Rickson Gracie: Modern BJJ Black Belts Remind Me of Karate Practitioners Clueless of Jiu-Jitsu

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

A legit bjj black belt at Laselva MMA academy put me in a kimura and I kept powering out of it, I just yanked my arm out every time and he was getting frustrated as hell, I could tell he was feeling annoyed. I am below white belt haha, I don't even know what to do, but I know I'm stronger than him physically and he could not pull my arm out for the kimura. Now I believe BJJ doesn't work on me. Sorry Rickson Gracie.

 

[tasticles]

The point is that BJJ will be the next TMA.

They will always be found out once they get on the mat so not for a long time unless the competitions are competitive and the old guard moves on or dies.

 

[Area809]

Gracie BJJ is great until you can defend it. Then back to punching in the face and wrestling. Those Brazilian wizards certainly deserve credit they get for upstaging everything but now are largely irreverent. Will we ever see another Gracie in UFC? Doubt it.

He’s typically refers to bjj as being the best self defense martial art. Not that it’s the best in mma.

 

[tasticles]

He’s typically refers to bjj as being the best self defense martial art. Not that it’s the best in mma.

That's pretty subjective too. My vote would probably go to FMA. sure you will end up with 20 to life but damn if you wont win by hacking them up like Jason Vorhees or beat them with sticks as well as dealing with multiple attackers.

 

[moreorless87]

seeing how ppl buy their black belts nowadays I don't see anything wrong with what he's saying of course the shit is going to get watered down when you have black belts handing them out like candy. Fucking Roan Carneiro got triangled by a purple belt in Kevin Burns how the fuck is he a black belt.

Yep I can see that, whilst the Gracies specifically don't hold the keys to the highest level BJJ training anymore the standard of a lot of Black belts is definitely more questionable than in was in the mid 90's.

 

[Bartinho]

Rickson lost a lot of his "vale tudo/fighting" credit when it was revealed that his two most famous fights (with Zulu) had "special rules" that the Gracies didn't disclose to the public. (which the Gracies are NOTORIOUS for; just like they attempted with the Royler/Bravo rematch). Zulu wasn't allowed to punch Rickson with a closed fist or kick/stomp him on the ground; Zulu's MAIN "strengths". Sorry but they all need to be called out for their bullshit. (Renzo gets a pass though, he was always down to fight and took his losses like a fucking man)

What's your source for special rules vs Zulu?

 

[tenniswhiz]

Hmmmm. I wonder how much of this is pushing the "GJJ" thing, versus an actual opinion of the state of the sport.

That being said, there have indeed been some non-functional stuff creeping into sport BJJ over the years that probably should be addressed with rule set changes. Stuff like worm guard, prolonged (not transitional) use of inverted guard etc has very little utility in a MMA situation and probably isn't great for the sport from a martial arts perspective.

To be fair, grappling is its own serious sport.
They can and should develop a game suited for their sport, even if it doesn’t apply to MMA.

Jared Rosholt could pin almost any MMA Fighter in a straight wrestling match.
Doesn’t mean he can outwresle everyone in MMA.

 

[sb413197]

To be fair, grappling is its own serious sport.
They can and should develop a game suited for their sport, even if it doesn’t apply to MMA.

Jared Rosholt could pin almost any MMA Fighter in a straight wrestling match.
Doesn’t mean he can outwresle everyone in MMA.

No doubt, I don't fault guys for using the rule set presented to them.

I DO HOWEVER fault those responsible for the rule set. It's their job to preserve the integrity and future of the sport. The increased ground time in Judo, for example, was a good change to that particular sport (while preventing leg grabbing was a bad thing) what seems to be most peoples' opinions.

 

[djason1988]

So many people missing the point. He isn't wrong; not every school has a high standard on those black belts.

He's not wrong. For every system/school that is trying to evolve the art and holds their guys to high standards, there's another that is McDojo-ing it. I'm not gonna say any names, but there's a very well known and widespread organization that I've seen give purple belts within 2 years, and even a few brown belts. Conversely, I know a few guys from other schools who have been training for 10 years and are still brown belt.

 

[djason1988]

Hmmmm. I wonder how much of this is pushing the "GJJ" thing, versus an actual opinion of the state of the sport.

That being said, there have indeed been some non-functional stuff creeping into sport BJJ over the years that probably should be addressed with rule set changes. Stuff like worm guard, prolonged (not transitional) use of inverted guard etc has very little utility in a MMA situation and probably isn't great for the sport from a martial arts perspective. Rewarding the takedown part of the sport wouldn't be a bad idea too. Wouldn't be the worst idea to emphasize top control a bit more too somehow (?1 point for obtaining top position when you don't already have it or something, regardless of takedown)

I enjoy rolling in a gi, although I focus heavily on no-gi. Realistically though, any position or attack that requires a gi to execute is impractical. So it doesn't much matter to me if more "impractical" stuff works it's way in, as long as it doesn't violate the rules. They just shouldn't change the rules to eliminate practical technique or favor impractical technique (i.e. judo banning grabbing the legs, or leg locks being banned up to x-level in many schools and tournaments).

 

[RJ43]

I'm guessing this quote was in reference to the evolution of sport BJJ that continues to move away from "fighting."

Also probably Rickson missing the days when it was called Gracie Jiu Jitsu.

 

[MMAFanatic86]

Cool story Mr. Rickson.

I wonder why you did not show Royce how to outgrapple Matt Hughes.

He wanted to keep all of the extra cool moves to himself.

 

[SammyPops]

Rickson's still delusional thinking that BJJ is the be-all-end-all martial art. Why did you avoid Marco Ruas and Bas like the plague, Rickson?

(I would also bring up Saku but Rickson's son died at that time so he gets a pass on that one)

Kings of the streets!!!!

 

[chiefwiggum]

Rickson's still delusional thinking that BJJ is the be-all-end-all martial art. Why did you avoid Marco Ruas and Bas like the plague, Rickson?

(I would also bring up Saku but Rickson's son died at that time so he gets a pass on that one)

He didn’t take those fights because they wouldn’t be competitive.
Rickson leaves his chin so far out it’s pretty hilarious. No footwork.
It would look like a man vs a boy.

He fought like a 90 year old Kaia master.

He’s the greatest of all time. Thank god he never had to prove it. And that is good enough for some.
Sakuraba would have systematically broke him down under any rule set as well.
Like he did all of the Gracie’s.

I like the Gracie’s. Shit I still tune into Royce’s modern fights.
But if you watch any rickson mma fight and think he’s impressive then I don’t know.

Best ever in bjjj. Sure. That’s reasonable.

His fighting record is not

 

[CPH]

Fuck man... so crisp.

 

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

Guys like Roger still use the bare bones bjj style of years past. You'd be hard pressed to find a better bjj practitioner than Roger.

 

[Fraz]

Rashad Evans took bjj to the next level.

 

[cambo78]

What's your source for special rules vs Zulu?

The original Rei Zulu sherdog interview was right here. It looks like Sherdog took it down but there has to be another out there.
http://www.sherdog.com/videos/videointerview/Zulu-Talks-Long-Career-Rickson-Bout-1434 .

His son Zuluzinho did an interview in Portuguese in 2004-05 (before he fought Fedor) and it was brought up by the interviewer and confirmed by Zuluzinho too. I'm at work right now but I'll try to find it later.

 

[Sirwastealot]

It's a little sad to see rickson being disrespected like this. You might disagree with what he's saying but he's earned more respect in this sport. It's pretty much consensus that he was the best BJJ practitioner of his time and one of the greatest ever.

Does sherdog just love to shit on legends? You rarely see this in other sports (except for cheaters)

 

[cambo78]

It's a little sad to see rickson being disrespected like this. You might disagree with what he's saying but he's earned more respect in this sport. It's pretty much consensus that he was the best BJJ practitioner of his time and one of the greatest ever.

Does sherdog just love to shit on legends? You rarely see this in other sports (except for cheaters)

It all goes back to Rickson talking shit about top fighters back in 04-06 "How (PRIME) Fedor's nothing special" , "He'd beat (PRIME) Fedor in mma", "(PRIME) Big Nog has no guard" ETC. Even Wand stated about Rickson "Rickson is living in a fantasy world, like Star Wars."