Jiu-Jitsu, The Gentle Art

Everyone knows jiu-jitsu was originally created in Japan but I'm not going to touch on that because in my opinion the Brazilians are the ones who fully established the content of the "ground game".

Royce Gracie vs. Chad "Akebono" Rowan

Any one whos watched some of the first UFC tournaments would know the name Gracie and probably even Royce Gracie (in my opinion the most famous Gracie). I wouldn't say the first UFCs were some of the best fights but it was definately "interesting" to watch a 180 pound man make 300 pound men cry and tap. No weight classes meant a distinctive advantage for the bigger man, well.... that was the theory. Royce Gracie won 3 of the first 4 UFC tournaments from using a new style no one even heard of at the time. For this reason, I name him one of the best P4P fighters of all time because he was untouchable in his era. Of course its a different time now and you have to be a well diversified fighter to last in the UFC, but Gracie jiu-jitsu will always be known as the beginning of a new weapon in mma.

So why is my fighting style jiu-jitsu? Its simple, it promotes the principle that a smaller, weaker person can successfully defend themself against a bigger, stronger assailant using leverage and proper technique. I'm a normal Asian kid, and unfortunately we're not built super strong nor tall so being able to have a jiu-jitsu background always helps.

But if someone asks me if I'm a Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter I'll have to say no. I'm a 10th planet jiu-jitsu artist. Like I said before, its a new era. BJJ is based on using the gi but TPJJ uses overhooks and underhooks which suits mma. Having a strong guard is one thing, but to be able to pull off the rubber guard brings a new element to the game and I think Eddie Bravo did a great job introducing it to the world, even if the jiu-jitsu community is not thrilled with him. But come on you can't hate him, even Joe Rogan is a brownbelt under Eddie!

The plan is to finish my degree here at Laurier and then take a year off to go to California to train with Eddie Bravo.