No Show This Weekend
July 31, 2010
Sergio Moraes (left) against Kron Gracie at the 2010 BJJ World Championship. Photo courtesy cohost Dan.
Hey Family,
Not the news I like to deliver but sometimes there’s just not enough hours in a week, you know what I mean? I have been traveling for my job the majority of this week and was not able to set aside any time to put something together. I think I could have made a show in the last day or so but I don’t want to throw quality out the window and do a show just just for the sake of saying I didn’t miss a week.
So stay tuned and we should be back very soon!
Caleb (still on the road!)
We’re an iTunes Staff Favorite!
July 10, 2010
Wow!
I got a text message this week from one of the Mighty 600,000 with the good news! The FightWorks Podcast was chosen as an iTunes Staff Favorite in the podcast section of the iTunes Store!
Since September 2005 we’ve worked very hard to bring you guys great content every Sunday, so this is a very rewarding moment for us. Our humble little Brazilian jiu-jitsu radio show will keep pushing forward to bring you the very best BJJ news and interviews out there. Sit tight, and thank you for being a part of the Family!
And get ready for tomorrow’s show, where we present our debut feature interview with Lloyd Irvin, and Brasa’s Rodrigo “Comprido” Medeiros who recently coached UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar to a submission victory!
BJJ World Championship Coverage
June 3, 2010
Okay so among very important questions about the 2010 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Championship like, “Who will be the next black belt champion in the middle weight division?”, or “Which BJJ team will win the team trophy?” are important questions like, “How can I follow the action without being there?”
So here’s a real quick rundown of how you can stay informed.
Live Video of the Event
Just like the 2010 Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship a couple of months ago, Budo Video will be streaming the action to your computer for free in real time. All you have to do is register for an account at budovideos.com/online if you do not have one already. While there is no reason to expect any problems, I recommend registering in advance just in case there are any hiccups on the server that day.
Budo Videos will be streaming the action on Saturday and Sunday, focusing on the black belt action. Sunday is when the finals take place in each of those divisions, and as we mentioned the other day, the plan is for there to be a quick live interview with the winner after each finals match. I will be participating in the live video on Sunday as a commentator, working for Budo Video alongside Shawn Williams.
Here on The FightWorks Podcast
FightWorks Podcast cohost Dan and I will be arriving at the event Saturday, where we will be furiously working to bring you as much information as possible right there from the Long Beach Pyramid. I will be live blogging the action all day Saturday. I know that people will watch the live video on their computer and in a separate browser window they’ll have my live blogging open. This is because often times I will offer tidbits and details that you cannot get from the live video feed, simply because the online video will focus on one or two of the great jiu-jitsu matches at a time and I can offer an observation from more than one at a time.
Dan will be roaming the arena, getting photos, audio and maybe even video that we will use soon here on our site. As always, we will have another episode of our humble weekly BJJ radio show ready for you on Sunday!
Let’s Grab Coffee Sunday at the 2010 BJJ World Championships
June 1, 2010
The 2010 BJJ World Championship is this coming weekend! It’s going to be very busy, with our live blog of Saturday and our appearance on Sunday’s free video stream of the action. But one thing we love about these events is the opportunity to get face to face with the Mighty 600,000.
Here’s the deal: stop in and grab a coffee with us from 8 to 8:45am at the Starbucks Cafe & Lobby Lounge inside the Long Beach Marriott at 4700 Airport Plaza Drive in Long Beach. This is the hotel that the IBJJF had hooked up with a special rate for BJJ Mundial competitors, and it’s just down the street from the 2010 Jiu-Jitsu World Championship so I hope it’s pretty convenient for people.
Please stop in and say hello. It’s really rewarding to put faces to the Mighty 600,000.
Don’t worry, we won’t be there long enough for you to miss any of the black belt action that day, which begins at 10am. But this way we get to connect with the Family a bit, generate some content for our next show, and caffeinate before another long day of BJJ reporting! See you there!
Tournament Review Tuesday and the 2010 BJJ World Championship
June 1, 2010
Jonathan “JT” Torres on his way to capturing the silver medal for light weight brown belts at the 2009 BJJ World Championship.
Just a very quick note to confirm something I mentioned on our Sunday show about the 2010 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Championship and Tournament Review Tuesday (TRT) here on thefightworkspodcast.com. As you know, TRT is an opportunity for folks to share their experiences at jiu-jitsu tournaments.
If you write a review of the 2010 BJJ World Championship and we publish it, you will be sent a FightWorks Podcast Gi Patch! Generally it is expected that if you write a TRT piece for us, you will have personally participated as a competitor in the event you’re writing about, but this time, do not worry about it. We are looking to convey all experiences of the 2010 BJJ Mundials from everyone’s point of view.
(Of course, if we have to reject your article because it doesn’t meet our quality standards on the site, you won’t get a patch. But we’ve never rejected any TRT piece so I am pretty confident it won’t be an issue here. I have to say so just in case.)
Looking forward to reading what The Mighty 600,000 can share about the most exciting BJJ event in the world!
Sherdog Article on College Credit for Jiu-Jitsu
May 8, 2010
Atos Jiu-Jitsu‘s Rafael Mendes (left) slaps hands with Alliance‘s Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles at the 2009 BJJ World Championship.
Last Saturday I received email from a few of the Mighty 600,000 letting me know about an article by Sherdog’s Jake Rossen called UConn’s College Credit for Jiu-Jitsu. In the article Rossen mentioned his concerns about what may be a dilution of Brazilian jiu-jitsu or making fast-food martial arts. He wrote, “It’s domesticated, convenience store martial arts, and a pacifist’s weapon that could be misappropriated.”
To be clear, he also pointed out some benefits of offering jiu-jitsu in such an environment. In any case, the email I received from FightWorks Podcast listeners expressed concern about some of the assumptions made by Rossen in his piece.
I thought this would make for a decent conversation on the tomorrow’s episode. On Sunday and yesterday I emailed Rossen to see if he would like to come on our humble BJJ internet radio show and discuss the topic a bit, but unfortunately I did not hear back. I am sure he receives a lot of email so it’s possible that ours were lost in the shuffle. In any case the invitation is still open if he is interested.
Explaining the “Hello World!” Post You Saw; Our Site Was Hacked Yesterday
May 8, 2010
Hey Family this is not the normal news you’d find here on the FightWorks Podcast, but it would be irresponsible to not mention it at all. It’s not related to Brazilian jiu-jitsu, so if you did not visit our site yesterday and wanted to stop reading this post right now I would not blame you. If you did visit our site and saw it behave strangely, please read on.
Yesterday our website here at thefightworkspodcast.com was hacked by online criminals whose goal was to get malware installed on the computers of people who visited the site. The bad guys got into our site’s WordPress software and inserted code that would tell people who visited that they were infected by a dangerous computer virus and needed to install a “fix” on their machines. Of course if you accepted the download “fix” that you were being offered, then you would get actually infected by malware.
After receiving a very-appreciated email from Fighters Only Magazine‘s Hywel Teague while I was at lunch yesterday that let me know about the problem, I spent a few hours removing the infected code that was hiding in there and reinstalling WordPress. Yes, it was as fun as it sounds! If you saw a message come to you via email or in our RSS feed saying “Hello World!” that’s an artifact of me having fixed everything.
This attack has been happening to thousands of sites in recent weeks, so we are far from being alone. Here’s a write up with some info on the attack. As always, while anti-virus won’t always catch all the bad stuff trying to attack your computer, yesterday was a good time to have it installed. Please always use updated anti-virus. I will do more research into ways to minimize the likelihood that this happens again on our side. I’m very sorry it happened.
2010 Pan Jiu-Jitsu Coverage Schedule
April 10, 2010
Alliance’s Sergio Moraes: 2008 middleweight champion, 2009 co-champion with Marcelo Garcia. Many pick him to win his division this weekend at the 2010 Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship.
So I arrived in Irvine a few hours ago after a caffeine-fueled but uneventful ride up from San Diego. I checked in to the lobby at the Marriott where the IBJJF set up discounted rates for those attending and immediately saw a few friends, which is always a nice way to arrive anywhere. The lobby held what I presume is an unusually high number of very athletic males between 20 and 35 wearing sweatpants and flip flops. They take turns sizing each other up when guys they don’t know are not looking, trying to ascertain the weight, affiliation, and overall toughness of those who they may face on the mats tomorrow.
For my part I headed up stairs, dropped off my stuff, tweeted, and headed right back down to the lounge for a refreshment. I caught up with Tony the Announcer, who reported that the blues and white belts who competed these past two days looked very tough. I finished my drink and now find myself here reading over some notes I have made on the competitors. In between hearing the voices of guys in nearby rooms goofing around (the Marriott front desk told me they’ve got jiu-jitsu people in more than 90 rooms), I realize it’s about time I put in writing what you can expect from us at the 2010 Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship this weekend.
SATURDAY
| Time | What I do | What you do |
| 8 to 9 AM | Drink coffee in the Starbucks downstairs | If you are local, join me for coffee. Details here. |
| 9 AM to 2 PM | Tweet intermittently. Save energy for later. | Relax. |
| 2 PM to 6 PM (?) | Live blogging begins, focusing on brown and black belt adults | Read the live blog here at thefightworkspodcast.com |
| After dinner | Put together Sunday’s show | Whatever you normally do on Saturday evenings |
SUNDAY
| Time | What I do | What you do |
| Noon till maybe 4pm or so | Live blogging brown & black belt action! | Read the live blog here at thefightworkspodcast.com |
| 4:30 PM or so onward | Commentate on the live, free broadcast of the finals! | Watch the broadcast at budovideos.com/online! |
Note that the above is all a best guess, and tournaments don’t always stick precisely to schedule, so don’t hold me to those exact times. All times are refer to the Pacific time zone, of course.
Coffee with the Family Saturday Morning at the Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship
April 8, 2010
The 2010 Pan BJJ Championship is this coming weekend! Here at the FightWorks Podcast, we are as giddy as can be. And anxious. And mentally preparing ourselves for the marathon of jiu-jitsu coverage (including Sunday’s live stream of the finals)! But one thing we love about these events is the opportunity to get face to face with the Mighty 600,000.
Here’s the deal: stop in and grab a coffee with us from 8 to 9am at the Starbucks inside the Irvine Marriott at 18000 Von Karman Avenue in Irvine. This is the hotel that the IBJJF had hooked up with a special rate for Pan competitors, and it’s just down the street from the Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship so I hope it’s pretty convenient for people.
If you’re up for it, we’ll record audio of you telling us who you think will win the 2010 black belt absolute division champion the next day. Later we will draw a name at random among the other folks who correctly guessed the 2010 black belt absolute division champion and send the winner a FightWorks Podcast gi patch!
Even if you have no prediction, please stop in and say hello. It’s really rewarding to put faces to the Mighty 600,000.
Don’t worry, we won’t be there long enough for you to miss any of the black belt action that day, which begins at 3pm. But this way we get to connect with the Family a bit, generate some content for our next show, and caffeinate before another long day of BJJ reporting! See you there!
p.s. You can recognize me because I’ll be the guy with a scar on his knee and a brace on his foot!
This Coming Sunday: Royler Gracie
February 24, 2010
Royler Gracie wraps up class at Gracie Competition Team in San Diego, California.
As you know our next episode will be our 200th episode of The FightWorks Podcast. Looking back, it is crazy to think that since beginning this work in September 2005 that we would still be doing this today!
As I mentioned the other day on twitter I was able to speak with Royler Gracie for an interview on Monday. The interview went very well and I got was able to present most, if not all, of your questions to him.
We will hear about Royler’s mission now in the United States after relocating to San Diego a year ago and what it means for Gracie Humaita, and a bunch of other great information from Helio Gracie’s fifth son. Make sure you tune in!
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