An Interview With Eddie Ricardo of Cobra BJJ

I met Eddie Ricardo a couple years ago when he still taught Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu classes out of Saekson Janjira’s Muay Thai gym. He now runs Cobra Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in East Plano, where I visited him for an interview last week.

There was a class taking place when I walked in through the open door. Rap music was bumping out of the PA system, scoring the students as they searched for submissions and jockeyed for position. I left my shoes far away from the mats, and made my way towards a powerfully built man with a baby in his arms. Eddie Ricardo shook my hand and introduced me to his three-month-old son, Maxwell. He is a friendly man who always wears a smile; a counterpoint to the fact that Eddie is one of the most decorated grapplers in the metroplex with one of the most legitimate black belts you can get in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Tell me about yourself.

My name is Eddie Ricardo. I was born in Brazil, and I’ve been training martial arts since I was five years old. I started in karate; my mom put me and my brother in karate. Brazilian karate is not as commercial as it is in America, and people really beat the heck out of each other in class. In America, it’s watered down, kind of commercialized, rather than really founded on respect and integrity.

Growing up in Brazil, there’s much more freedom.  And one of the things I think is natural for boys to do is grapple around, try to size each other, and say, “Who’s the strongest?” So my mom put us in karate. Then I started doing capoeira, a form of dance that the slaves used to do because they couldn’t fight. They said they were dancing but they were training this martial art… and it’s really a popular sport in Brazil. I really like it because of the acrobatic moves you learn. There’s not really ‘competitions,’ because it’s considered more of a street fight. But once they were slaves they used to put blades in between their toes in order to cut—they didn’t punch because it would look too much like a fight to their lords. I’ve seen capoeira fights, but it’s more of a sport, more acrobatic.

Capoeira… shows you how to have loose hips, which really helps you fight. The orthodox fighting style is, you keep your base leg behind you, so the power comes from your foot to your hips, to your shoulder to your wrist. Capoeira helps because when you do something out of the orthodox, you can surprise people, like with a spinning backfist. Like, you know, Anderson Silva knows capoeira. It’s kind of like yoga in a sense, once you get loose, it helps your fighting.

Speaking of which, how do you know Anderson Silva?

The Nogueira brothers, I’ve trained with them for a long time. Rodrigo Minotauro Nogueira, he was a friend of a friend, so I trained with him and his trainers. Him and Anderson—they used to be on rival teams, but they never had any rivalry. Anderson Silva used to be part of Chute Box, and Nogueira used to be part of Brazilian Top Team. Chute Boxe was known for really good stand-up fighters, and Brazilian Top Team was really known for good ground fighters, from Carlson Gracie. So we’re part of one of the best teams in the world, the Nogueira Team, or the Black House team.

Who was your BJJ teacher?

My teacher, Carlos Machado, who is a cousin of the Gracies—the guy is amazing, been training since he was four years old. He was the nephew to the founder of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu… the guy is just a bible of Jiu-Jitsu. He’s here in Dallas, so it was a great opportunity to train with him. He’s phenomenal, not only in jiu-jitsu but as a human being.

Do you do any strength and conditioning for jiu-jitsu?

It all depends on the person. It’s just things you understand by watching. Some people have to get bigger, some have to get smaller. You see, the guys like Jose Aldo can last for a long time because their heart doesn’t have to pump so much blood, because he’s smaller.

How is Mixed Martial Arts perceived in Brazil?

It was dying, to be honest with you. You have to understand, in order for Jiu-Jitsu to even have a reputation in Brazil, they would put news in the newspaper: “Come to Gracie Academy if you want to get your teeth broken, your arm snapped,” you understand? They were challenging everyone. So a mom wouldn’t want to put her kids there. But now that they see people coming out of poverty and becoming famous and rich, it’s going to go back up.

It is a rich man’s sport. Jiu-jitsu is a more elite sport than boxing. In Brazil they say, if you are poor, go to Muay Thai or boxing. Jiu-jitsu is about $130, $160 per month and then there’s the gi, the equipment.

Everybody needs to be a little clever in fighting. It’s a mental game, as well as physical.

When I started doing jiu-jitsu, I thought that if I got stronger, muscular, it would solve my problems. It would give me confidence; no one would mess with me. But after a long time, after my teacher, Carlos Machado, I understood that if you got stronger mentally, you can dominate more people than if you were stronger physically. Mentally, you can control legions of people. These guys, with their words, with their knowledge, they control nations. The mind controls the body.

The Guillotine Choke

The Guillotine Choke

Before I ever took a lesson in Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, or boxing lesson, I used to strap on a pair of cheap gloves and get into brawls with other kids. My best friend is a tall guy with long limbs, and fighting him was a nightmare. If you tried to come in close to neutralize his reach, he would immediately throw an arm over and around your neck and squeeze until you tapped or passed out. This is called the guillotine choke.

The guillotine is still one of my favorite submission holds. It is very easy to execute and works against aggressive people with poor wrestling technique—meaning, of course, that it works on nearly everyone. It is not just a neck crank, as a well-executed hold will reduce blood flow to the brain by obstructing the carotid arteries and place a very uncomfortable amount of pressure on the trachea. Of course, this does mean that the guillotine choke is a dangerous maneuver and that these instructions should not actually be carried out. I am not a jiu-jitsu instructor, wrestler, or authority on the either subject, and the following is strictly for informative use!

A man is barreling at you low with his neck out. He wants to tackle you. This is how to neutralize a football tackle and execute a guillotine choke:

1. Assume a more stable position. This means keeping your base a little wider than shoulder width and your hips low.

2. Slow him down by meeting the top of his forehead with your palms. This is optional.

3. Throw an arm around his neck. Try to get it deep. Ideally, your elbow crease should be in contact with his trachea.

4. Secure the choke by clasping your hands together.

5. Stand up and arch your back, while keeping your assailant’s head low. Think about trying to rip his head off and take it with you.

From here, you can wrap your legs around his back and fall to the ground, which reduces your opponent’s mobility. I would only do this if the ground is soft, your guillotine is tight (if he gets out, that means you’re underneath a really angry guy), and you’re worried about the opponent punching anything below your chest. I’ve also seen guillotine suplexes performed, which end with you in mount with full control of your opponent’s neck.

The deepest guillotine I have ever seen is Dan Miller’s submission of Dave Phillips in the IFL. Though Phillips was mostly conscious after the hold is released, the choke itself was very graphic and undeniably effective. Again, this choke works well against low-level BJJ practitioners, bad wrestlers, or totally untrained opponents--or if you're Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, against Tim Sylvia for the Interim UFC Heavyweight Title.

Last night I got the chance to sit down with JB, a former peer from Saekson Janjira's Muay Thai who wrestled in high school and made his way to Cobra Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Plano, where he teaches wrestling. JB is a young, aspiring MMA fighter in college.

What got you into martial arts?

I used to play basketball, and then coaches choosing whether I got to play or not—I didn’t like that. I knew in wrestling that I would have challenge matches and it would be all up to me whether I would be playing or not. And then I started doing the Muay Thai thing at Saekson’s, and then the whole MMA thing, and then jiu-jitsu, you need submissions and submission defense.

You said you have a tournament coming up this Saturday?

It’s the Lone Star Classic, I want to say? It’s a gi tournament, and you have to weigh-in with the gi. There’s 167.5 and 181, but you weigh in in the gi and the gi is easily five pounds, so I’m going for the 181.

Are you planning on competing in MMA?

Oh, for sure. I’m eighteen, just graduated from high school. I’m trying to get settled down, I need to get consistent stand-up training, what I have here with jiu-jitsu, and college is kind of throwing a wrench in the works. I’ve been working at Domino’s Pizza for a while so I can negotiate the hours, close one day, open one day, you know.

Is wrestling in high school Greco-Roman or folktyle?

You start off folkstyle, that’s what everybody does, and if you want to wrestle after the season’s over on your own then it’s Greco-Roman.

How has your wrestling influenced your BJJ game?

Jiu-jitsu is really different. It’s a lot of little, little details; that’s why it takes so long to get your black belt. That’s why Eddie’s so much better—he knows all the little details. You have to get those inches, every little detail—everything, you have to really master it.

I’m getting really into jiu-jitsu, because if you get a black belt, you’re kind of set. Anybody can get a black belt. You just have to work hard and show up; you’ll learn it and you’ll get it. Wrestling, you have to be an athletic specimen, you have to cut weight, you have to compete in tournaments every weekend, go to the Olympics, get your name out there… And then Muay Thai, I mean, Saekson’s had what, how many fights? I’m not trying to fight 500 times, you know?

What would you describe as the perfect template for a fighter?

You honestly need a little bit of everything. The most successful fighters have a really good wrestling background, enough standup to not get knocked out, and good enough jiu-jitsu to defend against submissions. I guess wrestling is probably your best base, because you can control where the fight goes, you have the cardio, and you’re used to competing in front of other people. So I’d say wrestling is really important.

Wrestling is kind of like a cult. It was crazy, man, you’re up there at seven in the morning running, cutting weight, not eating, working harder than normal people work with a fourth of the food that they eat. So when you’re like fueled up, you’re like way better than all those other people, you know what I’m saying?

On Being Asian in the World of Strength

Tomorrow night, Manny Pacquiao will defend his legacy as one of the greatest fighters of this generation. He is such a phenomenon in the Philippines that the incidence of crime literally drops on fight night because everyone is too busy cheering on their native son. Pacquiao is revered by many as one of the few Asian role models in existence. Rarer still, he is an Asian man excelling in the world of combat sports and physical activity.

My parents were born in Indonesia. My dad is Chinese by blood and my mom is a little bit Chinese, a little bit of Indonesian, and, strangely enough, has a surname that could be Indian or Filipino. I grew up in Lubbock, and have since lived in Texas for the large majority of my life. I want to get strong and fight for many reasons, but one of them is undeniably the fact that the only Asians I saw in popular culture were known for their martial arts prowess. As a kid, the only people who looked like me on television were the Black Power Ranger, Jackie Chan, and Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat.

I was skinny and of average height when I first picked up a barbell. My parents were supportive but told me that the Chinese looked at extra mass as useless and purely cosmetic, that the culture frowned upon ‘mirror muscle’ as vain and a sign of low intelligence. It made sense to me because even Bruce Lee, arguably the face of martial arts, probably never weighed more than 160lbs. Despite being an incredible physical specimen, Bruce Lee also dispatched his onscreen opponents with impeccable technique and skill instead of raw power. The largest male Chinese weightlifter placing gold at the 2008 Olympics was Lu Yong, who weighs in at somewhere between 170 and 190lbs for competition.

I’ve found myself in many American gyms surrounded by a sea of faces that are white, black, Hispanic, Arab, or Indian, but rarely East Asian. I witnessed the same trend at Saekson Janjira’s Muay Thai classes, the boxing club at my old school in New Orleans, and in nearly every group I’ve encountered practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I think the reason for this is that aggression and violence are universally frowned upon in Asian culture, and both of those things are necessary to excel in weight training and certainly unavoidable in a fight. Traditionally, the ability to maintain your dignity and composure under any circumstance is highly regarded by Asians.

At the same time, my best friend has Mongolian parents, and he can bench more than me and we’re rough equals when it comes to boxing and wrestling. Just last month I invited one of my friends, an Indian guy who plays guitar in a hardcore punk rock band, to work out with me, and he deadlifted an easy 365lbs. for several repetitions on his very first try. What many older Asians don’t realize is that weight training and martial arts also necessitate diligence, proper planning, hard work, and the desire to be better than everyone else—all of which are values that were instilled in me by my mom and dad.

As I write this, an extended preview of Pacquiao versus Marquez III is playing in the background, and I’ve just read about an MMA fight scheduled to take place in Jakarta, where my mom grew up. Two Japanese guys (one of which is the always-exciting Kid Yamamoto) will fight on the undercard of the UFC’s debut on the FOX network tomorrow, and next week, Vietnamese kickboxer Cung Le will take on Wanderlei Silva in the co-main event of UFC 139. Being Asian and training makes me a minority within a minority, but somehow, I feel like that is due to change.

Capoeira: You Got Served

Capoeira was developed by slaves from Africa who disguised their fights from their masters as a form of dance (Sheridan, 2007). The closest thing I can compare it to is break dancing: you can find participants throwing kicks from handstands and doing all sorts of acrobatics. Capoeira is very flashy and heavily based on rhythm. I got the opportunity to see a Capoeira exhibition in person, and everyone was clapping and cheering and even playing drums throughout the match, which was really less of a fight and more a display of grace and skill.

Capoeria is not widely used in modern MMA, but you can see its influence most notably in Anderson Silva, who dances in the ring and possesses a certain fluidity in his movements that very uncommon in the average brawler.

It is ironic that MMA fans will think of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai as the definitive Brazilian fighting template, but in popular culture, Capoeira is the stereotypical fighting style. The 2006 independent action movie The Protector features this gratuitous, over-the-top fight scene with no real explanation between the main character, a Muay Thai practitioner, and some caricature of a Brazilian with dreads and wire-enhanced capoeira. Undisputed 3: Redemption (a C-movie based on a franchise that originally starred Wesley Snipes and Ving Rhames) brought us a similar character in 2009.

Capoeira is still popular in Brazil, but mostly as a cultural institute. A social organization called AfroReggae, for example, uses Capoeira to give children who would otherwise get involved with the drug trade and gang life a hobby to live for. They use Brazilian (specifically, black Brazilian) culture to teach children the importance of morality, education, and the arts (Platt, Neate, 2006).

Next time you play Tekken 3, pick Eddy Gordo.


Sources:


Sheridan, S. (2007). A Fighter's Heart. Atlantic Monthly Press.


Neate, P., & Platt, D. (2006).Culture is our weapon. New York, New York: Penguin Books.

Novembrawl: Major Brazilians Fighting this Month


November is an exciting month for some of the highest-profile Brazilian fighters in the world. Be sure to check out some of these events—you know and I both know that these are going to be real brawls.


Brad Pickett versus Renan Barao: November 5th


Fighters in MMA’s bantamweight division cut down their weight to 135lbs. before every fight. Though these competitors may seem light, do not let their size fool you—with less muscle mass to carry around, bantamweight fighters are able to keep up a blistering pace during their bouts without getting tired. Renan Barao is a young, undefeated Brazilian fighter with 26 names in his win column, fighting an Englishman in his own country. Will Barao be able to land on Pickett’s stiff upper lip?


Thiago Alves versus Papy Abedi: November 5th


Thiago Alves has wins over Matt Hughes, Karo Parisyan, Chris Lytle, and Josh Koscheck, and once fought Georges St-Pierre for the welterweight title. Alves uses his powerful Muay Thai to pick apart his opponents on the feet; however, his next challenge is a judo player with heavy hands who will test Alves’s takedown defense and ability to deal with fighters even larger than himself. Fireworks are guaranteed.


Junior Dos Santos versus Cain Velasquez: November 12


There has always been a certain gravitas around the heavyweight title in combat sports. Next week, Junior Dos Santos and current titleholder Cain Velasquez will square off for a spot in the pantheon of champions like Ali, Tyson, Foreman, and Marciano. There’s a lot of hype behind this matchup, but both guys are exciting fighters that like to put on a show. Dos Santos could bring a lot of attention to Brazilian MMA if he takes the belt home next week.


Wanderlei Silva versus Cung Le: November 19


Some competitors in the sport of MMA call themselves “athletes” or “martial artists,” but Wanderlei Silva is by everyone’s definition a fighter. The man known as “The Axe Murderer” for his vicious style has wins over Rampage Jackson, Sakuraba, Dan Henderson, Ricardo Arona, and Michael Bisping. Silva is the prototypical Chute Boxe fighter, with a mean clinch and wild but effective striking. He looks to score a win over the former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion, Cung Le.


Mauricio Rua versus Dan Henderson: November 19


Mauricio “Shogun” Rua is everything I like about Wanderlei Silva, but six years younger and with flashier kicks. He is the former PRIDE Grand Prix winner and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. His opponent, Dan Henderson, is a 41 year old former Olympic wrestler whose last win was a first-round knockout of the greatest heavyweight fighter in the history of the sport, Fedor Emelianenko. This non-title bout between two living legends looks to be nothing short of spectacular.

Novembrawl: Brazilians Throwing Down this Month

Fighting to Escape Poverty

I never go to the school. I lost my dad when I was fourteen years old. I start selling drugs, I work with guns.. to make some money for my family. My friend, he say, 'Hey bro, you gonna be shot in the head like how your friends die. What are you going to do about life, your mom needs help.' Next thing I know, I sell the gun, give back the drugs, and I start fighting hard, to help my family.

--Diego Brandao, on how he started fighting.

Though Brazil is the sixth (almost fifth) largest economy in the world (Economist, 2011), there exists a disgusting economic disparity between 'rich' and 'poor' and millions of its citizens must deal with the pressure of poverty. Despite adversity, many Brazilian fighters have managed to become very financially successful through mixed martial arts.

For many young Brazilians, entering the drug trade is a highly risky yet potentially highly lucrative escape from their impoverished backgrounds. Films like 2002's City of God stylize but do not exaggerate the violence that accompanies the drug trade; from 1979 to 2000, 48,000 people were killed by firearms in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro alone (Neate, Platt, 2006).


Rural Brazil is less violent but still ripe with poverty; the Northeast is a land shaped by "drought as well as the fear of drought" (Arons, 2004) and its traditionally agricultural inhabitants struggle to grow food to sell, let alone to sustain themselves.


It is difficult enough to even make a living in such desperate conditions, let alone learn to fight. The fact of the matter is that MMA is basically a rich man's sport. While a sport like soccer can be practiced with a goal, a ball, and some other players (and in-school programs likely exist to support it), MMA requires much more coordinating, equipment, and money. Consider that, if you cannot find a gym dedicated to the sport of MMA, you must learn to wrestle and play Brazilian jiu-jitsu; you must also learn to box and also to use your kicks. This requires at the very least a mouth guard and gloves, but could potentially require shin guards, a gi, and a protective cup on top of the monthly fees of your gyms and the sheer time and effort involved in these pursuits.


That only makes some of these fighters' accomplishments more incredible. Consider the top dog of the featherweight division, Jose Aldo, who grew up poor and trained with kids from Rio's favelas with dreams of making it rich one day ("Fight! life," 2010). Or the story of Rouismar "Toquinho" Palhares, whose background is so haunting that he, a 200lb. destroyer with a penchant for joint locks, started choking back tears during an interview with ESPN (Teague, 2011) when describing a time that he and his family had to eat pig feed in order to survive.


I love the fact that some of these Brazilians are not only incredible fighters, but remarkable human beings who overcame seemingly insurmountable odds to get to where they are. You can see them in the ring, fighting with a fury, an intensity, a hunger that they carry on their backs to remind them of their roots.


Update: The morning after this entry was posted, MMAJunkie released a short article on poor fighters in Brazil. Check it out.


Sources:


Arons, N. (2004). Waiting for rain. (p. 24). University of Arizona Press.


Neate, P., & Platt, D. (2006).Culture is our weapon. (p. 116). New York, New York: Penguin Books.


(2010). Fight! life: José Aldo - the beautiful game. (2010). [Web Video]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btbsdhDWnOY


Teague, H. (2011, August 22). Palhares still battles to escape past. Retrieved from http://espn.go.com/mma/story/_/id/6881815/poverty-professional-powerful-rousimar-palhares

Wars of Race and Class in the Ring

“Come on, hit me in the face, playboy. Where is your jiu-jitsu?”
--Anderson Silva to fellow Brazilian Demian Maia, during their title fight.

Last year’s UFC 112 event was headlined by a middleweight title fight between the striking phenomenon Anderson Silva and the grappling prodigy Demian Maia. Fans expected Silva to come out guns-blazing from the bell, and sure enough, he dropped his opponent with a straight right hand early in the fight. Then, instead of swarming on the disoriented Maia with punches, Anderson Silva struck comical poses and taunted his opponent. 


The striker used his fantastic speed to feint his opponent and tag him with hard punches that Maia had absolutely no answer for. The taunts continued for 25 minutes, and Maia was helpless on the way to a decision loss (MMA Junkie, 2010).

Brawlin’ Brazilians: People You Should Watch

Picking up the sport of MMA as a viewer is kind of tough to do. Before you know which fighters you like, sometimes you have to snore through matches where nothing happens. Here are some notable Brazilian fighters that will keep you on the edge of your seat:

Junior "Cigano" Dos Santos

If you really look at how Fabricio Werdum's head moves in Junior Dos Santos's UFC debut, it's clear that the very last thing he saw before getting knocked out was the cruise missle of a right uppercut that Junior Dos Santos launched towards his face. Sometimes I lie awake at night, just staring at the ceiling and wondering what Werdum's last thoughts were.

Dos Santos's path to the UFC Heavyweight Championship fight next month was paved on straight pineboxing guys with his boxing. Dude has serious fists.

Fights to watch: Gabriel Gonzaga, Gilbert Yvel, Stefan Struve.

Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira

When "Big Nog" was eleven years old, he was essentially bisected by a truck. He shrugged it off and became the PRIDE heavyweight champion, and later, the UFC heavyweight champion (Sydney Morning Herald). For years, Nogueira's fighting style was the ancient art of, "get beat up until you can submit your opponent via Hail Mary-fu." He took Fedor to decision, twice, and threw an armbar on former football player Bob Sapp after being powerbombed into the mat.

Last month he was the heavy underdog when he fought former Golden Gloves champion and NFL football player Brendan Schaub (Fowlkes), as Nogueira had been knocked out in two of his last three fights and Schaub had finished three in a row by violent stoppage. The bar I was in exploded when Nogueira threw a sick ten-punch combination and put away the young lion.

Fights to watch: Randy Couture, Bob Sapp.

Anderson Silva: 



Without question, the best fighter alive. Every time he walks into the cage we watch real greatness unfold. I cannot say enough good things about him, his striking, reflexes, speed, and creativity are excellent.

He even did a dance routine choreographed to a Justin Bieber song, which, in a weird way, makes me like both guys more. We live in a world where teen pop sensation Justin Bieber and pound-for-pound emperor Anderson Silva are buddies. Is this real life?

Jose Aldo

Trying to punch a professional fighter is a lot like trying to kill a fly with a newspaper: they move around a lot and taunt you when you miss. Now, try knocking out a professional fighter in less than ten seconds, in mid-air, using just your knees. If you succeeded, you just might be Jose Aldo fighting Cub Swanson in the now-defunct WEC.

But probably not. You'd also have to have a twelve fight winning streak against the best featherweight fighters in the world, as well as a UFC championship under your belt.

Fights to watch: Mike Brown, Mark Hominick, Cub Swanson.



Sources:


"Horrific accident puts Nogueira's challenge in perspective." Sydney Morning Herald. 10 Jan. 2010. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. <http://www.smh.com.au/sport/horrific-accident-puts-nogueiras-challenge-in-perspective-20100129-n3y2.html>.


Zeus. "Watch Anderson Silva Perform a Justin Bieber Routine Complete with Backup Dancers." MiddleEasy.com. 17 Oct. 2011. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. <http://middleeasy.com/index.php?option=com_content>.

The Thai Clinch: Or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Knees

“Grab his neck this time, I start knee! Knee! Push him down, grab, grab tight. He cannot defend the head. He cannot defend the body. I can rain! Knees! As long as I want!”

 -Former UFC Heavyweight Champion, former King of Pancrase, and MMA legend Sebastiaan “Bas” Rutten on knees from the clinch.

Muay Thai is a striking art that originated in Thailand, but was brought to Brazil in the late 1970s by Professor Nelio Borges. It was eventually passed on to a man named Rudimar Fedrigo, founder of Chute Boxe, a team that was once considered by many to house the most dangerous men in the world (BMTA). Its most famous members were people like Anderson Silva, the current UFC Middleweight Champion; Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, the winner of PRIDE's 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion; and Wanderlei Silva, PRIDE's 2003 Middleweight Grand Prix champion.

These guys are probably my favorite fighters, and some of their most memorable moments in my eyes are centered around their use of the Thai clinch. Brazilians are awesome with the clinch.

The premise of the Thai clinch is simple, but brutal: you grab the back of someone’s head with both hands, bring them close to your body, and now you have complete control of your opponent’s neck. From here, you can throw them off balance or use your knees to attack their body and face.

The clinch (also called the Thai Plum) is so effective that it was actually banned from use in kickboxing’s largest organization, K-1 (Coffeen). There are a few reasons why the clinch allows you to maximize the amount of punishment you give out while taking relatively little damage, including:

Clinching reduces the effectiveness of your opponent's attacks. This works because your control of the opponent's head interferes with their field of view, and your close proximity does not allow your opponent to land clean punches to vital areas. Notice how, in the above images, neither of the men opposite the Brazilians is capable of doing any significant damage.

Clinching allows you to control your opponent. Longtime MMA trainer Martin Rooney says that "the neck is the pillar of the body" (Rooney). That means that wherever your neck goes, the rest of your body follows. Using the clinch allows you to efficiently drag or throw your opponent via head and neck control, as artfully demonstrated by Thai Plum wizard Anderson Silva in his fight against Rich Franklin.

Silva was able to use the forward momentum of his foe, Rich Franklin, to his advantage. Franklin was whipped against the cage, which heavily limited his mobility and allowed him to be set up for a variety of strikes, throws, and trips. Moreover, part of the reason K-1 banned the use of the Thai clinch was its potential for defensive use; fighters with their backs against the wall would clinch their opponents and avoid being trapped in a corner of the ring (Coffeen).

Clinching allows you to throw your knees. You can uppercut, elbow, and kick from the clinch, but the real money lies in firing up your knees to your opponent's face or torso. Not only is your opponent's posture broken, thus lowering their head enough to be hit with a knee, but your control over their neck allows you to pull their face towards your knee as you strike.

 

Like I said before, Brazilians from the Chute Boxe camp are awesome clinch fighters. Now you know what people are talking about when they refer to something as the "Bees' Knees."

(Bees' refers to Brazilians'. I'm terrible, I know.)

Sources:

"History of Muay Thai." Brazil Muay Thai Association. Brazil Muay Thai Association. Web. 20 Oct. 2011. <http://www.bmta.com.br/>.

Coffeen, Fraser. "K-1 Rule Change Bans Strikes from the Clinch - Head Kick Legend." Head Kick Legend. Head Kick Legend, 27 Mar. 2010. Web. 20 Oct. 2011. <http://www.headkicklegend.com/2010/3/27/1392947/k-1-rule-change-strikes-from-the>.

Rooney, Martin. "11 Myths of Warrior Training." T-NATION. Testosterone Nation, 2010. Web. 20 Oct. 2011. 

<http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/11_myths_of_warrior_training>.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: How One Family Changed the Face of Fighting

"It's like chess, if you had a million pieces. It's a game, and the game is using your body to dominate another person's body with technique and leverage."

-Joe Rogan, commentator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, former U.S. Open champion in tae kwon do, and brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Eddie Bravo.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) is the magic bullet of martial arts. It focuses on chokes, joint locks, and achieving advantageous positions during grappling to neutralize your opponent's offense. If your technique is solid enough, you can disable people that are stronger, faster, and bigger than you.


Mitsuyo Maeda brought the art of Jiu-Jitsu from Japan to Brazil and taught it to Carlos Gracie, the eldest of several brothers. Carlos opened up a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu gym in 1925, but it was his youngest brother, Helio, that took the style and ran with it.

Helio Gracie (1913 – 2009) was always smaller and physically weaker than the rest of the Gracie brothers. In order to make up for his lack of size, Helio modified Jiu-Jitsu techniques to take greater advantage of leverage. Thus, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was born (Onzuka).

BJJ is so brutally effective that 170lb. Royce Gracie (one of Helio's children) literally volunteered to step into a steel cage with over 220lbs. of steroids and spandex in Ken Shamrock at the very first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Obviously Royce won; otherwise there would be no point in telling you this story. But it wasn't just any David and Goliath victory--it only took Royce Gracie fifty-seven seconds for to sink his nasty rear naked choke on Ken Shamrock. Here is an excellent video of Royce Gracie's nephews breaking down the fight and its techniques on YouTube, with clips from the original UFC 1 showdown:

Since that fateful match between Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has become part of every modern fighter's arsenal--you simply cannot win in MMA without being able to apply or at least avoid submissions. A fighter that has never heard of a heel hook is like a math major that doesn't know long division.


On January 29, 2009, Helio Gracie died at 95 years of age. His last words were, "I created a flag from the sport’s dignity. I oversee the name of my family with affection and nerves of blood." 

 Sources:

Onzuka, Chris. "A Gracie Family Pictorial." Onzuka Brothers, n. d. Web. 14 Oct. 2011. <http://www.onzuka.com/graciepix.html>.


"Royce Gracie vs. Ken Shamrock UFC 1 (Gracie Breakdown - Classics)." Video. Rener Gracie. GracieBreakdown, 2010. Web. 14 Oct 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSS9CuuPvQg>.


Rogan, Joe. "PODCAST #132 - Bert Kreischer, Brian Redban." The Joe Rogan Experience. 22 Aug 2011.

Why is a Chinese Guy from Texas Writing about Brazilians Fighting?

"I tried to punch him--I tried to punch him! And he literally moved his head out of the way and looked at me like I was stupid for doing it. He looked at me like, 'Why would you do such a stupid thing?' ...And then he punched me. I felt like a kid trying to wrestle his dad."

-Forrest Griffin, former UFC light heavyweight champion, on fighting Anderson Silva.

One summer, my friends and I saw a grainy video of a Brazilian fighter named Jose “Pele” Landi-Jons. He threw grown men around with reckless abandon and fought like his every limb had a personal vendetta against faces. Pele combined a violent, animal explosiveness with the grace of a dancer. By the end of the video, he seemed ten feet tall and immortal.

My name is Andre. I love the sport of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and, being a career weekend warrior, I punch things and wrestle sweaty men in my spare time. After seeing Pele’s highlight reel, I started studying Brazilian fighters and the way they fought because I wanted to be able to do what Pele did in the ring.

(Beating up heavy bags for lunch money.)

Brazil produces the most talented and most aggressive sport fighters in the world. Champions like Mauricio Rua, Wanderlei Silva, and Anderson Silva (no relation) absolutely dominated the fight game at one point or another, inspiring fear and respect in their opponents by literally knocking out the competition.

Brazil is also the birthplace of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), a style of fighting that allows its practitioners to disable much larger, stronger opponents. It sounds like an urban legend, but Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu proves itself in the thousands of fighters who employ it in MMA matches all around the world. In this day and age, being a complete martial artist means knowing how to defend against the style and how to use it to your advantage. If you’re still scoffing at BJJ and like to pick fights, I’d suggest carrying a pillow around so that you always have a soft place to be unconscious.

Brazilian fighters, past and present, have a reputation for changing the way people punch each other in the face. I will write about the fights, the fighters, and the fighting styles of Brazil and their impact on the world.ride, ufc, strikeforce, vale tudo, chute box). Perf. Jose "Pele" Landi-Jons. YouTube, 2006. Film. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMBzXJbEQoU>.


   Forrest Griffin talks about Anderson Silva fight. Perf. Forrest Griffin. YouTube, 2010. Film. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1R50LpFh_M>