Come train at the RocknRoll Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Open Mat Saturdays in Orange County.
High level technique, technical rolls, share techniques and good music of course.
All levels, schools and people who love to train jiu jitsu and share techniques. Train gi or no gi, its up to you and whoever wants to train with you. Training both is strongly encouraged, but its all for fun and the love of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at the end of the day!
Guess What? Contrary to what the Gracie family would have you believe, they didn’t invent Brazilian Jiu Jitsu! And, if you take the time to research it, the Gracie’s were snobs and stingy with sharing jiu jitsu. History shows that they only taught to the rich or upper class. Some things never change.
Luis Franca was taught jiu jitsu by non other than Mitsuyo Maeda. Mitsuyo Maeda was an expert judoka with direct lineage to the founder of judo, Kanō Jigorō. Maeda, settled in Belem in 1917 and taught a small group of students, including Luis Franca and Carlos Gracie.
Oswaldo Fadda received his black belt under Luis Franca. Fadda taught jiu jitsu to the poor in Rio because, as usual, the Gracie tuition as too high. He taught in unorthodox locations free of charge to share the gentle art of jiu jitsu with the less privileged. The Gracies, in typical snobbish fashion, considered him an outcast.
Oswaldo Fadda Jiu Jitsu legend!
Fadda finally opened a school in 1950. He then challenged the Helio Gracie school with some of his students. The Gracies excepted the challenge and invited Fadda and his students to the Gracie Academy. Fadda’s students tapped out the Gracies and even put one of them to sleep. Much of Fadda’s students used foot locks to tap the Gracies who in sore loser spirit called the foot locks a ‘suburban technique.’ However, later Helio would say that it only takes on Fadda to prove that jiu jitsu is for everyone. Fadda is the only one known to have beaten Helio in a tournament.
Master Julio Cesar Pereira, leader of the Ground Fight Team has direct lineage to Oswaldo Fadda. Rodolfo Vieira is Master Pereira’s student. I always like to cheer for the underdog, don’t you?
Please take the time to read more about Oswaldo Fadda and learn more about how the Gracies didn’t invent brazilian jiu jitsu.
Every now and then I hear brazilian jiu jitsu practitioners debate whether its better to learn with a gi or without. I figured I might as well add my two cents to the discussion.
I am an average guy, average athleticism and average jiu jitsu. I have been training jiu jitsu on and off for about 15 years, am an average brown belt and rarely do no gi. I had an interesting experience the other day in the gym where I train. We had a wrestler / no gi jiu jitsu person come in to visit. i asked if he wanted to roll and he said he didn’t have a gi. I said no problem, I’ll try no gi for a change. I said, I apologize in advance, I haven’t done no gi in a couple years.
We started rolling and it didn’t take long for me to realize I had no material to grab. He out wrestled me easy, and I ended up on the bottom and was able to pull guard. But, once there, I didn’t feel uncomfortable, and the adjustments came easy for me. I just kept grabbing the wrists, back of the triceps and back of his neck to break his base and set up some attacks. I got a couple of different arm bars, a triangle and a lucky scissor sweep where I grabbed his wrist and back of the neck. I did have a lot of trouble sweeping him. He had really good base and through most of our roll I was on the bottom.
Like I said I am an average joe jitsu guy who has trained with a gi 98% of the time and here I was doing really well against a bigger, stronger and more athletic person than myself. He had been wresting his whole life and doing brazilian jiu jitsu for years, but only no gi.
I definitely think that people who start bjj should start with a gi. Think about it. I held my own with someone who does no gi all the time and I hadn’t done it in a long time. I could adapt to his game and do well. He probably could do well wearing a gi as well, but because he didn’t incorporate traditional jiu jitsu, he wouldn’t know how to do a gi choke, for example. And, because he doesn’t know how to do a gi choke, he won’t know how to defend against it either.
Like I said, I am just an average guy, but thought I would add my opinion!
Alright! Lets talk bjj, new techniques, fighters you like, gis, fitness, exercises and drills related to martial arts!
Here is one of my favorite ways to break down the triangle choke from open guard. Let me know if you have some cool new techniques you want to talk about.
Ive been doing bjj on and off for 15 years. Ive been a purple belt for a while now and I hope to have my brown belt in the near future.
I am an assistant instructor under Professor Marcelo Carvalho at Global Jiu Jitsu Academy and head instructor at RocknRoll BJJ & Fitness.
RocknRoll Brazilian Jiu Jitsu & Fitness - RNR BJJ 