Tag Archives: support

The Quiet Before the Storm

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Here we go! 2500 athletes (including me) are heading to California to compete in the IBJJF World Jiu-Jitsu Championship. It’s like the 30 minutes before a skydiving jump where the plane climbs to 15,000 feet. You can look down and see the ground getting farther and farther away. And suddenly you realize that you are going to have to return back down but without the help of a plane. And when it’s time… You stand up, walk towards the open hatch, and suddenly there is no more ground to walk on and you’re off…

That’s pretty much how I feel. I have the technique to win. I have the cardio to win. I have the game plan to win. The rest is just heart. I’m going to give it everything I got, one match at a time. I have 126 guys in my division (see below), but I only have to beat 7 of them to win gold.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me financially. I’ll send out a couple cool videos to you guys (after I get back) and to anyone that still might chip in a few bucks. I didn’t quite reach my goal to cover the full trip cost but it definitely made my journey a lot easier.

I’m very fortunate to have been a part of the judo and jiu jitsu communities in these last few years. I’ve only been doing jiu jitsu two and a half years, but I feel like it has already changed my life.

  1. Absoluto BJJ Horatiu Balint
  2. Absoluto BJJ ion pinzaru
  3. Academia Atitude/Gracie Humaita Ricardo Vargas
  4. Akxe BJJ Tony Torrisi
  5. Aldo Batista’s Club BJJ greg west
  6. Alliance Raphael de Castro Vieira
  7. Alliance Rehan Muttalib
  8. Alliance Atlanta Kaice Reilly
  9. Alliance Atlanta William Edmondson
  10. Alliance Ecuador James Robert Saa Marin
  11. Alliance Ecuador luis alfredo Arboleda Subia
  12. Alliance International Gert-Jan Vergauwen
  13. Alliance International Lucas Jose Alves de Oliveira
  14. Alliance JiuJitsu San Francisco Toby Marroquin
  15. Alliance JJ James Blake Hansen
  16. Alliance JJ Shane Adam Sorensen
  17. Alliance Los Angeles Samuel Christian Rice
  18. Alliance Marcelo Garcia Taylor Wayne Bright
  19. Alliance RJ Ryan Shackleton
  20. Alliance SP Ramzi Farzad Abdulwahab Ahmed
  21. Alliance USA Richard Pinto
  22. Alliance USA Wanderson Cardoso
  23. Atos Jiu-Jitsu Fabio Rodrigo Bortolon dos Santos
  24. Atos Jiu-Jitsu Julio Cesar Figueiredo Ferraz
  25. Barbosa JJ Alef Felipe da Silva
  26. Barbosa JJ Ygor de Arruda F. Y. de Souza
  27. BJJ Revolution Team Dominique Hoskins
  28. Brasa Warrior International Jim Barrett
  29. Carlson Gracie Canada Joele Cuenca
  30. Carlson Gracie Las Vegas Ricardo Cavalcanti JR
  31. Cesar Pereira Brazilian Jiu Jitsu – CTMMA Sean Quigley
  32. Charles Gracie Academy Steven White
  33. CheckMat Andrew Detwiler
  34. CheckMat Michael Anthony Torres
  35. CheckMat International Murat Yesildal
  36. CheckMat International Ryan Bustamante
  37. CheckMat USA Luis Morales
  38. CheckMat USA Omi Iwasaki
  39. Clockwork Jiu-Jitsu Josh Macin
  40. Clube de Jiu-Jitsu Pit Bull – San Diego ryan reed
  41. Cobra Kai Jiu Jitsu Vincent Inoncillo
  42. Combat Sports Boston Jonathan Leung
  43. Drysdale BJJ Dio Alfonze Buan
  44. Easton BJJ John Combs
  45. Easton BJJ Juan J Segnini
  46. Fight Club Jonathan Greek
  47. Fight Sports Hunter Xavier Kainalu Ewald
  48. Frontline Academy Joachim Sveinson
  49. GF Team Lucas Laet Mattos Moutinho
  50. GF Team Renan De Amorim
  51. GF Team Sergipe Richard Hopper
  52. Gracie Barra Luiz Gustavo Rocha Fernandes Neto
  53. Gracie Barra Marverk Vinicius da Silva Santos
  54. Gracie Barra America Antonio Santiago
  55. Gracie Barra America Ben Dowling
  56. Gracie Barra Brasil huerre
  57. Gracie Barra California Carlos Mena
  58. Gracie Barra California erick a leon garcia
  59. Gracie Barra International Anatoliy Aksanov
  60. Gracie Barra International jeffrey milton
  61. Gracie Barra Irvine Ali Magomedov
  62. Gracie Barra Irvine Maxen Antenor
  63. Gracie Barra JJ Oleg Ryaboy
  64. Gracie Barra JJ Sergio Daza Suarez
  65. Gracie Barra Orlando Johnatas Da Silva
  66. Gracie Barra Rio de Janeiro Josh Ramirez
  67. Gracie Barra Rio de Janeiro patrick ryan
  68. Gracie Barra USA Lionel Gomez
  69. Gracie Elite Team Joel Hadden
  70. Gracie Elite Team Pedro L Migliano
  71. Gracie Elite Team America Vasili Nikolaev
  72. Gracie Fighter Justin Nero
  73. Gracie Morumbi Kai Ellison
  74. Gracie Morumbi Steve Barahona
  75. Heroes Martial Arts Michael Greco
  76. Hilti BJJ Jyvaskyla Tommi Pohjola
  77. Icon Jiu-Jitsu Team Gabriel Salles Muniz Almeida
  78. Kron Gracie Jiu Jitsu Ryan Barber
  79. Lloyd Irvin Martial Arts Joseph Formica
  80. Lotus Club Jiu-Jitsu Clifford Anderson-Bergman
  81. Lovato Jiu-Jitsu Devin Roan
  82. Marcelo Alonso Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Doohyun “D.H.” Im
  83. Nova União Cooper Cardinale
  84. Nova União Thiago Bracks Oliveira
  85. Nova União USA Jordan Shepler
  86. NYMAG Jiu-Jitsu USA Julian Hermosillo
  87. Paragon BJJ Academy gregorio santiago
  88. Peter de Been JJ Grant Cooper
  89. Ralph Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Berkeley BOLDERDENE ODSUREN
  90. Renzo Gracie LA Robert Lewis Grober
  91. Rey Diogo/Carlson KEVIN MARQUINA
  92. Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu Aaron Jerel Eberhart
  93. Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu Justin Jones
  94. Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu International Kenny Steeve Haunui Otcenasek
  95. Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu International Patrick Davis
  96. Roberto Traven BJJ Alexander McIntyre
  97. Roberto Traven BJJ tom pennington
  98. Rodrigo Vaghi BJJ Drew Dober
  99. Ryan Gracie Team Rafael Rosa
  100. SBG International (SBGI) david walker
  101. Serao Mixed Martial Arts Benjamin Silva IV
  102. Serao Mixed Martial Arts Lucas Fernandes Oliveira
  103. Socal Fight Factory Alex Jose Alfaro
  104. Soul Fighters BJJ Igor Matosinho de Paiva
  105. South Valley Jiu Jitsu matt buren owens
  106. SPMA Aydin Mrouki
  107. Team Lloyd Irvin Joseph Ruggiero
  108. Team Lloyd Irvin Matt Rihani
  109. Texas Punishment Crew Kevin Johnson
  110. The Avengers Jason Kaoud
  111. The Avengers Jordan Meister
  112. Toronto BJJ Pema Dorji
  113. Training Ground Jiu-Jitsu and MMA Tim Park
  114. Tribe Jiu-Jitsu Roma Luigi Di Francia
  115. Undisputed Daniel Carlson
  116. Unit Maf Ludwig Michael Muller Vizcaino
  117. University of Jiu-Jitsu Laurenz Pakter
  118. Urban Jungle Self-Defense john saldana
  119. Victory BJJ Nam Huy Dinh
  120. West Coast BJJ Brendan Kiley
  121. West Coast BJJ David Kennedy
  122. WinnerJJ Anderson Costa da Silva
  123. Yemaso Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Richard Bothun
  124. Z1 Angola Helder Alves Cardoso
  125. Z1 Angola Walter Faustino

Everyone Loves to Complain About the Referees

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I competed at the Liberty Bell Judo Classic yesterday. Fought some tough black belts and had a good experience. I’ll have more to say about that when I get around to editing the video blog of that day.

I got to watch a lot of matches, and if anything was a common theme, it was that people complained about calls the referees made. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Just the usual amount of complaining. But that’s just it: people love to complain about referees and tournament organizers. The stress, nerves, emotions of competition need to go somewhere, and where better than to put them on the shoulders of the very people that make the event happen. That’s a sarcastic statement, by the way.

I’ve never felt that way about refs and tournament organizers. I am always filled with gratitude and genuine respect for the people that run the tournament. Perhaps I’m naive, but to me it seems that they are some of the most passionate supporters, fans, and practitioners of the sport. I’ll get a “bad” call and will be upset about it, but I won’t see it as the refs fault, but just bad luck. It’s part of the game. The ref only comes into play when your jiu jitsu and judo are not dynamic, active, and dominant. I always put it on myself if a referee was put into the position of having to decide the match.

I’m just grateful for the folks that love the competition side of the sport enough to help out. Many of the refs and organizers are current or past competitors themselves. They know what it takes to step on the mat, fight your ass off, and give everything for the chance to win gold.   They know it, they respect it, and they nurture it.

Alright enough of that. I just wanted to say that you’ll never hear me complain about the refs or tournament organizers, except jokingly over a beer or something. Because talking about the weather and complaining about the referees are the two things you can always fall back on where there is nothing to talk about at the bar.

By the way, I’m being nice in this post, so you would think I would get more good calls in my favor. On the contrary, I’ve learned over the months and years that I competed that the more I become friends with the refs, the harder they are on me when I’m competing.

PS: The picture in this post is that of Teddy Riner losing the 2010 World Judo Championships open category by a split referee decision.