Do you have any hard feelings about the split between your school and the Gracie Barra school name?


T: No, not at all. I spent most of my life in that school, all my friends, all my BJJ experiences were created in that school. I am still in contact with all my friends from there; anytime they are in the US they come to visit me and my school. I have a great deal of respect towards Carlos Gracie Jr. to whom I credit my Jiu-Jitsu knowledge and experience and to whom I am very grateful. I have a history with the Gracie Barra school, I always fully represented them being even one of the first people to take the GB school name to another state, out of Rio de Janeiro as well as to other countries, coming to the US I applied myself to do a very serious work and represent the schools name with professionalism, so nothing can erase all that and nothing will affect all that. I see the change in my schools name as a simple business decision, not changing in any way how I feel about the GB school.

SYR: You are known for your spider guard, what made you choose that style of guard to make your own?


T: It was actually a natural evolution in my training. It was nothing I chose specifically. I play different games in my guard too, but the spider guard was the one my body adapted better to and I felt most comfortable playing.

SYR: What would you say are the 3 key elements when playing the spider guard?


T: The most important elements in my opinion are the hip movements and the leg work. With that combination you will have a real control of the spider guard.

SYR: Do you think the Spider Guard will ever get outdated?


T: No, I do not think so. For sure new stuff will come but that does not mean that the good techniques will get outdated. One thing will complement the other and this is what happens in the natural evolution of things.

SYR: If you could change some rules about jiu-jitsu competitions, what would they be?


T: This is a good question. It looks like a lot of people is unhappy about the BJJ rules in competitions. I think some things would need to be changed to make the fights more dynamic, today there are a lot of problems with people stalling in tournaments or fighting to win by advantage and this is not what the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu philosophy is about. I don’t have the exact answer for that but I think those changes are already being tried, some of the tournaments are changing their rules and some of the federations should be trying to make changes and trying to make this happen but I believe that slowly is already happening.

SYR: What do you think is the most common mistakes that many students make when training jiu-jitsu?


T: A pretty common mistake that happens with the students specially when they are first starting is an ego problem. The students get there and they do not want to tap by any means but the truth is tapping is only a learning process, you can learn a lot from your mistakes and that goes from white to black belt. The learning never stops. Another mistake that I think commonly happens is related to the first one I mentioned is about weakness, a lot of the students try to stay away from their weakness to avoid tapping, for example if you are really good on your top game and not as good in your bottom , usually in all your training sessions you just play your top game and avoid getting on the bottom but if you never play your weakness how are you supposed to improve it.

SYR: You recently took a trip to New York to Renzo Gracie’s school in NYC, How was the experience?


T: It was great. Not only I was at the Renzo Gracie`s school but I also went to the Ricardo " cachorrao" Almeida and Alexandre " Soca" `s school and I had a chance to meet some of my old friends like Rafael "Gordinho", Rolles Gracie Jr.and Igor Gracie, I also had a chance to meet someone new, a really great guy, Gene Dunn, who is a black belt from Renzo`s and who had a big impact on me on the philosophy of martial arts .

SYR: Why do you think Renzo such a good teacher?


T: Renzo`s students kind of speak for itself, he made and is still making so many good students, fighters and instructors that I don’t even need to say no more. He has the complete package as a teacher, he is not only a great instructor but also a great coach, he has a way to pass self confidence and self steam to his students and support them. All those qualities are what I believe makes him so successful

SYR: What are you goals for 2006?


T: I have a lot of plans for my school in 2006, we are adding some classes, making improvements and I will also be coming out with two more instructional dvds, which are already in production.

SYR: Do you plan on competing this year?


T: I have been competing in tournaments since I was a kid. I really like to compete and that fire still burns inside of me but right now I am 100% focused in my school and I like to apply myself entirely to everything I do. When I feel that things are in the right track and I have a little bit more time to dedicate to training I would sure like to get back in tournaments, just for fun.

SYR: What do you think you learned most in the year 2005?


T: 2005 was a year of experience and a lot of growth. I learned much much more than I ever expected. It was a year of personal growth in every aspect.

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