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The Mendes Bros on Self Defense [Video]

Funny. I train at 10 planet SF and Denny knows every self defense move in the book
( he was with Charles Gracie as a kid)
He has always taught it( the more applicable ones)
Headlock / bear hug / parry / "comb your hair" to double unders / arm control / to back or throw
And we are the evil " sport" type of school
Why not? Just wrestling while avoiding the initial punch
 
BJJ_Rage said:
it could totally be, the voice is a known voice and it sounds like hes reading something...
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The timing in Ronin's video also seemed way too uniform imo. Also with the length of his speech I think you would expect a few more umms and ahhs.
 
BJJ_Rage said:
I dont know... but they sound really alike
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They definitely sound similar, but to me the voice in the "Ronin" video sounds deeper. Maybe it's just the mix though.


Gambledub said:
I don't know. Admittedly I don't speak Portuguese but to me that video always sounded computer generated. I forget the name of the software, but it's very common in music production. I used to have it. Take this for example...

[YT]gkwpXipZUoE[/YT]

0.00 - 0.36 and 1.12-1.20

See how it sounds like a native english speaker, but the tone and inflection sounds... off? That's what Ronins video always reminded me of. He must know some Portuguese to get the sentence structure correct etc but the software could handle the pronunciation.
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I have a lot of experience with text-to-speech software, and I'm 99% sure the voice in the video is a real human. If it were TTS, he wouldn't be emphasizing the logical words in each sentence (at least, what I think is logical as a Spanish speaker interpreting Portuguese). There also would not be as natural of a transition between the plodding, accented English and the fast, native Portuguese.

But I absolutely agree that the guy in the video is not speaking extemporaneously. It sounds like he is reading a prepared statement. The question is: What does that tell us?

If Ronin is Brazilian, I could understand why he would want to write out the English part of his message ahead of time. But it seems kind of weird for him to write out the Portuguese too, doesn't it? Maybe that would be normal for a longer message in which he wanted to make sure he didn't leave anything out. But the video wasn't even a minute long.
 
100%Jiu-Jitsu said:
They definitely sound similar, but to me the voice in the "Ronin" video sounds deeper. Maybe it's just the mix though.




I have a lot of experience with text-to-speech software, and I'm 99% sure the voice in the video is a real human. If it were TTS, he wouldn't be emphasizing the logical words in each sentence (at least, what I think is logical as a Spanish speaker interpreting Portuguese). There also would not be as natural of a transition between the plodding, accented English and the fast, native Portuguese.

But I absolutely agree that the guy in the video is not speaking extemporaneously. It sounds like he is reading a prepared statement. The question is: What does that tell us?

If Ronin is Brazilian, I could understand why he would want to write out the English part of his message ahead of time. But it seems kind of weird for him to write out the Portuguese too, doesn't it? Maybe that would be normal for a longer message in which he wanted to make sure he didn't leave anything out. But the video wasn't even a minute long.
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The switch from English to Portuguese is a good point. And it's pretty difficult for me to tell being only an English speaker whether or not it's an actual person.

That being said, alongside the other inconsistencies the sound is just too good imo. He either has access to a high end recording studio, or that is some sort of computer program. You would expect some sort of background in the recording, even if it was just white noise. I'm only noticing it now that I have headphones on, but the reverb (echo) on the voice, definitely sounds processed and artificial to me. Adding reverb is pretty common to make a sound appear more natural. Another thing is, if you are willing to identify yourself and your teacher, claim an assault after being threatened by a lawyer and you have access to a high end microphone and a place to record, why not get a $30 webcam and video yourself speaking?

To me it doesn't add up, I could see how it could be a real person speaking. But even still, this screams fake (but a well thought out) troll job to me. Maybe he paid some Brazilian voice actor lol.


Edit: The fact that his YouTube/Google+ was created on October 2014 and hasn't been used since or for anything else also screams troll imo.
 
Gambledub said:
The switch from English to Portuguese is a good point. And it's pretty difficult for me to tell being only an English speaker whether or not it's an actual person.
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The portion that starts at 0:10 and ends at 0:20 is definitely human. When he says something about defending his honor as a man, a martial artist, and a Brazilian, he changes his inflection to convey emotion. TTS can't do that.

Gambledub said:
Maybe he paid some Brazilian voice actor lol.
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I think that's the most likely theory at this point. Which is kind of nuts...
 
Matsukaze said:
Anyone know if Henry Akins trains with Kron at Ricksons academy?
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No, they have some history, there was a bit of a falling out when Henry started his new gym, and Kron effectively took over the Rickson Gracie Academy, as you might expect. But they are friendly when they see each other, as they have acquaintances and private students in common.

Henry was very good friends with Rockson, and Henry is quite a bit older than Kron (say, about ten years older). That's as much as I'll say to give you a picture, without getting into drama and gossip.

Kron's and Henry's academies have a very different emphasis, and a very different vibe, that reflects their different personalities and philosophies. They're both very good, and some students drop in at the other now and then, for one reason or another.
 
listening to the mendes bros (who are great) i sense they have never been in a real fist fight in their lives.
 
Ugh.

The only people who can speak with any authority on streetfights are either douchebags or law enforcement officers.

I don't see many law encirclement officers making hand to hand self defense videos.
 
Calibur said:
Ugh.

The only people who can speak with any authority on streetfights are either douchebags or law enforcement officers.

I don't see many law encirclement officers making hand to hand self defense videos.
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I'd say bouncers are just as, if not more relevant than LEOs in terms of knowledge in ordinary civilian self defense. They are generally unarmed themselves, they are more prone to being assaulted, and they often witness situations from a much earlier stage than LEOs would.

Not to say that every bouncer out there is some kind of ninja, but some of the most legit self defense experts, like Geoff Thompson and Richard Dimitri, have had this background.
 
No doubt much of the Thompson stuff is realistic.

If all one learned was to expect the sucker punch and to avoid it that alone would be worth it.
 
Thompsons book the "Art of fighting without fighting" or something along those lines is a great read. It's about what happens leading up to a fight/self defense situation and how to spot and avoid it.
 
Calibur said:
Wow. Almost as if they are well-adjusted grown ups! O_O
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my point being, is that you listen to the interview and you hear them say what they teach is fine for SD. now, what i am saying is that BJJ sport does not take anything against the rules like striking into consideration.

if you think that sport stuff is fine without modifications for striking, then you have never been in a fight or you would never say such a thing.

but saying that only dbags or law enforcement can talk about streetfights is something only a self righteous asshole would say.
 
randomg1t said:
every gun enthusiast will always tell you how criminals are less likely to do crime when armed people are around, but they will completely ignore the fact that situations that could otherwise result in broken bones end with deaths when someone pulls a firearm.
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I feel like this is a bad argument. I don't want my 65 year old grand mother to have even a broken pinky because of another human being. I would totally support her shooting anyone dead that posed any threat to her health what-so-ever.

The threat of serious bodily harm is no joke. One punch from a small girl has killed before.
 
Shemhazai said:
I'd say bouncers are just as, if not more relevant than LEOs in terms of knowledge in ordinary civilian self defense. They are generally unarmed themselves, they are more prone to being assaulted, and they often witness situations from a much earlier stage than LEOs would.

Not to say that every bouncer out there is some kind of ninja, but some of the most legit self defense experts, like Geoff Thompson and Richard Dimitri, have had this background.
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I agree.

I have no idea who Geof Thompson or Richard Dimitri is or why they're self sefense background is taken more seriously than say....Gracie Barra Womens empowering self defense class, stripe 2 lesson one.
 
Patrick F Carey said:
I feel like this is a bad argument. I don't want my 65 year old grand mother to have even a broken pinky because of another human being. I would totally support her shooting anyone dead that posed any threat to her health what-so-ever.
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and i don't want a 65 year old woman carrying a cannon and blowing my head clean off over what she thought was threatening, when in fact it wasn't. my granny is as vital and as sharp as they come at 75, but i wouldn't consider it safe for her to operate any kind of weapon.

The threat of serious bodily harm is no joke. One punch from a small girl has killed before.
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the threat of being shot is no joke. guns have done pretty much nothing but killed people.
 
randomg1t said:
and i don't want a 65 year old woman carrying a cannon and blowing my head clean off over what she thought was threatening, when in fact it wasn't.
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arguments like these are really so much projection. unconscious fears of ones own capacities (rather, the lack thereof) are so often sublimated in to intense regulative desires, to remove the weak or uncertain link in the equation: themselves.

when such a person says things like how someone with a gun would snap over some petty insult and shoot someone, *they are imagining themselves doing just that*, they are precisely the kind of person who could think that way.

such myopia is naturally solipsistic; of course they can only presume all others are of the same sort as themselves, deathly afraid of messing things up in someway, undeserving of agency.
 
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