My friend Carl Fisher, head instructor at Combat Base Bolton, UK has recently moved to the UAE to train and teach and has been writting his impressions on his blog. There are a huge amount of black belts available there as the local government has employed them to teach the locals the gentle art. Check out Carl’s journal and follow his adventures.

Carl Fisher (Brown Belt)

TUESDAY, 2 OCTOBER 2012

Abu Dhabi Adventures – another Idiot Abroad!

Commenced my forty second year of life, driving down to Heathrow Airport to catch a plane headed for Abu Dhabi, where I have landed a job teaching BJJ in the schools – some birthday present! I was joined on the trip by black belt Henrique Santana and we stopped at Muscat International Airport in Oman, before joining a connecting flight to Abu Dhabi.

A few rows down from the two of us, sat Samuel Camargo Pavan and we were all greeted at the airport, by one of the company’s representatives from Palm Sports, who provide all the coaching staff for the schools and military schools.

Henrique and Samuel were to stay in Abu Dhabi and I was driven to Al Ain, in the east and after meeting supervisors Fernando Gomes and Romero Rocha in the evening, I was taken to my apartment in the Al Jini district of Al Ain. The block of apartments are used for many of the coaches in the schools and my neighbour Marcio Eduardo Silva, made me feel right at home, showing me around the place and kindly donating some cutlery and utensils.

After much needed sleep I was picked up Tuesday morning by Fernando and went on to complete much needed red tape, rubber stamps and signatures, to enable me to have a full working visa, which will let me open a bank account and obtain a drivers licence. I was advised by Fernando to take on board the word ‘patience’ as things are done here a lot differently to the UK, though I would beg to differ.

That said, we managed to obtain a UAE ID, drive to a Government building and get the ID stamped and attend another government building to have my blood taken and chest X-rayed, all part of gaining a full working visa. You have to have a car out here to get around, for work mainly as I will be teaching in schools all around the area and for general day to day activities; it’s a foolish man who walks to the supermarket in the heat of the day, which hit 43C today and in summer time can hit 57C – air con transport is de rigeur.

I rounded the day off with my first training session at the black belt open mat, full report coming along in the next few days; internet is hit and miss at the minute until I get sorted in my apartment. After the open mat came regular class and as I type, I am winding down and heading for an early night, as I start my first day at work in the morning.

Take care guys and keep training!

WEDNESDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2012

First day at school!

After a superb first night’s training, it was shower, eat and an early night, ready for my first day teaching; the schools begin early in the morning, when it’s a lot cooler and my supervisor Romero picked me up at 630am and drove me to the school, where I’ll be working from now on.

The drive to work took me through the desert dunes on either side of the road, quite a difference from the streets of the UK and after a fifteen minute drive, we arrived at the Aladel Scool in Al Yahar, a region in Al Ain.

As I arrived, I met my black belt coach, Jiddu Bastos, who I met the previous night and he introduced me to the Prinicpal, who made me feel very welcome and as the children filed into the covered playground, I met the PE coach, Osama Elbatrawy and most of the teachers in the school.

Before classes commenced the kids lined up and listened as the Prinicpal spoke to his students and after five minutes or so, I heard the words, ‘Coach Carlos’ and over 750 kids turned to look at me and started clapping and cheering like Wayne Rooney had scored a last minute winner at Old Trafford. Beat that for a welcome! After the introductions, all the staff and students stood in front of the UAE flag as their National Anthem played from the microphones located in the playground.

Since being here, I have learned it is far easier to call myself Carlos, instead of Carl, as my dulcet Boltonian tones can be sometimes hard to understand, so Coach Carlos is my name from now on at the schools and plain Carlos at the training centre in the evenings.

The jiu jitsu tuition is set out like any other coaching programme and I had a chance to read the coaching manual, detailing the technical side of the jiu jitsu instruction; this covered the basics of breakfalls, shrimps, and many other warm up exercises specific to BJJ and progressed to simple techniques and guard passes, as well as a large reference point for jiu jitsu related games.

Like anywhere in the world, kids are kids. Loud. Boisterous and full of beans. Here in Al Ain , there was no exception, as the kids came into the room, changed into a wide variety of UK Premiership football tops and track suit pants and ran round the mats. All the students approached me with wide smiling faces and greeted me in English and Arabic and I returned the favour, together with much shaking of hands. This was repeated throughout the whole day in all the different classes.

All classes followed the same format; I was introduced to the children again in each class, again to much applause and started the class with break falls and forward rolls. Depending on the age group of the class, a few different techniques were demonstrated by Jiddu and myself, namely Americana from mount, arm lock from mount and double leg takedown. Translation was given by the class teacher and Jiddu, who can speak enough Arabic to get by and I was learning myself at a fast rate.

After techniques came their favourite part of the class – sparring, what else? All the kids had a grapple with each other and any promising kids were told to give their names to their teacher to join the after club class.

At the end of the class, the kids lined up and after a loud Ooos, they came to shake hands with the coaches and each other in traditional BJJ style; most of the kids shook hands and over a dozen approached me and did things their way, which involves the touching of noses and a quick kissing sound. I’d noticed this at the airport, waiting at the immigration desk, between two adults and I asked Jiddu what it meant. He told me, if they really like a person they greet each other in this manner and this happening in my first my first day, I felt very privileged indeed to say the least. After handshakes and nose rubs, it was a short break before the next class and before you know it, my first day was over. Jiddu and I went to speak to Osama and handed in observation sheets and headed back into Al Ain for more red tape adventures, before returning home and getting ready for class.

After settling in at the apartment and managing a quick power nap, I was picked up at the apartment by Romero and taken to my first training session, the black belt open mat at 6pm. This class is solely for the black belt coaches to have one hour’s training before the regular class and now the coaching staff has taken on brown belts, I was warmly welcomed onto the session by all my new team mates.

The training centre is located at the Al Ain Football Club (Al Qattarah Branch), one of three football clubs in the Al Ain area; the black belts started to arrive at 545pm and I was introduced to each one as they arrived and by 6pm, there were over 20 black belts ready to train – WOW! Many different academies are represented here in the UAE, a real melting pot of styles, probably unique to anywhere else in the world and I was bang in the middle of it, so all that was left was to get the gi on and get cracking.

To give you an idea of the broad range of clubs represented at the training club, a few names of the black belts:-

Gilberto Cerqueira – Ryan Gracie, Jose Lopes Zelo – Gabas Jiu Jitsu, Leonardo Lopes – Pitbull Academy
Junior Borsato – DLR
Paulo Melo – Bolao BJJ
Polyana Lago – Alliance
Leopoldo Pires – Alliance
Filipe Alvaranja – Carlson Gracie
Erik Cardoso – Alan Club
Jiddu Bastos – Checkmat

After a warm up, the guys partnered up and started of rolling for 8 minutes and I managed 5 rounds during the session, not bad going considering it was 34C outside and it was my first class. Each roll was different from the next, some guys were crushing guard passers, others encouraged me to attack them 100% and black belt Tiago Bravo was super cool and we had the most technical roll out of the lot.

The guys didn’t smash me up and take limbs away with them, they rolled hard and tough but when in position for the submission , they applied it with enough time for me to tap, without causing injury, pretty sensible really as everyone is teaching in the schools the following day.

3 stripe black belt Erik Cardoso and Leo Pires took the regular class at 7pm and Erik started the class with the regular drills found in any BJJ class and showed a sweet series of sweeps from butterfly and a cool transition into x guard and after specifics and sparring the session was at an end and I was still in one piece.

First class was over and after a quick stretch off, I was dropped off back to my apartment and prepared myself for my first day teaching class, which will be my next post on here. For now, I am getting ready for another training session, so see you on the mats and drill to won!

SATURDAY, 6 OCTOBER 2012

No gi training session!
After training with the kimono the last few days, the week was rounded off with the addition of a new no gi class, that started at 5pm; Nilson Pokemon Lopes came in an hour earlier and trained positions with a number of black belts, as he is preparing for an upcoming MMA fight on the Abu Dhabi Warriors event, November 2nd, that boasts one million dollars in prize money.

I took a taxi over with my next door neighbour, Marcio Eduardo Silva and we arrived just as Pokemon and the guys were rounding off their session in the MMA room, so we all entered the main training room and started to change into shorts and rashguards and started warming up.

Leopoldo Pires took the class once again and we drilled a nice way to kill the knee over thigh pass from half guard and the old school classic arm bar from guard and what to do when the opponent starts to stack. I had the pleasure and privilige of partnering up with Leandro Polinio Cordeiro and I felt the technique from a black belt’s expertise and boy was it ten times tighter than mine.

After drilling the techniques for a good half hour it was time for rolling, six minute rounds; my first roll was with black belt Tiago Bravo, an under 74K powerhouse, extremely technical, yet great fun to roll with. Like all the other guys here, Tiago could smash me into pieces without even breaking a sweat, but what’s the point, as we are all team mates and on the coaching staff together? This atmosphere and thinking can only lead to accelerated development and in my roll with Tiago I could experiment and even ended up with a kimura locked in, but as you’ve guessed, Tiago escaped with a smile on his face, saying ‘almost’ then whipped me up in the air with a sweep and choked me out. Awesome.

Next roll was with Pokemon, which was a different experience altogether – this guy is slick! With a vice like grip, Nilson, was all over me like a cheap suit, throwing in subs from all angles; the guy was like water, flowing all over me, tapping me out left right and centre. After each sub, Nilson showed me where I was going wrong and showed me a brutal submission that’s only allowed in MMA comps. Thanks Pokemon!

Overall I had five rolls, with three other black belts whose names escape me, suffice to say, I had great fun with all of them, each guy having a different game from the next and of all them encouraging me to go for it. You hear on the forums about mat etiquette, saying that a lower grade should never ask a black belt to roll with them. Not the case here. I’m a lower grade and the mat is packed with black belts, so when it’s time to roll I have no option than to ask a black belt to roll with me. Awesome.

Session over and all that remained was a team photo and cool down,then it was back to the apartment with Eduardo to get ready for a pool party at the Al Ain Rotana Hotel, which I can say went down very well and am looking forward to the Poola Palooza pool party at the hotel next Saturday.

SUNDAY, 7 OCTOBER 2012

Just another Sunday session!

If my first training session wasn’t enough to set me into BJJ overdrive, then this evening’s class blew me away – twenty seven, yes twenty seven black belts on the mats for the Open Mat session! Everywhere you turned there was a black belt, absolutely crazy and I’m bang in the middle of it all.

Three stripe black belt Flavio Serafin had arrived earlier in the day and after a quick introduction, I was his first guy to roll with at the start of the class, so no pressure Carl Flavio hails from Nova Friburgo, south east Brazil and is a well respected MMA fighter and is joined here in Al Ain with a number of guys from the same town.

Post training photo
We shook hands and started to roll and I was on a six minute roller coaster ride; I’ve never had my guard smashed and destroyed like it and I’ve rolled with some of the best on the planet. Flavio moved one way then the next flattening my legs like a windscreen wiper jammed on full power. We never paused for breath throughout the roll, only stopping when Flavio subbed me, then it was a quick handshake and we went at it again. A most amazing experience to feel a guy crush you so easily and the guard passing from Flavio was something to behold and experience at first hand.

Second roll was with my twin brother Rogerio Teixeira; those of you following the action on Facebook can see a photo of the two of us and all the Brazilians said we look like brothers, so it’s kind of stuck at the gym. Rogerio was more playful and encouraged me to attack, which I did to the best of my abilities, only to find myself at the receiving end of a submission, all with a smile on his face, as most Brazilians are wont to do.

Higor Polonio was next on the cards, a light weight black belt with an athletic counter game, as soon as I started a sweep or reversal, he’d flip his legs in the air and land on the opposite side from me, pinning my legs and hips to the floor, before passing my guard and basically giving me problems from every angles.

Another newcomer was my fourth roll, a beast of a guy called Alexandre Carvalho, aka ‘Baby’ and let me tell you there’s nothing baby like about him; two gnarled cauliflower ears and a rippling physique was staring across at me as we shook hands and I thought RIP to myself, I’m a goner. Not so. We had a right royal tear up, again giving me the chance to open up and experiment and give things a go I’d normally do in class in the UK, but now against seasoned black belts. It’s been a tough six days here in class, but hey, I’m swimming with the sharks and soon enough I’ll start growing some sharp teeth of my own.

Last roll came by way of my favourite black belt to roll with, Leandro ‘Polinio’ Cordeiro; I don’t really like to say I have a favourite, as all the guys are awesome in their own right, but every time we roll, I have the most technical rolls with Polinio, he really is a great guy to roll with and before you know it, the open mat’s over and it’s photo time.

Written By Ivan Miroslavov Dimitrov

On December the 1st a real live jiu jitsu legend held a seminar in Sofia, Bulgaria. Master Luiz Palhares a 7th degree Brazilian Jiu Jitsu coral belt, three times Pan-Am champion and 1998 Brazilian national champion was invited by Fight Club Bully Team`s leader Sevastiyan Kostov for a stop in the newly founded dojo where the team trains together with one of the best BJJ in Bulgaria – Twisted Jiu-Jitsu. Undoubtedly, this event was a very inspiring one for all martial arts fan that joined the sessions with such a senior trainer. Being a direct student of Rolls and then of Rickson Gracie, he is actually a live witness of the development of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu back in the 80s and 90s which makes his character even more interesting one, because he actually could be considered a “walking history book” of BJJ.

Master Palhares, who currently trains the U.S. military and law-enforcement officers in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, received his black belt back in 1984. A student under the one and only Helio Gracie and his son – probably the most dominant BJJ fighter who ever lived – Rickson Gracie spent a large part of his life and BJJ career in Rio. Then he moved to the USA where he settled down in Florida and started his own school there. Since then he is trying to spread the art of BJJ teaching and organizing different tournaments and events.

Having said all of this every one can easily imagine the excitement of all the participants in the seminar. To learn from such a distinguished teacher was definitely an early Christmas gift for everyone. Everybody was eager to meet this great teacher and to experience some classical Jiu-Jitsu. Before the seminar itself we had the opportunity to train for two days with Master Palhares. During that time he showed us a few simple but yet effective techniques. They were a testimony that when you get in trouble, it is not the fancy stuff that is going to save you, but the good old basics. All of us managed to polish their game and to find additional details regarding moves that looked easy and familiar. More than twenty five people attended this seminar and enjoyed the excellent and relaxed atmosphere. Among our foreign guests was Bosnia`s Dragan Pesic, the former K1 and King of the Ring champion, who currently competes in UCFC and didn’t miss the chance to add some techniques to his ground arsenal. Master Palhares helped everyone to add nice and easy to learn throws, sweeps, and submissions to their arsenal, and to further understand the biomechanics behind every move. In the end, only with proper understanding of the basic features of the game one could be successful in mastering the more advanced techniques and positions.
For everyone who loves this sport it is a dream to visit Brazil and train there at least once in their lifetime. Some people may never get the chance to visit Brazil but during this weekend they still had the chance to touch and learn from a renowned teacher who has been around some of the biggest names in our sport! A huge THANK YOU to Master Luiz Palhares for his time with us! Oss!

The first time that I encountered members of Carlson Gracie Hungary team was back in 2005 at the first Hungarian BJJ Open. I remember seeing loads of big muscled guys with shaved heads with Carlson Gracie Bulldog T shirts and remember thinking to myself that Carlson Gracie schools all over the world seem to produce the same kind of BJJ players: tough Mofos! Over the past few years I’ve encountered them at most of the Hungarian BJJ Open tournaments where they compete against their regional rivals Gracie Barra Hungary. Back in April 2009, I spent 2 weeks training at Carlson Gracie London, and Simon, Wilson and Dickie (the leaders of CG London) were telling me about their Hungarian brothers.

Fast forward, to January 2013, and my wife telling me that she wants me to drive her, her sister and her mom on a 2 day shopping expedition in Budapest. Being a good husband, I say sure but only under one condition, I get to train with Carlson Gracie Hungary while you buy useless accessories It was a deal. So I contacted Gabor Fodor, one of the main instructors there and who I’d already interviewed in the past on the website and told him that I was coming. He was very fast in welcoming me and said that it would be his pleasure and that he’d available to train with me the next day if I wanted. Unfortunately, I was on a tight schedule so could just make it to one training. So the training was scheduled at 7:30 pm and he picked me up and we drove to a state of the art sport’s complex. “Tonight is white belt training, but I called the experienced guys so that you can have some good rolls.” Gabor said. That was a nice gesture. As we entered the huge gym which was matted with 4 huge wrestling mats, I noticed members of Hungary’s best wrestling team finishing their practice. There were about 50 wrestlers finishing training and 50 Jiu-Jitsu players in their gis patiently waiting for them to finish.

Gyorgy and Ferenc

The guys were mostly white belts with a few blues and purples. Gabor introduced me to Ferenc Pajor, a large black belt, who I had seen a few times in competitions, and Gyorgy a large brown belt. I was to drill with them as Gabor would show the rest of the guys the techniques. After about 10 minutes of drilling sweeps and back takes from half guard. The 2 big guys and myself did alternating 3 mins rounds of sparring. First up for a few rounds was Ferenc Pajor, who moved extremely well for a big guy and he was playing a relaxed bottom game but was non stop going inverted and really had good “small man Jiu-Jitsu” once he would sweep me, his passing game was even better as he would pass my guard without too much difficulty. I would say that my guard game is my strong point but against him, it didn’t work well as he was able to pass me and when I would scramble away he would put amazing amounts of pressure on my face with the famous Carlson Gracie “shoulder of Justice” which is a kind of hardcore version of the cross face. Ferenc was smashing me but was surprisingly gentle and took his time to smash me. It wasn’t brute force, it was pressure and experience.

I then rolled a couple of rounds with Gyorgy, the big brown belt. He had a excellent bullfighter pass (torreando). His grips were almost impossible to break. I thought to myself, that he must be a judo player because that is an insane grip. He was  also able to pass my guard thanks to his heavy hip pressure. He was tough but just like Ferenc, he was not brutal, more calm and composed. After rolling with him, Gabor told me that Gyorgy was a Hungarian and European National Judo Champion who was in the national team and was a rival of the World and Olympic Judo Champion Antal Kovacs. It made me feel better that the guy that had just kicked my butt had some serious grappling credentials. Next up was rolling with my friend Gabor Fodor, black belt. Gabor also had a distinctive Carlson Gracie smashing top pressure style, I was mostly playing half guard, and could sense by the way that Gabor was holding my foot that he wanted to tap me with a toe hold We were rolling some more and his balance and heavy top pressure style was impressive. It was a bit like a vintage Wallid Ismail style. By then, I was already pretty tired and I asked one the purple belts to roll. Gyula Szabo, was a guy that had caught my eye at the last Hungarian Open, as he had beaten my team mate and his guard game had really impressed me. I was in his open guard and was not doing much, just blocking his non stop guard attacks. He has the kind of style that is really tiring to defend as he is non stop attacking from the bottom, with de la riva, reverse de la rivas, tornado rolls etc.. Toward the the end, I was in his closed guard, he has holding me down, and he caught me with a really sneaky variation for the Ezekiel choke from the guard. I had never seen this variation before and I asked him to show it to me after. It’s a great move, and I will try to add it to my arsenal. The last roll was with a blue belt whose name I forgot but he had serious strength and great base as well.

Training was finished and we posed for pictures and filmed a technique that Gabor showed. The technique will be up this week on the website. The guys were super friendly and really made me feel at home. Gabor even gave me a free Gi from tacticalshop.hu which they produce! Super nice.

Gyorgy, the brown belt drove me back to the hotel and we had a nice talk about how he had retired from Judo at the age of 27 when he felt that he din’t want to train for 4 more years to try for the next Olympics. He had decided instead to focus of his business career. This was very interesting to hear how a world class athlete went from training 2 x a day to working a normal 9 to 5 job and focusing on career and family. Gyorgy said that he was happy to have found BJJ as it was not as hard on the body as Judo was and that he could train 2-3 x a week and have fun.

I’m glad to have trained with such nice guys and look forward to future trainings with them!

Continuing my usual habit of visiting BJJ academies wherever I travel, I had to visit Jungle BJJ while on my little vacation in Prague, Czech Republic last week. It was actually a little road trip from Belgrade to Prague with a stop over in Vienna for two days where my wife and I would be visiting my sister in law who is studying in Vienna. While in Vienna I wanted to train at either Orlando Neto BJJ or Gracie Barra Austria, but unfortunately I really had little free time with all the sightseeing and shopping we were doing.

So we were off to Prague, which is really a beautiful city which I highly recommended you visit. I knew the crew from Jungle BJJ and had met it’s founder Fernando Araujo on many occasions. I really liked the team’s mentality of Train Hard, Fight Hard, Party hard . They have some really good guys like Robert Keno who last year won double gold at the World Masters and Seniors in Brazil, Roman Pitbull (tough mofo), Alexander “Kaiser” Mikus or Elder Yakuza who is a competition machine.

I got in touch with Fernando but unfortunately, he had some family coming over from Brazil arriving at the same time when I would be training. A real bummer, as I was really looking forward to getting smashed by Fernando haha. I got in touch with Elder “Yakuza” who I had met in some competitions. We arranged for him to come pick me up at my hotel and we would take the metro to the training. I had watched Elder compete before and he was a very good and strong blue belt who liked to compete as much as possible. So Elder and me were in the metro and we right away started talking BJJ and I found out more about him and his background. His father is from Dagestan (Caucasus, part of Russian federation) and his mother is Russian, he had grown up in Moldavia. He had moved to Prague 7 years ago. As we arrived at the station, Elder told me that we had to wait for 3 Russian guys who also came to train. They were part of a affiliate of Jungle BJJ in Russia.

The gym was part of a Czech Olympic training facility in the middle of a forest but still near the city center. That day’s training was much more relaxed because the next day (Saturday) there would be a local BJJ tournament, so most guys just came to roll light. I asked Elder Yakuza why he trained on the eve of a competition, as I usually rested up to three days before, and he answered with his Russian accent: “It’s just Jiu-Jitsu, it’s easy.” lol

That day, just a few white belts, and blue belts showed up and Elder asked me if I’d like to show some techniques. I was honored and showed some set ups and sweeps from the knee shield guard (aka the 93 guard). After showing three variations, we proceeded to the rolling. Elder and me went first and it was more of a light roll, but I could feel that he liked playing guard and had a dangerous triangle set up where he would pull you in a two on one grip while clearing your other arm. The next roll was with a 16 year old blue who was very flexible and fast. It was a fun technical roll and I’m sure that he will go far if he continues training hard. The last roll was again with Elder and this time we went a bit harder. Elder was working his two on one grip, and caught me with a nice setup from guard breaking my posture. Very nice.

Time was up, we took the traditional photo and I had to rush back to the hotel for the birthday dinner of my brother in law. It was to be more beef goulash and wonderful Czech beer. It was great training with a small part of Jungle BJJ. I look forward to training with the complete team next time that I visit Prague.

written by Raphael Levy for Jits.fr (original article in French)

I went to visit my brother in Israel on the occasion of the birth of my nephew. He and his family live in a small town in the north about thirty kilometers from Haifa. I’ve never trained in Israel and I was there for one week, so had to at least train once.

At first, I looked for a club in Haifa. I knew Patrick Bittan (french BJJ black belt) has affiliated clubs in the country and I have often heard of Ido Pariente, so this is the way that I explored first. So I first went to the Academy of Pariente located in Merkaz Hakarmel on the heights of the city. The Chief Instructor, Oren Levine was in Germany for a competition and so his students were running the class.

I arrived at the club after 45 minutes. A dozen students were present, including three blue belts and the rest of white belts. I was quite surprised, I was told that there are more people usually, but hey, it’s still better than nothing. Nice class, light sparrings. I talked with one of my training partners who asked me where I lived and he told me that there is a club in a kibbutz (village) close to where I was staying and that I should go check it out.

I learn that actually, it is actually just 3 minutes from where my brother lives, which is quite surprising given its geographical location. Without expecting anything special, I go to Kibbutz Ramat Hashofet two days later. I park in front of the academy and I see a guy with a purple belt that walking outside. I think to myself that he must be the teacher. I take my kimono under my arm, and as I’m getting closer to the entrance, I saw a guy with a brown belt. I say that to myself, he must be the teacher. I finally get into the room and I see two black belts! And then I wonder who is the teacher … In total, two black belts, three brown belts, seven purple belts , six blue belts for a total of 33 students of all ages.

So I present myself to Moshe Kaitz, head instructor of Gracie Humaita Israel, 1st degree black belt and student of Royler Gracie. He received his education in Brazil at the Gracie Academy and RGDA HQ (Gracie David Adiv) in the United States. He competed in numerous competitions, including the Rio State Championships and beating Hermes Franca, former world title contender in the UFC, in MMA in 2010. (links to his fight)

Moshe Kaitz with Raphael Levy

The training started with a standard warm up, and relaxed (it is very hot in Israel at this time of the year): sit ups, shrimping, some soft stretching, no cardio. And so we begin drills.

The first, starting upright, is to escape your opponent who has a double underhook and attack the legs while he tries to punches in the face.

Wait … what?? Did I hear right? He wanted me to avoid punches? Although not full blown and controlled, they were still mimicking blows to the face. I looked around me, whether I was at the wrong address. Portraits of Hélio Gracie and patches on kimonos reassured me. Being myself a former karateka, I thought why not, it’s interesting.

After a reversal of roles (the one who gets rid of underhooks attacks the face), and a technique to get the distance with a kick in the stomach, we returned to more familiar drills: Transition of side control position to north-south finishing off with a Kimura arm lock.

After drills and regular sparring, I was able to speak with Moshe at the end of the class and he told me about some of his training and teaching methods. For him, jiujitsu is a martial art, not a combat sport. He wants to convey the principles of Gracie Jiujitsu, which includes a large portion of self-defense. For him, a good fighter must know how to defend themselves, not just just on the mat but face stronger attacker in the street for example.

“What do you do if a guy thirty pounds more than you catches you in head-lock under his arm. The jiu jitsu you have learned in your academy will not help you. There will be no time limit, the techniques that will allow you to take points in competition will not save you. A Jiu jtsuka needs a very serious self-defense base. This is the most important element of my education. A real jiu jitsuka must be able to defend himself in the street against a much heavier attacker. Today, we are trying to play for points at all costs, and to consider jiu jitsu as any sport. I have nothing against it, everyone can do what they want and I understand it. I also teach jiujitsu as a sport, but it is for me, just one part of the art. In the end, I noticed that my students are not doing too bad in competition (they are doing very well even), but they also know things that most practitioners around the world will never learn. ”

I never imagined I would find such a high level of jiu-jitsu, but also so many people in a place like this. I didn’t yet have the opportunity to train in an academy where this type of method is taught. It was very interesting and I now know the address when I go to visit my brother next time.

Our friend Stephane from the excellent French website planetejjb.com had the chance to train in Manaus while on a business trip there. Here is his story:

On my last business trip, I had the chance and opportunity to go for the first time to Brazil.
I will make you discover through this article, my training in a particular in a city in the middle of the Amazon: MANAUS .

Stephane, BJJ Brown Belt

When I arrived at the hotel, the first thing I did was to go on the internet to find the club nearest BJJ academy in my temporary residence. Bingo, the club is located less than 2kms away: CIA . Amazonense Jiu Jitsu Manaus, located at 45 Praça Santo Dumont, bairro centro de Manaus, Amazonia www.ciaamazonensejj.com

I prepare my bag and it’s close 7pm. The weather is heavy, about 34 ° and rainy. Note that during this time of year (July 2013), the water can rise more than 12 meters in the Amazon rainforest.

My taxi dropped me off in a small street where the academy is located. I go upstairs and I can see the club.
Several people welcomed me warmly and they offered me to train in their club for free tonight. I did know that and thanked me while hurrying to go change =).
The training costs about 50 Reals (a little less than 20 euros) for a month of training in this academy in Brazil.

The course is provided by Rigomel Costa Jr, 3rd degree black belt under Royler Gracie.

Approximately 20-22 people were crammed in this little room: five black belts, 2 brown belts, 2 purple belts and a lot of blue and whites. I’m here to share my passion for BJJ with my future Amazonians friends.

The training lasts an hour and a half. it begins with a warm up about 15 minutes and then some drills and a lot of sparring. I’ affected by the time difference (-6 hours, compared to France) but another symptom watching me: the intense humidity in the room (95% humidity).

After only two rolls of 7 minutes, my kimono is soaked. The rolls go on, Rigomel asks me if I want to take some fresh air, I tell him no, and I continue, even though it’s really hard, I’m all wet … The level is high, the Brazilians have Jiu Jitsu in their blood really.

I’ve never experienced this before, training under intense heat without air and maximum humidity, I guarantee you will feel weird…. Romulo Barbosa, a brown belt, told me that the Amazon is the number 2 state in terms of results in Jiu Jitsu Championships after Rio. This is partly due to heavy weather conditions present here and I understand better
how the amazon, mainly Manaus, is a land of champions, among them: Saulo and Xande Ribeiro, Jose Aldo, Bibianno Fernandes Jacare …

8:30 p.m. end of the training, we discuss on the mat just like in all schools in the world: we go over the matches again, talking about the champions … The level English is correct and I’m having fun.

It’s time to leave the room and three guys: Romulo, Rigomel and Wilson offer me to eat a acai in a bar in Manaus. The acai fruit is appreciated in the Jiu Jitsu and surfing communities. It has many virtues: a lot of vitamins and especially a strong anti-oxidant, and is grown mainly in the Amazon and is widespread in Manaus and there at every corner. My Jiu Jitsu friends take me by car to Waku Sese, a bar in the city center, and we enjoy the well deserved acai. An acai costs about 9 reais a little less than 3 euros.

What a great experience to be able to roll in Manaus and have been well received. Romulo to thank you for his extreme kindness, thanks to Rigomel for his hospitality in the club and all its students. Thank you to the large family of Jiu Jitsu to allow us to share moments like this one at the 4 corners of the globe.

Me (blue gi in the middle) with Aziz (white Vulkan gi) and the guys

I spent 10 days in Mallorca on a romantic vacation with my wife. Of course being the BJJ geek that I am, I had to be doing some kind of training while there. Luckily, call it a coincidence if you will, my good friend Aziz Ayate has a Zerjal Team Serbia branch in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

I had to convince my wife that I would be training at least once while on our vacation. You have to understand that I already train 6x a week when we’re back home, and ALWAYS talk about Jiu-Jitsu even with her so she was looking for a welcome break from that over there. Anyways, I called Aziz and he came to pick me up. Aziz started training BJJ 7 years ago in Australia where he was working as a diving instructor. He is currently a purple belt. He came a few times to Serbia and trained with my team here in Belgrade. After a few years, he moved to Mallorca and set up his own team there. He contacted my professor, Jovan Zerjal (pioneer of BJJ in Serbia) to set up an affiliate in Mallorca a few months ago.

Aziz picked me up at my hotel in Palmanova. It was a national holiday in Spain but we were to have the gym all to ourselves for a good three hour training. The facility was amazing. It was a converted warehouse with a weight room, boxing ring, cage, two mat areas. I was introduced to the students. There were about 7 guys rolling that day. All white belts. First I noticed was how hot it was. The mat area was right underneath the roof that had been heated by the strong sun all day. It must have been easily 40 degrees. It didn’t make matters easier that I had been at the beach and sun tanning all day too. Aziz lead the warmups, and then made the guys do 5 guard passing drills that they did with good discipline. I liked the way Aziz organized the class, as he had written techniques on the white board and they would just focus around that the whole week. He wants his students to have a solid base first which I totally agree with.

Aziz then asked me to show two guard pass techniques. I showed my two go to moves: The X pass and the knee slide. You can see me demonstrating the move here in our academy in Serbia. and the Knee slide The guys were very attentive and drilled the moves very seriously. I went around correcting posture and making adjustments.

After that, it was time to do what we all love the most sparring. I spared with every single guy there. Even though they were still white belts, they all had solid base. Aziz and me went a few times. He was looking forward to spar with me as he is preparing for the London International Open on October 19, and the Europeans in January in Lisbon. He moves really well, and has a very good guard. After the rest of the guys left Aziz and me must have rolled for a further 30 mins in the crazy heat. It wasn’t finished yet as one the owners of the gym, a big 100 kilos muscle bound Spanish guy that trains Wu Shu wanted to have a go at me too haha. We rolled, me in the gi and him no gi and shirt less, and he was super strong. Very nice guy too.

The session was over and I was absolutely tired. Great training with a new group of guys. Look out for them in the future. With the guidance of Aziz they will do very well.

For more information about the training you can contact: https://www.facebook.com/MallorcaNewLimitCentroDeportivo

or Aziz Ayate: https://www.facebook.com/aziz.ayate.54?fref=ts

Our friend Stephane from the excellent French website www.planetejjb.com was recently in Montreal, Canada and trained BJJ at the famous Tristar gym which is Georges St Pierre’s very own base camp. Check it out:

“In my Canadian holiday, I was invited by my friend Thearron to train at the famous MMA/ BJJ academy: George St pierre’s very own TRISTAR GYM in Montreal, Quebec , Canada.

Thearron is a French expatriate in Montreal and a friend of Francis Carmont (UFC fighter and former member of the Cercle Tissier). He has been practicing MMA and Thai Boxing at a pretty good level. He has been training for the past few months at Tristar.

Tristar gym building

On Saturday morning, I met up with Thearron and we headed to Tristar. The club is on the outskirts of Montreal while we were staying in the city center. (Allow about twenty minutes to get there.)

The TRISTAR is located on the 3rd floor of a building. We climbed the stairs and there I discovered the room. It is a real old school type of MMA gym. You can feel the liters of sweat ran down the rings and carpets to shape athletes to help them achieve their goals.

At the reception a “pro shop” expects us to do our shopping: Juice bar, protein shakes and energy bars. When I entered the gym, I discovered several MMA cages, boxing rings and the floor mats for BJJ and Karate as well as a weight room.

The courses are taught by professionals and the room is open every day from 9am to 10pm with courses at all hours (MMA, wrestling, BJJ, conditionning …)

The changing rooms are large and spacious with giant racks. Thearron introduced me to the owner of TRISTAR which is none other than Mr. Firas Zahabi and we started to change for the BJJ session which ranfrom 1pm to 3pm. The training was given by Firas Zahabi himself. Firas is a black belt in BJJ under the famous John Danaher (Renzo Gracie).

The traing consisted of a lot of technique with lots of details and a lot of repetition. Firas’s BJJ focuses heavily on the protecting your head because of the applying BJJ to MMA.

It was then time to roll. There were many blue belts and some white belts. I’m the only Brown belt. I had a few rolls with different partners. Since I’m a guest, I have no reason to roll hard. The blue belts have a good level so do all the guys there in general.

Firas offered me to roll with him also and it was a real pleasure. We rolled lightwith the end of the training approaching. In fact, at 3pm, the pro training starts and is reserved for PRO TRISTAR MMA fighters or invitees from the outside.

Stephane with Firas

Thearron and myself started to change and we were joined by Francis Carmont in the locker room. Francis will fight on September 21 in the same card as Jon Jones in the next UFC. What a pleasure to see him (Francis was at Le Cercle BJJ academy in France for many years). He told me that Georges St. Pierre iwill be here soon. GSP (George St. Pierre) joins us. He is very relaxed, shaking hands with everyone and accepts graciously to pose for a souvenir photo which is unforgettable.

When the Pro training starts, there were so many UFC stars that I can not name them all, but were present: GSP, Francis Carmont, Ivan Mendjivar, Alex Garcia ….Truly a great day and experience TRISTAR.

Thank you to Firas and Thearron for giving me the opportunity to spend time in TRISTAR.

Contact of the gym:
5275 Rue Ferrier – Montreal, QC H4P 1L7
Telephone: 1-514-343-0148″

Written by Raphael Levy for the excellent French BJJ website Jits.fr

Ireland, land of Leprechauns, pots of gold, four leaf clovers and Guinness beer. Although it may be difficult to come across a green leprechaun, a container full of coins or a plant with four leaves, dark beer flavored coffee can’t be missed. If you are in Ireland to train, you may have a hard time concentrating on trainin … The atmosphere here is festive and streets until 3 am every day of the week.

Visiting downtown Dublin for a few days, I went looking for a BJJ academy to train. First I looked around: SBG City Centre (SBG for “Straight Blast Gym) a few blocks from” Temple Bar “was the closest place. This will be my first step.

The entrance of the gym overlooks Exchecker Street. I discovered a small group of a dozen guys, who were preparing for a grappling competition. We sat on the wet mats stigma after the boxing training. I took my kimono off to integrate myself as best as possible. The teacher was a guy with a strong Eastern European, who strongly emphasized abs training during the warm up.

An hour and a half of training later and we were getting dressed. I realized pretty quickly, that none of my new friends were Irish. They came mostly from Eastern Europe, Poland, Estonia, Russia. This fact, I had already seen in Prague during my visit to Jungle BJJ ​​. The Eastern Europeans like BJJ, wherever they are from! Why weren’t the Irish more interested in BJJ? I was told that the Irish at the academy were rather into Thai boxing and MMA, and that the club has produced many champions.

I then decided to go to another BJJ club. My Google search pointed me to the East Coast Jiu Jitsu Academy , a half-hour hour away by public transport. The name of the chief instructor, my contact there, was strangely familiar: Darragh O’Connaill. A few seconds were enough to remember where I heard that name before: Darragh was part of the cast of the Lloyd Irvin BJJ Kumite, the same tournament that particpated Ilke Bulut .

A rugby player since the age of 8 years old (we expected no less of an Irishman!) Darragh hung up his boots at 19 and put on a rashguard turning to grappling. Three years later, he decides to put on the kimono. After four years of practice in kimono, he is now a brown belt and now runs his own club full time.

This young man seems to know a lot about our discipline and informs us about the history of Jiujitsu in Ireland: “ It all started 16 years ago. John Kavanagh, the first black belt in Ireland, was teaching a small group of motivated grapplers, including Andy Ryan, the second black belt of the country. This small group grew and gave birth to other clubs. After years of hard work, determination and love of Jiujitsu, the Irish scene has evolved into what it is today. ”

There are today (to the knowledge of Darragh) seven black belts in Ireland. The sport is growing exponentially every year. The last Irish Open had over 300 fighters and even more are expected next year. Most academies are located in Dublin with more than a dozen clubs that offer the discipline. Interclub tournaments are held almost every month.

Darragh tells us how it came about: “ I manage East Coast Jiujitsu for the past three and a half years, when I took up the club from my coach who had decided to stop training. We did just no gi in the beginning. I then just started training in the gi and therefore wanted to add a gi class. I was passing through San Diego during the summer of 2010 and I trained with Saulo and Xande Ribeiro at University of Jiu Jitsu to prepare for the world. The atmoshere was like nothing I knew. I shared with Saulo my plans to open my own school. From that day on, he became my teacher and my Sensei. ”

Darragh with Saulo Ribeiro

The class I attended was full and I could feel the influence of Sensei Saulo Ribeiro in the educational approach and friendly side. After each clustering around a technique, “One, two, three, * CLAP *” refocusing the minds of most distracted students and reminded us that we were not there to ‘just socialize’.The average age of participants was slightly below what I’m used to: a lot of 16 year olds, full of energy, blue belts and ready to fight with anyone.

Although he likes to take care of his club, Darragh is primarily a competitor. “ I love competition more than anything. I feel alive when I fight and it should be the same for everyone. Many people will try and say it is not for them. The truth is that with the right attitude and a good coach, no matter your age or level, everyone can enjoy and benefit from it. ”

In 2012, Darragh participated in the BJJ Kumite. He tells us: “The Kumite BJJ ​​was one of the most rewarding things in my career for different reasons. I had the chance to train with Team Lloyd Irvin wich at this time, had in its ranks the competitors of the highest caliber: JT Torres, DJ Jackson, Keenan Cornelius, Jimmy Harbison, Jordan Shultz, Adnris Brunovskis , to name a few. I learned a lot just by talking me with them. The tournament structure had allowed me to take part in 22 fights in four days. I would have taken months to accumulate that experience. The best brown belts in the world fought for the title, so the level was extremely high. The match system was without time limit / ‘submission only’, which resulted in very tough fights that made ​​me much stronger mentally. I realized the level it should have to be world champion, and in any belt. ”

As for the future, Darragh does not hide his ambitions: “ I have big goals for my club and myself. In the near future, I intend to win all the major tournaments in brown belt and qualify for ADCC in 2015. In the long run, get my black belt and test myself against the best in the world. ”

Besides this topic, he adds: “ Of course I can not wait to get my black belt, who doesn’t want it? But for now, I focus on the worlds in no gi and the new competition season which begins in January. I will never stop jiujitsu, if I receive my black belt in a few months or a few years, itmakes no difference to me. ”

A great place for lovers of Guinness and Jiujitsu.

Since our visit, Darragh O’Connaill won four medals at the Open IBJJF London, two gold in his class and two bronze absolute.

London Open 2013

Team Jits thank SBG East Coast and JJ for their hospitality and wish them a very good continuation.Cheers!

Our friend Stephane, French brown belt from planetejjb.com went to visit Gracie Lisboa in Lisbon, Portugal and wrote this training report:

I propose you to discover the Jiu Jitsu Gracie LISBOA academy in Lisbon, Portugal.

For professional reasons, I go often to Lisbon. My flight is at 16:20. I also want to look at BJJ academies (like any good BJJ practitioner) of this beautiful city before taking off. Being a fan of the Gracie family, I chose the Academy GRACIE LISBOA and send them an email to let them know of my coming. My surprise when I immediately got a response when Joao (Chief Instructor) cordially invited me to come train.

GRACIE LISBOA: http://gracielisboa.blogspot.fr/

FACEBOOK Group: https://pt-pt.facebook.com/gracie.lisboa

Once finished with my work duties, I head to the academy to join Joao.

The club is located just off the CUF hospital east of the city, and takes about 10 minutes from the airport (taxis are very economical and cost virtually nothing, about 7 euros).

Club-jjb-gracie-lisbon

Address : Externato João XXIII
Corsário Rua das Ilhas
Parque das Nações
(ao lado do Descobertas hospital CUF)

I advise you to be dropped off at the hospital and the club is in Annex Joao XXIII about 10 meters.

On my arrival, Joao Santos, the head and a black belt in BJJ, greets me with a big smile. Joao is a black belt under Robin Gracie and runs several academies in Portugal, Madeira and the Azores.
He is a lightweight, and showing what pure Jiu-Jitsu is all about, he spars with me in a very technical roll. Joao is a very friendly person and he shows me that at the European Championships a few years ago, members of Team Lloyd Irving (famous coach in the USA and former mentor of Keenan Cornelius) came to his academy to prepare for the competition. This year Joao has welcomed people from the USA, Spain, Brazil, Turkey, Italy, England, Canada and France, all from different teams.

Joao is also very active with the champions of JJB and it has already brought in internship at his academy personalities like Caio Terra, Samir Chantre, Rolker Gracie, and many others

About 20 people are here tonight, a lot of white belts, a little blue and purple and a few browns. This is an open mat type session. Free training begins at 19h and ends at about 21h. The hours are the same every night of the week and take place within the same dojo.Club-jjb-gracie-lisboa

Stephane with Joao

I roll with a purple belt, super nice too but it is already time to leave. I really enjoyed my time in the academy and I can only applaud the welcome that was reserved for me. Do not hesitate to Like their Facebook page as they are very active.

Joao proposed to drop me off at my hotel and of course, we are talking Jiu Jitsu on the way back: an encyclopedia that is Joao.

If you are in Lisbon, I can only advise you to come and train you in GRACIE LISBOA. A very warm welcome awaits you and good rolls.

Ever wondered what a competition training session is like at Roger Gracie’s academy in London?

Check out this short video from Jiu-Jitsu style magazine of Roger putting his students through their paces.

Visit http://www.bjjstyle.com/ for details on how to pick up their magazine in print and digital.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj10GcIxKPg

By Guillaume Huni

I had been planning my trip to Ireland for a long time. It wasn’t for the weekend’s UFC Dublin event but for my best friend’s wedding in Dundalk (a town 1 hour away north of Dublin). I was to be the best man and that meant that I had big responsibilities especially since Philippe had been my best friend since we were three years old! So anyway, I was able to squeeze in a day of shopping and training in Dublin on Friday. The plan was to train in the morning at Darragh O Conaill’s East Coast BJJ academy, then go for Lunch at a Brazilian restaurant with Jorge Santos, do some shopping for my wife and and daughter then go for the 6pm training at Jorge Santos academy. After all of that I had to hop on a bus back to Dundalk.

Like very often, things didn’t go exactly as planned as my friends and I went out drinking in Dundalk on Thursday night to celebrate the imminent wedding. We even bumped into a bunch of Croatians and Serbians and they  joined us in a crazy drinking fest. I was back at the hotel at 4am and was quite tipsy to say the least. I texted Darragh to tell him that I’d have to bail on the morning training as I was hungover. I feel really bad about that but the trip wasn’t about Jiu-Jitsu but about the wedding.

So I got to Dublin and met up with BJJ black belt Jorge Santos (read his interview) and his student Leandro for lunch at a Brazilian restaurant. It was so cool talking to him. We were like BJJ nerds talking about all BJJ related subjects for 2 hours straight. My non-BJJ friend Frank was with us and he was bored out of mind! We enjoyed a nice Picanha some Guarana Antartica and an Acai for desert! After lunch I went shopping and then made my way to his academy for the 6pm training. I drank loads of water to get rid of the last remnants of the hangover.

Me (Left) and Jorge at The Brazilian restaurant

Jorge Santos Academy is located in central Dublin right next to the famous O Connell street. It was an open mat session. I was looking forward to roll with Jorge and his students. The academy is beautiful. The front window has a big sign with ‘Jorge Santos Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu’ . The entrance has a front desk, a couch for visitors, a small shop selling T Shirts and Gis, changing rooms, showers and some weights too. The mat space was large maybe around 150 m2. As we were changing I said hello to all the students and was surprised to see that many of them followed BJJEE.com and even knew who I was! There also were a few Eastern Europeans which was cool. I went to the mats and shook everybody’s hands, introducing myself. Jorge started off the class in a formation and welcomed me to the training. There were 3 black belts (myself included) a brown belt, and an army of purple, blues and whites belts. Everybody was quiet and disciplined as we did the warm ups which consisted of running, break-falls and stretching. I felt a bit winded from the hangover but after the warm up felt way better.

Jorge and me in front of his academy

Since this was an open mat, we went straight to rolling. Jorge teamed up all the pairs and I was to face him for the first roll. It was an honor for me. All the rolls started standing which is how I think it should always be. I’m a good 20 kilos heavier than Jorge. We exchanged grips in the beginning, I tried a sweeping collar drag but he stuffed it. Jorge pulled guard and I worked right away in his butterfly guard. I was trying to see what intensity Jorge would put in the roll. Since I was a visitor, I wanted to match his intensity as I didn’t want to seem disrespectful by going hard if he was going light. From what I felt, he was rolling more relaxed. We had never rolled together before. Most of the roll was spent with me on top trying to pass and Jorge trying to sweep. At one moment I was in top half guard and Jorge had a good lockdown position blocking my leg. It was actually a modified lockdown which was putting a lot of pressure on the knee. I had never seen that before. Nice technique! The roll was over and we hugged Jorge was very technical and I felt in danger at all times.

Next up was the roll with Jorge’s purple belt student Leandro. Everybody was telling me that Leandro loved berimbolos and going inverted. He actually looks like a handsomer Version of a Miyao :). I was way heavier than Leandro (I currently weigh 100 kilos) and Leandro must be around 70 kilos. We started standing and I took Leandro down with a single leg. I was now in his half guard and he was free to start his berimbolo game. I didn’t want to have to deal with that so I went straight for a pressure over under pass. Leandro defended very well for at least a whole minute, pushing my head down and throwing over his leg. This was my bread and butter pass and I didn’t want to give him any space to work his inverted guard game. I eventually got the pass and spent the rest of the fight trying to catch him with either a choke or a kimura from side control, but Leandro was tough and defended perfectly. Time was over.

From L to R: Me, Jorge, Fabio and Osni

I rested the next round and then went with a tough Brazilian brown belt called Osni. It was a fun roll and we exchanged positions. I felt that he wanted to attack my legs a few times. I was again much heavier than him. There was also a black belt there called Fabio but he was recovering from a knee surgery so we didn’t roll. Next up I went with Philou, a fellow Frenchman and we had a fun roll. I also rolled with Dan a tough Romanian blue belt who kept going forward. My last roll was with John, a blue belt and then I had nothing more left in me.

Jorge rounded up the class and we bowed. I gave them a thank you speech and told them that I was impressed by the discipline and atmosphere in the training. It was very rare to see that in Europe. Jorge was obvioosly an excellent teacher and was very respected by all his students. It was my first time training there but I really felt welcome and felt like I had trained with them before. Great family atmosphere.

If you are ever in Dublin, you should really check out Jorge Santos BJJ academy!

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jorge-Santos/260759404038363

Written by Russian BJJ blue belt, Alexander Fedotov. He is a good friend of BJJ Eastern Europe and is a IBJJF Rome Open gold medalist as well as London Open silver medalist. 

My name is Alexander Fedotov, I am from Russia and am a member of Kristian Cestaro Russian team family (Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu) and I currently work and live in Havana, Cuba . It’s hard to call my team in Russia, my academy because we are like a family. It was a hard decision to leave my friends teammates family for a year. I wanted to change atmosphere and start to earn more money then I did in Russia. My wife agreed and I moved to Cuba and started to work in a new company there. I have already spent 6 weeks here. My wife and daughter will come soon to join me.

I want to start with the biggest problem I have faced – there is no BJJ in Cuba. It’s ridiculous but the only BJJ academy I found on the internet is located in Penar del Rio and it’s 200 km from the place where I live ( Havana). Another problem is that there is no information on the internet… So you can take your google search and put it directly in your … You know what I mean. That’s why you have to ask people, but my Spanish is not so good yet. The other problem I’ve faced after I found some Judo and Greco-Roman style academies, were the schedule of their trainings. They start too early, at 16:00 or 18:00 . So it was not acceptable for me because I work from 8:00 till 19:00,19:30. I was very disappointed since I had been searching for some acceptable wrestling gym for 2 weeks and I failed….

Havana, Cuba

One bright day, I was finally rewarded for my efforts. It was evening and I was going back home from my office and saw people in a building which looked like a Japanese dojo and located 50 meters from the flat where I live… I entered and saw people practicing hapkido ( Korean martial art – mix of judo and tae kwando ). So I asked their coach if I could have a practice with them and I told him that I am looking for wrestling practice ( I didn’t want to scare people with words like Brazilian jiu-jitsu because as you all know, they might think it’s capoeira ))) He said ok.

The author, Alexander Fedotov

Next day I came to my first class … The situation was very strange for my because I was the only blue belt and was surrounded by black belts )))) some were ex judo guys some were ex tae kwando ( as we all know tae kwando guys are born with a black belt) . I joined strange workouts , it was not a big problem for me  because I had a good experience in Muay Thai before I started BJJ. At the end of training they started to work on wrestling and there were some strange wrist locks and throwing techniques … I told them that those ways of takedowns are not so good because it is easy to counter them . That was the key moment! They asked me to counter their take down. The takedown in question was when you kick with a high kick and your opponent grabs your leg outside and pulls your leg with his own leg and you go on your back. So as you see they just jump into your triangle. I did 5 flying triangles in a row! After that I was asked to have a roll with all of them. Hapkido is for the streets as you know so they were all trying to poke my eyes … So I started to use spider guard and a lot of wrist control. I had a 1 hour non stop roll with constantly changing partners. During this hour I did as many submissions as I did during the previous year training in Moscow! They all was surprised by BJJ ground game and then I was asked to come to another training to show them techniques .

From that moment the “word of mouth ” started to spread and people  from MMA, Greco Roman , Judo academies started to participate in evening classes with me . People were asking me to roll . I was very happy because finally I found some tough guys with good wrestling back grounds. From that moment untill now I have around 3-4 BJJ trainings a week and sometimes I am able to face tough wrestlers. But most of the time I am just teaching in a way of showing a base and drilling.

I also met a good guy he is Russian and he works as camera man for Russia Today channel. He asked me to teach him some stuff. He is mastering moves very quickly. To end this story I want to say something about ego of some guys … some become very frustrated because when they’ve spent 5-7 years training their deadly martial art and lose to a person who train his less then 2 years…. It really makes them crazy. To prevent bad attitude towards me I told them that I am practicing BJJ for 3 and half years! If you are going to visit Havana come to Calle 70 y 7A villa Roma palace or connect with me on my Facebook. Because now it is the only place in Havana where you can practice BJJ!