#106 Flavio Almeida and Gracie Barra
March 2, 2008
Flavio Almeida, Gracie Barra black belt.
Flavio Almeida is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Gracie Barra and is the brother of Ricardo Almeida, who we had here on the show back in episode 89 of the Fightworks Podcast. Flavio is a former world Brazilian jiu-jitsu champion in the middle heavyweight division and now holds a leadership position in the Gracie Barra organization. On today’s show we’ll discuss his famous matches against Margarida, the origins and global growth of the Gracie Barra organization, where he sees Gracie Barra in ten years and much more.
Plus, we’ll tell the story of Kenny from Marlyand, who’s selling cookies to fund his trip to the BJJ Pan-Ams at the end of this month, and relay the tale of BJJ used in an unlikely self-defense situation!
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (recommended)
[mp3] Download the show
#105 Robert Drysdale, ADCC Absolute Division Champion
February 24, 2008
Robert Drysdale (r) in his victory over Marcelo Garcia.
2007 was a huge year for our guest on this week’s edition of The FightWorks Podcast. Robert Drysdale’s year got off to an explosive start when he beat Marcelo Garcia in the absolute division of the prestigious Abu Dhabi grappling championship.
Not satisfied with submitting Garcia, who many consider to be the best pound-for-pound grappler in the world, Drysdale would go on to place second in the super heavyweight black belt division of the Brazilian jiu-jitsu world championship behind Roger Gracie. He also came in third place alongside Xande Ribeiro in the absolute division!
As with many elite Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitors, Drysdale intends to transition into mixed martial arts. Just last week it was announced that Drysdale has accepted the position as head coach of grappling at Randy Couture’s gym Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas.
In this interview we will talk about Drysdale’s origins in grappling, his unusual bi-cultural upbringing in Brazil and the United States, his plans for the future, and much more!
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (recommended)
[mp3] Download the show
San Diego BJJ
February 19, 2008
One of the most common emails I get here at the FightWorks Podcast headquarters is something like this:
Caleb,
I am coming to San Diego to visit relatives / for a conference / on vacation / whatever. You often mention San Diego’s vibrant Brazilian jiu-jitsu scene. Could you please tell me where I might train while I am there? Can you recommend any good schools?Thanks,
A Curious FightWorks Podcast Listener
The answers to your questions are “yes”, and “kinda”, in that order.
I can show you tons of schools, as we have them everywhere. I have put together this custom Google Map to show you where the schools are* from Oceanside down to the border of San Diego with Tijuana. I made an arbitrary cut-off when I reached Oceanside because once you’re in Oceanside I might as well show Irvine BJJ schools, and if I show Irvine’s BJJ academies, I should map the Los Angeles BJJ schools. If I could devote a weekend or more to this I might give that a shot, but the likelihood I could knock that out in one sitting is as likely as me landing a triangle on Jeff Monson.
As you can see, San Diego’s BJJ schools all over the place. If you click on any of the blue tabs in the map above, it will give you contact information for that BJJ school so you can get details about training there. A few of them are more MMA-oriented and may not offer classes in the gi, so definitely call ahead.
Unfortunately, I cannot make any recommendations about the quality of different places to train BJJ in the San Diego area. Not only am I not a good judge of what you look for in a BJJ experience, we try to stay as impartial as possible on our humble BJJ podcast, and if we were to chose favorites it would be a conflict of interest. However, just as with any consumer decision you make, if you have heard of a particular offering before there’s a decent chance that you heard of it for a good reason.
So, with all that said, I definitely encourage you to come visit San Diego for its Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Many thanks, as always, to Alicia Anthony for helping me compile of BJJ schools together for this map.
* if you know of a school I have missed, please email me and I will be happy to add it
#104 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Author Ed Beneville
February 17, 2008
Ed Beneville after winning a match at the 2006 Masters’ World Championships in Rio.
Ed Beneville is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Joe Moreira and has produced two popular books on Brazilian jiu-jitsu:
- Passing the Guard: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Details and Techniques: Volume 1
- The Guard (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Details and Techniques)
Beneville’s third BJJ book will be released shortly and has received good reviews from those who have seen the pre-release copies, so we knew we had to get him on the show to pick his brain about the books, his thoughts on learning BJJ, and more.
Plus, FightWorks Podcast cohost Dan defends himself from an upset listener!
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (recommended)
[mp3] Download the show
Beginner’s Guide to Brazilian Fighter Nicknames
May 3, 2007
I read Mad-Squabbles’ post the other day titled What does “napao” mean anyway?, and realized there are a ton of Brazilian nick names that are probably a mystery to many. You know, the kind of thing that is decided upon when sitting around joking around with buddies one time, but never goes away. I decided it’s time to take a stab at a decent list of nicknames we often see and hear among Brazilian MMA fighters and jiu-jitsu names.After living in Spain a while I speak Spanish fluently, which is usually enough to get me by in Portuguese, even the Brazilian variety. But on this assignment I had to enlist the help of a specialist for some of these, so I called on good friend Andrew Correa. Andrew is a black belt in BJJ and often seen referreeing at tournaments all over the country like Grappler’s Quest and the Pan-Ams. He also runs Jiu-Jitsu Now in Northern Virginia. Here’s a list of nicknames you may have heard, their owners, and translations that we came up with:
- Babalu (Renato Sobral): The name of a brand of gum in Brazil
- Cacareco (Alexandre Ferreira): Junk, or garbage
- Cachorrao (Ricardo Almeida): Big dog
- Cachorrinho (Flavio Almeida): Little dog
- Cachorro Locou (Renato Matos): Crazy dog
- Charuto (Renato Verissimo): Cigar
- Comprido (Rodrigo Medeiros): Tall
- Franjinha (Ricardo Miller): Bangs, as in forehead hair cut horizontally
- Jacare (Ronaldo Souza and Romero Cavalcanti): Alligator
- Jucao (Roan Carneiro and others): “Juca” means “dude”, so a “Jucao” is a big juca
- Lagarto (Lucio Rodrigues): Lizard
- Limao (Luis Heredia): Big lemon
- Louro (Marcos Galvao): parrot, someone who talks a lot
- Macaco (Jorge Patino): Macaque, a type of monkey
- Magrinho (Cole Miller): A good way to say skinny like “little skinny”, or “very skinny”
- Margarida (Fernando Pontes): A Portuguese girl’s name derived from the name of the flower. Pontes claims he was given this for being a complainer or a crybaby.
- Morango (Fabricio Camoes): Strawberry
- Napao (Gabriel Gonzaga): Big nose
- Pé de Chumbo (Delson Heleno): “Lead foot”, i.e., clumsy
- Pé de Pano (Marcio Cruz): “Cloth (or towel) foot”
- Pezao (Vinicius Magalhaes): Bigfoot
- Roleta (Roberto Magalhaes): Roulette
- Sapao (Carlos Alejandro Bán): Big frog
- Soneca (Helio): Sleepy
- Sururu (Edson Jorge): The name of a seafood dish made with a bunch of mixed left overs, mixed. In slang, it also refers to a commotion, as when a bunch of people arguing for something, they are “making sururu”
- Toquinho (Rousimar Palhares): Treestump
- Tussa (Roberto Camargo Alencar): short for “dentussa”, meaning Big Teeth
- Urso (Mauricio Motta Gomes): Bear
- Zé: An abbreviation for the name Jose
There are probably dozens more I’ve not addressed here but it’s a good start. Let me know if there are some you’d like to see added to this list!
Chatting after rolling in Gracie Humaita in Rio de Janeiro
Last updated: October 23, 2008
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