Today’s “Pioneers of the Sport” features one of the first BJJ black belts that planted his roots in the United States, Carlos “Soneca” Machado. Carlos, the oldest of the Machado brothers, started his BJJ training under Helio and then Rolls Gracie. After Rolls’ untimely death, Carlos along with his brothers Roger, Rigan, Jean Jacques and John, all trained under Carlinhos at Gracie Barra. In … Continue reading
Today’s “Young Guns” segment features a young lad from the coastal city of Swansea, Wales. Ash Williams is a purple belt under BJJ Superstar Braulio Estima and Chris Rees. At the young age of 19, this future star has ripped through his peers in the UK grappling scene and massing fifteen medals (10 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze) along the way! Watch for this … Continue reading
Today, we feature a match between two world champions from different generations, Bruno Malfacine vs Wellington “Megaton” Dias. As many of you may know, Bruno Malfacine is the current Galo BB Champion after defeating the very gamed and skillful Caio Terra in the 2011 Mundials. Malfacine started BJJ in 1998 at age eleven (so… how many of us feel really old right now) and since … Continue reading
“Truly great madness cannot be achieved without significant intelligence.” – Henrik Tikkanen Within the Renzo Gracie Academy and its affiliates, John Danaher has been known as the Mad Scientist of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for over ten years now; however, it was not until recently his name garnered international recognition. With the success of Roger Gracie, Matt Serra, Georges Saint Pierre and Chris Weidman, the “Mad … Continue reading
I hope you liked the last move from Serra Jiu Jitsu instructor Mike Piccolomini. Today, it’s my turn! I’m a brown belt under Matt Serra and I am also an instructor at Serra Jiu Jitsu in Huntington, NY. I started my martial arts career at Kazan Dojo in Deer Park, NY. Kazan is a traditional Japanese Jiu Jitsu school led by a 5th degree JJJ … Continue reading
Today’s “Pioneers of the Sport” features the first BJJ black belt in the Land of the Rising Sun, Yuki Nakai. As many of you may know, Nakai fought Rickson Gracie in the Vale Tudo Japan tournament in 1995 with only one healthy eye. It is a misconception that after his fight with Rickson, Nakai decided to learn BJJ. The truth is that Royler Gracie was … Continue reading
Today’s “Match of the Week” features a great battle between two gamed competitors currently active in the tournament circuit… Augusto “Tanquinho” Mendes and Mario Reis! This match between these two amazing athletes took place in the absolute division of the 2010 Sul Americano’s. Augusto Mendes of Soul Fighters is considered one of the top five BJJers in his weight class; he has beaten some of … Continue reading
Today’s “Before They Were Stars” segment features the undefeated “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey! As many of you may know, Ronda’s accomplished a lot in her short time as a professional MMA fighter (including securing a title shot this March against Miesha Tate); however many of you may not know that she was breed for combat sports. Ronda’s mother Dr. AnnMaria DeMars, was the first-ever American to … Continue reading
Hope you all had a great new years and that your training is back to full swing! We are doing something different with today’s theme. As we stated before, the Submission Control staff collectively have about 30+ years of martial arts experience (both teaching and practicing). We wanted to share our extensive experience with our loyal readers, but we lacked the funding to do so. … Continue reading
Today’s “Pioneers of the Sport” focuses on Mauricio Gomes. To many he is simply known as Roger Gracie’s dad, but in addition to being the father of the most dominating figure in BJJ, Mauricio is also a member of Roll Gracie’s “Famous Five”. This seventh degree coral belt paved the way for BJJ in Europe. In 1998, Gomes opened the first Gracie Barra … Continue reading