Draculino Explains How He Creates So Many BJJ World Champions

By
Filip Zanki
-
Draculino: Expose StudentsTo Every ASpect Of The Game
Vinicius Magalhães “Draculino” explains that after his students learn the fundamentals to a level he is satisfied with, he exposes them to everything in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, allowing them t develop a game specific to themselves.

Draculino is one of the best BJJ professors in the world, and arguably, apart from Danaher, the BJJ professor with the highest number of Jiu-Jitsu World Champions. He has awarded over 100 black belts in his years of teaching, and his stables include the likes of Romulo Barral, Samuel Braga, Marcelo Azevedo, and Brandon Mullins to mention just a few.

So what is the secret that Draculino uses to be so successful as a professor in creating world champion after world champion?

As the Carlos Gracie Jr. black belt explains it himself:

“I am really big on getting down and mastering the fundamentals of BJJ. A lot of people think that they know the basics, but they really don’t.

If you have a really solid and complete foundation in Jiu Jitsu yourself, I think that you will be able to expose your students to everything. If you give them the foundations first, then – depending on their body type and physical abilities, as well as on their individual preferences – from there they can start developing their own specialties and a type of the game that they want to have.” 

Unless his students really understand the fundamentals, he keeps them working on them until he is satisfied with their progress. Then, Draculino applies his own way of teaching each student individually:

“I try to expose my students to everything, so they can branch out towards what they prefer.

Samuel Braga is a good example. He is a multiple-time world champion, plus he’s the creator of the Berimbolo – since he has always been very flexible, he was able to develop this position from the De la Riva guard and it turned out to be very handy for him.

Then, Romulo Barral and his killer spider guard. Erik Wanderley, one of my first World Champions, has a killer half-guard and really, really good pressure…

I taught them everything they needed to know in order to have a solid foundation, from which they could, as I said, branch out and do their own thing.”

So, when your coach says to focus on the fundamentals and do your reps, listen, because that is exactly what the best in the business, like Draculino, teach their students.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Vinicius Draculino (@draculinojj)

BJJ Black Belt Actor Sean Patrick Flanery: Go Back To Basics

By
Filip Zanki
-
Sean Patrick Flanery BJJ Black Betl ADvice
Sean Patrick Flanery is a famous Holywood actor who is not just dabbling in BJJ but is a legitimate BJJ black belt. In a recent interview for the BJJ Fanatics Podcast, the 57-year-old shared his advice on actually learning how to be good in Jiu-Jitsu.

According to Sean Patrick Flanery, the one thing you can do to get better at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is not waiting around to get to a brown or black belt level before you decide to study and understand the fundamentals for how valuable they are.

Instead, Flanery advises focusing on the fundamentals early on, quoting Bruce Lee’s famous quote “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

According to Sean Patrick Flanery, practicing a move 10.000 times is going to make your Roger Gracie-like good at that one move. Doing the same with other fundamental moves will build you a game, making it that of the GOAT. He did state the example of Roger winning both the IBJJF world and ADCC by submitting all of his opponents, using cross-collar chokes, the rear naked choke, and armlocks.

Instead of looking for flying Gogoplatas and Beribolos, Flanery advocates looking to improve your closed guard, back mount and mount, and the fundamentals submissions and escapes. Just like Roger did not get sidetracked by the fancy stuff, if you want to get good and be a good competitor, you need the reps more than anything.

In his own example, Saen Patrick Flanery says you should stick to basics like the half guard lumberjack sweep, before looking into single-leg X, Matrix guard, and other flashy stuff. Then get the sweep to where you can sweep anyone because it is all you’ve done for 20 years.

According to the popular actor, it is all just down to a mathematical equation. If you train for 20 years, doing 15 reps per, day, that’s almost 110.000 reps on a certain move. If you do a sweep 100-200 times in a span of 10-20 years, you’ll be barely able to hit it live – as the numbers clearly demonstrate.

“Rediscovering that, for me, was a mindblowing moment. I thought the trap and roll was garbage as a blue belt. I was an upper blue belt thinking man, that might work on white belts, but it doesn’t, and of course, I was bridging to one side, they base out and pop. Then, once you understand the concept of how to actually bridge, and you go “oh my god, Eureka,” said Sean Patrick Flanery.

What is the best type of opportunity in the world? One that you already know is coming. Well, that is good Jiu-Jitsu. when you put something in play, going this is either going to work, or he is going to do one of these five things, and I already instinctively have my five recipes for all of these five,” concluded Sean Patrick Flanery.

When asked about starting all sparring in his gym from specific positions rather than letting students pick and choose, Flanery said that it had to do with training people to be efficient.

“If you’re on your butt, and an adversary is standing opposite of you, get up to your feet,” – said Sean.

“If a guard is not penalized, though, pull immediately. it is a 100% legit recipe,” – claims Sean Patrick Flanery. “If I wanted to design a white belt world champion, I’d teach them how to jump guard, and fight from the closed guard, that’s it.”

Sean went on to share that if that’s what you’re doing in a year, opposite to someone learning passes, submissions, sweeps, and different guards, everything else, you’ll finish most people from the closed guard.

“Once you understand things, you become unstoppable – but it takes thousands of reps,” – wraps up the popular actor who had a massive hit in the BJJ community with his latest movie “Born A Champion”.

Ben Askren “No To Soccer, Yes To Wrestling”

By
Filip Zanki
-
Ben Askren says no to soccer yes to wrestling for kids
Ben Askren, one of the most effective wrestlers to ever fight in MMA, keeps going on rants and offers his opinions which usually go counter to popular culture. As the World cup in soccer/football is the focus of the modern sports world, Asken openly challenges it saying kids are way better off training in wrestling as opposed to soccer.

Ben Askren is a US Olympian wrestler and a former extremely dominant One FC MMA Champion. Unfortunately, he got to the UFC too late in his career and his performances in the world’s greatest MMA promotion were nothing to boast about. That said, he was one of the absolute best grapplers in MMA, using his signature Funk style of wrestling to surprise everyone.

As the soccer (football) World Cup began in Qatar a few days ago, pulling most of the sports fans’ attention toward one other biggest sports events in the world, Ben Askren had something to say about it:

“It was really the first time I watched soccer all year. I was really appalled when I am seeing all these guys falling on the ground, rolling around, crying. And then you know the worst part about it is, they show the instant replay and you can tell – most of these guys, they don’t even get hit, they’re faking it.”

“When I’m thinking of sports, when I’m thinking of a boy growing up and being a man, I’m thinking of three things – honor, integrity, and toughness. And a grown man, faking an injury, rolling around on the field fails all three of those tests.”

Ben Askren went on to as y there is no honor in playacting the way modern soccer/football players do:

“There’s no honor in faking an injury. There is no integrity because you are lying about it. And there’s no toughness because you are in front of millions of people, and you’re rolling around on the field, crying – CRYING – about a fake injury that never happened.”

“Listen folks, if you want your son to grow up to be a man, don’t have him run around on a field kicking a ball, get him wrestling.”

There’s hardly anyone in the combat sports world that would disagree with ben Askren on the subject. However, when we compare the salaries of soccer/football players and combat sports athletes, we can see why parents might be more inclined to have their kids chasing after a ball rather than after submissions.

GOATs Roger Gracie And Gordon Ryan Train Together

By
Filip Zanki
-
Roger Gracie training With Gordon Ryan
Roger Gracie and Gordon Ryan are two of the most accomplished grapplers in the BJJ world, and there have been many “what ifs” regarding a possible matchup. While that is most likely out of the question, given that Roger retired, a joined training session is the next best thing, and one just happened!

Imagine you walk into a gym and you see Roger Gracie and Gordon Ryan rolling, with John Danaherobserving / coaching the roll. Until a couple of days ago, this may have been a fantasy but is now a reality, after the three met up for a joint training session at NE Wave Jiu-Jitsu.

According to Gordon, this was a dream come true for him:

“This was a bucket list item of mine. I’ve been waiting years to share the mats with the GOAT of GOATS. After a few rolls it is VERY clear as to why Roger Gracie was as dominant as he was. I’ve spoken in interviews saying Roger was roughly 20 years ahead of the pack technically from 2004-2010 ish. After rolling with him today I can say with certainty he is still far ahead compared to the guys I compete against on a technical level. It was such an honor to have him on the mats with us this week.”

John Danaher, who has met Roger Gracie on previous occasions after working at Renzo’s gym for so long, added:

“The best two grapplers I ever saw: We had the privilege of hosting the great Roger Gracie at the gym today. Roger was by far the greatest Jiu Jitsu athlete of his generation and the greatest all round Jiu jitsu player of all time. He has always been a source of tremendous inspiration both to the jiu jitsu world at large and me and my students.

Roger and I met many years ago in NYC and I have have always coached according to the ideal that he set of ruthlessly hunting for submission victory above all else. It was amazing to see him training once again with my students as he did so many times back in NYC. His game still looks incredible!! Roger is in Austin doing a podcast with Lex Friedman I will write more tomorrow about this podcast – I spoke to Lex today and it sounds awesome! Stay tuned for more on Rogers thoughts on Jiu jitsu!”

Roger Gracie is a 12x World Champion and 2x ADCC champion. Gordon, on the other hand, won the ADCC in 2019, previously winning his category, and of course, making history at the latest 2022 edition of the sport, on top of beating the who is who of Jiu-Jitsu in various super fights.

Rivalry Heating Up Between Danielle Kelly And Angela Lee

By
Filip Zanki
-
Angela Lee vs Danielle Kelly Rivalry heating up
Danielle Kelly is enjoying the spotlight after easily submitting Sambo World Champion Mariia Molchanova in her second match in the ONE circle. Kelly was quick to fire shots back at ONE atomweight champion Angela Lee, and their rivalry is starting to heat up, much to the pleasure of the BJJ world.

Danielle Kelly will most certainly get the shot at the atomweight submission grappling belt in ONE as soon as it is introduced. She already defeated the former MMA atomweight champion Mei Yamaguchi in her debut submission grappling match, earning a $50.000 performance bonus.  Angela Lee also defeated Yamaguchi, albeit in a battle fo the atomweight MMA belt.

So, it comes as natural that the two best atomweights, both excellent grapplers, would meet n a submission grappling match given that Kelly is not yet interested in fighting in MMA.

The rivalry between Angela Lee and Danielle Kelly started earlier in 2022, when Kelly said during ONE conference, after being asked about a potential matchup with Lee:

“I’m a jiu-jitsu person so I’ve been focusing on legit grapplers. But if they want to give me that match, I’ll take it in a heartbeat.”

Lee’s answer was:

“She’s trying to stir up drama saying that… Step into the circle with me, put on your MMA gloves, and let’s go.”

 

View this post on Instagram`

 

A post shared by ONE Championship (@onechampionship)`

Danielle, though, is not one to be railed easily into a trap and has her sights firmly focused on grappling, with a transition to MMA remaining a possibility in the future. Her response to Angela Lee was that the only impossible match-up, for now, would be a grappling one:

“For grappling right now, I’m open to any opponent that wants to compete against me for grappling or calling me out. I’m focusing on jiu-jitsu, I want to win the title for ONE, and I’ll go from there, and decide if I want to start MMA.”

Right after her win over Molchanova, Kelly did tease Angela Lee by calling her out again:

“Angela called me out, says she can submit me, so come prove it, I’m ready.”

ONE seems to be loving the idea, continuing to tease for a potential supefight and asking fans what they think. For now, people seem to favor Danielle Kelly as the superior grappler to Angeal Lee.

Danielle kelly vs Angela lee grappling match

How Did The Popular “Chewy” Get His Nickname?

By
Filip Zanki
-
How Did Chewy get his Nickname?
“Chewy” is the nickname of BJJ black belt Nick Albin, who is behind the mega-popular Jiu-Jitsu YouTube channel “Chewjitsu”. If you have ever wondered why people started calling Nick ‘Chewy” in the first place, the man himself now delivers the answer.

Ask BJJ people about Nick Albin, and I doubt many will have an idea of who it is you are talking about. Ask them, however, about “Chewy” and it is a whole different story, as grapplers will immediately recognize that man behind some of the very best Jiu-Jitsu YouTube content. A question most of asked have asked, although apparently to ourselves rather than Nick is “where does that nickname come from?”

The nickname originates from Nick’s white belt days, when, in his own words, he says he was “the craziest, spazziest white belt” he has ever seen.

He attributes that behavior to being young and insecure and was already good in wrestling and grappling. Going from a nerdy, overweight kid to someone who is good at wrestling made Nick feel good about himself, and became an ego-crutch for him.

So, every time “Chewy” failed at anything in BJJ, he felt as if that crutch was knocked out from under him. That turned every roll Chewy did into a life or death match, with only one goal: not to lose at any cost.

Chewy also was looking to lean out and turned to a supplement called “Ripped Fuel” which was an ECA stack (Ephedrine, Caffeine, and Aspirin). So, he was an insecure, spazzy white belt rolling to the death, hopped up on stimulants, or as he calls it, “The Tasmanian Devil of white belts”. That is far from the CHewy we know today.

Mike, black belt, coach, getting ready for MMA, rough around the edges, the abusive older brother he never really wanted

Kimura sweep (Hughes vs. Newton in UFC). Elbowed Miek ni the mouth as he was trying it, while he was cutting weight. The combination of cutting, getting elbowed in the face, and already having a short fuse had Mike explode, calling Chewy names, one of which was “you Wookie”.

As things happen in BJJ, from getting called a Wookie with derogatory intent, in the beginning, the nickname went to the much more endearing “Chewy” which now basically defines Nick and his brand.

By the way, Nick’s wrestling nickname was “Thugboat” on account of his wheezing extremely badly after his second-ever wrestling match.

Gordon Ryan vs. Ruotolo, Fixing Matches, Steroids (VIDEO)

By
Filip Zanki
-
Ryan vs. Ruotlo latest, match fixing, steroids
Just as it looked like Gordon Ryan is running out of rivals, the Ruotolo brothers started stirring the pot, eventually managing to infuriate Gordon enough so that he put them in his crosshairs. Apart from Ryan vs. Ruotolo, other types of drama, from the DDS break-up to accusations of fixing matches have been circling Gordon, who responded to some of them in his usual style.

Ryan Vs Ruotolo

Are we going to see Ryan vs. Ruotolo, or perhaps even Grodon vs. both the brothers any time soon? According to 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu black belt Matt Skaff, we’re not likely to see this any time soon, mostly because of the fact that the Ruotolos, and Tye in particular, who has been picking a fight with Gordon, are nowhere near Gordon’s level. At the moment.

Ryan vs. Ruotolo is not interesting for Gordon, and most of the grappling community as well. Unless he has to fight both brothers at the same time, or even one after the other as he suggested, the outcome of that one is pretty much clear to anyone with half a brain.

As Skiff says “Gordon beats him [Tye] 10 out of 10. Tye is too small, I mean Gordon has got probably 40 lbs on him.”

Ryan’s recent video response to Tye’s callouts was: “Can you imagine opening your mouth and saying: ‘I don’t have the confidence to put up 10 to 1 odds to fight you,’ and a month ago, you lost to Josh Hinger.”

Skiff goes on to say what everyone else is thinking: “It is the wrong time to call him out. Obviously, there is a lot of bad beef between the Atos camp and Gordon Ryan and I think the Ruotolos, in the future, could be one of the people that humble and knock Gordon down a peg, but in my mind, that [Ryan vs. Ruotolo] is a couple of years away, possibly the next ADCC… two, three, four years away.”

Ruotolos Need To Put On Size

Skif goes on to comment that before a potential Ryan vs. Ruotolo match happens in which Tye or Kade have any chance of dethroning Gordon, they’ll need to put some mass on, which he doesn’t see happening in a natural way.

According to Skiff:

“Especially if we’re talking about putting on size naturally… hmm, I mean, it is going to take them quite a few years to fill out and get to 215-220 lbs.”

Fake Matches Accusations

A fake match under ADCC rules warrants a lifetime ban, and Kyle Boehm accused Gordon and Gary of having a fake match at ADCC 2019, which, according to most people, is not the case, given the size difference and the familiarity of each other’s game.

Another accusation of DDS members fixing a match was the one between Tonon and Cummings in EBI, which prompted so much speculation that Eddie Bravo made a rule that only 1 representative per team can compete in an EBI event.

There were even accusations going the other way when Atos’ Josh HInger defeated teammate Tye Ruotolo in the opening match of ADCC 2022.

Skiff’s take is that these matches were most likely not fake.

FIFA World Cup Winner Is A Legit BJJ Black Belt

By
Filip Zanki
-
FIFA World Cup Winner Is a BJJ Black Belt
A BJJ black belt with a few championships to his name, a FIFA world cup winner (soccer) with France, and an experienced surfer.  It sounds like the dream life for an athlete, but for one man, it is a reality – 52-year-old Bixente Lizarazu.

Bixente Lizarazu is a French professional soccer player who won the 1998 Word Cup with France, European Cup, Champions League, and Intercontinental Cup, a feat not many have managed to repeat in the history of the sport. He also “happens” to be a BJJ black belt under Yannick Beven and Ze Marcello, a rank he received in 2019.

Bixente Lizarazu still trains in Capbreton, which is in South-Western France. He did not just train but also competed, which is not springform an accomplished athlete like himself. Before getting his BJJ black belt, Bixente won the IBJJF Europeans as a blue belt in 2009 and got bronze in the same competition as a purple belt in 2010.

World Cup Winner Bixente Lizarazu BJJ Black Belt

Lizarazu has been training in Jiu-Jitsu for a total of 15 years and he looks like he has fallen head over heels for the sport:

“Like many things in life, the paths you take depend on the encounters you make. I discovered Brazilian jiu-jitsu in 2007 just after the end of my professional football career and thanks to Yannick Beven, 4th degree BJJ black belt. It has become a great passion both for the particular history of this sport and for the pedagogy and personality of Yannick.

In 2019, Yannick and Ze Marcello awarded me the black belt. It was a pride, an accomplishment but also a responsibility to be worthy of it every day. I continue to train 3 times a week and with the bike, it complements very well in terms of physical condition

Brazilian jiu-jitsu is the most complete sport that I know in terms of sheathing…Many thanks and gratitude to Yannick Beven for all these years spent together on the tatami”

Currently, Bixente Lizarazu has been traveling around the world, pursuing surfing as his favorite pastime.

Oh, and Bixente Lizarazu also happens to be an avid cyclist as well.

Elon Musk Lost An Incredible 30lbs Training BJJ

By
Filip Zanki
-
Elon Musk Loses 30lbs training BJJ
Elon Musk has transformed his body, cutting more than 13 kg (~30 lb) by adhering to a regiment of Brazilin Jiu-Jitsu, weight lifting, running, and a healthy diet low in sugar.

Tech billionaire, Tesla, and Space X founder, PayPal co-founder, and as of not that long ago, Twitter CEO, Elon Musk is actively training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, along with other martial arts, attributing a lot of his recent successful weight loss to the Gentle art.

“To be completely frank, I would not exercise at all if I could,” said Musk. “I prefer not to exercise,” said Musk in an interview. The enigmatic genius likes to keep his training regiment varied, not committing overly to any one thing in order to escape the trap of boredom.

Diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and taking Ozempic/Wegovy in order to control it, a training regiment was a must for the Twitter CEO, and Elon Musk being, well, Elon Musk, decided to organize it to perfection, just like any other endeavor in his life.

Elon “dabbles” in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Judo, sometimes spicing things up with Karate training, on top of training weightlifting and regular running conditioning, mostly done on the treadmill.

Musk works 80-100 hours per week and has a strict 6 hours of sleep every night. This just shows that with careful planning and some effort, everyone can find time to work out, especially if training is fun, like for example Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

In terms of his diet, Elon Musk has accredited fasting and a diet consisting of food that according to him is not tasty has resulted in not just a slimmer figure for the 51-year-old, but also helps him manage his diabetes easily.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has emerged as a trend among celebrities in all areas of show business and even other sports, and there has been an influx of famous people getting hooked on the sport in the past couple of years.

A Highly Effective Low Percentage Choke In BJJ?

By
Filip Zanki
-
Low Percentage Choke In BJJ That Works

You often hear terms like high percentage moves and low percentage moves in Brazilian JIu-Jitsu. However, in reality, ti is quite difficult to figure out how effective an armbar, leg lock, pass, sweep or choke in BJJ really is. Apart from statistics done on some of the most common submissions, all other data is anecdotal at best and does not apply to everyone in the sport.

High vs Low Percetange Moves In Jiu-Jitsu

Very often, we assign labels such as low and high percentages to different moves in Jiu-Jitsu. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as we remain aware of two things:

First, this might be a very subjective way of looking at things, and what is a low or high percentage move for one grappler is not necessarily the same for another.

Second, over time our understanding of techniques changes, and what were previously low percentage moves, might end up being among the highest percentage techniques during a different period.

Usually, the reason behind pronouncing a move as a low or high percentage has to do with how well they work against trained or untrained people. However, that is an antiquated way of looking at things.

The guillotine choke in BJJ is a great example of this.

The Guillotine: Low Or High Percentage Choke In BJJ?

At one point in time, many people saw the guillotine choke as a low-percentage finish for BJJ. I the best-case scenarios, it would only work against untrained people, wrestlers, and in MMA.

To a point, this was correct, as some of those examples of guillotine we saw work in PRIDE were dreadful at best.

That does not mean the guillotine is a low-percentage choke in BJJ. The fault is not in the guillotine itself, but rather the execution of it by grapplers, guided by their coaches who have no real understanding of the choke’s mechanics.

Once people like Marcelo Garcia, Joe Stevenson, and Josh Hinger, to name a few, started tinkering with it, the guillotine suddenly became a very powerful high-percentage choke in BJJ, Nowadays, it is a staple move that was once seen as something you can only have sporadic success with.

It was not that different with leg locks, an entire category of submissions that were deemed a loss of time, with only the potential for an injury. We all know how that turned out after Dean Lsitear and John Danaherhad their say.

The percentage of success of a certain move increases with the understanding of the move’s mechanics. As you clean up your execution and adjust the move to be in line with major BJJ principles and your own game the percentages will go up.

We often see so-called “low percentage” moves work flawlessly at high levels and vice versa. It all comes down to the execution and how well a move fits into your game, rather than statistical data from other people’s performances.

It is like Chewy says: Give a carpenter certain tools and resources and he’ll create art. Give me the same tools and resources and I’ll create a mess.

Just look at the buggy choke in BJJ if you need more convincing.

Conclusion

In BJJ, it is smart to withhold from drawing lines in the sand when it comes to certain moves. Even if you think they are a low percentage for you at one time, it may not always remain like that. As long as you don’t break the fundamental rules that are the reason certain moves work, you’ll be able to pull off next to everything in BJJ, despite how low percentage it may look at first glance.

1...959697...347Page 96 of 347
© 2021 BJJ World | All rights reserved