Dillon Danis has broken his silence on his issues with Marcelo Garcia. It’s no secret that Danis has been brash and doesn’t lack confidence. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace isn’t shy when it comes to ripping fighters. He is currently signed to Bellator and will make his professional mixed martial arts debut in the future. Danis’ […]
Dillon Danis has broken his silence on his issues with Marcelo Garcia. It’s no secret that Danis has been brash and doesn’t lack confidence. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace isn’t shy when it comes to ripping fighters. He is currently signed to Bellator and will make his professional mixed martial arts debut in the future. Danis’ […]
Dillon Danis may be gaining a bunch of headlines in the mixed martial arts world, but apparently that’s come at the cost of his longtime head coach Marcelo Garcia. In a surprising move, Garcia revealed on Thursday that Danis and fellow student Mansher Khera had been indefinitely suspended from his New York home gym. The
Dillon Danis may be gaining a bunch of headlines in the mixed martial arts world, but apparently that’s come at the cost of his longtime head coach Marcelo Garcia.
In a surprising move, Garcia revealed on Thursday that Danis and fellow student Mansher Khera had been indefinitely suspended from his New York home gym. The famed Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach also released a statement on his official Youtube page yesterday, noting that his students had become too focused on fame and social media:
“I realize people was focused just on social media, was focused on other stuff that everyone is aware about — fame, stuff like that. And that really forced me to take a decision.”
Garcia elaborated on the decision further, focusing on his beliefs that some of his top students had forced him to make a tough decision when they didn’t echo the same values he tried to convey in training:
“I wish my black belts were doing the best they can to follow the examples that take people to a better place. That didn’t happen, and I felt even got worst each time I take a week off, something happen. I take a weekend off, something else happened.
“It’s really hard for me to come home — because this [the gym] is my home — and to see they don’t appreciate the same values that I have, they’re not being the example I want people here to have.”
Danis has recently made a ton of headlines with his largely outlandish trash talk, highlighted by him saying he’s already the ‘highest paid fighter in Bellator’ and that the upcoming Bellator 180 pay-per-view (PPV) ‘is not going to sell without him’ despite the fact that has no professional MMA bouts to his name.
Garcelo is obviously a much more old-school, warrior code-focused teacher, and trash talk like that clearly doesn’t fly in his highly honored school.
But with MMA on the horizon and stacks of cash to make, something seems like Danis might not be all that concerned with the indefinite suspension. Should he be?
(On the other hand, a noodling business venture with the Diaz brothers seems pretty tempting.)
Kron Gracie, son of family champ Rickson Gracie, won gold in the -77kg weight class of the 2013 ADCC tournament this past weekend. The ADCC is like the Olympics of submission grappling, with the world’s best meeting every two years to decide weight class champs as well as an open-weight champion.
Gracie won all four of his matches by submission, joining the elite ranks of former champions to have done the same like Marcelo Garcia and second cousin Roger Gracie. Kron beat UFC veteran Andy Wang in his first match, Gary Tonon in his second, J.T. Torres in his third and rival Otavio Souza in the finals.
Before competing at Metamoris II this past summer, Gracie told CagePotato that he has been training MMA with the Diaz brothers for some time and plans to make the transition to MMA in the near future. Gracie is supposed to have a super match at the World Jiu Jitsu Expo next month but it will be interesting to see what he decides to do in 2014.
Will Gracie decide to leverage his now champion status in the submission grappling world or walk away and make a name for himself in MMA? How much of a sense of urgency does he feel to focus all of his attention on developing a well-rounded MMA game?
Only time will tell but we’ll certainly bring you updates as they occur. For the time being, enjoy Kron’s 2013 ADCC matches against Tonon and Souza after the jump.
(On the other hand, a noodling business venture with the Diaz brothers seems pretty tempting.)
Kron Gracie, son of family champ Rickson Gracie, won gold in the -77kg weight class of the 2013 ADCC tournament this past weekend. The ADCC is like the Olympics of submission grappling, with the world’s best meeting every two years to decide weight class champs as well as an open-weight champion.
Gracie won all four of his matches by submission, joining the elite ranks of former champions to have done the same like Marcelo Garcia and second cousin Roger Gracie. Kron beat UFC veteran Andy Wang in his first match, Gary Tonon in his second, J.T. Torres in his third and rival Otavio Souza in the finals.
Before competing at Metamoris II this past summer, Gracie told CagePotato that he has been training MMA with the Diaz brothers for some time and plans to make the transition to MMA in the near future. Gracie is supposed to have a super match at the World Jiu Jitsu Expo next month but it will be interesting to see what he decides to do in 2014.
Will Gracie decide to leverage his now champion status in the submission grappling world or walk away and make a name for himself in MMA? How much of a sense of urgency does he feel to focus all of his attention on developing a well-rounded MMA game?
Only time will tell but we’ll certainly bring you updates as they occur. For the time being, enjoy Kron’s 2013 ADCC matches against Tonon and Souza after the jump.
As I sit here day dreaming I can’t help but feel a little sad as I recall the fun of Memorial day weekend and how at this point it’s already ancient history…Friday night was spent.
As I sit here day dreaming I can’t help but feel a little sad as I recall the fun of Memorial day weekend and how at this point it’s already ancient history…Friday night was spent sparring in the gym in preparation for my second amateur fight on June 30th. Saturday, I was fortunate enough to attend a Brazilian jiu-jitsu seminar featuring multiple time world champion grappler Pablo Popovitch. On Sunday, my brothers and I made the trip to the Monster training facility in Miami for a FREE grappling tournament hosted by our generous friends at FXG. Monday I enjoyed a healthy dose of ice, ibuprofen, and household cleaning. Tuesday, my first day back on the job, I seem to have blacked out completely. Now Wednesday, my selective awareness has acknowledged my surroundings and I somehow find myself back on the grind.
Before the suffocating tediousness of the rat race sucks away the joy of life for the next few days—I’m writing this at my real job instead of doing what I’m supposed to be doing—I thought I would share some thoughts (maybe too strong of a word) I had during my kickass holiday weekend.
First, let’s spend a few moments considering what makes a good MMA fighter: decent jiu-jitsu, and kickboxing are definitely the utmost barestestEST of essentials. Add three spoonfuls of wrestling, throw in a heaping helping of strength & conditioning, a shake of mental toughness and four hundred pounds of solid technique and you might even have the ingredients for a champion.
Now let’s consider what makes a SUCCESSFUL MMA fighter……….anyone?? Besides all of the above you could probably make pretty good use of outstanding genetics, in the reach and chin departments a la Jon Jones and Dan Henderson. Having rich parents would probably help as well, as BJ Penn, Carlos Condit and Donald Cerrone can all attest. Maybe you just have to be really really good friends with Steven Seagal…look I don’t know that’s why I’m asking. I just want to point out that skill and success don’t necessarily go hand in hand.
To better illustrate my point—or more likely my lack of one—let’s talk about the Popovitch seminar. For those of you who don’t know, Pablo Popovitch is one of the most badass submission grapplers on the planet. He is an Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling Champion as well as a multiple time no-gi world champion. People call this guy “Weapon X,” yeah as in THE “Weapon X”, as in this guy would b*tchslap Wolverine in his mouth and make him say thank you. It’s true….google it.
All that jive aside, the guy was NICE. I mean REALLY nice. After the seminar, I bothered him for a picture while he was eating and then had to go back twice because my technologically challenged friend Moses took terrible pictures. He just smiled and said ‘no problem buddy’. He could quite possibly be the coolest badass on the planet not named Morgan Freeman. Ok back to my original train of thought: what makes a SUCESSFUL MMA fighter?
Popovitch had his MMA debut in 2010 against Jeff Savoy and beat the living hell out of him, scoring a fantastic 2nd round submission due to strikes. Right about now you may be thinking, “yeah dude, he’s a world champion grappler big surprise he won, he probably fought some scrub.” While this might be true, it does offer some interesting insight into our question. Let’s look at a similar case with a totally different result.
Marcelo Garcia is widely considered one of the best grapplers alive. Arguably the pound for pound best, he has personally beat Popovitch twice in competition (although I believe Popovitch eventually beat Garcia to win ADCC). For his MMA debut, Marcelo squared off with CMA Korea’s Kim Dae-Won—a guy with four first round submission losses. Several sloppy takedown attempts later and Garcia is smothering his opponent with constant pressure from the top. Fast forward to the end result and we have a 2nd round TKO doctor’s stoppage when Marcelo’s face explodes after winding up on the wrong side of Kim’s fists. What the f*ck happened? Maybe he had a bad night? Maybe he ran into some bad luck? He was winning the fight handily right up until fate said, “No, not today Marcelo…today you bleed.”
At the end of the day who or what, if anything, is responsible for an individual’s success in the cage? Is it the men themselves, boldly snatching victory from the hands of destiny? Is it the team rallying behind an individual, carrying a fighter to greatness? The training then perhaps, forging hardened monsters through blood and sweat? Could it be some all-inclusive mix of socio-economic and physiological factors? Shit maybe nothing can ensure success in the cage and everything that occurs within is at the mercy of total random chance. After all, it’s MMA, anything can happen, right? Maybe that’s the whole reason we love it.
Maybe the very nature of MMA is defined by this idea: An endless number of variables offering an equally infinite number of potential paths to both victory and defeat, in a way that it then becomes possible for a great fighter to be overcome by a lesser one. So I leave you all with this: one world champion prevails while the other falls…why? Is MMA the great equalizer? All theories/other examples welcome, comment section, go!
Joe Rogan *may* have uploaded this. VidProps: YouTube Person
Marcelo Garcia took gold in the 82kg Middleweight division this past weekend at the BJJ Worlds (and we’ll probably mention this esoteric tournament again, with its bizarre rules against hammerfists, soccer kicks, and striking in general). It was Garcia’s fifth gold at the Mundials, putting him on a very short list of grappling legends.
So where did Marcelinho learn his deadly moves? Check out CagePotato’s Quick Hit of the Day for the answer. But we bet you already know.
[RX]
Joe Rogan *may* have uploaded this. VidProps: YouTube Person
Marcelo Garcia took gold in the 82kg Middleweight division this past weekend at the BJJ Worlds (and we’ll probably mention this esoteric tournament again, with its bizarre rules against hammerfists, soccer kicks, and striking in general). It was Garcia’s fifth gold at the Mundials, putting him on a very short list of grappling legends.
So where did Marcelinho learn his deadly moves? Check out CagePotato’s Quick Hit of the Day for the answer.
