Rickson Gracie FAQ

the thing that irks me is this: When Kron was ripping everyone an asshole and tapping everyone in sight at purple and brown belts I don't ever remember rickson saying anything negative about competitive bjj or saying that it;s only 30% of jiu jitsu. But when Kron isn't dominating at black belt he says this.
 
idk but i wanna know more about what was said in that book that rogers mom wrote
 
Is that book that Roger's mum wrote in english, I've only seen it in portugese.
 
I think you guys are talking about "Carlos Gracie: Creator of a Dynasty" written by Reila Gracie. Reila is indeed Rogers mom...and Mauricio's wife...and Carlos' daughter. But I'm not sure it's been put into English yet? Only versions I've seen have all been in Portuguese.
 
Great FAQ. There are still some loose ends on some of the answers (interviews/articles/quotes of Rickson on internetlinks that are long gone unfotunately which say different than some of your answers) but good job nonetheless
 
If you can quote the links I can find fixed versions for them.
 
I was watching my copy of Colosseum 2000 the other day and I found it pretty interesting that someone like Saulo Ribeiro, who is so highly revered in the BJJ community today, was fighting on the same card as Rickson and got absolutely destroyed by Kondo, whilst Rickson dismantled and choked out Funkai, who was better than Kondo and people give Rickson shit for being overrated.

I think my point is that some people seem to think of Rickson as some distant figure in the past, yet modern (well i guess he retired again, but whatever) gurus like Saulo were actually fighting around the same time as him and on the same cards against lesser competition and looked like shit. It was also worth mentioning that even though you had Saulo, Sperry and other great catch and BJJ guys Rickson was the only one that actually scored a submission! I guess the haters will respond to this by saying that "Rickson had experience in MMA and fighting bla bla bla" but I think this just strengthens the point that Rickson was an experienced and good fighter, and more so than someone like Saulo.

Ohwell its just a thought and I think this was the best place to post it!
 
Classic quote and very telling of Rickson's control over someone.

FC: What is the one thing you've learned most from wrestling Rickson?

Roberto: (still laughing) How to tap out. I'm getting very good at it.

Fabio: (laughing also) With Rickson you have to learn to tap many different ways since your arms are often not free: the nose tap, the ear tap, the elbow tap . . .

Roberto: Don't forget the eye tap—blink three times fast.
Click to expand...
 
Balto said:
Wise words from Pedro.
Click to expand...

I think a lot of guys like Pedro represents a "classic" era of jiu jitsu when a lot of standards were set, standards that continue to define jiu jitsu today to a large degree.

But when I think of the most basic principles of jiu jitsu, principles that pre-date the "classic" era, I don't necessarily find fault in many of the so-called "modern" guards.

My instructor, who began training in the 1990s with Sperry and Bustamonte, always stresses that we must find in jiu jitsu what works for us. I think that many of the classicists of the jiu jitsu world should keep that in mind.

After all, isn't that Helio's greatest contribution to the art? Re-engineering jiu jitsu for himself?
 
Latest Rickson Interview:




"Essence and foundation are the factors that make people understand values. That is exactly what my work is about now."

He calls current MMA "uninteresting", and claims to miss the times when fights were used to decide which style was best, and categorizes the sport today as an extreme sport based strongly on athleticism. "There`s nothing interesting for me anymore. Everybody trains the same way and knows the same things. With such short rounds there is no way to draw defensive tactics based on patience and control in order to win, which is what our art preaches. MMA seems to be based on the lottery that is striking, thus a champion every week.

Some MMA champs think they`re good, but they have a hard time defending themselves.
Like Nog`s posture of "you hit my face and I'll hit yours", is incongruent. A jiu jitsu fighter goes up into the ring to exploit his opponent`s mistakes and leave the ring with a clean face. Being patient is not being passive. The technical precision of the art, which allowed one to survive in the hardest scenarios, is somewhat lost.

Rickson points out that in his opinion, Demian Maia is the current great brazilian exponent of jiu jitsu.

"He still sticks to the roots in some aspects. But I believe if he focuses too much on learning how to box he might lose focus. My father always said that he never fought to win, he fought not to lose. That sums it all"

-----------


aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand as usual there is a riot in the Brazilian MMA community because of what Rickson said

:P
 
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I have to admit that I'm largely in agreement with Rickson. MMA is still one of my favorite sports. But I appreciate his perspective - especially on the "lottery" metaphor when it comes to striking. I've heard other jiu jitsu guys - including Paulo Filho (!) make the same point.
 
I can understand the negative reaction. Calling striking a lottery is silly, ignorant, and offensive to most martial artists. It is offensive to me personally.

If Rickson thinks striking is such a lottery, then he should be able to take a striking match with the skilled champions and still win his fair share. After all, it's just chance, right? Throw a big punch and pray?

The truth is that striking is just as subtle and technical as grappling. Rickson is just mad that his pure style of BJJ can't win by itself anymore. But rather than bemoaning the evolution, it would be better to embrace it because MMA is so much more advanced now than it was in his time.
 
Balto said:
I can understand the negative reaction. Calling striking a lottery is silly, ignorant, and offensive to most martial artists. It is offensive to me personally.

If Rickson thinks striking is such a lottery, then he should be able to take a striking match with the skilled champions and still win his fair share. After all, it's just chance, right? Throw a big punch and pray?

The truth is that striking is just as subtle and technical as grappling. Rickson is just mad that his pure style of BJJ can't win by itself anymore. But rather than bemoaning the evolution, it would be better to embrace it because MMA is so much more advanced now than it was in his time.
Click to expand...

Of course, striking is just as much about skill as grappling.

But there is a definite difference in traditional BJJ strategy and striking, which is what Rickson is referring to, I think:

There is always the point where you have step into the pocket, in order to hit your opponent and there you can never fully discount the chance of him hitting you. While I wouldn't call that a lottery, It is certainly unsafer than the strategy of:
Takedown (stay safe), advance to sidemount (stay safe), advance to mount (stay safe) submit or punch.
You just cannot do that with striking. Especially because you cannot control the opponent for a length of time on the feet. Engage - disengage, while in BJJ you can control him and sequencially take him to a worse spot until you submit him.
 
I have a funny feeling that if Rickson fought Anderson Silva in striking only match, Rickson would manage to lose the lottery 100 times in a row.
 
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