Watching F2W’s Subversiv event tonight with their 5x5 team competition between 10th Planet, Team Lloyd Irvin, Erik Paulson’s CSW Association, and Team Carlson Gracie … F2W was in Seattle not too long ago. Having been in grappling since 2005, I can’t describe how impressed I am at what F2W is doing with its nationwide events. “Professionals” and amateurs, gi and no gi, adults, juniors, Masters, women … they do it all and they do it across the country.
Wow thats crazy
I’ve rolled with Samir. We actually trained out of the same gym but the guy was so busy with work he would show up like twice a week. Then he moved out west I thought to Las Vegas.
He has two brothers equally as skilled. Tough solid guys.
But I think TLI will clean house. I don’t think there is any gym with a more dedicated group of grapplers/fighters than TLI.
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Three black belts from my instructor’s school competed a few months ago in Boston at #80. All 3 are former pro fighters from early 2000’s vale tudo style promotions in Colorado, all 3 well past their competitive grappling primes. One of them got one of the submissions of the night and the other two did well against world-class competition, even though they lost.
I have to say it was pretty cool to watch. My local instructor is a four-stripe brown belt at their school and it is both exciting and humbling to know that I’m part of their jiu jitsu lineage. It is also awesome to see self-defense jiu jitsu stack up so well in a sport setting. My instructor’s instructor eats, drinks, sleeps and breathes jiu jitsu for self-defense and he shook off like 10 years of rust to compete against an active IBJJF World Champion. He lost, but he was most definitely not out-of-his depth.
I’m definitely going to get tickets next time they’re in the region.
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I consider both Lloyd Irvin and Eddie Bravo to be my jiujitsu “uncles” or godparents. Never met or trained with them. But both were instrumental via their books/email newsletters in helping me get a strong sense of what jiujitsu was all about when I was first starting out that is still with me 13 years later.
Love to hear self defense/old school jiujitsu folks mixing it up with the modern sport types! I’m almost 90% in the former camp - a little unusual for a featherweight, but that’s the jiujitsu I know, love, and believe in.
Yeah man I got mad respect for TLI even though many people jumped ship a few years back after all that controversy. I never got to train at there unfortunately. I went to their gym right after high school but they wanted more money then I could swing at the time. But the gym I ended up at many years later definitely was not short on talent and they definitely weren’t about no bjj bitchassness as they say at TLI.
If I could emulate any ones style and approach it would have to be Eddie Bravo. I started working on my flexibility big time after watch a few of his videos. But I am to busy to even train now so I am stiff as a board these days.
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Funny enough, Eddie Bravo’s biggest influence on my game is his half guard. I’ve never even tried any of this Rubber Guard-related techniques.
I love the fact that the two techniques he’s actually used most effectively at the highest level (relatively speaking w/re2 the rematch) - his arm wrap triangle win against Royler at ADCC and his dominant half-guard series (Electric chair sweep to Top Stoner Control to Vaporizer) in the Metamoris rematch - are 100% 10th Planet, but 0% Rubber Guard.
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Haha. My goal was to develop some rubber guard game but I am way too stiff. But I did have a decent amount of success with the electric chair. Its such a great technique especially against big tough guys who just want to smash you and like 90 percent of the people out there at least the ones I have encountered have little experience with it which makes it way easier to hit.
That second Metamoris match between them was so good. I wonder if he had permanent knee damage after that.
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I love that rematch. I rewatch it a couple times a month 
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