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Rickson Gracie: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Has Lost the Capacity in Today’s MMA

Rickson Gracie is not arguably the best submission artist and MMA fighter from the world-renowned Brazilian jiu-jitsu family.As far as the Gracies are concerned, he was and still is (unless a “credible” kin or two digress and publicly claim otherwise)….

Rickson Gracie is not arguably the best submission artist and MMA fighter from the world-renowned Brazilian jiu-jitsu family.

As far as the Gracies are concerned, he was and still is (unless a “credible” kin or two digress and publicly claim otherwise).

Now, 11 years after putting Masakatsu Funaki to dreamland with a rear-naked choke, how does the legend assess his family’s fighting/ grappling art, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, in MMA today? Read the man’s thoughts from a recent interview with Marcelo Alonso at Sherdog.com:

Sherdog.com: Do you believe jiu-jitsu fighters are having trouble getting the fight on the ground in today’s MMA?

Gracie: I see it as a new race of fighter developing, something that’s been invented. There are no more style match-ups. Now, everyone knows everything. It’s about the strengths of the individual. The time of fights was shortened, the weights were equalized and technology was incorporated into training. There is no more romanticism in seeing a smaller guy fight a bigger guy for two hours. Thinking of that, I believe jiu-jitsu has lost the capacity to be put into practice in today’s MMA, because it’s an art you have to wait for the right moment with. Now, MMA is a sport for the better-prepared fighter, the guy who can absorb more punches and still win. There’s still an admiration for the art by those who practice it, but there’s a decline in how it’s working in MMA. My motivation is completely focused on the concept. That’s where I believe I can make a difference: in making the shy kid feel normal, in making the weak woman believe she’s strong. I want people to have a sense of self-defense and a concept of the invisible power. That’s where jiu-jitsu will achieve its eternity.

Well, in contemporary UFC, not only is there no more romanticism in long-playing and literal David-versus-Goliath spectacles of biblical proportions, but they are also no longer practiced, courtesy of the breakthrough inventions called weight class and time limit.

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Wanderlei Silva: Now UFC’s Equivalent of Kazushi Sakuraba?

Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva stopped Kazushi “The Gracie Hunter” Sakuraba each time on three different occasions a long time ago, in a far away kingdom called Pride Fighting Championships. But there is no stopping Sakuraba and Silva from continui…

Now, we are witnesses to two brave, ageing warriors who don’t belong to the same gene pool which spawned Randy Couture and Dan Henderson.

In the last eight fights of each warrior, here are the cold stats: a record of 2-6, with four losses coming by way of KO, suffered by Silva (the last at the hands of Chris Leben at UFC 132); 3-5, with three defeats by stoppage (the last due to a bloodied, ripped ear versus Marius Zaromskis in Dynamite!! 2010) for Sakuraba.

But stats are just numbers, and Silva, replacing the injured Vitor Belfort, will welcome Cung Le to the Octagon November 19, 2011 at UFC 139.

Cung Le, in turn, might finally hand one of the greatest MMA fighters ever his farewell fight. And credit—or blame—goes to Michael Bisping for losing to Silva at UFC 110, further convincing the senior warrior that he’s still got some gas left in the leaking tank.

For his part, Sakuraba—hold your breath!—will face a certain Yan Cabral this Saturday night at Dream 17.

Silva and Sakuraba still fighting is giving Rocky Balboa a run for his money.

And while we’re at it, why not a fourth match between the two irrepressible fighters? (You want it, don’t you?)

Maybe this time Saku will take it, a la Quinton Jackson finally knocking out Silva in the UFC after getting KO’d by the latter twice in Pride.

“Old soldiers never die; they just fade away…”

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Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre Won’t Pull off That Mayweather Jr. Punch

Neither Anderson “The Spider” Silva nor Georges “Rush” St-Pierre, whoever of the two is MMA’s equivalent of Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr., won’t resort to any infamous legal-but-cheap shots at an opponent.Our MMA greats have too …

Neither Anderson “The Spider” Silva nor Georges “Rush” St-Pierre, whoever of the two is MMA‘s equivalent of Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr., won’t resort to any infamous legal-but-cheap shots at an opponent.

Our MMA greats have too much class and ethics to stoop down for a victory that has “crass” written all over it.

Last Saturday night, the fight world witnessed two kinds of KOs in two different arenas: one that left an indefinite and murky impression on its fans (Mayweather’s vs. Victor Ortiz), and one that was definitely clean and drew nothing but admiration for its executioner (Jake Ellenberger’s vs. Jake Shields).

St-Pierre won’t commit that sin, being the consummate fighter and gentleman. He is also a labor activist; he fights to ensure that judges will always have a job to do in his every fight to justify their hiring. (I’m not saying that they always do a good job, it’s just that they “have a job to do.”)

Silva may exude that supreme confidence inside and outside of the Octagon. He comports himself as if he is way above all other fighters when in fact he really is.

Still, he has consistently shown respect not only for the rules of the fight game, but also to the sensibilities of the fans.

He may have been disqualified in his first match versus Yushin Okami for an illegal up-kick, but that was—and is—the only “blemish” in his otherwise esteemed reputation and record as a clean fighter.

He didn’t inflict that blow with malice; he was simply ignorant of that rule against that particular strike on that particular night. (As redemption, he finally disposed of Okami in his last title defense in an impeccable and “un-Mayweather-like” fashion.)

In contrast, it is Mayweather who has an acute spider-sense, ironically, of what is legal and when to exploit it in every opportunity—ethics be damned.

But the most significant difference is this: Mayweather needed a jab-straight combination to finish off Ortiz; Silva could’ve done the job with just one jab.

Here is my article Mayweather vs. Ortiz: Boxing Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry Twice.

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Jake Shields Loses Again, Now Cesar Gracie Must Be Glad Nick Diaz Backed off GSP

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu master Cesar Gracie must be secretly grateful that his ward Nick Diaz would rather watch beauty pageants than join one. Otherwise, it would spell a second straight loss in a UFC main event for his MMA team in six weeks, after the ot…

Unless you’re in the soap opera business, you know that sympathy doesn’t win you new clients. And a string of losses—even just two in a row—can discourage discerning (and touchy) prospective customers and sponsors from patronizing whatever it is you’re running.

After consoling Shields over his, and their, second straight loss, this time in the hands (and knees) of Ellenberger, the senior Gracie must have thanked Diaz for a successfully-executed stunt. He stood up Dana White and Georges St-Pierre, thereby demoting himself to a fight versus lighter and lesser competition in B.J. Penn.

After all, what most fans and experts expected was an exciting title fight between St-Pierre and Diaz, not a post-fight announcement of a “new UFC welterweight champion” come UFC 137.

A major UFC win is what Team Cesar Gracie needs ASAP, and that is made more probable now for Diaz against Penn. Not bad that it’s still a co-main event.

Good for Gracie that White insisted that Diaz parade in a bikini in every UFC 137 press conference, which made the latter avoid the first two “beauty pageants” like the plague. (Who knows the real story?)

Alright, now time for some “MMA math.”

Ellenberger stopped Shields, which St-Pierre failed to do. Therefore, Ellenberger is better than…oh take a walk!

Just talking to myself.

Previous article: Mayweather vs. Ortiz: Boxing Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry Twice.

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MMA: Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones and Musings on Greatness

From Anderson “The Spider” Silva, to St-Pierre, to the Fedor Emelianenko of not-so-long-ago, who’s the greatest of them all? But first, how do we define “greatness?”It’s been almost two decades since I heard from my sociology professo…

From Anderson “The Spider” Silva, to St-Pierre, to the Fedor Emelianenko of not-so-long-ago, who’s the greatest of them all?

But first, how do we define “greatness?”

It’s been almost two decades since I heard from my sociology professor that words are “polygenous,” i.e., they consist of or contain many kinds of elements or concepts.

After extensive research (yes, take my word for it), these are the top elements that, more often than not, should be considered to define greatness. These must be the criteria for crowning the greatest in the combat sport of MMA.

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The MMA Kiddies’ Firing Line: Fedor Emelianenko Now, Anderson Silva Next?

Fedor Emelianenko sat on a wall, Fedor Emelianenko had a great fall (and again, and again). And all the schoolchildren and all who think like them, troll on him again and again.This may be a futile attempt at education, but I hope this will be worth a …

Fedor Emelianenko sat on a wall, Fedor Emelianenko had a great fall (and again, and again). And all the schoolchildren and all who think like them, troll on him again and again.

This may be a futile attempt at education, but I hope this will be worth a shot. After all, “I believe the children are our future.” (Ahem.)

If this could change even just one Internet bully into…ahh, never mind.

Not-So-Long-Ago MMA History

Russian heavyweight Fedor Vladimirovich Emelianenko, the Pride 2004 Grand Prix champion, was on an unbeaten streak for nearly a decade. From April 6, 2001, to November 7, 2009, Emelianenko notched wins over the likes of former UFC champions Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mark Coleman, Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia.

He was widely regarded as the best heavyweight MMA fighter ever.

June 26, 2010 – July 30, 2011

Lately, as we all know, the Last Emperor is hanging on his last threads, shredded and stopped repeatedly through a three-fight losing streak.

For reasons only known to them, this recent sad fact on a fallen MMA icon strongly motivates infantile commentators to pound on their keyboards feverishly with hate, dismissing and dissing his great athletic accomplishments in “the fastest growing sport in the world.”

He hasn’t fought in the UFC?! Well, he beat former UFC champions!

And of course they’ll always come up with “reasons” to support their “arguments.”

Hormones? Puberty? Just for kicks? (It’s also sad that, as it is said, “You can’t teach breeding.”)

This sport may be growing too fast and “too young” for something as basic as respect for its athletes—more so for those who excelled, bled and spurred it to its present popularity.

Well, for now, Anderson “The Spider” Silva sits on a wall…

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