I think we have to be absolutely clear about this:
Everybody knows that Eddie Bravo is a good grappler. A very talented grappler. We all know that he is a good teacher and his book on the half-guard is very good. Up to this, he deserves a lot of respect.
Things start getting bad for him when Eddie starts to talk his anti-gi crusade. Now, everybody is entitled to their opinion, and so is he, so his opinion is not the issue.
The issues with Eddie Bravo are:
1- How he mentions his win against Royler to this very day.
Look at the worlds. Look at the black belts BJJ championships out there, and you will see a striking pattern for everyone not named Roger or Rickson Gracie: they lose. Everybody loses. The best of the best of the best in the world, lose. Braulio loses. Tarsis loses. Xande loses. Saulo loses. Kyra loses. Fabio Gurgel loses. Marcelinho (!) loses too.
What you do not see is athletes going on about how they beat other athletes, and living off of this. Once a tournament is over, it's over. That's it. You got it, you won, or lost. Athletes who are actually good do not go around mentioning who they beat, and when, especially because they all defeat and lose to each other on a constant basis.
Eddie beat Royler once, a long, long time ago. Since then, he has chosen to step out of competition and focus on his music. Good for him. He has, since then, failed to prove his system and his beliefs in competition. He actually hasn't even competed.
Fact is: Eddie is not a top 10% black belt in the world. I don't even think is in the top 50% of black belts in the world, skill wise. There are literally thousands of black belts who are more skilled than he is, teaching, and still competing, while Eddie doesn't and instead goes on and on and on about a victory he had one day.
That is reason number 1 why nobody likes him.
2- His no-gi crusade and conspiracy theories
Eddie Bravo has been talking down the gi for years, which like I said, is cool, we all have our opinions. The problem here is that he ignores the fact that luta livre fighters ( no gi) , catch wrestlers, and no gi BJJ schools, have minimal success in top no gi grappling competitions ( worlds, ADCC) where they should dominate, as opposed to regular gi training guys. His argument is proven moot pretty much right there.
But Eddie goes further by making a martyr out of himself, insinuating that the BJJ establishment is against his revolutionary ideas and has been sabotaging him.
This is so pretentious and unrealistic that it hurts: nobody outside of America knows or gives a crap about who Eddie Bravo is. If he wasn't Joe Rogan's teacher, he would have been absolutely forgotten by now. In Brazil, go to any gym ( and I've been to many of them all across the country) and ask about Eddie Bravo. You will get blank stares. They will ask you "was he in the mundials last year?"
No. He wasn't.
3- He has failed to produce any evidence to support his claims
This is simple: 10thPlanet guys should, according to Bravo's beliefs, be doing exceptionally well in competition. He has had enough time to graduate black belts. Unfortunately, 10thPJJ guys have so far been unable to succeed in the highest levels of no gi grappling, despite Eddie's beliefs.
And so has he. Not that he competes anyway.
4- He picks the douchiest names for moves, and appropriates them as if they were his own
Idiotic, retarded names for moves. Make him sound like an idiot.
5- His music sucks
Nothing personal, but it does.
6- His advocacy of marijuana
Is done in an obnoxious, pedantic manner. Like his advocacy of most things.
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That's how it is. All Eddie has to do to show his point is WIN or train someone who DOES. He hasn't.
See catch wrestling? We don't know them very well, they aren't as popular as BJJ in the US and Brazil. However, when they want to prove a point they WIN. Two guys , Kazushi Sakuraba and Josh Barnett, to prove their style and belief they did it in the ring and on the mat.
And Josh? No gi world champion AND put on a gi and submitted Otavio Sousa, a former training partner of mine who I KNOW is a beast on the mat. Whose foot was it that he almost broke too? Romulo?
Result? I have mad respect for catch wrestling. From 2 guys.
!0thPJJ? 1 win against Royler x failure in everything else.
SHUT.
THE.
FUCK.
UP.
