Posted in Martial Arts / Jiu-jitsu History, Martial Arts, Combat Sports & Society, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Uncategorized on November 29, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Like Fred Ettish, the Phoenix rises from the ashes. Image from Aberdeen Bestiary is in the public domain.
If you’ve been an MMA fan for any length of time there’s about a 97% chance that you’ve made fun of Fred Ettish. I did. His fight against Johnny Rhodes is the stuff of legends, and not for the right reasons. But there’s way more to Fred Ettish than what happened at UFC 2 in 1994. He’s tougher than you are.
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Posted in BJJ Techniques, Judo Techniques, Martial Arts / Jiu-jitsu History, Uncategorized on October 13, 2012 | 7 Comments »
Holy crap! A two-hour video breakdown of every judo nage-waza (throwing technique) in the gokyo no waza and shimmeisho no waza. 68 judo takedowns in all! And it was put together by the Kodokan Judo Institute, the International Judo Federation (IJF), and the All Japan Judo Federation so it’s the real thing. It was passed on to me by one of my longtime Dynamic MMA training partners, who Twitter types may know as JiuJitsuDude.
Posted in Martial Arts / Jiu-jitsu History, Martial Arts / Jiu-Jitsu Philosophy, Martial Arts, Combat Sports & Society, Uncategorized on October 10, 2012 | 2 Comments »
The Internet is full of crap, but manure piles are great places to grow flowers. Case in point, London Real, an interesting podcast by Brian Rose and Nic Gabriel. The London Real team recently emailed The Jiu-Jitsu Vortex to ask if I’d help spread the word about their recent one-hour interview with the (almost) unstoppable Brazilian jiu-jitsu juggernaut, Roger Gracie. I like their show, and Roger’s the man, so I hereby wield my very limited influence over the BJJ community…
Posted in Judo Techniques, Martial Arts / Jiu-jitsu History, Martial Arts / Jiu-Jitsu Philosophy, Uncategorized on February 23, 2012 | 7 Comments »
One of the most famous black belts in BJJ - Royce Gracie. Photo by superwebdeveloper.
Belt promotions are a hot topic in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Hang around the mats and changerooms of any BJJ academy and you’ll hear lots of talk about who does and doesn’t deserve a promotion. Stories abound of instructors who intentionally delay promotions with the intention of giving their students the edge in competitions. But what does a belt really mean? And where did the colours come from?
Posted in Martial Arts / Jiu-jitsu History, Martial Arts / Jiu-Jitsu Philosophy, Martial Arts, Combat Sports & Society on December 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Japanese Calligraphy of Bodhidarma, often credited as the progenitor of the Asian martial arts. By Hakuin Ekaku. Image is in the Public Domain.
What do Mac Danzig, Miles Davis, Ken Kesey, Genki Sudo, Joe Frazier, and John Irving have in common? They all have a combined talent for art and combat. The connection between artistic pursuits and the combat arts is lost to many participants on both sides of the issue (it’s hard to imagine Chael Sonnen wielding a calligraphy brush or Woody Allen choking someone unconscious) but a notable collection of warrior artists is keeping the tradition alive.
Posted in Judo Techniques, Martial Arts / Jiu-jitsu History on September 17, 2011 | 3 Comments »
The “which is better, Brazilian jiu-jitsu or judo?” discussion has been going on for some time and by now, most people who train in either see it as a silly question. If you ignore one or the other, there’s a massive hole in your game. Period. BJJ and judo came from the same roots and are so closely related that they’re almost the same thing (but not quite). In fact, aside from a subtle difference, judo and jiu-jitsu have the same name.
The short story is that Brazilian jiu-jitsu came from judo, which came from traditional Japanese jujutsu. For the long story, most aspects of the history of judo can be found at the Judo Information Site. The Gracie Academy does a nice job of outlining their family’s side of Brazilian jiu-jitsu history. Renzo Gracie and John Danaher’s book Mastering Jujitsu
Samurai using bujutsu on the battlefield
