Tournament Review Tuesday: Liga Nacional De Submission, Santiago, Chile
August 31, 2010
All photos courtesy Dev Kostal.
by Dev Kostal
I’ve come to find out that outside Brazil, a lot of the emphasis in Latin America – at least as far as competitions go – is on no-gi jiu jitsu, or “submission.” I stumbled on a competition during my time in Chile where all the guys at the gym seemed to know about it, but I couldn’t find any information online.
The Chilean National Submission League was formed, as I was told, to provide a place where the inordinately large number of amateur wrestling students could meet and compete with the thriving Brazilian Jiu Jitsu community, with a mixed set of rules. So at the inception, they assumed some slightly different standards than the IBJJF-approved no-gi rules. One of the main differences, aside from time of rounds (3 minutes for novice, 5 for advanced) was that they allowed wrestling shoes. Although my fear of seeing (or getting) a toe mangled was heightened, it didn’t end up being an issue. This particular competition was held at the University Of Santiago, in a multistory sports complex.
My main problem with the tournament was finding ANY information at all online. Google just isn’t helpful when the majority of the advertising is being done word-of-mouth and through restricted-access Facebook pages. The league just is not set up for wandering visitors, such as myself, to happen upon. That said, when you travel, if you link up with a good school, they tend to let you know.
If you can move past the advertising snafus and the slightly different rules – and there’s no reason you shouldn’t – it becomes, as their motto indicates, a place where “the sport is central.” Everyone was there to have a good day of rolling, plain and simple.
As was the case with other small competitions, signups were done the morning of, and then we waited for the organizers to arrange the brackets. Because there were only about 40 guys there, it didn’t take too long. Weight divisions were in 10kg increments, which I personally thought might have been a bit much, but with the number of people it gave everyone a good fight and still had a couple brackets with 3 fights.
Experience levels were either novice or advanced. I don’t know what the cutoff was between the two, but as a sub-2 year blue belt (normally intermediate), I was shuffled into the advanced division (appropriately, I think, given the level of the majority of the competitors, who were novice and competing for the first time). There were three guys in my category (<85kg, advanced): me, a purple belt, and a brown belt.
Brackets were done by drawing numbers, which I thought was fantastically objective. On the other hand, it did lead to a couple guys from the same school on the same side of the bracket, which is always unfortunate.
Prior to starting, the organizers sat all the competitors down and conducted a thorough rules briefing, which in my opinion really set this competition apart. Because most of the novice fighters were competing for the first time, this allowed them to ask questions and see demonstrations of what was allowed and what wasn’t. I was impressed at the detail they used in this briefing, and impressed that they did it – this is far from the standard, and a welcome addition to any tournament, as far as I’m concerned.
There was one competition mat and some small gymnastic pads pushed together to create a warmup area. It wasn’t spectacular, but it was enough, and the fights went quickly enough that the one mat was sufficient – the waits weren’t long at all, as the refs kept the matches moving along with short breaks in between.
The brackets were run bottom-to-top, with all the first round fights going before the second round. This allowed the first round winners plenty of time to recuperate, something I always pay attention to.
The reffing was solid and attentive, as was the timekeeping. There weren’t huge LED scoreboards or anything, but they had a nice big manual scoreboard on the table by the mat, one official timekeeper, and a scorekeeper. Additionally, the mat was set up with a barrier around it, and coaches’ chairs in the corner, another nice touch.
The level of fighting was impressive, although unobjectively I’m happy to say that the BJJ practitioners generally trounced the pure wrestlers. Lots of excellent takedowns, reversals, mental toughness, and general strategery were on display throughout the day.
This wasn’t a gigantic IBJJF event, but it wasn’t meant to be. It wasn’t perfect – the locker rooms/bathrooms were 4 floors down from the mats, and it seemed to take a little while to get going despite the proclaimed 1 PM start time (which was actually the “show up and get your name on the list” time), but aside from some small quibbles, I have to say that this was exactly the type of small tournament that I think is vital to progressing and encouraging BJJ around the world. It brought together a group of people for the sole purpose of experience and camaraderie. It was professionally organized and run, and I was truly impressed with the organizers’ efforts to keep everyone informed throughout the day.
Thanks to Sensei Victor Vásquez at Real Fighting Club (http://chilejiujitsu.cl) in Santiago for the invitation, and thanks to the Liga Nacional De Submission for a quality event.
Devlin Kostal is a blue belt under Daniel Thomas at Zeus BJJ (http://montereyjiujitsu.com) in Monterey, California, who is currently traveling through Latin America. Thus far, he’s trained in Lima, Peru; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Rio De Janeiro, Brazil; and Santiago, Chile. His blog, Fueled By Fear, can be found at http://devbjj.blogspot.com.
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
#223 Dave Camarillo and Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu
August 29, 2010
He’s back! Dave Camarillo of Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu fame has returned to the audio home of Brazilian jiu-jitsu this week. Camarillo started his career as a judoka, training under his father in the judo-rich area of northern California. Later Camarillo started training Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Ralph Gracie alongside other jiu-jitsu names like BJ Penn and Gumby & Scotty from OnTheMat.com. As his career progressed, his significant judo experience and aggressive offense made for some wild highlight reels.
Today Dave Camarillo is a coach to UFC fighters and runs his own Brazilian jiu-jitsu school. In today’s conversation with Chris Simamora we learn about the difference between grappling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, what being a martial artist means, and much more.
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BJJ Poll: If You Could Turn Back the Clock and Start BJJ Again, Would You Begin Your Training at the Same BJJ School?
August 28, 2010
I was thinking the other day about how a certain percentage of BJJ practitioners end up changing schools. There are a handful of reasons why that happens. It’s not an everyday occurence though.
We’ve touched on how many people have changed their Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academy in older BJJ Polls, but today’s poll is a little different twist. For many of us where we started our BJJ journey is a bit like being born – you look back and you have the parents you do because you have the parents you have! Many of us did not do a ton of research before beginning BJJ. We just walked in to the nearest (or only) school and got hooked. And so there we are.
But at some point in our BJJ careers, we have the chance and information to reflect and see that there might be more BJJ around than we knew about, and opportunities for different or better training environments. As such, what about you? If you could turn back time and start training jiu-jitsu somewhere else, would you change things?
Andre Galvao Still Headed to San Diego
August 11, 2010
Andre Galvao
Back in February we reported that Atos Jiu-Jitsu was going to open a new school in San Diego. It appears lots are folks are wondering when or if Andre Galvao will be leading the school.
The answer is: yes.
We spoke with Brian Perry of Atos San Diego today, who confirmed that Galvao will be coming to lead the school shortly after his MMA fight on August 21st. Galvao will be leading classes and offering privates and seminars. Anyone who would like more information can contact Brian at atosbjj@yahoo.com.
Ramon Lemos, another leader of Atos Jiu-Jitsu, has been in Los Angeles helping prepare Anderson Silva for his recent victory against Chael Sonnen. Lemos will be returning to Brazil soon.
#222 Ricardo Liborio, Rio Open and Masters & Seniors Championship with Stephen Hall
August 8, 2010
Ricardo Liborio. Photo courtesy cohost Dan.
Big show this week on the audio home of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, The FightWorks Podcast. Today we of course begin the show with a discussion of the most recent BJJ poll results, and from there we move on to this week’s feature interview with American Top Team’s Ricardo Liborio. Liborio is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under the late Carlson Gracie, and a leader of ATT, located down in Florida. Cohost Dan will bring us an in depth conversation about jiu-jitsu today, and in yesteryear when he was coming up in the ranks alongside peers like Amauri Bitetti, Wallid Ismail, Murilo Bustamante, and others.
We also spend some time with Stephen Hall, aka Pesadelo Triangulo of Alliance. Hall just attended the Rio Open BJJ Tournament and the International Masters and Seniors in Brazil. As always, we benefit from his great stories and helps us feel like we were right there with him at the Tijuca Tenis Clube, the home of so many important matches in BJJ history.
Finally, Cohost Dan and I will answer some listener email and even a voicemail to wind down today’s show.
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BJJ Poll: You Train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Do You Consider Yourself a Martial Artist?
August 7, 2010
Blas wrote in to us here at The FightWorks Podcast, saying:
I asked a question to my former Jiu Jitsu Coach in Texas if he considered himself a Martial Artist. Much to my surprise he said no…he said that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is the Anti-Martial Art and thus doesn’t consider himself to be a Martial Artist. This is coming from a black belt. So I pose a question for a toll possibly. How many of you BJJ players out there consider yourself to be a Martial Artist? I’d be curious to see the answer.
Regards,
Blas
So what about you? You train Brazilian jiu-jitsu right? And do you think of yourself as a martial artist? Let us know by voting in the poll above and feel free to leave us a comment as well.
BJJ Poll: What Percent of Time Does Your School Devote to Learning Self-Defense Techniques?
July 31, 2010
This week’s poll came to us from Jason (if anyone’s suggested it in the past and it slipped my mind, I apologize). This is a very interesting poll idea and gets to the heart of many debates in our jiu-jitsu community. Brazilian jiu-jitsu is a constantly evolving set of techniques and as time goes on, there are more techniques and things to focus on when we train jiu-jitsu but the same number of hours in a day. So some things will likely be set aside along the way.
Many have argued that self defense – the fundamental reason for Brazilian jiu-jitsu – has been abandoned in the average BJJ school in favor of techniques and moves that are only worthwhile in a BJJ tournament. Perhaps the most vocal in this belief is the crew at the Gracie Academy in Torrance, California, lead by Helio Gracie’s eldest son Rorion Gracie.
Please don’t over-think this and say, “all the techniques I learn are self defense techniques because you never know, that crazy flying coconut-plata submission I just saw on YouTube could work in a street fight!” When I say “basic self-defense techniques”, you know which ones I’m speaking about.
As always, leave your comments on this below after voting!
Tournament Review Tuesday: 2010 Master/Senior World Championship
July 27, 2010
Tijuca Tenis Clube in Rio, site of many historic Brazilian jiu-jitsu matches. All photos courtesy Dev Kostal.
by Dev Kostal
I competed at the Master/Senior World Championships in Rio De Janeiro, which is held concurrently with the Rio Open Championship. Both are IBJJF events.
I competed in the blue belt master division, which ran Friday morning and Friday afternoon, so this review is based on that day’s events, for the most part.
Walking into the Tijuca Tênis Clube evokes some pretty strong feelings for me. I love history, and I’m particularly enamored with the small stories, the ones that not many people get to hear.
Quite a few years ago now, Francisco Mansor was the Chief of Police in Rio. As such, he had connections all over the city. And when the first Brazilian Jiu Jitsu World Chapionships were held in 1996, Grand Master Mansor used his connections at the Tijuca Tênis Clube. The Mundials were held there until 2007, I believe, when they moved to Los Angeles.
Suffice to say, my apprehension upon entering the Club was significant. But it’s a pretty unassuming place. Concrete steps comprise the upper level seats, and simple plastic chairs – many of them broken or missing – are the closer ones. But it’s that simplicity that’s attractive about the place. There’s no presumption here – just amazing jiu jitsu.
You hear story after story about training and competing in Rio. Competing for the first time in Rio is like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. It’s the same as any other big tournament…except it’s not the same. You really do have to get over a mental hurdle – at least I did. Here you are, in Brazil, doing what you love, this Brazilian sport, fighting the best athletes in Brazil. It’s pretty significant. And you can feel that quiet energy when you walk in.
The tournament itself, from my perspective, was fantastic. Quite honestly, and I’ve only competed in 15 or so tournaments in my roughly 2 years in this sport, this was the most efficiently-run tournament I’ve had the pleasure to be a part of.
The brackets ran exactly on time, and once started, there was hardly any empty mat time between fights. All of the check-in details were done to IBJJF standards, with weigh-ins, gi checks, and ID checks.
Interestingly, the mat coordinators announced their divisions on the microphone individuals, which I hadn’t seen before – ordinarily there’s one or two announcers who make all the calls. For the gringo who doesn’t speak fantastic Portuguese, though, this helped me by being able to focus on one mat coordinator, so I knew roughly when I was going to get called.
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What I found to be the best part of the tournament administration, though, was the consideration shown by the mat coordinators for the fighters’ efforts. Time in between matches didn’t seem to be too long, or too short. Most of the time I got 10-15 minutes, and I really appreciated that.
As per usual, the refereeing was excellent. Having spent most of the day there, I can’t recall seeing a single disputed decision. There may have been some, but it wasn’t nearly as prevalent as at Pans this year.
Later in the day, during the absolutes, there seemed to be a lot more injuries on the mats, so the medics were definitely earning their pay. But they were out in force, and I for one really appreciated their efforts.
I don’t have to tell you that the level of jiu jitsu being displayed (on Friday, it was blues, purples, and browns, both male and female) was unbelievable. For me, by far the best display was the women’s purple belt absolute match where (I apologize, I don’t have the names) a tiny little competitor overcame a much larger girl, who was physically throwing her around the mat, and ended up choking her out. Both competitors were phenomenal, and the entire arena was watching that fight.
All in all, my day at the Master/Senior Worlds lived up to my fairly high expectations of what my first competition in Rio would be like. The energy, the camaraderie, and the ridiculous level of jiu jitsu made for an unforgettable experience, one that I will carry with me for the rest of my BJJ career.
Devlin Kostal is a blue belt under Daniel “Ventania” Thomas at Zeus BJJ in Monterey, CA. He has been traveling through South America, and has been fortunate to train in Lima, Peru, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. His blog, Fueled By Fear, can be found at http://devbjj.blogspot.com. He took a gold medal in his division (blue master middle) and a bronze medal in the absolute division (blue master) at the Master/Senior Worlds.
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 (second from left) with his new gold medal.
Tournament Review Tuesday: Buckeye Border International Grappling Championship
July 27, 2010
by Brian Hemminger
The tournament was the Buckeye Border International Grappling Championship and it took place Saturday, July 24th in Toledo, Ohio at St. Francis High School. There were over 300 competitors of all ages, sexes and skillsets who competed in both the gi and no-gi competition. Competition began at 10:30 am and ran for just over 6 hours.
The tournament was smoothly run, with 6 different stations on both sides of the large wrestling mat. There was very little delay between each match. The refereeing was top notch, I didn’t see any complaints from any of the competitors and they all displayed good sportsmanship after the bouts.
The highlight of the tournament were two superfights between high level blackbelts. The first was a match between Sean Bansfield (Pan Am gold medalist) and Don Richard (multiple Arnold Gracie champion). The match was very much a stalemate for the first 6 minutes, but all the excitement happened at the end. Down 3 points, Bansfield swept Richard into mount with 5 seconds left in the fight to neck out a dramatic victory.
The other superfight was a match between Rodrigo “Comprido” Medeiros (7x world champ) and Tyrone Gooden (Pan Am medalist). Comprido was the much bigger man but Gooden started strong by shooting in for a takedown to gain an early 2-0 lead. Comprido eventually swept him, but Gooden had excellent defense and never allowed Comprido to submit him, although Comprido did win a decision by a large margin.
BJ Nelson from Relson Gracie jiu jitsu in Columbus, Ohio won the Absolute Gi tournament which earned him a plasma screen TV for his efforts.
Brian Hemminger runs WorldExtremeFighter.com.
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
#221 Carlos Machado
July 25, 2010
Carlos Machado. Photo courtesy Carlos Machado Jiu-Jitsu.
Our feature interview this week on The FightWorks Podcast is with Carlos Machado, a returning guest to our show. What? You don’t remember our other conversation with Carlos? Well our last chat was in 2006, so I guess we can’t be too upset. We introduced that show by saying, “if there’s another surname that’s synonymous with jiu-jitsu along with Gracie, it’s ‘Machado’”, which is of course as true today as it was then.
Carlos is the oldest of the Machado brothers, cousins to the Gracie family who grew up alongside the Gracies on the mats, streets, and beaches of Rio de Janeiro as well as in the mountain town of Teresopolis where the Gracie estate was located. Carlos brings us back to those early days in the late seventies and early eighties when today’s Brazilian jiu-jitsu leadership were coming of age. We will hear rare details about Gracie family patriarch Carlos Gracie as well as Rolls Gracie, the son of Carlos Gracie who spent so much of his childhood with his uncle Helio that he referred to Helio as “father” also. A victim of a tragic early death caused by a hang gliding accident, Rolls is still considered one of jiu-jitsu’s most important innovators and remains beloved by all those who remember him.
From there Carlos Machado will bring us along to learn about the Machado brothers’ arrival in the United States around 1990 and their close relationship with martial arts celebrity Chuck Norris. So please join us for this visit to some very important moments in Brazilian jiu-jitsu history.
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