At Grapplemania in Henderson, North Carolina, two sisters who train at Revolution BJJ headed down to North Carolina for US Grappling’s final tournament of the year.  On December 03, 2011, Morgan Menzies competed in her first BJJ competition, entering four divisions.  She won gold in her weight class in women’s nogi beginner and a bronze in women’s gi absolute division.  Morgan’s closed-guard proved to be impassable for most of her competitors.

Lo Menzies had hoped to use techniques covered in Nogi-November in the women’s advanced nogi divisions, but unfortunately no other competitors registered.  She took gold in blue belt women’s weight class and absolute divisions.  Lo played various open-guard positions and searched for sweeps.

The sister team represented Revolution BJJ, fighting a total of ten matches and collecting four medals guided by the coaching of instructor Andrew Smith.

Both are working to improve their competition games in preparation for the US Grappling Richmond tournament on February 25, 2012 in Ashland, VA.

In 2004, as a relatively new purple belt in BJJ, I decided to make my first trip to Brazil. This trip coincided with the Mundial de Jiu Jitsu- the world championships of BJJ in the heartland. This was the toughest jiu jitsu tournament in the world, and I was going to compete in it. However, an even more compelling reason to visit was that I was also going to be able to train BJJ at the source.

The timing was right for me in the summer of 2004. I was able to save some money by working a lot of hours in the restaurant I had been at since 1997 or so. My instructor and friend, Eric Burdo, and I were excited to make the “pilgrimage”, something perceived as necessary for any serious practitioner of jiu jitsu. Eric had a friend down there who was going to let us stay with him for virtually no money the entire time we were there. We were all set with a plan. But we had to get there first, and that was a lot harder than it might seem.

First, we worked super hard to be sure we got the lowest fare possible. We ended up flying down with brol.com for $750 round trip, which was really cheap even back then. Then we needed to get our passports. We needed photos for the passports, so we went to Rite Aid or something like that to get them printed. Then, we took the passports to the post office to have the pictures we had taken put on an identification form that serves as your passport. After that, we needed our visa. You need this in order to travel to Brazil, but not to most countries- typically, a passport is enough. A visa actually requires a letter of recommendation from the country, inviting you to compete.

We came up to DC twice because of that Visa, driving up from Richmond both times. It was a pretty crappy drive. You can imagine how irritated we were the first time only to get there five minutes after they had closed for the day. The second time, it took, though. We were all set to fly.

When we arrived in Brazil, Burdo’s friend met us in town, by the beach. It turns out that the town we were staying in was called Niteroi. It was an hour away from Copacabana by drive, and Copacabana was everywhere we wanted to be. That kind of sucked. We learned a quick lesson that Rio is huge, and you should be careful about where you’re staying. Be sure it’s close to where you’re doing stuff. We spent at least 3 hours commuting back and forth every day for the 2 weeks we were there, because the bus was slow, and the other alternative was taking a ferry across the water, and the ferry was even slower than the bus.

The tournament required ID cards. We got our pictures taken, and were issued ID’s. These had to be with us to get into the tournament.  Note that this isn’t something that was advertised on the American version of the website; it was kind of a surprise for both of us.  However, we were determined to compete, so we jumped through a few hoops in order to be able to compete.  My first match was with an American, Steve Kim.  Steve has very technical jiu jitsu- I had actually faced him a couple of years earlier when we were both blue belts.  I didn’t really appreciate that 2 of the only Americans in the division (there were probably 70 competitors in our division, purple middle) were paired off in the first round- we found that suspiciously convenient, in fact- but I was focused on competing.  Nevertheless, Steve had the better game plan, and he beat me on points. That was it; I was out.  The adrenaline dump left me exhausted for the weekend, but not too exhausted to enjoy some of the best tournament jiu jitsu I’ve ever witnessed, in person or otherwise.

I took the rest of the time to enjoy training at Ricardo de la Riva’s academy in Copacabana. We trained with De la Riva five days, then with Marcelo Alonso on a couple days. De la Riva showed slick jiu jitsu, and we rolled with black belts. It was great. One thing that influenced my teaching style was the amount of techniques De la Riva showed: one per day. Each technique built off the previous day’s technique or related to it by position. This concept of learning via intensive positional study was entirely new to me, and I’m glad I could experience it from a living legend at his academy.

Outside of the gym, I had a few interesting experiences. One in particular is easy to relate, and might be helpful: I was out in the street where we were staying, making a phone call to the US. The cops started following me when I was going from one phone to another, trying to find one that worked. They then approached me and asked if I was selling drugs (in Portuguese, of course). I explained that I didn’t even speak Portuguese, but no, I certainly wasn’t there to sell drugs. They had hands on their guns at their hips, and one guy decided to take a peek down my shorts (presumably to see if I was hiding drugs there). Eventually, they found my “Brazilian Portuguese for Travelers” book, and I was free to go.  Lesson learned:  don’t be afraid to let the cops know you’re clueless!  I was really glad when they left me alone after that.

If you were introduced to MMA before TUF, then this is the article for you.  Here are two classic fights that took place years before the UFC was in existence, and why they were so influential on modern day MMA.  These early fights shaped the course of what was merely a spectacle, and helped it become the sport we know today.

Gene Lebell vs Milo Savage – December 1963

In “the first officially sanctioned fight in American Mixed Martial Arts History”, a requirement was set that there must be a finish.  The perception was generally that Milo Savage, a formerly highly ranked pro boxer, would murder Lebell quickly.  It was a bit of a shock to some of the fans, then, when Lebell was able to use grappling to overcome Savage’s striking, taking the fight to the ground with several judo throws before ultimately finishing the fight with a rear naked choke.  Thousands of fans saw this fight on video, and thousands more saw it years later on video.

Of particular significance is the simple result of the grappler overcoming the striker in the fight in order to finish via submission.  This concept, foreign to most Americans watching the first UFC 30 years later, wasn’t new to everyone after this fight!

Antonio Inoki vs Muhammad Ali – June 1976

In contrast with Gene Lebell going into his fight with Milo Savage, millions in Japan knew that Inoki was capable of breaking legs and arms, and twisting people into submission.   The entire world knew of Ali’s boxing prowess.  Muhammad Ali was widely recognized as the greatest boxer of all time.  Thousands of Japanese fans in attendance sat on the edge of their seats.  With all the pre-fight hype leading up to this spectacle, the fans awaited something amazing to happen.

It didn’t.  Instead, what they got was both fighters working their hardest to avoid the strongest area of the other- Inoki essentially pulling guard and trying flying kicks; Ali trying to keep Inoki within boxing range (and on the feet).  15 rounds of this.

This match did little to encourage future matchups of style-vs-style fights (proto-MMA) on an international level.  The fight was viewed as a disappointment by both camps, and by fans around the world, but it did showcase the concept of one style of fighting facing off against another style.  Another notable fact:  the ref is none other than “Judo” Gene Lebell.

Take some time to learn a little bit of history about MMA when you can.  There are tremendous resources out there nowadays, from Wikipedia to Youtube to Google.  MMA is still very young, but its roots can easily be traced back thousands of years.

This month at Revolution BJJ, we’re covering both attacks and defenses from the turtle.  The turtle is one of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu’s most pragmatic positions.  Creating opportunities to attack can be frustrating, but after this month, you will have a great fundamental understanding of what to work for.  We’ll also be spending a considerable amount of time defending this dangerous position, using the turtle to escape, reverse the position, and even submit your opponent.  See you on the mats!

If you’ve never trained with us before, set up an introductory lesson here.

If you’ve ever competed in a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or submission grappling tournament before, you’ve almost surely experienced powerful nerves leading up to the competition.  If you haven’t competed, your teammates have probably warned you of this paralyzing phenomenon.  This article will help you learn to deal with that.

I like lists a lot.  I think lists are engaging for readers, and they’re easy for my brain to make, for whatever reason.  I considered whittling this list down to five keys instead of ten, but decided to keep the list at ten.  I’ve helped a lot of people face and overcome their fears about competing over the years, and I’ve learned that a different approach works for everyone.  I present the list as a countdown to number one, because number one is the most important for me, and it’s helped more people than any other, but please keep in mind that any one of these could be a breakthrough for you.

Without further ado, here’s the list:

10.  Develop a specific strategy.
No advice is more generally given at any BJJ academy than this, and for good reason.  If you have a specific game plan to defeat your opponent, you are more likely to win than if you don’t.  It’s very simple, and it’s very effective.  Plan your attack strategy well, and you may be better prepared than your opponent.  Strategy is huge!

9.  Remember that your team is there for you.
Whether you train at a huge gym or at your buddy’s garage, you have friends, and they’re there to support you when you compete.  Take comfort in the fact that your friends are going to be cheering you on.  They don’t expect you to perform miracles, just to do your best out there.

8.  Do the hard work at the gym.

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The author:  Andrew Smith
www.revolutionbjj.com