Metamoris is a unique submission grappling event filled entirely with super-fights. No points are counted, the matches are twice as long as usual grappling competitions, and the only way to win is by submitting your opponent. Aoki, largely known as one of the most dangerous ground specialists in MMA, is a perfectly logical cross-over guy to bring in to Metamoris.
The other famous MMA fighter on the card is TUF 10 runner-up Brendan Schaub, and his placement doesn’t make nearly as much sense at first glance. Because of his success in the UFC, Schaub is surely one of the most well-known competitors on the card, however, none of the former college and professional football player’s MMA wins have come via submission. He’s young in the sport and is certainly not considered to be one of the best grapplers in the heavyweight division, let alone the UFC.
No, most of Schaub’s success has been achieved in the standup department, by knocking his opponents out silly, not by relying on “the gentle art.” But to the former TUF finalist, competing at Metamoris II against top Jiu Jitsu and submission grappling champion Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu no less makes all the sense in the world.
“A lot of people don’t know this,” Schaub tells CagePotato. “But, Jiu Jitsu is my passion. It was the first real thing I did in martial arts. For me, competing at Metamoris is a way for me to give back to Jiu Jitsu for all it’s done for me. Jiu Jitsu has changed my life.”
Metamoris is a unique submission grappling event filled entirely with super-fights. No points are counted, the matches are twice as long as usual grappling competitions, and the only way to win is by submitting your opponent. Aoki, largely known as one of the most dangerous ground specialists in MMA, is a perfectly logical cross-over guy to bring in to Metamoris.
The other famous MMA fighter on the card is TUF 10 runner-up Brendan Schaub, and his placement doesn’t make nearly as much sense at first glance. Because of his success in the UFC, Schaub is surely one of the most well-known competitors on the card, however, none of the former college and professional football player’s MMA wins have come via submission. He’s young in the sport and is certainly not considered to be one of the best grapplers in the heavyweight division, let alone the UFC.
No, most of Schaub’s success has been achieved in the standup department, by knocking his opponents out silly, not by relying on “the gentle art.” But to the former TUF finalist, competing at Metamoris II against top Jiu Jitsu and submission grappling champion Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu no less makes all the sense in the world.
“A lot of people don’t know this,” Schaub tells CagePotato. “But, Jiu Jitsu is my passion. It was the first real thing I did in martial arts. For me, competing at Metamoris is a way for me to give back to Jiu Jitsu for all it’s done for me. Jiu Jitsu has changed my life.”
The Colorado native moved to Los Angeles a year ago, where he’s been training with Metamoris I competitor and the brother of the promotion’s founder, Ryron Gracie, extensively. Schaub went and watched his instructor compete against Andre Galvao last year at Metamoris I and was inspired to give it a go himself, should the opportunity arise.
“A lot of guys in MMA say they are a purple belt, or brown belt or black belt. Really? What have you done? Have you ever gone against the top level of grappler? Have you ever competed against a true black belt?” he asks.
“The Hybrid” knew that if he got the chance, he’d jump at competing on the next Metamoris card, in order to challenge himself in such a way and to also just stay active. However, he didn’t think his UFC boss, Dana White, would let him.
“I didn’t think there was a chance in the world Dana would let me,” Schaub laughs. “[But] he said, ‘you know what, you can do it, just don’t get hurt.’ So, I’ve been training hard, I have no injuries and this is an incredible challenge for me.”
Schaub has been “training hard” because, in little more than a month after his Metamoris match against “Cyborg,” he has a schedule UFC bout with Matt Mitrione. That’s a bit nuts, if you think about it. The UFC is where Schaub makes his big money, so to risk injury and a muddled training camp by competing in a sport with different rules seems pretty…audacious, especially given his opponent at UFC on FOX 8. But fret not, for the fighter says his priorities and ego are all in check. And better yet, his lifestyle makes him well suited for this type of situation.
“The UFC number is my number one priority,” he insists. “And, there is no such thing as a ‘training camp’ for me. There is no such thing as focus on Matt Mitrione or ‘Cyborg’ Abreu. I train all year round. I’m in shape right now. I’d fight Matt Mitrione on two hour’s notice. Fighting is my lifestyle.”
That said, Schaub has benefited from additional attention and help from expert submission grapplers as he prepares, first, for Metamoris II and Abreu. In addition to Ryron Gracie, his brother Rener, and their cousin Kron spending time with Schaub, he says that world champions Dean Lister and Xande Ribeiro have been working with him as well.
“I’ve gotten world class champs reaching out to me, wanting to help,” he says.
The UFC heavyweight still gets his boxing and wrestling work in, though, as well as sparring his usual twice a week in MMA. As for the threat of injury against Abreu, Schaub just isn’t concerned.
“No, not really,” he maintains.
“My ego isn’t to the point where if ‘Cyborg’ were to catch me in a foot lock or some sort of arm manipulation where I’d let him break my arm before tapping. Fighting in the UFC is still my dream and being in the UFC is the only reason I got an invitation to Metamoris. I owe it all to the UFC. I wouldn’t do that to them or myself.”
That said, Schaub most certainly isn’t showing up Sunday to get his opponent’s autograph and then go home. He’ll be there to win.
“Something that people say that really bugs me is, ‘Oh, this is a win-win for Brendan. Abreu does BJJ for a living and Brendan splits his time because he’s a fighter.’ Listen man,” Schaub says, seriously.
“If I didn’t think I could beat this guy, I wouldn’t have taken the match. I don’t sign up for win-wins. A loss would sting. I’m here to fight for a win.”
A Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt who holds over 90 tournament titles to his credit — including an ADCC Absolute Division championship in 2007, video here — Drysdale has tutored such UFC veterans as Forrest Griffin and Dan Hardy in the art of ground fighting (or as Bob Arum calls it “homosexual skinhead rolling-about“). Since making the transition from the mat to the cage in 2010, Drysdale has submitted six straight opponents, such as TUF 3‘s Mike Nickels and Bellator vet D.J. Linderman (a.k.a the guy who Anthony Johnson planked at WSOF 1), inside the first round.
For his big debut, Drysdale will face Brazilian slugger Ednaldo Oliveira, who hasn’t competed in the UFC since being strangled out in Gabriel Gonzaga’s first post-unretirement UFC bout at UFC 142. Prior to his own debut, however, “Lula Molusco” — which if my Portuguese is correct means “Lady Mollusk” — was also undefeated, collecting 8 TKO’s in 12 contests.
Featuring a light heavyweight sure-to-be…uh…barnraiser? (lunker?) between Lyoto Machida and Phil Davis as well as the return of Thales Leites (please, CONTAIN YOUR EXCITEMENT), UFC 163 goes down on August 3rd at the HSBC Arena in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
A Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt who holds over 90 tournament titles to his credit — including an ADCC Absolute Division championship in 2007, video here – Drysdale has tutored such UFC veterans as Forrest Griffin and Dan Hardy in the art of ground fighting (or as Bob Arum calls it “homosexual skinhead rolling-about“). Since making the transition from the mat to the cage in 2010, Drysdale has submitted six straight opponents, such as TUF 3‘s Mike Nickels and Bellator vet D.J. Linderman (a.k.a the guy who Anthony Johnson planked at WSOF 1), inside the first round.
For his big debut, Drysdale will face Brazilian slugger Ednaldo Oliveira, who hasn’t competed in the UFC since being strangled out in Gabriel Gonzaga’s first post-unretirement UFC bout at UFC 142. Prior to his own debut, however, “Lula Molusco” — which if my Portuguese is correct means “Lady Mollusk” — was also undefeated, collecting 8 TKO’s in 12 contests.
Featuring a light heavyweight sure-to-be…uh…barnraiser? (lunker?) between Lyoto Machida and Phil Davis as well as the return of Thales Leites (please, CONTAIN YOUR EXCITEMENT), UFC 163 goes down on August 3rd at the HSBC Arena in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
How do you ask a grown man to talk about a time you saw him cry? It can’t be easy, and maybe it’s not even polite. Surely an interviewer can think of other questions to ask someone — especially a fighter.
Unfortunately, in the day or so before speaking with Kron Gracie, that was the main thing I could think to ask, and to ask first. To be clear, I saw Kron cry when he was still a child, and then only from a distance.
Maybe I was mistaken and he wasn’t even truly crying.
Yeah, maybe that’s how you ask a man to talk about it — tepidly and with plenty of qualification. Probably not, but that’s how I broached the subject with the man.
It was the summer of 2000. Rickson Gracie, the champion of his family, was hosting an international Jiu Jitsu invitational. There were tournaments for every experience and ability level, as well as famous champions competing in super matches as well as milling around the arena as a part of the crowd.
And then there was little Kron Gracie. He had to have been just eleven or twelve.
Kron presumably could have chosen to enjoy the whole event as a child — that is, running around with family and friends, playing. Instead, he was in a gi and on the mats.
Kron’s older sisters were pretty and did fun demonstrations with their father. Kron’s older brother, Rockson, walked around the tournament with his head shaved, tattooed and an air of seriousness, the obvious heir apparent to Rickson Gracie’s fighting legacy.
Whatever pressures his siblings surely felt, Kron was the one on the mats that day, competing.
Kron competed that day and, when I saw him, he had just lost.
It couldn’t have been easy, and Rickson’s youngest child was visibly upset. Losing is never fun but when everyone is watching you because your dad is the best fighter in fighting’s first family, it has to be miserable. Rickson, walked over to Kron, put his arms around him and consoled his young son.
How do you ask a grown man to talk about a time you saw him cry? It can’t be easy, and maybe it’s not even polite. Surely an interviewer can think of other questions to ask someone — especially a fighter.
Unfortunately, in the day or so before speaking with Kron Gracie, that was the main thing I could think to ask, and to ask first. To be clear, I saw Kron cry when he was still a child, and then only from a distance.
Maybe I was mistaken and he wasn’t even truly crying.
Yeah, maybe that’s how you ask a man to talk about it — tepidly and with plenty of qualification. Probably not, but that’s how I broached the subject with the man.
It was the summer of 2000. Rickson Gracie, the champion of his family, was hosting an international Jiu Jitsu invitational. There were tournaments for every experience and ability level, as well as famous champions competing in super matches as well as milling around the arena as a part of the crowd.
And then there was little Kron Gracie. He had to have been just eleven or twelve.
Kron presumably could have chosen to enjoy the whole event as a child — that is, running around with family and friends, playing. Instead, he was in a gi and on the mats.
Kron’s older sisters were pretty and did fun demonstrations with their father. Kron’s older brother, Rockson, walked around the tournament with his head shaved, tattooed and an air of seriousness, the obvious heir apparent to Rickson Gracie’s fighting legacy.
Whatever pressures his siblings surely felt, Kron was the one on the mats that day, competing.
Kron competed that day and, when I saw him, he had just lost.
It couldn’t have been easy, and Rickson’s youngest child was visibly upset. Losing is never fun but when everyone is watching you because your dad is the best fighter in fighting’s first family, it has to be miserable. Rickson, walked over to Kron, put his arms around him and consoled his young son.
These days, Kron Gracie is a black belt international competitor — recognized as one of the best middleweights in the submission grappling world. I ask if he remembers that one match, an eternity ago and surely insignificant by now in the grand scheme of his career.
He does.
“I remember every moment of that match,” Kron tells CagePotato.
“I remember training for it, I remember everything he tried, everything I tried, and I remember losing.”
Kron had competed for years but says that his dad’s tournament was the first time he had trained with real focus. The let-down was rough.
“I felt pressure to do well. All eyes were on me,” Kron details.
If the young Gracie remembers vividly the hollow feeling of defeat, the memory of his father comforting him is equally as strong. “I remember every word he told me,” he says. “He just told me that it was alright and that I’d be ok.”
How Kron got from there to today, where he makes a living teaching and competing in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and is respected as having one of the best pure styles in all of submission grappling is no doubt complex and layered. Having his father’s unconditional support and guidance must have been a big part.
It also seems possible that Kron learned to convert pressure and pain into hard work and excellence. Though he remembers every detail of that loss at his father’s tournament in 2000, one can only imagine how small that pain was in comparison to what he and his family went through later that same year.
Rickson’s oldest child Rockson died in December of 2000. Rickson never fought professionally again and has cited that moment as the lowest of his life.
“Deep down, you see a reason to shoot yourself in the head, to stop doing the right thing, to stop being a happy person. You may want to fools yourself, thinking ‘it’s bad, but I can take it,’ and that’s the kind of lack of honesty that will never cure the wound. I hit rock bottom and decided, deep down, whether I would come back to the surface or not,” Rickson told GracieMag in a 2010 interview.
Rickson clearly did go forward and, to this day, trains and teaches. Kron doesn’t talk to us about his brother’s death specifically but does say that shortly after the summer 2000 tournament, he began to see life and Jiu Jitsu a bit differently.
“I was raised around winning and championships so it was kind of always expected,” Kron says.
“Not long after that tournament, I began to take it more seriously and see myself having a future in Jiu Jitsu, in making it my career. Things happen in life and you decide it is time to step up and become a man.”
That is heady stuff for a kid to take on but Kron did — training and competing constantly. He dominated the ranks all the way through the brown belt class, before his father awarded him his black belt in 2008.
Ordinarily, matches are ten minutes long and points are scored to decide a winner if no one can finish with a submission. At Metamoris matches, there are no points and if you want to assure a win, you need to get a submission during the twenty minute matches.
Kron’s style fits the Metamoris format well because of the finality it requires for victory. Kron hardly ever uses a move that a first year Brazilian Jiu Jitsu student wouldn’t begin to learn.
He’s all substance and aggression, with no flash. The idea, his father’s idea that Kron has adopted, is to do the simple things right — with proper leverage and weight distribution applied to your opponent.
“If we spend doing techniques in Jiu Jitsu competition that wouldn’t work in a real fight, what is the point?” Kron asks.
That approach to Jiu Jitsu — to learn it as a fighting art, not just a pretty looking exercise without purpose or consequence, is all Rickson Gracie. Over the course of his career, Kron’s father fought in gis on the mats, speedos on the beach, shorts in packed arenas and in whatever he happened to be wearing when business needed to be settled on the street.
(Kron has been training MMA with Nate (left) and Nick (right) Diaz | Photo via GracieMag)
Kron seems in the midst of trying to prove he can become the best in the non-striking submission grappling world. Yet, the philosophy he’s adopted from his father and grandfather Helio Gracie that Jiu Jitsu is for fighting and fighting effectively, begs the question of whether he’d consider carrying on their fighting legacy himself.
I ask Kron if he thinks he will ever fight in MMA and his answer is to the point. “Yes,” he says, without doubt. “I will absolutely fight.”
At the Metamoris II Pro Jiu Jitsu Invitational on June 9th, Kron will take on one of the best Jiu Jitsu representatives in MMA, Shinya Aoki. Kron’s desire to fight MMA and his pairing with Aoki is no coincidence.
“Totally,” he says when asked if he expects grappling against Aoki to give him a taste of how he might fare against top MMA grapplers.
“That’s why I wanted this match up with Aoki. I have so much respect for his Jiu Jitsu game in MMA. He has submitted so many people at the top levels of MMA. I want to see what he feels like. I want to see how my Jiu Jitsu matches up against his. I believe in my Jiu Jitsu and that it will work in MMA, but I am not looking past Aoki at all. I think this match will give me an idea of what some of these guys feel like.”
Kron already has a decent idea of what it feels like to lock horns with some top MMA fighters. As he talks with CagePotato, Nate Diaz sits nearby. Diaz is helping Kron train for Metamoris II.
Kron says he’s been working with both Nate and brother Nick Diaz frequently, and not just on submission grappling. Kron was in Nick Diaz’ corner when he faced Georges St. Pierre earlier this year, in fact.
“Nate is here helping me prepare for Aoki,” Kron says. “I’ve gotten to work with him and Nick a lot now and it’s great.”
Kron says that he gets in MMA work with the Diaz brothers as well as grappling. “Oh yeah, for sure,” he says, sounding as if getting to spar MMA with elite fighters is much of the point of his training with the Diaz brothers.
“We do a lot of work and all types.”
Kron’s intensity leading up to matches is certainly that of someone who takes winning and losing seriously. However, the reckless abandon with which he competes suggests someone who doesn’t fear loss.
Many high level grapplers have unbearably boring matches when pitted against one another. Wary of making even the tiniest mistake which their opponent can seize on, many black belt matches are cautious, careful and horrible to watch.
Turn on a Kron Gracie match, any one, and you’ll see the furthest thing from that type of match. He drives, scrambles, pivots and spins, all in constant search of a submission win. Kron grapples with the sense of urgency of a man fighting for his life — which, he might say, is kind of the point.
Kron speaks as someone who not only carries the pressure of being the son of the greatest Jiu Jitsu fighter of all time, but also as one who possesses the confidence from a lifetime of personal instruction from that same master.
Beat me, if you can. And if you do, watch your back because I’ll get better and come back for you.
“It isn’t that I don’t care about losing,” Kron explains. “But all you can do is train the right way leading up to a fight, and then let go and go hard in the fight. The point of a fight is to see who the better guy is. I hate losing. But if I go out there, give it everything I have and lose, then the guy is better than me. If I don’t let it all out on the mat, I won’t ever know who truly was the better man that day.”
You’re born with pressure to be great when you’re born a Gracie. At the same time, putting that yolk around your neck and facing conflict and tests head-on is modeled for you.
Maybe that’s part of why Kron Gracie decided at an early age to run right into the fire, perhaps not unaffected or unafraid, but at least unflinching. And, if over time, Kron becomes one of the great ones, that decision will probably be why and how he got there.
Last week, UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson was just one month away from a nationally televised title defense against Gilbert Melendez, but he still managed to get in a couple Jiu Jitsu matches in one of the world’s most prestigious grappling tournaments. Henderson competed in the brown belt ability division of the BJJ Pan-Am Championships last week and, though he was eventually eliminated and did not place, he showed that he could hang with guys who spend all of their time training in BJJ’s weird set of gi rules, despite doing it just as a hobby.
In the above match, Henderson takes on Brazilian Pedro Alcantara in the middleweight division. The action comes in spurts but the match is very closely contested with Alcantara threatening with omo-plata shoulder locks and sweeps off of his back, and Henderson defending, working for take downs and passing guard.
The two start the match feinting with shot attempts before Alcantara pulls full guard. It doesn’t take him long to pull in Henderson’s right shoulder and work for triangle chokes, which the fighter shrugs off, and then shoulder locks. Initially, Alcantara is able to use the lock to sweep Henderson, earning points.
Henderson hangs tough and refuses to let Alcantara pass his guard. Eventually, Henderson is able to stand up and score a take down. On the ground, he proves better at passing than Alcantara was and pressures and angles until he secures the side mount and earns more points.
Recovering his guard, Alcantara threatens more with the shoulder lock, but this time Henderson will not be moved, and effectively stops both the submission and sweep attempts. The match ends and Henderson has won on points.
Last week, UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson was just one month away from a nationally televised title defense against Gilbert Melendez, but he still managed to get in a couple Jiu Jitsu matches in one of the world’s most prestigious grappling tournaments. Henderson competed in the brown belt ability division of the BJJ Pan-Am Championships last week and, though he was eventually eliminated and did not place, he showed that he could hang with guys who spend all of their time training in BJJ’s weird set of gi rules, despite doing it just as a hobby.
In the above match, Henderson takes on Brazilian Pedro Alcantara in the middleweight division. The action comes in spurts but the match is very closely contested with Alcantara threatening with omo-plata shoulder locks and sweeps off of his back, and Henderson defending, working for take downs and passing guard.
The two start the match feinting with shot attempts before Alcantara pulls full guard. It doesn’t take him long to pull in Henderson’s right shoulder and work for triangle chokes, which the fighter shrugs off, and then shoulder locks. Initially, Alcantara is able to use the lock to sweep Henderson, earning points.
Henderson hangs tough and refuses to let Alcantara pass his guard. Eventually, Henderson is able to stand up and score a take down. On the ground, he proves better at passing than Alcantara was and pressures and angles until he secures the side mount and earns more points.
Recovering his guard, Alcantara threatens more with the shoulder lock, but this time Henderson will not be moved, and effectively stops both the submission and sweep attempts. The match ends and Henderson has won on points.
Some professional fighters, like Henderson, routinely compete in grappling competitions in between training camps for fun, to stay sharp, what have you. But it is a bit nuts for Henderson to compete in a high level international competition during his training camp, just weeks before defending his world title. That’s straight Jeff Monson territory right there.
Can’t imagine that the UFC would have taken kindly to their champion and Fox television headliner twisting an ankle and pulling out of his title fight so soon to the event. Maybe Henderson has a “love of the game” type clause in his contract. Back in the 80′s, Michael Jordan made the Chicago Bulls put so-called clause in his contract so that he could play pick up games, as he was said to do in inner city Chicago during his early pro years, or participate in summer leagues.
We love the passion for competition that guys like Jordan and Henderson show. We’re also glad Benson apparently came out unscathed and that we still get to see him fight Strikeforce champ Gilbert Melendez on April 20th.
It is a scientific fact that UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson has one of the most supportive/adorable MMA moms in the bidness. According to Bendo’s Wikipedia page, his Korean-born mother, Song, was not only responsible for introducing Benson to martial arts through Tae Kwon Do, but is apparently so supportive of her son’s career that she has begun to take some martial arts classes (specifically, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) of her own despite being 50+ years of age.
And if the above picture is any indication, it appears that Song was born to be a fighter as well. Henderson tweeted the above photo this morning with the following words of wisdom:
My mama’s 1st ever #BJJ (any kind of) competition, from this past weekend…this 4’9″, 50+ year old Korean lady inspires the crap outta me everyday…earned herself a standing ovation and bronze medal too…she was nervous as crap but pulled thru like a #Champ
It is a scientific fact that UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson has one of the most supportive/adorable MMA moms in the bidness. According to Bendo’s Wikipedia page, his Korean-born mother, Song, was not only responsible for introducing Benson to martial arts through Tae Kwon Do, but is apparently so supportive of her son’s career that she has begun to take some martial arts classes (specifically, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) of her own despite being 50+ years of age.
And if the above picture is any indication, it appears that Song was born to be a fighter as well. Henderson tweeted the above photo this morning with the following words of wisdom:
My mama’s 1st ever #BJJ (any kind of) competition, from this past weekend…this 4’9″, 50+ year old Korean lady inspires the crap outta me everyday…earned herself a standing ovation and bronze medal too…she was nervous as crap but pulled thru like a #Champ
After Bendo originally captured the UFC’s lightweight crown, he and Song took a celebratory trip to South Korea where they received a hero’s welcome. It’s good to know that their ability to inspire knows no cultural bounds. One thing’s for sure, this is one senior citizen you sure as hell don’t want to get into a tussle over some marble rye with.
So, Potato Nation, who’s interested in seeing Bendo’s mom take on Keith Jardine’s for the right to be called the baddest MMA mom on the planet?
Speaking of Bendo, check out a video of the lightweight champ picking up a win over Arizona local Christian Broadnax in the 8th Arizona Open Jiu-Jitsu International last weekend below. Like mother, like son.
Folks on the mats at Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournaments tend to notice whenever a coach is shouting our instructions to their students in Portuguese or even a Portuguese accent. The reason being that it probably means they are from the fighting style’s native country and therefore know certain deadly secrets to convey to their pupils in their mystical coded language.
Or something.
The point is, some times the opposition can get psyched out by the ol’ Romance languages during tournaments. Imagine you’re a coach doing his best to prep a young student for his or her first Jiu Jitsu match and then you hear their opponent’s coach talking to them in Gracie-speak. Now, imagine if said Brazilian coach was Wanderlei Freaking Silva coaching his own son in his first tournament.
That’s just what happened last weekend, as Wandy was recorded…er…recording his son’s very first tournament performance whilst shouting instructions that likely left everyone else’s dad looking for the nearest exit. Fresh off a brutal KO victory of Brian Stann at UFC on FUEL 8, Wandy showed up, head shaved, tribal skull tattoo on full display, but holding a cell phone camera up to his face to capture his son on tape just like any other dad. Check out the video of Silva coaching his son, Thor, after the jump.
(The family who pimps together, stays together.)
Folks on the mats at Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournaments tend to notice whenever a coach is shouting out instructions to their students in Portuguese or even a Portuguese accent. The reason being that it probably means they are from the fighting style’s native country and therefore know certain deadly secrets to convey to their pupils in their mystical coded language.
Or something.
The point is, some times the opposition can get psyched out by the ol’ Romance languages during tournaments. Imagine you’re a coach doing his best to prep a young student for his or her first Jiu Jitsu match and then you hear their opponent’s coach talking to them in Gracie-speak. Now, imagine if said Brazilian coach was Wanderlei Freaking Silva coaching his own son in his first tournament.
That’s just what happened last weekend, as Wandy was recorded…er…recording his son’s very first tournament performance whilst shouting instructions that likely left everyone else’s dad looking for the nearest exit. Fresh off a brutal KO victory of Brian Stann at UFC on FUEL 8, Wandy showed up, head shaved, tribal skull tattoo on full display, but holding a cell phone camera up to his face to capture his son on tape just like any other dad. Check out the video of Silva coaching his son, Thor, after the jump.
Pay special attention to the 1:49 mark, where Thor brutally soccer kicks his opponent until he falls face first onto the canvas in a bloody pulp. Just kidding.
But seriously, Son of Wand does indeed look to possess his dad’s trademark aggressiveness and nasty head clinch. It doesn’t take Thor long to grab his opponent by the arm and top of the head and snap him down to the mat. The take down appears to hurt Thor’s opponent and he is given time to recover.
Son of Wand stands, watches his opponent and smiles. We’re not kidding. Shades of Wand vs. Rampage I, anyone?
In any case, Thor passes guard, takes cross side and mount and wins on points. Father of Son of Wand then raises his own right arm and hand in proud celebration.
Let’s hope the other kid at least got some ice cream and an autograph after that.
