Day 1 Live Blogging from the BJJ World Championships
June 7, 2008
This will be pretty fast and furious (forgive the reference to the movie!), but we’re here in Los Angeles at the Pyramid reporting live from the 2008 BJJ Mundials! As with last year, perhaps the best way to find out how your favorite grappler is doing will be to do a CTRL+F to Find their name.
Feel free to post your thoughts in the comments below!
- Caleb
Miscellaneous:
- The black belt open division is being decided by committee. At the moment as there are no official rankings a discussion of the largest BJJ camps ensures fair and balanced brackets. Present were Saulo Ribeiro, Fabio Gurgel, Marcio Feitosa, Demian Maia, Mauricio Motta Gomes, and others.
- Relson Gracie’s son Rhalan yesterday was disqualified after applying a kneebar to an opponent. Rhalan claims that he was told kneebars were allowed by an official. It turns out that the “official” was the person responsible for checking gis, and also flat mistaken.
- Big names in attendance who are not competing: Josh Barnett, Royler Gracie, Demian Maia, Robert Drysdale, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza.
Purple Belt Mens
Neiman Gracie is taking on Omar Santiago. He is being coached by Renzo Gracie and Kayron Gracie.
Santiago was working some x-guard on Neiman but he is now defending an armbar attempt in Neiman’s guard.
Neiman wins by armbar.
Ryan Hall just stepped on the mats against a very large opponent from Team Megaton.
Several minutes into the match, the score is still 0-0 across the board in Ryan Hall’s match.
When the timer sounds, it’s still 0-0 for Ryan Hall’s match, and the judges award the match to his opponent.
Purple Belt Womens
Nyjah Easton was holding Jasmin Sewgobind in her guard when I last checked but I am unsure of the outcome of their match.
Brown Belt Mens
Kayron Gracie choked Nic Gregoriades
Kayron Gracie takes first place, fellow Gracie Barra member Bruno Alves takes second by gentleman’s decision.
Leo Santos (UNIJJ) is in action.
Leo Santos wins on points.
Leo Santos is getting ready to take the mats again.
Leo Santos is still standing against his opponent who is wearing a BYJJ patch many minutes later.
Leo Santos eventually won. Slow, uneventful match.
Leo Santos (UNIJJ) is involved in a very physical match against an opponent from Chute Boxe Jiu-Jitsu.
Leo Santos wins on points and takes the gold medal for the division.
Womens Brown / Black
Luka Dias (Humaita) lost her first match to Sayaka Shioda (AACC) by armbar
Hanette Quadros Staack defeats Gabrielle Garcia
Sayaka Shioda defeats Monica Fonseca Da Silva by footlock.
Kyra Gracie is up next…
Kyra Gracie will take on McDermott (brown belt).
Kyra is up 2-0 by takedown.
Sophia McDermott is now down 0-5 against Kyra.
Kyra in McDermott’s kalf guard, attacking.
Kyra defeats McDermott, who did not score any points but fought a tough fight.
Christie Thomas (Relson Gracie) is now up against Sayaka Shioda, who is already looking for foot attacks.
Shioda is up on Thomas by points, and is now in Thomas’ guard.
Shioda catches Christy Thomas in an ankle lock.
Laurence Cousin (Behring), the 2007 featherweight world champion from France is getting ready to take the mat.
Cousin’s opponent: Hanette Staack.
Michele Nicolini is up against a brown belt from Gracie Humaita.
Cousin has Staack in her guard.
Nicolini quickly wins her first match.
Staack is still in Cousin’s guard, many minutes later.
Cousin wins!
Michele Nicolini is stuck in a flying triangle, which she eventually escapes!
Nicolini is down on points 6-4.
Nicolini loses 10-4.
Laurence Cousin steps on the mat against Kyra Gracie!
Cousin is underneath Kyra in half guard. Kyra is attempting a head - arm triangle choke.
After nearly having the head arm triangle for many minutes, Kyra spins into an armbar and taps Cousin.
Michele Nicolini is tied against Ana Laura Cordeiro (Gracie Barra) 2-2.
Nicolini is now down on points against her much larger opponent. She suddenly succumbs to an armbar from the mount from Cordeiro.
Shioda has her back taken quickly by Kyra Gracie.
Kyra’s been going for a gi choke against Shioda from the back… Shioda is defending.
Renzo Gracie is imploring Kyra to maintain the position. Josh Barnett is coaching Shioda.
After defending valiantly for many minutes, Shioda taps to Kyra’s choke.
Leticia Ribeiro (Gracie Humaita) is stepping on to the mat against Sayaka Shioda (AACC).
Christy Thomas (Relson Gracie) is fighting Ana Laura Cordeiro (GB).
Ana Laura Cordeiro has defeated Christy Thomas.
Leticia Ribeiro is beating Shioda 10-0.
Luka Dias is getting ready to face Gabrielle Garcia.
Patricia Lage (Barbosa JJ) armbarred Jennifer Petrina (Gracie Humaita).
Gabrielle Garcia is up 2-0 over Luka Dias after a takedown.
Shioda is still giving Ribeiro a run for her money. Ribeiro’s husband Fabricio Camoes is cheering on Leticia, who ultimately wins on points. Very tough match.
Gabrielle Garcia’s size appears to be too much for Luka this time around. Dias is now down 8-0 on points.
Kyra Gracie is now on the mat against Gabriela Bermudez (Gracie Humaita).
Luka Dias loses to Gabrielle Garcia. The score is 11-0.
Kyra Gracie is winning 4-0 over Gabriela Bermudez.
Hanette Staack is upagainst Sophia McDermott (Machado Australia).
Kyra defeats Gabriela Bermudez 4-0.
A medic has been called out to attend to Sophia McDermott. She may have dislocated her shoulder. Staack is declared the victor.
Penny Thomas and Christy Thomas are one of the last fights of the evening. The score is tied 0-0.
Leticia Ribeiro is about to compete againar Bianca Barreto (Gracie Barra).
Barreto is now up 2-0 over Leticia Ribeiro.
Penny Thomas (Limao) is now up on points over Christy Thomas.
Bianca Barreto has taken Leticia Ribeiro’s back.
Penny Thomas defeats Christy Thomas (Relson Gracie) on points.
Bianca Barreto still has Leticia Ribeiro’s back. Ribeiro is face down on the mat and Barreto is looking for an opening.
Bianca Barreto defeats Leticia Riebiro.
Laurence Cousin wins her final match of the day by armbar.
Men’s Open Weight Black Belt Division
The action on all mats is stopped and a five minute video from Budo Video is shown recapping the open weight division fights since the IBJJF’s Mundials.
Mike Fowler is down 0-2 against an Roberto Abreu.
Mike Fowler is on bottom in half guard.
Fowler is falling behind on points to his much larger opponent, and remains on bottom.
Abreu beats Fowler.
Robin Geiseler (Relson Gracie) lost his first match.
Andre Galvao is about to take the mats against an
unnamed opponent.
Galvao’s opponent is Martins Soares. Galvao is now passing his guard, almost taking the ack as the opponent turtles. They are stood up.
Galvao is having his way with Soares, almost dancing around his defenses. Soares taps to a kimura to loud applause.
Flavio Almeida is in action against an unknown opponent and is in half guard on top.
Cobrinha versus Rafael Lovato JR! Starting now!!!!!
Lovato is on bottom. No points yet.
Cobrinha is having a tough time getting by Lovato’s long legs. Fabio Gurgel is coaching from the sidelines.
Flavio Almeida is being attended to by the medics for a cut on his head.
Roger Gracie is on the sidelines, presumably getting ready for an imminent match.
Lovato is still on bottom, gets a takedown. Points awarded.
Lovato is now in Cobrinha’s guard.
Roger Gracie is now in the half guard of his opponent.
Cobrinnha is going for a omoplata, Lovato stands.
Xande Ribeiro is in action.
Flavio Almeida gets a big slam on his opponent.
Cobrinha sweeps Lovato for two points.
Roger Gracie is mounting his opponent, going for choke.
Roger sinks the choke.
Xande is about to take his opponent’s back.
Flavio Almeida wins his first match on points.
Xande sinks a choke on his opponent and wins his first match.
Lovato Jr. wins AS THE CLOCK EXPIRES WITH A SWEEP against Cobrinha!!!
Cobrinha’s large crowd from Alliance is protesting, of course.
Andre Galvao is up against Roberto Abreu.
Galvao defeats Abreu by kneebar.
Roger Gracie steps on the mat against an unknown opponent in a black Koral gi.
Xande Ribeiro is now on the mat against an unknown opponent.
Roger is on top in half guard in his match.
Roger is already mounted on his opponent, getting ready to set up the choke.
His opponent regains half guard.
Xande wins by submission. (Sorry, I missed it.)
Roger has his opponent’s back.
Roger taps his opponent for the win.
Rafael Lovato Jr. is up against Gracie Florianopolis’ Marcel Fortuna.
Lovato Jr. pulls guard.
Lovato Jr. eventually secures an armbar over Marcel Fortuna.
Flavio Almeida is now on the mat against an unknown opponent.
Almeida gets the takedown and is up 2-0.
Almeida is still up 2-0 against his opponent many minutes later.
Almeida wins by points, 2-0.
Just as I feel a break in the action and try to take a break, I see Rafael Lovato Jr. and Andre Galvao getting ready to go against each other. I settle back in.
Xande Ribeiro is in action against Antonio Braga Neto (thanks for help with the name Ross!), and is winning 2-0.
Xande has mounted his opponent, is looking for the choke.
Xande sinks the choke on Neto.
Lovato Jr. versus Andre Galvao has begun!
Lovato pulls guard. Galvao is standing.
Lovato is plaing open guard, Galvao is attempting to pass.
More of the same. The two are restarted in the center.
Galvao gets an advantage point for a near-pass. Roger Gracie is watching from the side.
Galvao takes Lovato Jr’s back, and sinks a collar choke!
Roger Gracie takes the mat against and unknown Gracie Florianopolis opponent.
Roger gets a big judo thrown and lands on top. He quickly lands mount.
Roger Gracie is sinking the choke from the mount against his opponent.
Roger Gracie sinks the choke. Match over.
Flavio Almeida is in action again. He is facing Gabriel Vella (Alliance).
Vella defeats Almeida by points in a great match. Almeida’s previously sustained eye injury looks rough! I will post a photo of it sometime soon.
Roger Gracie and Andre Galvao are pacing next to mat number one! Fireworks in a moment!
Galvao and Roger lock up… they’re fighting for grips. Roger looms over Galvao by many inches.
The crowd is nearly silent waiting in tense anticipation.
Roger gets a judo throw and gets big applause!
Galvao slips out from underneath and is nearly on Roger’s back!
Both are standing. Galvao is standing low behind Roger’s back, clamped on.
They come undone near the sidelines and are given a moment to re-tie their gis in the center.
Now reengaging, Galvao attempts to pull guard but Roger passes immediately. Roger gets points for takedown and passing. Roger is now on top in half guard.
Every eye in the Pyramid is on the two, as Roger gets another two points for passing.
Roger nearly gets mount but Galvao escapes. Roger gets an advantage.
Roger now has Galvao in a body triangle from the back. Galvao’s situation worsens.
Roger is sinking the choke from behind on Galvao, but Galvao escapes for the time being back into Roger’s mount.
Roger Gracie is going for the armbar as time runs out and defeats Andre Galvao by points!!!
Xande Ribeiro (UNIJJ) is taking the mat against Gabriel Vella (Alliance).
Controversy erupts as it looked like Vella just tapped to an armbar by Xande, but they are stood back up again.
Xande gets the takedown, now working from half guard.
The action moves out of bounds and they restart in the middle standing.
The score is now 2-0 in Xande’s favor. Xande also has three advantages and Vella has one.
The two have been exchanging takedown attempts, and they are given a quick second to recompose their gis. The action resumes from standing in the center again.
Xande is now on top in half guard and secures mount!
Vella escapes and is now underneath in half guard again.
Vella secures full guard on Xande.
Vella sweeps and gets the takedown. Xande winds up on bottom as time runs out.
Xande Ribeiro defeats Gabriel Vella by points.
Tomorrow’s final in the absolute division will be a rematch between Xande Ribeiro versus Roger Gracie!
Wilson Reis is warming up on the sideline, fresh off his MMA victory last weekend.
Joe Camacho just walked on the mat against Leonardo Soares. His opponent very quickly jumped into a flying triangle that Camacho is fighting off.
Camacho pops out and is attempting to pass.
Soares defeats Camacho (Sorry I missed the submission).
Wilson Reis’ opponent will be Kazumasa Sekiguch.
Wilson Reis defeats Kazumasa Sekiguch on points.
Frederico Sabbatini (Cia Paulista) is in action against Joao Silva (Aloisio Silva).
Sabbatini and Silva have been paused to fix their gis. Sabbatini has spent most of the time in Silva’s guard.
Sabbatini has sped away on points, now up 8-0 on Silva.
Silva has appeared to lock a tight triangle on Sabbatini, who did tap but just as the whistle had begun blowing. Sabbatini is the winner!
Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles just took the mat against Jean Jacques Machado black belt Scott DeWitt.
Cobrinha has taken DeWitt’s back early in the encounter.
Cobrinha sinks the choke against DeWitt in under two minutes.
Paulo Guillobel won his match. Sorry, I don’t know his opponent.
Jared Weiner and Gilbert Burns are heading to the mats.
Celso Vinicius is ip on his opponent by one advantage point.
Celso Viniciuus is now up 5-0 on his opponent.
Wellington “Megaton” Dias is now up by one advantage over Toshiyuki Sato.
Megaton has his opponent in the guard.
Frederico Sabbatini is in action again.
Megaton taps Sato by armbar! The crowd reacts with warm applause.
Celso Vinicius defeats his opponent by points.
Jared Weiner is fighting off an omoplata attempt, and escapes. The two are now standing
Sabbatini is way down on points.
Daisuke Sugie is up 7-0 over Andre Maracaba.
Sabbatini loses to an opponent from Alliance.
Jared Weiner wins his match against Gilbert Burns on points.
Daisuke Sugie defeats Andre Maracaba on points.
Johnny Ramirez (BJJ Revolution) is now in his second match of the day. He is facing Gracie Barra’s Samuel Braga.
Celso Vinicius is now in action against his Team Megaton opponent and up 2-0 after a big throw lands him on top.
Michel Maia and Paulo Guillobel are in action. Michele is on bottom in half guard.
Wilson Reis is about to face Gabriel Furley.
Celso “Celsinho” Vinicius (Ryan Gracie) is pounding his opponent on points, 18-0.
Paulo Guillobel has Michel Maia in a deep triangle.
Marcos “Yemaso” Torregosa wins his first match.
Michel Maia escapes the triangle and the is now standing against Guilobel again.
Noah Booth is up 3-0 on his opponent.
Sandro “Batata” Santiago is underneath his opponent in half guard.
Batata is now down on points.
Wilson Reis defeated Gabriel Furley on points.
Megaton is up 2-0 against a Japanese opponent after a judo throw to open the match.
Paulo Guillobel defeated Michel Maia on points.
Bill “The Grill” Cooper is in action against Luis Gutavo Campos. The score is 0-0.
Roger Gracie just landed in the open guard of Luigi Mondelli as their match opens. Roger already passed.
Roger Gracie taps Luigi Mondelli by breadcutter from sidemount for the win.
Tarsis Humphries is handily beating his opponent on points.
Bill Cooper defeated his opponent by footlock.
Thanks to PeshPhoto.com for help with keeping us powered!!!
Mike Fowler and his cheetah-spotted head are on the mat against Kyle Sukehira (Kamole JJ).
Tarsis Humphries wins 19-0.
Tony Passos wins his match.
Marcos “Yemaso” Torregossa is on the mat against a new opponent.
Rafael Ellwanger (Gracie Barra) and Eduardo Telles are getting ready to face one another.
Fowler has full mount on Sukehira.
Fowler finishes Sukehira with a choke from half guard.
Torregossa is winning on points.
Telles defeated Ellwanger.
Asa Fuller is down by five points against an unknown opponent.
Yemaso has won his match.
Asa Fuller has lost on points to Leonardo Leite.
Bill Cooper gets a takedown to open his match against Paulo Procopio, and escapes a subsequent triangle attempt.
Kron Gracie and his opponent Sergio Moraes (Alliance) have begun their match.
Moraes gets a quick 2 points for a takedown.
Kron is now down by a score of 4-2. Moraes is being examined for an eye issue sustained when the two went out of bounds during a Moraes takedown. Now medically cleared, the two have begun again.
Kron continues down on points though attacking from the guard. The Alliance crowd is chanting “Ser-gi-O! Ser-gi-O!”.
Kron gets slammed down and the crowd is demanging takedown points for Moraes, which do not come. Kron is now mounted! The score is now 11-2! Kron taps to a gi choke! Lead by the cheering from the Alliance crew, the Pyramid ERUPTS!!!
Rickson Gracie, Kron’s father, comes to the sidelines and whispers in his son’s ear. As Kron leaves the mat, he is rewarded with warm cheers from the crowd.
Bill Cooper wins 5-0 on points against Procopio.
Otavio Souza and Thiago Alves (Barbosa JJ) are getting ready to begin.
The score continues to be 0-0 between Souza and Alves.
Xande Ribeiro just tapped his opponent by armbar.
The score is now 2-2 between Alves and Souza. Souza is winning on advantages. The two have restarted standing.
Mike Fowler taps to a triangle from Vitor Estima (Gracie Barra).
Otavio Souza defeats Tiago Alves on points.
Braulio Estima (Gracie Barra) is now up…
Bruno Paulista (Gracie Barra) has defeated James Foster (No Limits / Lotus Club).
Braulio Estima defeated his opponent.
Luiz Teodoro aka “Big Mac” is now disqualified for not appearing.
Gustavo Campos (Rickson Gracie) just defeated Tokito Akuma (Purebred).
Sergio Moraes, who earlier defeated Kron Gracie, is in a deep triangle from Gracie Barra Augusto “Tio Chico” Vieira opponent.
As time runs out, Sergio does not tap and is declared the winner on points.
Last and final update: 06:57 PM I haven’t eaten anything but a granola bar today. (I also brought a ripe pear in my pocket which quickly exploded the first time I sat down. You’d think I’d know better!) It’s time for some grub and then back to the hotel to begin work on tomorrow’s show!
Reminder: Come back tomorrow for live results of the finals!
IFL Team Tryouts in October
September 25, 2007
Do you dream of fighting mixed martial arts professionally? Do you have a few fights under your belt already? Today the International Fight League announced that in October they’ll be holding open tryouts in LA Fitness locations in three cities to help find untapped talent. On a conference call today, IFL Commissioner Kurt Otto invoked the story of IFL fighter John Gunderson, who made it into the league in such a tryout.
Tryout dates:
- Saturday, Oct. 13, at the L.A. Boxing at 103 E. 17th St., Suite 1 in Costa Mesa, California
- Saturday, Oct. 20, the combine moves to the L.A. Boxing location at 300 Waverly Ave. in Mamaroneck, N.Y.
- Saturday, Oct. 27 at a location to be announced in Greater Chicago
Those who are interested can submit initial applications at www.ifl.tv/Draft.html or may do so in advance at the tryout locations.
#85 Rodrigo “Comprido” Medeiros Interview, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson
September 16, 2007
We’ve got a crazy show for you this week on The FightWorks Podcast. We’re going to start off with a lengthy interview with seven-time Brazilan jiu-jitsu world champion Rodrigo “Comprido” Leite Medeiros thanks to our new correspondent Bruce Hoyer. If you don’t know what “Comprido” means, check out some Brazilian fighter nicknames.
I’m going to include a brief blast from the past on an earlier show: way back in Episode 19 of The FightWorks Podcast we brought you the action directly from The Debut of the IFL. Still one of our most downloaded shows to date, it contains a conversation with myself and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, who was hired to commentate at the event alongside Stephen Quadros, “The Fight Professor”. I realized that some of our newer listeners who are excited about Rampage’s recent victory over Dan Henderson may get a kick out of that interaction.
We’ll wind down with a little gossip about another BJJ titan who is reportedly considering making his home in San Diego.
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (recommended)
[mp3] Download the show
IFL Razorclaws Looking for Fighters
September 13, 2007
Frank Shamrock announced on his MySpace page that he’s looking for fighters to try out for positions on the IFL team that he coaches, the Razorclaws.
Frank Shamrock IFL Team Try-Outs October 13 at Shamrock Martial Arts Academy in San Jose, CA.
The San Jose Razorclaws are looking for experienced MMA fighters to fill open positions for the upcoming IFL season.
Try-outs will include an interview, fitness test, boxing/kickboxing test and submission skills test.
Email Brian Foster at inkaholics@gmail.com for details.
This lessens the likelihood that the Razorclaws, who were 0-3 in team competition and 4-11in individual fights, will be among the IFL teams that are not included in next year’s roster of teams. The IFL commissioner Kurt Otto has made comments suggesting that teams whose performance were not up to par in the 2007 may not be among those we see next year.
The next IFL event is the 2007 IFL World Team Championships, scheduled for September 20th in Hollywood, Florida. The Pitbulls, coached by Renzo Gracie, will compete against Pat Miletich’s Silverbacks for the championship rings.
IFL Releases Their First DVD
September 6, 2007
As promised, the International Fight League has put out a DVD of their 2006 season. It’s available for pre-order now and is supposed to ship on September 18th.
The DVD will contain fight footage from:
and of course, the proverbial “much more”. 
Don’t forget that the IFL World Championships are just around the corner and will take place on September 20th!
#78 Ginastica Natural & Alvaro Romano, Xande Ribeiro, and Savant Young
July 29, 2007
Another packed and varied show for you here on The FightWorks Podcast.
We’re going to start with an interview with Alvaro Romano. Romano is the inventor of Ginastica Natural. Very successful combat sports competitors like BJJ world champions Saulo and Xande Ribeiro swear by Ginastica Natural, and Romano is currently training 145 pound MMA fighter and grappling phenomenon Rani Yahya. We’ll get to know Alvaro and learn about the origins of Ginastica Natural. (You can check out Ginastica Natural on YouTube).
Ginástica Natural combines the techniques of stretching, flexibility and respiration of hatha-yoga, the ground movements of jiu-jitsu, and the natural movements of the human body.
Our second interview is with current Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt open weight division world champion Xande Ribeiro. Xande discusses his preparation for defending his title, and who he expects to encounter in competition including Marcelo Garcia, Braulio Estima, and Xande’s longtime rival Roger Gracie.
Xande Ribeiro
Our final guest has work ahead of him this coming Thursday at the IFL’s 2007 Semifinals in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Savant Young is the 155 pound fighter for the Tokyo Sabres and will take on Renzo Gracie’s New York Pitbulls fighter Erik Owings. Young gives us some perspective on striving for the IFL championship, his most-hailed victory (you’ll never guess who it’s over), and the day-in day-out workings of the Tokyo Sabres.
Savant Young. Photo Courtesy IFL.
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (recommended)
[mp3] Download the show
IFL Conference Call Notes
July 25, 2007
The 2007 IFL World Grand Prix was announced earlier today, and the IFL held a conference call to discuss details and other items of interest for mixed martial arts’ first team-based league. Here are some highlights, in no particular order:
- The IFL plans to be very proactive in developing an internal policy regarding the prevention of substance abuse among their fighters, and is willing to work with other MMA promotions to engineer a unified, cross-promotion approach to eliminate banned substance use in their athletes, from recreational drugs to steroids.
- The IFL has stated that they may create two new teams next year from Brazil and the UK. These teams may supplant or replace existing IFL teams. Ian Freeman would be the coach of the United Kingdom team, and these teams, while representing foreign countries, may be based in the United States similarly to the way the Tokyo Sabres are based in Los Angeles.
- The injury preventing Chris Horodecki from competing in the IFL Semifinals 2007 is a broken right hand. This is the same hand and same injury the young Horodecki injured earlier in his nascent career.
- Champions in the World Grand Prix will never lose their status as winners of a certain year’s Grand Prix. However their status as individual champions will be put on the line during the course of the year. When asked if the second storyline of individual champions could undermine the team-basaed approach that the IFL was based on, Otto responded that all teams in every sport have stars and if that’s another thing to get fans excited about, the IFL wants to provide that.
- The IFL chose Sears Centre in Chicago and the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut for their two Grand Prix venues as they feel they were very successful in their earlier appearances in these locations, which they believe are great regional hubs for MMA fans.
- Live television for the World Grand Prix is not scheduled but they are working on it.
- The IFL has received offers “all the time” from individuals who would like to run franchise teams in the organization, in the way that there are team owners in sports like the NHL, the NFL, and others. Currently they are holding off on moving forward on that but they are considering it for the future. Right now they want to make sure they nail things the way they are before bringing on more variables into the mix.
- I asked the IFL what the reaction was inside the office when they learned of the Brazilian team-based league called the MoTeam League, which was announced this month. Kurt Otto stated that they are happy about it, as when others copy and emulate their system it is validation that the IFL is onto something. He wonders if the UFC may take a dim view of some of its fighters like Wanderlei Silva taking part in the MTL the way the UFC would not allow UFC fighters to participate in the IFL.
IFL Preparing for Its 2007 Semifinals
July 18, 2007
The International Fight League, mixed martial arts’ first team-based promotion, has rounded the corner on its first full season and is holding its 2007 IFL Semifinals on August 2nd at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Four of the IFL’s teams will face off that evening to determine the competitors for the finals, which are scheduled to be held at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood Florida on September 20th.
The reigning champions, the LA Anacondas, coached by Shawn Thompkins will take on Pat Miletich’s Quad City Silverbacks. This pairing pits the two toughest teams from the IFL’s 2006 warm-up season against each other. Today on an IFL press call, I asked each team’s coach which of their teams’ five fights on August second they seeing as being the hardest. Pat Miletich, who responded first, declined to answer the question. Miletich stated that both teams are very well coached, both have very good athletes, and mixed martial arts is just too unpredictable for him to name a fight that concerns him the most. Shawn Thompkins echoed Miletich’s answer, responding that he is just honored to have his team share the ring against one of the toughest coaches in MMA history.
During the call Kurt Otto, the league’s commissioner, stated that the IFL’s belts for their Grand Prix champions, to be determined after the team championships, will be made public next week and that he personally designed the belt. Otto went on, saying that the IFL’s championship belts are the best looking belts in MMA and that fighters will be excited to wear them. I asked how it came about that Kurt Otto came to design the organizations belts, but Otto had already left the conference call. Pat Miletich joked that “[Kurt] designs and builds houses so he made the belt like a duplex, just with a lot of gold on it.”
If anyone out there is local to the Semifinals event in New Jersey, definitely make the trip over to the show. Kurt Otto reiterated that the seats will be inexpensive and the format of the event will reinforce the notion that the IFL is focused on promoting “a sport and not a spectacle”. If you’ve been clamoring for more well-produced local shows, then this is your chance.
Pat Miletich and Shawn Thompkins. Photos courtesy IFL.
Jeremy Williams Benefit Grappling Seminar in Irvine on Saturday
May 31, 2007
If you meet the following criteria:
- You will be in the SoCal area this weekend
- You’re reading news on this site
…then you have no reason to not attend the event described here. As you may remember, Jeremy Williams, the 185 pounder for the IFL Condors, passed away recently leaving his family behind. As if the cost of this seminar wasn’t waaaaaay underpriced (most seminars are way more than $40 to be around one black belt), all proceeds from this all-star seminar will go to Williams’ family. Check out the list of world-class instruction all in the same room at the same time this Saturday in Irvine…
Felicia Oh (Jean Jacques Machado)
Cindy Omatsu (Rigan Machado)
Andy Wang (Grappling Unlimited)
Javi Vazquez (Showtime JiuJitsu)
Eddie Bravo (10th Planet)
Marcus Vinicius (Beverly Hills Jiu Jitsu)
Brian Peterson (Felicia Oh)
Mac Danzig
Jeff Glover (Paragon)
Waldomiro Perez (Huntington Beach Ultimate Training Center)
Rigan Machado
Gumby (Ralph Gracie)
Gabe Ruediger
No Limits
1962 Barranca Parkway
Irvine, Ca. 92606
We look forward to seeing you there. Be sure to say hi!
The Myth of Fewer MMA Submission Victories
May 30, 2007
IntroductionThis post could also be titled, I Owe Royce Gracie an Apology. Recently I’d begun feeling as if less fights end in submission using traditional Brazilian jiu-jitsu moves like the triangle choke, rear naked choke, armbar, kneebar, etc. I think there are two reasons for this nagging fear:
- Perhaps it’s due to an apprehension that as more new fans are exposed to the sport, fights are getting stood up more quickly after going to the ground to press the striking action, which is easier for an MMA novice to understand, and could increase popularity of a promotion’s fights. If such a bias were present in referees (consciously or not) this would give fighters less time to set up submissions and decrease the likelihood of a successful submission.
- I also have a small voice in my head that wonders, “What if it’s possible that you don’t need to study BJJ attacks to do well in MMA anymore (and by extension, fighting as a whole), and you can just get by with really good submission defense?” A thought like this, which undermines the effectiveness of something you’ve studied for so long, is not a pleasant idea.
I’d pretty much convinced myself that my fears were becoming a reality. Without having looked at the data behind this idea, in a recent press conference call for this Saturday’s k-1 Dynamite!! show in Los Angeles, I asked Royce Gracie why less fights end in submission these days. Click this link to hear our exchange. As you can hear, Royce was a bit stumped by my question and responded that the reason there may be less submission wins these days is because everybody is now studying Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and that this has brought a parity that wasn’t there before.Materials and MethodsI realized that there are ways of testing my assumption on the matter and decided it was time to see if there really is such a trend. One of Sherdog’s greatest resources is its FightFinder, and I decided that we could use all the fights in UFC history and check to see if there were less submissions now than in the past. (I would have included other organizations, but the time involved would be too great.) Looking at Sherdog’s historical data of UFC, I went and determined how many fights ended in anything that resembled a Brazilian jiu-jitsu based submission. According to Sherdog, the UFC has put on 90 events since inception.
Screenshot of data collectedOne note on methodology: if the entry listed non-traditional submissions, “Submission (Strikes)”, or “Submission (Headbutts)“, those fights were not included as we are looking to see if the number of submissions from a BJJ perspective has changed. For example, Mark Kerr’s “submission” victory over Dan Bobish with a chin to the eye was not included. (While Relson Gracie will teach you some similarly unpleasant tactics for streetfighting, I’m not counting a chin ground into the eyeball as traditional BJJ.)ResultsAs time has passed, the UFC has added a lot more events per year to their schedule, empowering our data’s ability to illustrate real trends. Between 1994 and 1998, the number of events per year varied between three and six. However, in 2005 we saw 10 events and in 2006 there were 18 events, so it’s less likely that the trends we see in the data are due to chance.
UFC submission Rate over the YearsAs you can see, no results from 2007 are shown above as 2007 isn’t over yet and would not conform to the rule we set for the rest of the years, which required that all data possible from a given year be examined. With the exception of the first few wacky years of data from 1993 to 1995, there’s a pretty narrow band of results.
|
|
Average Percent Submissions |
Standard Deviation |
|
1993 through 2006 |
0.32 |
0.13 |
|
1996 through 2006 |
0.27 |
0.06 |
Generally speaking, the data supports the idea that for between 1996 and 2006, the percentage of fights which end in submission wavers between 37% and 17%. So I can rest soundly knowing that there is no general decline in the amount of submissions at least in the UFC over the past ten years. It also bears mentioning that in the preliminary data for 2007, as of this writing the percent of fights ending in submission is consistent with previous years, coming in at 29%.DiscussionWhew! Submissions in MMA don’t appear to be going anywhere (if data from the UFC can be generalized to MMA as a whole, Sherdog data is valid, and I didn’t accidentally mis-enter any data.)Whew! That was a lot of work.So that’s good news. Royce, I am sorry to have put you on the spot and asked you a question that was not based in fact. The next time I see you I will make a point to apologize in person as well. I think we can now say that overall, submissions based on Brazilian jiu-jitsu are safe in MMA. If anyone’s interested in playing with the data I collected, email me using the email address shown towards the upper right of this page and I’ll pass it along.For all you submission fans like me out there, be sure you check out the next episode of “IFL Battleground” on Monday, June 4, at 8 p.m. ET/PT (7 p.m. CT/MT). It’s going to focus on the best wins by submission and “Looks Inside The Art Of Chokes And Holds”. Set your Tivos!
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