This time I get on the phone with old friend Eugune Robinson (author of “Fight”, lead singer of OxBow) where I talk about OntheMat, the Hip Hop Chess Federation, and Jiu Jitsu.  It’s hosted on CombatMusicRadio.

I really worked on my delivery this time, and tried to watch my “umms”, and “you knows”.
Listen to an interview here: http://www.combatmusicradio.com/knuckleup/mp3/ku070.mp3

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I think the content is good, but it’s almost embaressing how much I’m tripping over my own words.  “You know, like, you know, like….”  Geeze.  In my defense, I didn’t feel that well as I did this interview.  The Podcast is always entertaining, and I hope you check it out every week.

I rolled with Guy in 2001 or 2002 at Rickson’s Academy in West LA. He was a white belt at the time, but was pretty good, extremely strong and was already a black belt in judo. He simply participated in the regular class with everyone else, which I appreciated.

I remember he was sparring against someone else and accidentally choked his opponent OUT. He was more than a bit freaked out, which was funny to us considering the usual violent tone of his movies. His opponent woke up just fine.
There seem to be a few who are up in arms over celebrities getting ranked in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which is odd to me.  In addition to putting their gi pants on one leg at a time like the rest of us, some have a work schedule that allows them to dedicate large blocks of time to BJJ.  Recent black belt Sean Patrick Flannery and Rikki Rocket are noted for putting a lot of hours on the mat, respectively.

At any rate, I have no doubt about Guy being a legit brown belt, and if he’s promoted by Renzo, that’s enough said.

I got my copy of the book yesterday and after I’ve had a chance to go through it I’ll post a complete review here.

I have been looking forward to this book for a long time. Sometime before Kevin moved into the University of Jiu Jitsu Saulo and I talked and he told me how excited he was about the book he was about to start working on.

I consider the Ribeiro brothers to be among the sharpest minds actively in Jiu Jitsu, and I’ve gained a lot of insights and technique from both of them. Xande is quick to give all the credit for his own successes to his brother, and in turn Saulo (in the first chapter of his book), acknowledges Rickson Gracie’s influence. The Ribeiro brothers’ competition records are of course impeccable, but the knowledge they have and are willing to share is going to be the larger part of their legacy.

As oppossed to seeing what tricks the brothers have, or if they have the latest techniques in their manual, Saulo’s explanations are actually quite a bit more earth shattering because they will challenge your fundamental perceptions of Jiu Jitsu. There is actually very little flash about their games, rather the Saulo seeks to rework your foundations. Without a strong foundation, there is not much you can do to progress in the art, and few people are better than building that foundation then Saulo. In my chances of working with Saulo over the years I’ve more often than not recieved a full on smack my forehead revelation that added to my overall game immensely as oppossed to the one new trick I can try out on someone type things you typically pick up. Spend some time with Saulo, and it really will change the way you view everything.

For Saulo, I suspect that Jiu Jitsu isn’t so much a part of his life as it is his life, and what happens on the mat is merely an extension of his philosophies and world views. In talking with him Jiu Jitsu is almost a religious thing with him, and what sets him apart from many of his peers is that he is very concerned with “the big picture” and is determined to give back and grow as much into Jiu Jtisu as Jiu Jitsu has shaped him into the man he is.

So I can’t wait to review this book in depth. The only thing for me to see is that if this text lives up to the lofty ambitions that the Saulo has set for himself and quite frankly what I expect of him. If it’s half as good as I think it will be, it will be a must have for every person who has ever studied jiu jitsu. apply yourself software wordpress stats

I know from talking to other people that this isn’t just a pet peeve of mine, but something that most high level Jiu Jitsu guys and especially instructors seem to be unhappy about:  People who treat class like some kind of social club.  To some degree, a class or an academy is a social club, most of my closest friends are people I see on the mat on a regular basis.  But it’s secondary to the fact that we are there to learn and work and we are they to work hard (Train Hard is the first line in the OTM motto after all).  We can chat and hang out before class.  We can chat and hang out after class.  But during class, that time (and the mat itself) is pretty much sacred to me.

If you’re not willing to work hard I don’t really have much patience with you.  Note that I know working hard is a relative thing.  Everyone has different fitness levels and abilities.  I want to see effort however.  If you come in with the goal of getting even just a little bit better every time you step on the mat, and are willing to work at it, we are going to get along just fine. Whatever level you are currently at, I’m going to do everything in my power to help you get better.

If you don’t want to put in any effort, of don’t care about getting better, I’d honestly prefer that you didn’t show up to class at all.  You are taking up space and attention from someone who actually deserves to be there.

The way I see it, training time is not a right, but a privilege.  Although it’s a business, it is not something that is bought with money alone.  Over the years I’ve seen many people drift away from training for a variety of reasons, good and bad.  Things like work, family life and injuries may curtail your ability to train.  I know if I miss a few days of practice, I tend to be generally more irritable to downright angry and frustrated after a prolonged period of time.  I have friends who have had to miss months or years on the mat for various reasons, and I know it hurts.  So every chance I have to be on the mat, I do my best to make sure that opportunity is not squandered.
What you do on your off time is your own business.  I am known for my “part hard” motto as well (the last part of the OTM motto), but my rule is that I don’t do anything that would affect my ability to get on the mat.

There’s always a few people in every academy who you’re not really quite sure why they are there.  They are resistant to learning, find every excuse they can not to spar (unless it’s a match that would be easy for them).  If they were in the corner like that by themselves that would be one thing, but often they are the most disruptive people in the class by talking loudly, showboating their warm ups (always showing up late for regular warm ups), greeting the instructor and top students like they were best friends.  I know each of you reading this can think of someone who fits that description.  Maybe they like the “tough guy” image that hanging around serious fighters and they hope it will rub off of them.  Or they like to tell their friends they are doing something difficult when in reality they are the biggest pansies in class.  I don’t know.  I suspect every difficult activity involving groups has someone like that in there. I understand there is a Brazilian word for those in Jiu Jitsu class:  “FinFou”.

One day, years and years ago (I think I was a blue belt at the time) I was training at Ralph Gracie’s class and after he showed a technique and we did it a few times, I spend the time kind of bullshitting around with my partner.  This is a pretty unusual event, as anyone who’s ever met Ralph will tell you he’s normally an extremely intense dude, and (especially with me it seems) wasn’t above using physical persuasion to get you to do something.  Ralph noticed the pretty much the entire class was goofing around at that point and when I realized he was upset (and upset at me) I pretty much braced for the worse.  Instead he paused the class and gave a speech with tears literally in his eyes, about the importance  of training hard and trying harder.  (Least you think this was too sappy of a moment, Ralph also used the words “motherfucker” and “cocksucker” more time and more ways than a hopped up Dana White could ever hope to accomplish).  Honestly, that speech is burned in my head to this very day, and seeing he passionate Ralph was about it fires me up to this day and I think about that moment often.

I’ve willfully kept this under wraps for a long time, but I do teach a BJJ class in San Jose.  The reasons are long and the story unimportant as to how this came about.
The location is a warehouse and some mats and could be fixed up quite a bit, but I’m honestly very proud of what I and my students have accomplished there.  I like to think of it as Clubber Lang’s training in Rocky III, although my students have assured me my spot is nicer than that.  If you’re the type of person who wants to train somewhere based on how nice the facility is, then this place definitely isn’t for you and I’m probably not the instructor for you.  (I do keep the mats as clean as I can however)

If you’re reading this blog I probably don’t have to list out my resume.

I like to keep things “old school” and according to the needs of the students that day work on a solid foundation of fundamental jiu jitsu along with the latest developments I’ve been exposed to in my own journeys in this great art.  If you don’t mind working hard I think people have a lot of fun in my classes, I expect a lot but try to give a lot in return.

I try to give a lot of individual attention, easier when the class sizes are smaller, lately I’ve been getting more and more students however.  I honestly love teaching as much as anything I’ve gotten to do in Jiu Jitsu.

We’re located right next to the airport at 624 Vermont Street San Jose, CA (exit Coleman on 880 and you’re practically right there).  The schedule for July is class Monday-Thursday at 7:00 PM (classes average about two hours).  Morning schedule is being worked out.  It’s a gi class, although every other Wednesday I switch to no gi.

Rates are probably too low for what you’re getting   When I move to a more permanent location in the area (scouting buildings out now) the price will go up, so if you have any inclination of training with me I’d say get in now.  You can contact me through all the usual means (including the contact me form on the side of this) or just show up to the above location.

IF you tried to get to OntheMat.com this weekend, you might have been directed to a generic page. In an unbelievably careless move, we actually let the domain name expire. In our defense, we’ve had Onthemat over ten years now, and the contact information we registered under was long since gone. So if we did get reminders, it went to long dead mailboxes.

I had actually been bar hopping Saturday night after the UFC and stumbled home at around 3:00 AM to find this out. Talk about your mad panics!
Rest assured we are not going anywhere, and for safety’s sake we’ve registered for another 20 years. Which means this shouldn’t happen again until 2028.

I ran into good friend Daren Uyenoyama outside of the San Jose Area Friday night.  BC was there to corner Chris Cariosa en route to his win at Strikeforce.  I had not seen him since his first at Dream 4 against Tokoro which his lost by a thin margin, but honestly put on one of the best fights I’ve seen this year.  Tokoro is a guy who knocked out Royler Gracie and gave Royce all he could handle, and BC took the fight on short notice.

BC informed me that Dream is planning a Banatamweight Tournament (138 pounds) in October or so.  The plan is to have four Japanese and four foreigners on the card, including BC, Tokoro and Kid Yamamoto!  How much of a dream line up is that!  BC is busy opening up a school in Daly City, Fog Town Jiu Jitsu in additon to getting ready for the tournament (which he would have to bulk up for!)