to get away from point sparring if you like to compete why not go into mma where you can always make contact. Also the ref in mma is only there for the safety of the fighters. Besides I've seen alot of guys come to our school to cross train and have to break all kinds of bad habits from this type of sparring. I've seen guys kick a punching bag and leave their foot in the air or their knee and for self defense reasons this is very bad.

My honest opinion is to find someone who can teach you the ground game properly and you will have a higher succes rate. I cross train alot and always work with better grapplers than me and better strikers than me. If you are lucky enough to have a BJJ school in your area as I am then you should take full advantage of everything offerd to you. Bettering yourself is what life is all about!

There is a tournament at the beginning of each month , mma rules, if you get with Mr. Fonseca I'm sure he will be happy to get you the info or take you to one. The event is very well run and there are some very game fighters it is a great place to test your skillz.

P.S. In these line training drills for stances are your students takedown specialists or just a bunch of beginners making an ill informed attempt to take eachother down?

I believe we are all failing to look at what mma has done to prove grappling against stand-up fighters. Now someone will bring up Chuck Liddel but lets remember that he wrestled on the college level and trains extensively on the ground. Why? So he CAN stay on his feet. I am also from the area that Mr. Sensei Mike is from We are just up the road from eachother and I can tell you he has never been in our school. We train BJJ JUDO WRESTLING MUAY THAI AND BOXING. His beleif is that a BJJ practitioner of purple belt level (the next is brown then black) should have to fight black belt level karate practitioners at his tournament which leads one to believe that regardless of what he says he has great respect for grappling arts.

Submissions are meant to be explosive! When you exacute them on the street it is similar to carrying a knife, as in, they are cut before they knew you had one. If you are well versed in submisions you can break whatever is presented, usually an arm, so fast even witnesses aren't sure what they,ve witnessed. The term "submission holds" is misleading you are not supposed to hold the person you are supposed to break them! Tapping is for sport and safety in the gym.