Estima Brothers Clean Up in French Submission Grappling Contest
July 1, 2009
Victor Estima (red rashguard) and Braulio Estima (black rashguard) celebrate their success in Paris.
Last weekend in Paris, Atch Productions held a 16-man submission grappling tournament, the Grappling Masters VIP with a $5,000 prize for the winner. The FightWorks Podcast received this report from the tournament winner, Gracie Barra’s Braulio Estima, who entered the contest alongside his younger brother Victor Estima:
This weekend saw the Estima brothers competing in Paris for a prize of $5000. The event featured big name grapplers from Europe and Brazil, all competing to claim the cash prize.
Victor put in a very impressive display in the quarter finals, submitting the winner of the 2009 ADCC European Trials, Kassim Annan, via leg lock. Braulio beat the first fighter by arm triangle and then the French Tonton via points.
The brackets put Braulio & Victor against each other in the semi-finals, with Victor stepping down to allow Braulio through to the finals against Gregory Bouchelaghem who beat Lagarto in the quarter finals by judges decision (a match which ended in a controversial decision as the French didn’t get the minus points for stalling).
The end came 4 minutes into the final, with Braulio submitting Bouchelaghem with a slick triangle to claim the prize money.
Congratulations to Braulio and Victor. The two were very busy last month. At the 2009 BJJ World Championship, Braulio won the gold medal in the heavyweight division after sweeping Alexandre de Souza (Gracie Florianopolis) in the finals, and Victor placed third in the medium heavyweight division. The two were also organizers of the British BJJ Open (review, results) just a couple of weeks ago.
Images of the Grappling Masters VIP can be found here.
Braulio Estima changes the light bulb at the top of the Eiffel Tower.
#171 Returning to BJJ After an Injury with Danny Dring
June 28, 2009
Danny Dring
We’ve all heard those commercials on television from local lawyers asking, “Have you ever been injured in a car accident?” Now imagine that same voice in your head asking, “Have you ever been injured and had to take a break from Brazilian jiu-jitsu?” As in any sport, at some point or another we would all probably answer “yes” to that question.
This week on our BJJ internet radio show, we speak with someone very familiar with the physical and emotional issues jiu-jitsu practitioners face when they are prevented from training because of an injury. LivingDefense.com’s Danny Dring is a Nova Uniao black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Andre Pederneiras. Dring was sidelined from his very active lifestyle with a major hip surgery and went through the doldrums of jiu-jitsu withdrawal and even faced the possibility of never training again.
Dring will share tips on overcoming medical and psychological roadblocks to training jiu-jitsu when injured and getting back on the mats, where every member of the Mighty 600,000 wants to be!
Many thanks to John Graybeal for connecting us with Danny!
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (recommended)
[mp3] Download the show
BJJ Poll: Are There More BJJ Schools in Your Area Than 5 Years Ago?
June 27, 2009
We received a voicemail from Aaron from Massachusetts, a member of the Mighty 600,000, who was driving around and couldn’t help but reflect on how many more Brazilian jiu-jitsu schools there are in his neck of the woods.
Now keep in mind, we are curious about genuine BJJ schools. As Aaron mentioned in his voicemail, there are plenty of traditional martial arts schools who may now advertise some grappling or even mixed martial arts instruction, we want to know whether your area now has more genuine jiu-jitsu schools than in the past.
So let us know in the poll above! And if you have any comments, leave us a message at (877) 247-4662!
Announcing BJJMap.com
June 25, 2009
One of the most common question that appear in online forums for Brazilian jiu-jitsu is, “Where can I train BJJ in __insert town here__?” Well we thought we would attempt to lend a hand for anyone asking that question by developing BJJMap.com. At the moment you can find hundreds of Brazilian jiu-jitsu schools all over suing the site. Currently the majority come from the United States, but there are even listings from Ghana and Spain!
It should go without saying that the site does not list every single school in the world. But our goal is to list as many as possible. In fact I have a big list of schools to add to the site that I have not gotten to yet but I decided there are enough in there now to get started and I can fill in the rest as time allows. To that end, if the school where you train jiu-jitsu is not in there, you can add your jiu-jitsu school and we will make it a priority to include it as soon as possible!
The other thing to note about the site is that you can leave reviews of the schools that are listed there. So if you have visited a jiu-jitsu gym and want to let the world know about your experience, you can leave a comment there for others to see. Don’t worry - if the point of someone’s comment is just mischief, it won’t make it on the site. We’re looking for credible information that the community can use.
So from now on, there’s no need to bother the forum by asking where to train jiu-jitsu in a certain town. Go to BJJMap.com! (Of course, if you’re looking for jiu-jitsu tournaments and seminars, head over to iCompete.org!)
2009 BJJ World Championship Video
June 24, 2009
About a week or so ago I was invited by the gang at BudoVideos in Los Angeles to put a voice to their results video for the 2009 BJJ World Championship. So after a long day at work I made the 2 hour drive from San Diego and made it to Budo headquarters in Los Angeles as the sun was going down.
I had little idea what to expect when I arrived but the guys from Budo were pretty laid back and basically said I could go nuts with the narratives for the matches. Lots of jiu-jitsu talk and a few hours later we called it a night and I left the Budo Videos crew with a bunch of audio they could use. I won’t go so far as to say that I nailed each recap on each match’s first take, but it really wasn’t much different than recording an episode of the show back at FightWorks Podcast headquarters.
As for the way home late that evening, well… during our live play-by-play at the 2009 BJJ World Championship itself, lots of folks were cheering me on and telling me to grab an energy drink that rhymes with Bed Pull. I never got a chance to refuel with one during the Mundial itself but you can bet I made it back to San Diego that night with one!
In any case I think the video turned out pretty well! What do you think?
Tournament Review Tuesday: British BJJ Open
June 23, 2009
World champion Braulio Estima referees a womens blue belt absolute match.
by Seymour Yang
The cancellation of the annual Gracie Invitational in the UK this year led many to call for a big replacement event. Up stepped world champion Braulio Estima and his Gracie Barra team in Birmingham to stage the British BJJ Open. With over 620 competitors spread out over 8 mats, this event did not disappoint in terms of size and scale.
Fresh from his gold medal win at the 2009 Mundials, Braulio Estima hosted the tournament with his characteristic smile and geniality. Everyone here was made to feel welcome. Anticipation was high in the preceding few weeks and days as the numbers of entries were adding up and rumours were speculating as to who would be fighting.
The venue chosen was the Cockmoors Wood Leisure Centre in Birmingham, UK, which is only about 2.5 hours drive from London. One slightly odd arrangement was the placement of blue belts right at the end of the day, after all the white, purple, brown and black belts had finished. As a side note, it was amusing to see the reactions of a small aikido class being held in a glass fronted room surrounded by swarms of BJJ competitors waiting to enter the main hall. A case of old skool being given rude and loud awakening by the nu skool.
The crowd had plenty of great fights to see. All eyes especially were on the hot young British talents on display today. 19 year old Stephen Martin, wearing a brand spanking new purple belt (awarded after his Bronze medal win at the Mundials) fought brilliantly to make the purple lightweight final, only to lose on points to Oli Geddes.
Another brand new purple belt was Omar Rashid who wasted no time in despatching his opponents to claim the purple belt mens featherweight division. And the blue belts too had some very technical and exciting matches especially those involving Daniel Agard, just 17 years old and a blue under Felipe Souza. Daniel fought with flair and mastery way beyond his years to reach his final, finally running out of gas. We’ll see a lot more of him in the future.
For such a big event, the whole tournament ran incredibly smoothly and pretty much on schedule. A minor gripe could be made perhaps regarding the incomprehensible PA louspeaker and the overall lack of space. But there was a general air of excitment and the buzz was good among competitors and spectators alike. Everyone got a free t-shirt and fightgear was awarded to all gold medal winners.
The UK proudly boasts two current black belt world champions (Roger Gracie and Braulio Estima) who base their academies here. The success of today shows that the UK can comfortably host a big competition that draws an international cast of participants. Perhaps one day soon, the UK could host the IBJJF European Championships? My congratulations to Braulio, Steve Fan and all the crew for organising a brilliant tournament.
Christine McDonagh (bottom) attemts a triangle choke on Dominique Vitry in a womens blue belt match.
Seymour Yang trains at the Mill Hill Roger Gracie Academy (http://www.millhillju-jitsuclub.com) and writes the Meekatsu BJJ blog. He won Bronze at the BJJ Open.
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.
- Caleb
UPDATE June 23 at 12:13PM Pacific: we received the following from Braulio Estima…
#170 Rickson Gracie, Carlos Santos, and Niko Han
June 21, 2009
Rickson Gracie stares intently while watching his son Kron compete at the 2009 BJJ World Championship.
Last month when the cohost of The FightWorks Podcast Dan was invited by the Art of War to cover their mixed martial arts event, we knew he would come home with great interviews from the jiu-jitsu world but we did not know how good! This week’s show will feature a sampling of some of the conversations he was able to capture while in Beijing, China. All three interviewees this week are pioneers in spreading Brazilian jiu-jitsu to different parts of the world.
First off is the legendary Rickson Gracie. Rickson needs no introduction and in the conversation you will hear in this episode, Rickson talks about his role in the jiu-jitsu world at this point in his career, as well as his Invisible Jiu-Jitsu seminar series.
From there Dan’s interviews take us to Indonesia, with Niko Han. Niko has been the pioneer in bringing Brazilian jiu-jitsu to his corner of the world and is now a black belt. We will hear all about the interesting passage of BJJ to Indonesia from Niko himself.
Carlos “Carlao” Santos has a similar story of being a jiu-jitsu disciple in a foreign land. Santos accepted a temporary offer to teach Brazilian jiu-jitsu in the United Arab Emirates and has been there ever since, fostering the adoption of BJJ in public schools and the military, as well as organizing the star-studded World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship which took place recently.
Finally we bring on 2009 black belt gold medalist Penny Thomas to answer an email we received from one of the Mighty 600,000 . (Email us or leave a message at 877-247-4662 if you have a question for our guests!)
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (recommended)
[mp3] Download the show
BJJ Poll: Do You Prefer That Your Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Instructor is Brazilian?
June 20, 2009
This Saturday’s installment of our weekly BJJ Poll was just something that occurred to me the other day when I got a call from someone asking me about Brazilian jiu-jitsu schools in San Diego. This person wanted to get their boyfriend a gift certificate to enroll in a BJJ school and we were talking about some of the things that would help her decide a good place to send her boyfriend. It made me wonder about all the factors that affect someone’s decision to train jiu-jitsu in a certain school. Things that might influence your decision about a jiu-jitsu school are its proximity to your house (or in this particular case, the guy’s surf spot), the belt level of the instructor, the vibe of the academy, and so on… Then I realized that to some people, it might make sense to choose one school over another because the instructor is Brazilian.
What about you? Do you think that it is important? Be honest! Let us know by voting in the poll above, and definitely leave a comment below!
And if you’ve got an idea for a poll, leave us a message at 877-247-4662 or email me at caleb @ thefightworkspodcast DOT com!
2009 BJJ World Championship Photos Now Online
June 19, 2009
Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles wins his fourth straight gold medal in his 2009 victory over Atos Jiu-Jitsu’s Bruno Frazatto.
If you have been a fan of the FightWorks Podcast for any length of time you cannot have missed that we display a lot of jiu-jitsu photos from one of our favorite people, Alicia Anthony. Alicia is a great partner of the FightWorks Podcast and we often carpool up from San Diego together to cover events in Los Angeles (you can hear a time-lapsed conversation from such a trip in episode #130!).
Since the 2009 BJJ World Championship at the beginning of this month, the in-the-know have been impatiently awaiting Alicia’s photo galleries from the event to appear online. I’m happy to announce that they’re now posted!
Alicia is tireless in what are always long days at the major (and not so major) jiu-jitsu tournaments in California and the rest of the southwest United States. All your jiu-jitsu idols appear in amazing detail and in action in this gallery (and others) so please support her, Mighty 600,000! Yes! Buy some photos to decorate your academy etc!!
Rickson Gracie Cup 2009
June 17, 2009
Rickson Gracie
After returning from Beijing to witness the Chinese mixed martial arts event Art of War, Rickson Gracie will be in Asia again shortly: this year’s Rickson Gracie Cup will take place on Sunday, June 28 in Japan and will feature a tough batch of black belts from various corners of the world. Athletes expected to be at the event include:
- Adalberto “Betinho” Vital (Krazy Bee)
- Kron Gracie (Rickson Gracie)
- Gustavo Dantas (Nova Uniao)
- Rafael Mendes (Atos Jiu-Jitsu)
- Robson Moura (Nova Uniao)
- Abmar Barbosa (Robert Drysdale)
Carlos Santos, the Brazilian Top Team black belt who has spent the last several years bringing Brazilian jiu-jitsu to the United Arab Emirates will also be bringing a contingent of Emirati competitors the event in Hamamatsu, a blue collar factory city full of Brazilians. Moreover, according to the Japanese Jiu-Jitsu Federation, the black belt final matches are scheduled to be broadcast live over the internet! Keep an eye out on their website for more details!
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