Today’s “Match Of The Week” features a high pace no-gi match between two half guard specialist, Lucas Leite vs Bill Cooper. This battle took place in 2009 at the Grappler’s Quest 10th Anniversary Supershow in Del Mar, CA. Cooper and Leite were vying for a $3,000 prize in the All-Star Challenge Division sponsored by Grappler’s Quest.

Enjoy the match.

Today’s “Young Guns” segment features DJ Jackson, a young man who has quickly become a popular name in the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu/Submission Grappling scene. Under the guidance of Master Lloyd Irvin, this one time wrestler has become a BJJ submission specialist. Under Lloyd Irvin’s watchful eye, DJ has won some of the most prestigious titles in both Gi and No-Gi.

While his background may be in wrestling, DJ is not a one dimensional grappler… he HUNTS for submissions, which makes him one of the most exciting up and coming competitors to watch compete.

Enjoy the interview and keep your eye out for this guy in 2012!

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How did you first get interested in Jiu Jitsu?
I came to Lloyd Irvin Martial arts academy to stay in shape for wrestling during the off seasons; I started jiu-jitsu to learn and try something new. Master Lloyd invited me to the advanced BJJ training seasons to help some of the guys train for a no-gi tournament they had coming up, and the experience was nothing like I have ever experienced before. I immediately fell in love with it and never looked back, because I was learning something new and exciting each and every day.

It is very well known that Master Lloyd is a genius when it comes to Jiu Jitsu. Through the course of your BJJ career, what is the one most important thing that he has taught you?
With all of the amazing things that Master Lloyd has taught me it’s hard to bring it down to just one, but drilling is definitely one of them. When he taught me our Kimura system, he sat with Sijara [Eubanks] and I as we drilled it over and over again, until we could do it in our sleep. We learned that we have to drill everything 10,000 times to be able to use the techniques we learn at a high level.

You won your division at the 2011 World Pro Jiu-Jitsu Championships in Abu Dhabi, what was that like? How did you enjoy your time there off the mat?
It was amazing! Jiu-Jitsu is one of the top sports in Abu Dhabi; it’s on billboards, buses, and on national television. The fans there love Jiu-jitsu! It was a great feeling to compete in front of them. The city itself was absolutely breath taking. It was as if the streets are literally paved in gold.

We interviewed a few young World Pro Jiu-Jitsu competitors and they all say that they had the opportunity to train with a lot of the superstars of BJJ when they were there; did you get a chance to train with some? If so, who was your favorite and what did you learn from them?
I would have to say [Marcus Almeida] “Buchecha” and Guillerme [Mendes] were my favorites. I had great training with both of them, and they were very open to helping me. I learned a half guard sweep and a

50/50 escape from Guillerme, and I had a couple of great rounds sparring with Buchecha.

What is your daily training regiment like?
I start the day off with boxing at 10am and then Jiu-jitsu… drilling and positional sparring at 4:30 and then Jiu-jitsu again at 8:30.

Team Lloyd Irvin has a huge stable of awesome competitors, whom do you train with the most and who are your main influences?
I train with JT Torres, Jimmy Harbinson, Keenan Cornelious, and Andris Brunovskis a lot. But I’m influenced most by one of our Black belts Master Donnie. He runs our children program with Master Lloyd helping lead them to be the #1 youth team in America right now. We watch a lot of Jiu-jitsu at our house and he does a lot to help me with my game and help me close all my holes.

How would you describe your style?
I would describe my style as a takedown savant, with relentless guard passing, and a monster Kimura attack.

What has been your proudest moment in BJJ thus far?
My proudest moment in Jiu-jitsu is when I won the purple belt division at the worlds. I won the no-gi worlds at blue belt, purple belt and brown belt, but I worked extremely hard to win the gi worlds. I came up a little short as a blue belt taking 2nd to my teammate Frank Camacho… Therefore as a purple belt when I finally got my hand raised in the finals, that was my proudest moment so far.

How do you handle defeat?
I handle defeat by getting back to the gym as fast as possible! I train harder to make sure it doesn’t happen again. I watch my film with Master Lloyd to see my mistakes, I drill to make sure I don’t make the same mistakes and I train extremely hard to make sure that I am as prepared as possible for each and every fight.

What can we expect from you in the future?
A black belt world title! That is all that matters and I will not be satisfied until I am a black belt world champion. After that, I’m joining my teammates Mike Easton, Brandon Vera, Dominick Cruz, and Phil Davis.

Thank you for the great interview DJ!

Today’s “Pioneers of the Sport” features the very first 2x Absolute Division BB champion, Amaury Bitetti.

Bittetti, a BB under the late great Carlson Gracie exemplifies Carlson’s theory on Jiu Jitsu. According to Carlson, for a person to excel in the art, a fighter should possess three attributes: 1) technique, 2) strength and 3) speed. Without these three attributes working in harmony, the athlete will not be able to perform to his/her fullest potential. With this philosophy, Carlson was able produce BJJ and MMA monsters such as Ricardo De La Riva, Mario Sperry, Ricardo Liborio, Wallid Ismail, Vitor Belfort, Miguel Torres, Amaury Bitetti and many more.

Below is a Bio on Amaury Bitetti (courtesy of BJJHeroes.com)

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Amaury Bitetti was the son of Carlson Gracie’s childhood best friend (who was also named Amaury). His father had trained under Carlson and was one of the partners of the famous Carlson Gracie Academy in Figueiredo Magalhães, Copacabana were many big names of the sport trained, people like De La Riva, Murilo Bustamante, Sperry amongst many others.

As expected Amaury (Junior) started training very early, when he was just 5 years old. With such an early head start, when the tournaments came he started dominating the junior scene a dominance that would prevail through most of his competitive Jiu Jitsu career. There is in fact footage on youtube of a 10 year old Bitetti getting the win at a local tournament together with the fastest submission and speaking to a local news reporter about how nervous he gets when competing.

When Bitetti reached 17 years old, his master Carlson enlisted him in a tournament as a junior fighter, but also as an adult in the black belt division. His father didn’t like the idea, but allowed young Bitetti to compete. Amaury ended winning four (yes, 4!) gold medals in the tournament, winning both his weight and the open weight (absolute) in the junior and adult divisions.

When Carlson Gracie moved to the USA to open an academy there and to manage the career of Vitor Belfort, several of his fighters were left without a master. Some formed the famous Brazilian Top Team (BTT), but Amaury chose a different path, joining Osvaldo Alves who was a legend of Jiu Jitsu in Brazil and a friend of Carlson.

Amaury also tried his luck in MMA with a short career from 1995 to 2000 in which he retained a record of 5 victories and 2 losses. During this short spell at “vale-tudo” (as it was called then) he fought mainly at light heavyweight and heavyweight even though according to today’s cutting weight standards he would more likely be fighting at middleweight. Soon Bitetti lost interest in the fighting game and quit MMA.

Though his fighting career might have been over, his days in MMA were not finished. Having been a friend of the Nogueira Brothers (UFC’s Rodrigo “Minotauro” and Rogerio “Minotouro”) since the late 1980’s, he had been invited to help train the brothers on occasion. When Rodrigo “Minotauro” opened his training camp, he invited Bitetti to be his grappling coach, a challenge immediately accepted by the Jiu Jitsu ace.

Amaury Bitetti is also the founder of one of Brazil’s foremost Mixed Martial Arts organization, the “Bitetti Combate”. An organization that has helped bring to light fighters like Alexandre Pimentel, Fabio Maldonado or Glover Teixeira while revamping the careers of others like Pedro Rizzo and Ricardo Arona.

 
 
Amaury Bitetti vs. Fabio Gurgel 1996

 
 
Amaury Bitetti vs. Fabio Gurgel 1997

 
 
Amaury Bitetti a 10 year old Champion

 
 
Taking the back

Today’s “Match of the Week” segment features an exciting battle between two highly competitive rivals in the middleweight division, who are seeking to dethrone Marcelo Garcia…. Claudio Calasans vs. Lucas Leite.

This match took place almost a year ago at the 2011 World Pro Trials in San Diego. You will notice that this was clip is from a televised feed with color commentary in Arabic! It is pretty amazing to see the vested interest and the dedication that Sheik Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has for the growth of the sport.

I’m still surprised that the Mundial title is still held in such high regards amongst the highly active BBs, especially amongst those who take issue with the lack of pay in the IBJJF. I sympathize with these athletes, for the fact that they are professionals. Their existence is Jiu Jitsu; they eat, breath and sleep Jiu Jitsu. These athletes are role models… People buy DVDs to watch their matches or learn their moves… People show up to the tournaments to: 1) compete for themselves, and 2) to be entertained by these athletes. So why shouldn’t they be compensated for their time? It seems that the World Pro hears their plight, so why is it still considered a “fringe” tournament?

Enjoy the match!

Today’s “Young Guns” segment features one of the few competitors out there that has won the unofficial IBJJF Grand Slam title. In 2011, Jimmy won the Mundials, Pans, Euros and the Brazilian Nationals as a brown belt. As a result of his stellar performances, Master Lloyd Irvin awarded Jimmy his BB in July 2011.

As a newly minted black belt, Jimmy has a huge road ahead of him with challenges such as Abmar Barbosa, Clark Gracie, Lucas Leite and Marcelo Garcia. Will this holder of the Grand Slam title overcome these roadblocks in order to stand high atop the Mundial podium? Time can only tell.

Enjoy the match:

 
 
Jimmy Receiving His Black Belt

Today’s “Match of the Week” features a classic battle of two “old school” methodical competitors, Roger Gracie vs. Saulo Ribeiro. This match took place in the semi-finals of the absolute division of the 2005 Mundials in the TIJUCA TENIS CLUBE.

Spoiler alert… After losing this match, Saulo knelt on the mat, folded his belt and gave it to Roger, symbolizing his kimono’s retirement. However, the allure of the Mundials was too much for him, Saulo returned to gi competition in 2007.

Enjoy the match!

Recently, we were able to catch up with our good friend the “Jiu Jitsu Outlaw” Abmar Barbosa. We had a great conversation on various subjects such as his recovery process, his plans for 2012, Jiu Jitsu as a professional sport and much more!

Enjoy the interview…

 
 
Rodrigo Teixeira vs. Abmar Barbosa

 
 
Abmar Shows his Favorite Sweep – The Outlaw DVD Series

Today’s “Young Guns” segment features a newly minted BB, Diego Borges.

Diego is one of the newer stars to come out of Checkmat. This Medio-Pasado (sometime medio) took second at this past World Championships as a brown belt and recently beat champion Claudio Calasans as a BB at the World Pro Trails in Manus, Brazil.

Watch for Diego to perform well in one of the most difficult divisions at this year’s Mundials.

 
 
Borges vs. Calasans

Today’s Match of the Week is between a giant in the sport and a up and coming giant. Rafa Mendes versus Theodoro Canal!

There is a lot written about Rafa Mendes, but Theodoro Canal is a lesser know name. Keep your eye out for this guy, he is definitely a force in BJJ.

Enjoy the match.

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From Bjjheroes.com about Theodoro Canal

Theodoro Canal was born on the 22nd of April, 1981 in the State of Espirito Santo – Brazil. He started practicing jiu-jitsu by the age of 7, because his mother thought it was a good way for her youngster to get in shape while interacting with other kids of the same age. When he was 14 years old, he changed camps as his family moved houses and Theodoro picked up training with Agnaldo Goes’s school.

Later Canal moved to Rio de Janeiro and trained with Nigue and Vinicius Amaral from the Carlson Gracie Team, competing under that banner for 4 years. It was around that time that Theodoro Canal received a scholarship from the Gama Filho University, one of the most recognizable Physical Education schools in the country. One of the school’s subjects was Jiu Jitsu and it’s team was rated amongst the best in the country (the University cutt BJJ from their program at a later stage, but the team went on to form Grapple Fight Team – GFT), Theodoro started training there with Master Julio Cesar already as a purple belt and earned his brown and black (2003) from the hands of Cesar.

Since earning his black belt, Theodoro Canal became one of the strongest competitors making the top spots of many important tournaments such as the Mundial, Pan Ams, World Cup and many others.

Canal Beating a World Champion

Come on guys… do we really need to write anything about Renzo Gracie? He is the most charismatic member of the Gracie family. Win or lose, this lion of the sport is not afraid of anyone, I think when he is 90 years old, he will still want to fight someone in their 20′s.

Below is partial a transpiration of an interview he gave to The Fightworks Podcast where he calls out some of his family members for being inaccurate about “pure Jiu Jitsu”. If you want to hear the whole interview, you can download it here (http://www.thefightworkspodcast.com/podcasts/fightworkspodcastepisode190.mp3)

But wait there’s more!!! We were able to find a match of Renzo as a purple belt… it’s in black and white and it’s a little grainy. I hate to give the ending away here, but let’s just say, sometimes you are the hammer and sometimes you are the nail.

Finally, don’t miss out on Renzo teaching real Jiu Jitsu!

Enjoy guys!

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Courtesy of The FightWorks Podcast:

Renzo, we brought you on because there are probably some opinions you have about our conversation with Relson last week.

Yes, yes. Relson is a great guy, I love that guy.

Some of the things that Relson said, may have…a few people in Gracie Barra may have strong opinions about some of the things Relson said. Do you want to start, or would you like some examples?

Could you bring that up, because I didn’t have a chance to read the whole thing yet?

One of the things that Relson said, that I think some people might find interesting, or maybe controversial, was that – and this is not an exact quote – “Roger Gracie is the only person in Gracie Barra who uses pure Gracie Jiu Jitsu.” I think he is talking about his style of attack with the closed guard, and that sort of thing. Does that help?

Does that make sense to me, is that what you ask? [laughs]

Sure, sure.

No, it does not. Now it’s funny, now that you mention, I had a very strange experience this past week. One of my students, he actually went to California, and he ask me where he should train. I say, “the Gracie Academy,” because that was the closest place to where he was going. I sent him to Rorion’s Academy, the one in Torrance. He goes in, and they told him that he shouldn’t train there, because that place was the “real jiu jitsu place.” It was like they were saying he doesn’t know jiu jitsu, and is learning from a source that doesn’t know how to teach.

You know what happened, my friend: I see a lot of people now, especially my family, saying that. “Oh, I know the real jiu jitsu, you don’t know the real jiu jitsu.” We all learn from the same place, we all develop the same art together, growing up. But for some reason, once they jump in a plane and they move to America they try to sell a product, like the American people are a bunch of fools. Right now, I became American, and I know there are no fools here.

Do they pay for good service? They do. So if you feed them the real technique, if you give them the real sport, and everything like a good product, they will buy it and they don’t care about the price. But don’t try to ******** them and expect them to accept anything you try to shove down their throat, because this is not the greatest country in the world for no reason. In reality, I see this crap today, “this is the real jiu jitsu”…let me be honest, I see jiu jitsu now turning into Krav Maga. Turn into kung fu! Like they are selling things that will chop your head in half, with a karate chop.

You know, it’s become a joke. Let me tell you what the real jiu jitsu is: the real jiu jitsu is the one that doesn’t back away from a challenge. It goes at the obstacle and defends its flag. It’s like, if you want to claim that you have the best fighting style, you should be in the UFC kicking some ass. That’s where the best competition is.

So when people call me, saying “this is the real jiu jitsu,” the next thing they are going to say is “I cannot use it, because I could kill you!” [laughs] You know, that’s what I heard my whole life, from those fake martial artists who claim they were better than everybody else. So believe it my friend, I live my whole life watching this and seeing this. We were always against that, and now suddenly one branch of my family is turning into that! It’s claiming that, but doesn’t go on the proving ground to prove it, does not step into the place where he should actually be representing jiu jitsu, to do it.

The only guys that are doing this now, is my team, and actually I’m from Gracie Barra. So if you’re talking bad about Gracie Barra, I was one of the founders. You talk bad about Gracie Barra, you talk bad about me! If you claim that I don’t know jiu jitsu…it’s a joke, you know?

I think [laughs] the observation that you made about people claiming their jiu jitsu is the purest, or ‘the’ jiu jitsu, but not coming to demonstrate that against other jiu jitsu, is the important point.

Yes! You have to understand one thing. The champions have the right to talk. The losers have to shut up. If you lost, you should shut your mouth off and walk away. So I don’t see no champions talking [laughs]. That’s the reality. People are selling a product, they become the king of the internet.

The ‘pure jiu jitsu’, it’s doing nothing but selling products on the internet. Again, trying to shove crap in American peoples’ mouths. This is just claiming: go and prove it with acts, my friend! The jiu jitsu was good when nobody else knew any jiu jitsu. Now, everybody knows, so now, only those who are really good shine. If you realize Gracie Barra produce more champions than anybody else, go to the world championship and try to fight in there.

You see, I am one of the guys who have the best game, believe it. If I wanna go compete on the championship level, I would have to dedicate like three or four years of my life to be on the level, of the sharpness, of those kids who are fighting in there. So I cannot question the level, the champions that they are: they are! If you win the world championship, you are legit. Nobody can question that.

Anybody questioning that, it’s because they’re afraid to step in there.

One thing I feel sorry about, is Rorion’s kids. They are very good kids, but their father feeds them nonsense. So, they could be unbelievable fighters, but they are going to end up as mediocre fighters, mediocre people. They are going to go through life as great businessmen. If I was them, I’d be selling self-help books, that’s what they should be doing. There is more money in that, instead of claiming that they are real fighters.

They are far from being real fighters. Far. Believe me. When they created a competition, when my cousin Rorion created a competition and created the rules, so his kids could win, and then tells that his kid is going to win, they couldn’t even win that. Not even the pure jiu jitsu rule that he claims he created, which was nonsense rules. Next thing I see, his kids could win nothing. They were losing to guys on the second tier, like Marc Laimon, he was beating them up. Guys who could not even feature in a world championship! People who could never compete in an Abu Dhabi and do well!

This, you know, it is talk. I don’t like to talk, especially because I do have a sharp tongue, and I’m going to strike everybody who makes no sense to me. Relson is a guy that I love, you have to understand. If he needs a roof tomorrow, he has a place in my house. Exactly like I did with his son, his son was here training with me for a long time, he’s a great kid.

Extremely good heart, very strong mind, could be an unbelievable champion, but he needs the environment for training: that’s the environment I create here in New York. A lot of champions come out of my academy. It’s not without a reason, we train for that, and the same thing at Gracie Barra. So, you can’t question that.

To be honest, if I today was Rorion, I would sign up my kids at Gracie Barra. I would put his kids to train there, so they could reach the top of their potential. Right now, they’re in an environment where they will be nobody, they’re going to be nobody for the rest of their life. Let me tell you one thing, I do believe in a spiritual world, and when you are born with the Gracie name, you have an obligation. You have to fight, you have to teach, and you have to influence people in the right direction.

So, if you start selling crap to people, if you start selling this, then chances are you’re going to fade, you’re going to disappear. You may fool one or two for a little bit, but you cannot fool everybody all the time. That’s the reality, you know.

Renzo Gracie Purple Belt Match

Renzo teaches a triangle