Who's the highest level guy you've rolled with?

Jake Mackenzie, I pulled deep half on him....:) I have also rolled with "Teta" Rios. Very laid back guy with some serious skills.
 
Garcia, Glover, Braulio, Dannis, Feitosa, Cooper, Kron, Gui Mendes, so on.

However, nobody has made me feel like I don't know shit about BJJ after 10+ years as Rafa Mendes does in no gi. It's a weird experience.

Damn dude. That's a nice list. And that Rafa comment is legit. I was talking with someone the other day about how I think what he does nogi is damn near impossible to replicate. I know he's a great teacher and I know he teaches other stuff besides everything that he does himself, but being able to move and do stuff like what he does is crazy hard. Even if you watch the other dudes rolling in his academy on their nogi sparring videos you don't really see any of them rolling like he does.

he also confuses me. because he'll say things like "Passing standing without the gi is more risky because it's easier for people to get under your legs, so it helps to pass kneeling or down low" but then watching him he spends a heavy majority of his passing time on the feet going side to side, fast as shit..

Not to get on too much of a tangent.

Jake Mackenzie, I pulled deep half on him....:) I have also rolled with "Teta" Rios. Very laid back guy with some serious skills.

Lol. The first time I rolled with Gui Mendes he had taught RDLR and I pulled it on him. Didn't last very long. Pretty sure Teta Rios is @Shemhazai's instructor. Haven't seen much of him besides a cool little BJJ Hacks video but he seems like he's cool and fun to roll with.
 
I've hear that Tim was a Beastly Grappler. those Spec Ops guys are known in the military for having insane cardio and endurance. that said Tim Kennedy in an interview mentioned how a beginner Grappler in Chris Weidman gave him all he could handle as far as grappling. so what does that say about Weidman:eek:

they rolled right before weidman went into ufc weidman had already competed in the 2009 adcc by then so he was no stranger to grappling plus the guys getting daily privates with matt serra and gracies basically
 
Lol. The first time I rolled with Gui Mendes he had taught RDLR and I pulled it on him. Didn't last very long. Pretty sure Teta Rios is @Shemhazai's instructor. Haven't seen much of him besides a cool little BJJ Hacks video but he seems like he's cool and fun to roll with.

That's awesome. I have to say though, both jake and Teta are as nice as they come. Down to earth and really cool.

There's not much content out there on Teta but there's a video on youtube where Jackson Sousa visits London Fight Factory at the same time as Teta and they end up rolling together. One of Tetas' then blue belts is also featured in that video and my god, that kid is a beast.
 
Bernardo Faria. He rolled with everyone after a seminar, 40+ people. Obviously he was just toying with me in his deep half, I knew what was coming because that was the topic for the seminar and I could not do anything about it.
 
He was being nice :)

But all of them are so damn smooth, it was like nothing I've ever experienced. I've been smashed many times by black belts but it always FELT like I was being smashed. These guys smashed me in a way that I can only describe as rolling with a ghost...it's almost like they were moving around me ethereally and then BAM - there's my arm or BAM - there's a choke.

It's truly a feeling of helplessness on a whole other level.

That's what it was like rolling with Galvao. It wasn't that I got to a position and then he smashed me, rather he never let me get to a position. I spent probably a minute just trying to establish an open guard to start trying to work. He was just so far ahead of me mentally that he was reacting to and countering my offense before I could even begin attacking. Similarly, when I was doing randori in Judo with Jake Larsen who is a Pan American medalist, he didn't really even try to throw me (super nice guy), he just leg me get a grip and attack and no matter how I entered or what I tried he threw me with utsuri goshi (which is not an easy throw) really gently, like it was a technical demonstration. It wasn't substantially different in either case than what I do rolling with white belts, just tip toeing around their open guards letting them try to keep up before passing whenever I feel like it.
 
Damn dude. That's a nice list. And that Rafa comment is legit. I was talking with someone the other day about how I think what he does nogi is damn near impossible to replicate. I know he's a great teacher and I know he teaches other stuff besides everything that he does himself, but being able to move and do stuff like what he does is crazy hard. Even if you watch the other dudes rolling in his academy on their nogi sparring videos you don't really see any of them rolling like he does.

he also confuses me. because he'll say things like "Passing standing without the gi is more risky because it's easier for people to get under your legs, so it helps to pass kneeling or down low" but then watching him he spends a heavy majority of his passing time on the feet going side to side, fast as shit..

Not to get on too much of a tangent.



Lol. The first time I rolled with Gui Mendes he had taught RDLR and I pulled it on him. Didn't last very long. Pretty sure Teta Rios is @Shemhazai's instructor. Haven't seen much of him besides a cool little BJJ Hacks video but he seems like he's cool and fun to roll with.

Rafa body movements are very strange. When he standing passes without a gi, he uses a lot of parrying and footwork (like a boxer). He also uses the inside blades of his feet (rarely flat footed) and points his knees inward. It's really hard to explain till you see him do it to high level black belts like nothing.

Like you said, I'm not exactly sure you can learn to move your body the way he does. But I'll keep trying.
 
or wrestled, or Judo'ed? were you completely destroyed or did you do okay?

The Best overall grappler I've ever rolled with was Mark Munoz and I completely tooled his ass:cool:. seriously I got twerked/ destroyed.:wink:

My instructor, Professor Rick Young.

In reality, it wasn't a Roll, in the same way as I wouldn't be able to actually Spar with Mayweather. Rick just allowed me to attack for a couple of minutes before effortlessly catching me with an Arm Bar.:cool:
 
Ailson 'Jucao' Brites

also rolled with Dominique Bell (purple belt world champion from Atos) and he wiped the floor with me. it was awesome.
 
they rolled right before weidman went into ufc weidman had already competed in the 2009 adcc by then so he was no stranger to grappling plus the guys getting daily privates with matt serra and gracies basically

oh my bad I thought I remembered it as Tim saying Weidman was relatively new to BJJ:redface:
 
Rafa body movements are very strange. When he standing passes without a gi, he uses a lot of parrying and footwork (like a boxer). He also uses the inside blades of his feet (rarely flat footed) and points his knees inward. It's really hard to explain till you see him do it to high level black belts like nothing.

Like you said, I'm not exactly sure you can learn to move your body the way he does. But I'll keep trying.

Yeah man the parrying and footwork is some of what I thought was crazy and damn near impossible to mimic. I did not notice the knees pointed inwards, and the moving off inside blades of his feet. I think I looked ridiculous in open guard trying to move my hips fast enough to even try to keep up with that side to side passing movement.
 
For bjj I have rolled with Thadeu Vieira and Alan Shebaro. I honestly can't say how good they were compared to other people but they tooled me easily enough.

In judo I have gone against Arturo Gutierrez(past olympian) and Brad Bolen(olympic hopeful).

Maybe not the most elite guys but seeing as how I done against them I can't imagine how bad it would be against the true elite.
 
It's hard to not say the smaller guys like the Mendes brothers, Durinho, Cobrinha, and Jeff Glover.

Gui had the most soul crushing feeling of just sinking and sinking until you were drowned. Rafa was a little more playful but when he executed it was hard fast and precise.

Durinho was kind of hard to explain. Didn't get to roll that much with him. Cobrinha was very smooth but the pressure was arguably the most I've ever felt. It's oversimplified but he almost felt like a cross between Rafa's speedy quickness & Gui's smashing pressure.

Jeff Glover was very flowy and fast but also the most unexpectedly ruthless roll I've ever had. All these small dudes that scramble well you expect to be able to also move with them but the pressure is always more than you expect. I got thrown and taken down more than I thought I would with Glover, & besides what you'd expect him to get taps with I also got tapped with a Bas Rutten neck crank and some pro wrestling moves like the camel clutch, crippler crossface, and a half boston crab.

I like the way you describe how it felt to roll with these guys. Cool description.
 
I've watched everything I could on Kenny's old matches dude was a monsta.

It was a workout wrestling him then turning around and wrestling Mike Sheets. I was about 10 feet from the mat when he lost to Moss. I remember the people who there there to see Moss even say "This is a time where the better guy lost".
 
Werdum, Estima, Xande, Saulo, Roger Gracie, Bravo, Gokor, Marco Machado, Fabiano Scherner,

Toita, Monma, Okami, Akiyama, Karen D.,

Ishii, Takimoto

Chael, Herman, Hughes, Pierce, Fitch, Cain, Akbari, Rampage, Tito,

Just some of top of head
 
Cobrinha, Lepri, Romulo, Jean Jacques Machado, Babalu
 
He was being nice :)

But all of them are so damn smooth, it was like nothing I've ever experienced. I've been smashed many times by black belts but it always FELT like I was being smashed. These guys smashed me in a way that I can only describe as rolling with a ghost...it's almost like they were moving around me ethereally and then BAM - there's my arm or BAM - there's a choke.

It's truly a feeling of helplessness on a whole other level.

That's how it feels rolling with Andre. You can't even find him. Rolling with a ghost is a great metaphor.
 
Buchecha - Felt like a ball of yarn being toyed with by a LARGE cat.

Roger - Felt like I was being crushed. I've never felt so constricted in movement in my life.

These two rolls were 2 weeks apart.

Lucas Lepri - I literally wanted to quit Jiu Jitsu 3 minutes into a 6 minute round.

Vitor Shaolin - Every where I went, he were there waiting to choke me or sweep me. It was like a bad nightmare

JT Torres - Speed/atheleticism made me feel like a day 1 white belt.
 
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