Japanese grappling at its finest

A couple of spectacular videos for you. You may have seen some of them but they are always worth watching again.

First one, Rumina Sato turns up at the Canadian Jiu Jitsu open (which seems to have been populated mostly by flabby judo players) and killerises everyone in double quick time. I wonder if you would be pleased or pissed off at having someone like that turn up at your comp? Probably the same way the Sambo guys feel when Fedor turns up… It’d be like… “Oh wow, it’s Fedor… cool. Oh but shit, now we’re all going to die.”

And here’s Mr. Genki Sudo competing in I think the Westside Submission something-or-others back during his sojour at the Beverly Hills Jiu Jitsu Academy. Guy is slick as fuck!

While I’m at it, here’s a grappling match between Genki Sudo and Caol Uno… the guys are just freaks.

One more for ya. Rumina Sato again in an absolutely blinding display of submission wrestling. The way these Japanese fighters just rip and twist each other’s legs and ankles to pieces frankly scares the shit out of me.

And here they all are wrapped up in a neat little package.

Felicia Oh / Fightworks Podcast

One of the podcasts that I started listening to when I got my shiny new ipod touch earlier in the year was the Fightworks Podcast, and I’m glad I did. Hosted by the ever cordial Caleb, and another guy whose name escapes me because he doesn’t really say much, it’s a great show for you to get your BJJ dose when you’re out and about.

This week, they interview Felicia Oh. She seems to be a bit of a badass, and got her black belt from Jean Jacques Machado in a ridiculous four and a half years. That’s how long it took me to get my blue belt

Last year she won first place at the Pan-Ams (black belt) in gi and no gi, and came second in the ADCC. What a beast!

Here she is, she looks pretty awesome to me…

The interview is great, check it out here, and if you haven’t already, subscribe to this shit via iTunes.

 

Best second ever…

I’m putting this vid up not for the grappling, which is pretty good and has two current starts Jon Fitch and Jake Shields, but because of Shields’ daughter who yells out all this advice to her Dad. It’s ridiculously cute!

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RIZM MMA, Jiu Jitsu and Grappling Gear

I did a lot of research and it seems that Spreadshirt make quality prints on quality t-shirts. Plus, they have a UK branch which is good for me.

There are only a couple of designs in there but a few of you said you were interested in them, so here they are!

Many more designs to come. Any help you can give in spreading the word would be much appreciated.

Cheers.

Eddie Bravo vs. Naoya Uematsu

Now this is an interesting video.

Only available as far as I know on the Jiu Jitsu Legends mook, only available in Japan.

Naoya Uematsu is basically considered one of the top grapplers in Japan. He also reffed a couple of my fights.

I haven’t got my hands on the DVD long enough to know the story, but I think Uematsu basically goes around the east west coast of the USA rolling at the various jiu jitsu schools.

Check the video out. For want of a better word, Bravo basically owns him. Two times real quick, then just completely neutralises him before choking him out. All this with what looks like an injured or out of commission arm.

Now that is impressive. I want Bravo to compete again! It would be really exciting.

Uematsu almost seems like “Dude, can you stop doing that rubber guard stuff so that I can have a chance to grapple with you?”

How to turn a ratty old pair of kung fu pants into fight shorts!

I might have a top-secret project coming up for Fighters Only magazine, and for it, I need my Shooto gear. I splashed out a while ago and bought some gloves, some grappling shorts, and a groin guard. So I went into my closet to dust off my nut-box, and couldn’t find my shorts anywhere. Fucking shit burgers. I think I left them in England. So, seeing as I’m skint, I decided to chop up an old pair of ratty kung fu pants and turn them into totarly awesum grapplinge shorts!1!?

I wanted to use my old gi-pants, from the first gi I ever got. But I tried them on and I looked like MC Hammer, those mother fuckers were big! Jeez I must have been fat before. So anyway, luckily I found some old kung fu trousers and used them.

Here’s a step-by-step guide, so you can do the same. Warning: I spent about four fucking hours hunched over a sewing machine and it was totally not worth it, but check it out anyway, assholes!

Step 1: Get ratty old kung fu pants out.

Step 2: Get totally freakin’ sweet reversal patch ready. Fold the edges over and iron flat.

Step 3: Fold the shorts to the length you want. I originally was just going to cut them off, but I thought the material was too thin, so decided to split them, and fold the bottom half up inside the top half, kind of like when a man undergoes a sex change and they cut his cock open lengthways and push it up and… oh god this is disgusting. Kind of like they did to Babs in League of Gentlemen, anyway. Check the size and pin it in place!

Step 4: Cut the pants all the way up to the knee (or the point where you want them to end on your leg). Fold over the seams and sew them to stop them splitting. At this point they look like some kind of ultra-funky, Bruce Lee inspired flares. Or they just look like trousers that have been cut open, either way.

Step 5: Stitch a whole bunch of stuff. This part is not fun.

Step 6: This is the base of the pants, now folded up inside and sewed (badly) near the waistband.

Step 7: Break and eat some seriously tasty oven grilled chicken. That’s what I did, anyway.

Step 8: Prepare the sheer beauty that is a crisp new Reversal patch. Drooooool. On a serious note, in an arty, crafty, totally unconscious level, there is something I love about the texture, solid construction, and clean colours of Reversal patches. Sewing them on yourself is surprisingly satisfying.

Step 9: Sew that motherfucker on and basically you are done!

Step 10: Get some fucking leg muscles, Jesus you skinny fuck.

Making my own shorts was an interesting and painful experience I will probably never, ever repeat, and although the shorts will probably fall apart as soon as anyone touches them, they will forever hold a special place in my chest cavity.

Kyushu Grappling News

I took a snap of the upcoming schedule for most big grappling / BJJ events in all of Japan. If you can read Japanese, click on the filename for the full size image. It’s over a megabyte.

schedule.jpg

Here is some schedule information for Kyushu grapplers, in English.

• The schedule isn’t entirely clear yet, but at either the beginning of April, May or July, there will be a GI (Ground Impact) grappling contest held around Japan, with one of the events being in Kyushu.
• On May 6th the Copa South (BJJ competition) will be held in Wakamatsu near Kitakyushu. I have entered it the last two  three years running and taken bronze twice. This year, GOLD!
• The De La Riva Cup will be held on June 8,15,22,29 at various locations around Japan, with Kyushu / Hiroshima being touted as a possible location.