Coming on Sunday: Jiu-Jitsu Arrives in the USA
January 20, 2010
Relson, Helio, Margarida, Richard Bresler, and Rolls. Photo courtesy of Bresler.
For many, jiu-jitsu’s arrival in the United States can be traced back to 1993 when Royce Gracie demonstrated jiu-jitsu’s effectiveness at UFC 1. However the Gracie family had actually been working hard to spread the word long before. On Sunday our guest on the show will be Richard Bresler, a black belt in jiu-jitsu under Fabio Santos. Bresler was present in the earliest days of jiu-jitsu in the United States when Rorion arrived in Los Angeles to begin sharing his family’s art with the world. Bresler spent much of the 1980′s training under Rorion at a time when no one knew what “jiu-jitsu” meant.
Get ready for tales of the Gracie Challenge, training days with many Gracie brothers on the mats at once, and the beginnings of the UFC. You may have heard vague references to this time frame and maybe seen Gracie in Action, but Bresler will tell stories that surely have not been shared before!
The 2009 Tournament Review Tuesday Contest Winner Is…
January 9, 2010
Jason Trott, who wrote about the Ohio Grappling Challenge in November!
Our 2009 contest was a lot of fun and I am really excited about how many TRT pieces we received last year. I’ve said it before: contest or no contest, Tournament Review Tuesday postings help share the normal guy or girl’s experience in BJJ competition from all parts. It’s important to share and document that sort of thing.
For those curious about how the winner is determined: I perform the equivalent of drawing someone’s name from a hat. I keep a spreadsheet in Google Docs that contains every Tournament Review Tuesday posting that we publish. This morning I headed over to random.org and had it randomly generate a number that would correspond to an entry in the spreadsheet. And it picked Jason’s!
Congratulations Jason! We will be in touch and will pass along your details to the gang at ChokeSports.com, who donated the gi for this contest. If anyone out there runs a business that may be able to offer a prize to donate to an upcoming contest, please get in touch with me.
Rolles Gracie This Coming Sunday
January 6, 2010
The audio home of Brazilian jiu-jitsu on the internet, the FightWorks Podcast returns this coming Sunday with an interview with Rolles Gracie. Rolles is not only the son of jiu-jitsu legend Rolls Gracie, but will be making his debut in the UFC on February 2nd against Mustapha Al-Turk.
Recently there was a bit of controversy in the online BJJ community after it became known that Rolles Gracie awarded UFC fighter Rashad Evans his black belt in BJJ. Some feel that while Evans is indeed a gifted combat athlete, he does not deserve such a coveted title because he does not come from a Brazilian jiu-jitsu background.
On this coming Sunday’s episode of our humble BJJ internet radio show, Rolles will defend his decision to give Evans a black belt. Of course, there will be much more in the show, so make sure you stop by our site to download it or subscribe to the show in iTunes so it will be downloaded automatically to your computer!
The FightWorks Podcast Headquarters Looks Back at 2009
December 23, 2009
The year is over. 2009 was a busy, busy year at The FightWorks Podcast. From live blogging the 2009 Mundials and the 2009 ADCC, to severing my ACL and LCL, and recovering from it, things have been non-stop for us. In between all the craziness we put an internet radio show just about every week. Two sister sites to The FightWorks Podcast were born this year and are doing very well.
- iCompete.org lists upcoming jiu-jitsu tournaments and seminars and has posted over 470 events in 2009 for our community.
- The jiu-jitsu school directory BJJMap.com added more than 550 places to train BJJ in 2009.
We have always been fortunate in terms of the support we receive from the jiu-jitsu family out there and 2009 was no exception. Among them are a few who stand out that I have to thank personally.
Alicia Anthony is an unspoken hero of our site and I don’t thank her nearly enough. I’d have to say ninety percent of the images you see on our website are the result of a camera that Alicia pointed at someone. Her works adds a critical visual component to our coverage of the beautiful art of jiu-jitsu and its athletes. You must check out her work at aliciaphotos.com. If there is a better visual record of Brazilian jiu-jitsu competition out there, I am not aware of it. Please support her.
Bruce Hoyer for contributing countless interviews and videos to our show. There are multiple weeks where because of my day job I didn’t have time to get content put together but Bruce was able to deliver great content and save the day. Despite snoring when we share a room at the Mundials, I consider him a huge asset and am very grateful for his help (hey I snore too, so I shouldn’t throw stones!). Bruce runs Next Edge Academy in Sioux Falls, South Dakota so be sure to stop by if you are in town.
Cohost Dan. Dan runs the original FightWorks academy in Northern Virginia where we both started training in 2000 or so. In addition being an awesome cohost who makes himself available despite the short notice I give him every week, he was a best man in my wedding in August. Our relationship is a perfect example of the many gifts of Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Of course, I want to warmly thank all the BJJ competitors out there who contributed to our Tournament Review Tuesday column. Those pieces help shed light into the majority of the competition scene out there that we frankly don’t have access to. Those experiences represent the bread and butter everyman’s experience of jiu-jitsu competition and are really important to document. So thank you to the BJJ competitors that have contributed the almost 30 reviews in 2009 for the rest of us to enjoy.
In closing, it’s been an awesome year! THANK YOU, Mighty 600,000 for your support. Here’s to another great year in 2010!
Dan's Version of the Relson Shake
December 17, 2009
By Cohost Dan
Okay guys and gals here is the recipe for my version of the Relson banana shake. As mentioned previously, Relson Gracie, who has been eating this for decades, uses about 6 bananas, cream cheese, and less protein powder. Many people have come up to me randomly and asked “cheese?”. The answer is YES! put in the cottage or cream cheese. The cheese is what makes the shake especially good. I personally prefer cottage cheese instead of cream cheese as it is almost pure protein and has little fat. So here goes:
Put in a blender:
1) Two large bananas
2) Two heaping tablespoons lowfat cottage cheese
3) One scoop Vanilla protein powder (Syntha-6 is my favorite)
4) One cup cloudy (non filtered) pure apple juice.
Blend until smooth and enjoy! Sometimes I have the shake for breakfast after a hard night of training. Other times I down one prior to training for some good fuel. Either way it tastes great and has some super nutritional content.
Give it a try and let us know if you like it!
The Gracie Academy Responds This Coming Sunday
December 4, 2009
Gracie family members from left to right: Rhalan, Reylan, Rener, Relson, Rorion, Ralek, and Ryron.
Just a quick heads up for those who don’t follow us on Twitter: On Episode 191 of The FightWorks Podcast (that’s Sunday!), Rener Gracie responds to the statements made by his uncle Renzo Gracie. Renzo’s impassioned comments about The Gracie Academy in Torrance resulted in that show being downloaded more than any FightWorks Podcast episode in our humble BJJ radio show’s history.
Rener is the son of Rorion Gracie and the grandson of Helio Gracie, as well as a head instructor at the Gracie Academy in Torrance. I felt that it would be wrong to not offer him the opportunity to address Renzo’s claims.
In addition, we’ll hear from Jonathan “JT” Torres, the twenty year-old Lloyd Irvin black belt who has been excelling in competition in his jiu-jitsu career. After just returning from competition in Japan, he is now in Brazil this very weekend competing again.
Copyright in the World of Online BJJ Content
November 25, 2009
Oh the predicaments we find ourselves in! “Megaton” Dias versus Cobrinha (top) at the 2009 BJJ Mundials.
Isn’t life crazy? Just recently an article was borrowed from our site by GracieBarra.com. The article was a Tournament Review Tuesday piece written by Seymour of the UK BJJ blog Meerkatsu. I don’t mind that GracieBarra.com used the piece, but when they did they removed the part that gave Seymour credit for writing it. The full story on that was written up today and can be found here.
So what got me to sit down and open with that story? Just today I came back from doing a little cardio at the gym (knee’s still not cleared to train BJJ again until March) and on my phone I get an email notifying me of a comment left on one of the pieces published here on thefightworkspodcast.com, which was simply a link that said:
http://www.global-training-report.com/rouge_sites.htm
It appears that the content in our piece originated on a site called the Global Training Report. The irony!
The idea that this was a possibility was not new. A comment posted on that same piece back in June of this year suggested that that was the case. But as I wrote in a subsequent comment, the list of BJJ vocabulary made its way to me on a piece of paper handed to me by way of one of my instructors. It was simply two columns of words – one column of Portuguese and another in English – and looked as if it had been written on a typewriter. My response to that commenter was, “The first place I found the list was on a piece of paper at my instructor’s jiu-jitsu academy. If it does indeed come from somewhere else, please send me a link and I’ll be happy to provide attribution.” That was in June.
So like I said, today there’s a comment on the article from someone named John and the only thing in the comment is a link where The FightWorks Podcast appears as a Rouge Site (sic). So I began writing a response to the email address associated with the comment but then I figured I might as well write about it here too. Why not? Nothing to hide here at FightWorks Podcast headquarters.
So John: please let me know what you’d like me to do. I did not know that the content came from your site. I am happy to provide a link to your original report, or even take down the page completely. Whatever you would like. In any case I apologize for the misunderstanding. All the best,
- Caleb
Where Are FightWorks Podcast Gi Patches Worn?
September 3, 2009
It has been one year now since our FightWorks Podcast gi patches arrived and were available for sale to folks online. Every time an order has come in, I have taken the postal codes from their mailing address and compiled a map of where the patches were sent. (To see the map in full size, click here!)
So as of today we have patches on several continents, which is really exciting. To me the best thing about the patches is that when an order comes in, what it is really saying is that folks like our show, and they like it enough to put it on their jiu-jitsu gi. That is not something someone does lightly, so it is really an honor!
As always, thank you for listening and being with us here on The FightWorks Podcast. Please keep in touch with us, so we can continue bringing you the best Brazilian jiu-jitsu content possible!
p.s. We have an upcoming Dinner with the Family on September 7th in San Diego!
Dinner with the Family – September 7
August 27, 2009
Is there ever a bad time to talk about Brazilian jiu-jitsu? I suppose it’s not good to bring it up during most people’s funeral services, in a business meeting, or in that argument with your significant other where they are complaining that you spend too much time doing jiu-jitsu.
The rest of the time, it is all we want to talk about. And although at this very moment I am away on my honeymoon with my lovely new bride, you can bet I am thinking about BJJ when she leaves the room. So why not have another one of our FightWorks Podcast Dinners with the Family when I return? That way we can catch up and blather about BJJ and the most recent issues we’re having in training, BJJ videos we’ve seen on YouTube, or tournaments we’ve been to or will go to soon. It’ll be just like our Dinner with the Family we had back in May.
So come on out! Don’t be shy! You’ll know us when you see us – it’s easy to spot jiu-jitsu people.
If you can make it, please let us know using the Google Event Box thingy above so I’m not the only one!
See You When I Get Back!
August 21, 2009
For those who haven’t had a chance to hear our recent shows, I wanted to give a quick post here on the site reminding everyone that we’re going on a bit of a hiatus because I am getting married tomorrow! We do have something special that will appear on the site on Sunday, and there will be a bunch of content that will appear here on the site while I am gone, so make sure you keep checking in.
While I am away, you may also enjoy going back and listening to older episodes of the show. Here are some previously posted tips on how to find them:
- Here’s one quick shortcut: our Episodes category. All our shows should carry that categorization, so clicking on that link will bring you to all posts here on the site associated with audio interviews. From there you can browse old audio interviews with BJJ black belts that you may want to hear.
- All of the actual audio files which contain our BJJ internet radio shows have the exact same file format. Here’s the link to Sunday’s show, which was episode #125:
htt p://www.thefightworkspodcast.com/podcasts/fightworkspodcastepisode125.mp3
See the 125 in there? If you want to hear episode 121, you’d just put
htt p://www.thefightworkspodcast.com/podcasts/fightworkspodcastepisode121.mp3
into your browser. It will start downloading (and probably playing) the audio file.
- Dont’ forget our FightWorks Podcast Google Gadget! If you don’t remember what that is, here‘s a video explanation!
So that’s the scoop! I better have an inbox full of email from the Mighty 600,000 when I get back!
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