Keep Your Politics Out of My Jiu-Jitsu

I never understood it; biased reffing, buying black belts, why? Does it really have to be that way? Do you really have to stoop to that level?

I've noticed it ever since my first IBJJF tournament, the 2006 American Nationals; referees making wrong calls in favor of their own teammates, sometimes teammates that don't even train with them, but train at some distant affiliate of their own team. I mean this does largely fall on one team in particular (I won't name any names, but I'm sure most of us know who I'm talking about), but I have seen it amongst smaller circles as well. Are you really willing to go so far as to cheat some poor kid (I have seen this even in the juvenile division) that you don't even know out of a title? All for what, a couple extra team points? It's disgraceful and those who participate should be ashamed to even be apart of the sport we all love so much. This by and large is what I feel is one of the biggest problems in Jiu-Jitsu today. Not only is it disrespectful to the sport, but what about the athletes who didn't ask to win that way? Does the win really feel the same? I'm sure there's the select few who don't care and will resort to any means necessary to come out the victor, but for the most part I'm sure it's not how many people want it to be. I for one would not be happy with that ruling and would feel like my title did not mean as much. The referees need to learn not to be so selfish and think about what they are doing, not only to the competitor that they screwed, but the one who they "helped" as well.

Along with this goes the discussion of buying affiliation and even worse. . . BLACK BELTS!! Has the sport really come to this level of lack of pride and morals? Being that I train in Arizona, I have noticed a lot of this. I'm sure it's bad in other states, but it seems to be particularly bad here. With issues such as one of the state's foremost fake black belts being abble to just buy his way into one of the world's largest BJJ teams (still, no names, although some can figure it out). This "affiliation" program is the very thing that is watering down our sport. The way this works makes things very deceiving to the beginning practitioner, making them believe that this school is legitimate due to the name. Also, some legitimate black belts out there are willing to tarnish their own names in exchange for a belt-for-money deal. An instructor should be able to take pride in anyone representing them not just worry about the money they're making, and when these things come out, they usually do, your name will never be the same, it may only be in hushed circles, but people know. What's just as big a problem, if not worse, is scam artists giving themselves black belts, again, no names, well. . . Roland Sarria! What!? Did I just say that!? I mean, come on, the guy says God gave him his black belt and compares himself to Batman. . . Need I say more? This is another situation where I don't understand how a full grown adult can do this to another person. You are taking these kids' hard earned money and feeding them crap in the mean time, the kids, knowing no better, eat it up and believe that what they are learning is real and effective. It sickens me! Something should be done about it, I don't know what, but the Jiu-Jitsu community needs to get together and think of something for all of these subjects. Feel free to leave some suggestions on the blog and let me know what you think should be done.

Know the Rules!!

To this day it amazes me how many people go to tournaments and compete without knowing the rules. It seems at least a couple times a tournament there is someone arguing with the referee over rules that are clearly stated. This is such a hastle for the tournament promoters and staff, so do us all a favor if you are competing this weekend at the No Gi Worlds and watch the above video on the rules and part 2 found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE4ouhqHAB0.  Knowing the rules will make for a much more enjoyable experience for you, the staff, and other competitors, so PLEASE take the time. Hopefully I’ll see you guys there this weekend; come say, “Hi” if you see me out at the pyramid.

American National Championships

This past weekend the American National Jiu-Jitsu Champiuonship took place in Carson, California in the gymnasium at Cal State Dominguez Hills. It was a weekend full of excitement and great matches.

Saturday, the adult blue belt division was dominated by a group of young stars leaving the podium looking more like a juvenile division. Isaac Doederlein (Gracie Humaita) and Jordan Landry (Gracie Fighter) marched their way to the finals of the light feather weight division leaving many submissions in their wake. The two squared off in the final match leaving the young fighter from Humaita the victor. It was a very tight match with Doederlein only pulling it off by one advantage. In the light weight division another youngster, Michael Liera (Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu), took home the gold. Liera looked very impressive, submitting everyone in his weight class. The Ribeiro brothers’ prodigy returned on Sunday for another impressive performance in the open weight category. Liera went all the way to the finals, closing out the division with his team mate.
Also on Saturday, was the main event, the black belt open weight division. Surprisingly this division was taken by a light feather weight, Caio Terra. Terra keeps looking more and more impressive, with this being his second open weight title at black belt. Terra got a bye first round and then went on to submit Rodrigo Simoes with a nice flying triangle. In his next match he faced the tough middle weight, Marcelo Mafra. Terra ended up taking this bout 6-2 and almost catching an armbar at the end before Mafra escaped. On the opposite side of the bracket was the always game super heavy weight from Nova Uniao, Bruno Bastos. Bastos’ first match was the resilient feather weight, Rodrigo Ranieri. Bastos took this match with a half guard sweep, winning 2-0. In his next match he took on Leandro Santos from Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu, winning with a foot sweep in another 2-0 victory. Eventually, Terra and Bastos met in the end bringing about a pretty lack luster, ‘David and Goliath’ final. Terra pulled guard and shot up a few oma platas, but Bastos proved to be too strong for those and easily stood up to defend. The very passive Bastos was penalized for his lack of movement giving the win to Terra on the negative point.

There were also many other noteworthy matches throughout the weekend. One being Zak Maxwell, in his black belt debut, vs. Phillipe Della Monica. A match  which I thought would be a very tough test for the young, recently promoted Maxwell. Zak passed with flying colors defeating the Gracie Barra athlete by a score of 10-2 in pure dominance. As Maxwell advanced to the finals, Della Monica’s teammate, Rodrigo Simoes, would come looking for revenge that he would wind up getting. In a very exciting final, Simoes took the lead early with a beatiful, old school, Pe de Pano style cross guard sweep. As the match went on Simoes hit another cross guard sweep making the score 4-0. In the final moments Maxwell swept back and began trying desperately to pass, but could not pull it off, leaving the final score 4-2 Simoes.
My personal experience was not the best at this tournament. I entered the Purple/Adult/lLightweight division. I won my first match against a tough Jaxon Smith (Machado JJ). I pulled guard really bad, without good grips and had to recover from there. Smith is very srong and I ended up winning 2-2 with one more advantage than him. It was a very tough match and at times I didn’t think I could pull it out, but I just kept telling myself I could and that helped me through. It’s amazing what some self affirmations can do. My next match I pulled bad again and my opponent took advantage and passed. Eventually he caught a choke that I seriously thought about tapping to, but I fought out and we scrambled to our feet. I took the time tying my belt to regain what was going on and recognize what I had to do. I was down 5-0. I tried to get a good grip to get a better pull, but in taking my time he pulled first. I knew I had to do something so I stood up in his closed guard and made a mistake with my grips, he took advantage and caught me in an armbar. It was a very disappointing tournament for me considering I trained so hard, but I tried hard and learned what I need to work on from my mistakes. It’s like my favorite quote says, ” Broken dreams are built to make you strong.”