#86 - Eddie Bravo - I'm Nearly Done Rolling, My Body's A Mess, I Keep Getting Hurt!

Eddie Bravo shares the evolution of his revolutionary no-gi jiu-jitsu system and the development of Combat Jiu-Jitsu as a bridge between sport grappling and MMA. He discusses his journey from questioning traditional gi training to creating innovative formats that keep jiu-jitsu connected to its fighting roots.

• Excitement about 10th Planet's team (Gio, Alan Sanchez, PJ Barch, Ryan Aiken, Kyle Boehm) competing at upcoming CJI 2 event
• Origins of Eddie's preference for no-gi jiu-jitsu stemming from his wrestling background and focus on MMA applications
• Story of Sheikh Tahnoon, the secret billionaire who created ADCC and transformed the no-gi competition scene
• Combat Jiu-Jitsu's introduction of strikes to keep the art practical while making competitions more entertaining
• Development of EBI (Eddie Bravo Invitational) format allowing for 16-person tournaments that MMA cannot support
• Challenges of training at 55 with injuries while still teaching and innovating
• Upcoming EBI event in San Antonio featuring UFC fighter Bryce Mitchell and other elite grapplers

Check out his next EBI event on September 12th in San Antonio, the day before UFC. It'll feature Keith Krikorian, Max Hansen, Gianni Grippo, and even UFC fighter Bryce Mitchell!

Guest Stuff:
Insta - https://www.instagram.com/eddiebravo10p
10th Planet - https://www.10thplanetjj.com

Chapters

• 0:00 Meeting Eddie Bravo
• 5:11 CJI 2 and 10th Planet Team
• 9:01 Evolution of Jiu-Jitsu Events
• 15:01 Eddie's Journey to No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu
• 21:56 Combat Jiu-Jitsu and Tournament Format
• 29:36 Training Challenges and Injury Struggles
• 33:51 Upcoming EBI Event in Texas

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:48

Eddie Bravo, absolute privilege to have you on the podcast. How are you? I'm good. Thank you for having me no, it's awesome, man. Uh, when we started this podcast, you were obviously a very hot list of people that we wanted to speak to, so it's awesome to finally meet you and have a conversation, man. So thank you for for sparing a little bit of time for us today.

Speaker 2: 1:06

Absolutely man. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1: 1:11

So we've obviously we've got a few weeks, and then we've got CGI too. Obviously, you've got the 10th Planet team or the squad participating. So let's start with that, my friend. Like, how's the team looking? How are you feeling about the event a couple of weeks out?

Speaker 2: 1:23

I'm excited about the event. It's going to be epic. We got our best guys. Man, we got Gio Alan Sanchez, pj Barge, ryan Aiken, kyle Bain. We're ready to go.

Speaker 3: 1:35

Yeah, it's a strong squad, isn't it?

Speaker 1: 1:37

Was it an easy decision to come up with that five, or were there a few others?

Speaker 2: 1:41

that were maybe considerations. You know there's always. You know everybody wants to be in it. You know what I mean. So you know shit, I wish we could have had Keith Perkorean in there too. Yeah, I wish we could have had Andy Varela in there too. You know, we just we got so many good guys that it's tough man, and and this is the team that's going to show up this is the team that's going to throw down and go to battle.

Speaker 1: 2:06

Yeah, man, Andy was recently on the UFC event right.

Speaker 2: 2:09

Yes, yes, yes, he was in UFC BJJ.

Speaker 1: 2:13

Yeah man, he seemed like a lot of fun.

Speaker 2: 2:16

He talked a little bit right, that's just Andy being Andy.

Speaker 3: 2:19

Yeah, he loves talking shit doesn't he?

Speaker 1: 2:26

Yeah, it was good TV man, I think. Uh, yeah, I think the show was a little bit flat overall, but I think he definitely uh elevated it, I think, with his uh, with his chat and his in his jiu-jitsu. So it was cool to see him on there, man. Yeah, and then the uh, the kind of prep for the event. Have you guys been together like training as a team much?

Speaker 2: 2:37

uh, we spent about um two weeks ago. We did a week because everyone lives in you know, different parts of, uh the country, so it's it's difficult. You know different parts of the country, so it's difficult. You know we're not all like in one school. You know there's over 210 planet schools in the world. Business is good Tough, but you know Kyle Boehm and Gio and PJ, they're close so they've been training together. But Ryan Aikens on the other side of the country and Alan Sanchez is about a, you know, a seven hour drive north, so it's tough.

Speaker 3: 3:16

The US is so big mate, and it's hard to get everyone together.

Speaker 1: 3:19

Yeah yeah, and obviously with the event, the quintet style, there's like endless opportunities for different athletes to meet with different weights and stuff. So I mean, how are you feeling about that? Obviously, we saw Iega recently, which was a similar type event, but obviously it was, you know, weight against weight, whereas with this, like with quintet, we could see, you know, a 66 against a plus 99. So what are your kind of thoughts on that potential chaos of the event?

Speaker 2: 3:47

I like it. I like it. You know I did it differently. You know there's some good elements to that too. You know you're going against someone your own size, but you know everyone tweaks the team format a little bit. You know, when I team duels, I tweak it, you know. You know, um a different way, uh, but all in all, it's just. It's however you slice it, it's still exciting, man, I was in Kazakhstan and I was at IEGA and that was amazing, man, I love that. And you know, um, I was in japan for the original quintets. The way they do it is amazing, um, they have a lot of judges though, so that's for one part, the guys on the side, or I.

Speaker 2: 4:36

I pulled that element out of my version of quintet, but, uh, you know I I had no idea that there could be a team element like that, like Quintet. I mean, they're the ones that put it on the map, they put it together. I like the double DQs. If there's no submissions. I love that element. It puts an emphasis on the end of the matches are so exciting, because if there's no submission, it doesn't matter how much position you got. If there's no submission, you guys are both out. I like that element. Yeah, it's so exciting because you know, if there's no submission, it doesn't matter how much position you have. If there's no submission, you guys are both out. I like that element.

Speaker 3: 5:09

Yeah, it's so exciting, isn't it? It's going to be such a good event.

Speaker 1: 5:12

Yeah, obviously the other teams have all been announced now, so we kind of know which athletes are going to be in each team. When you the most about going against that, that maybe sort of stylistically would create the best jiu-jitsu.

Speaker 2: 5:29

No, I haven't really thought about it like that. Um, I just, you know, I just think like damn, there's so much talent, you know now, that, like mika's on new wave, now that's, that's huge. And then I I think, um, isn't it Felipe Pena and Pato? They're on Autos now, or?

Speaker 3: 5:49

something that's an insane team. These are all-star teams, you know.

Speaker 1: 5:53

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 5:54

A lot of crazy, a lot of crazy back, I mean, you know, I mean, if Pato goes against someone huge, like what's it going to look? Like Pato versus like Nicky Rock? That would be interesting, you know. Or like Big Dan, you know, or like Big Dan, you know, big Dan versus Pato, what will happen there?

Speaker 3: 6:14

Oh mate, I can't wait. It's just going to be. I love how he's doing it, like Royal Rumble, Like you've got to call out your next fighter, you get like 10 seconds, all that sort of stuff. It'll be so cool.

Speaker 2: 6:26

I like that. Yeah, it's gonna be, it's gonna be, it's gonna be crazy are you gonna do that instinctively?

Speaker 3: 6:30

are you gonna just see how the match is going and literally think I think this guy can beat that guy go. Or are you gonna have it like preset?

Speaker 2: 6:38

yeah, um, you know we'll, we'll all like. You know everybody on the team will have a say you know I'm not. I'm not gonna. You know, be mr king, shit. You know everybody on the team will have a say you know I'm not going to. You know, be Mr King, shit. You know I'm like. Whoever wants to jump in, who wants to jump in dog, it's on you. You know I'm not. I run it by committee. The guys that are competing, they know more than I do anyway.

Speaker 3: 7:04

That's going to be so cool man.

Speaker 1: 7:06

Yeah, it's going to be good man and the event kind of as a whole. Obviously when it sort of landed last year it was, you know, it was a bit of a disruptor event. Obviously it went directly against ADCC, but I think everybody's friends again now, and now we've got sort of you know these massive events going on and what we saw with CJ, of course, sort of you know these massive events going on and what we saw with CJ, of course, was the introduction of the. I guess the alley, the pit obviously was from Karate Kombat so we'd seen it before. But I feel like they from a jiu-jitsu perspective, like really kind of landed that and kind of put that on the map and then obviously they introduced the 10-must system and the free rounds and everything else as well. So what are your thoughts, I guess, on the event in its entirety, the pit and the rounds and everything else?

Speaker 2: 7:51

Everybody does it their own way. If it was up to me, I'm not a big fan of judges, but some people like judges, and Craig could run it any way he wants. I would do it without judges, but it's not my event, you know. So it is what it is. This is going to be amazing, with judges or without.

Speaker 1: 8:17

Yeah, man, and and obviously you know you've been around for a very long time. I mean you were disrupting the scene like 20 plus years ago with 10 Planet and Nogi, and you know the leg lock systems you were creating back then. Why did you lean into Nogi Jiu Jitsu at that point? What were you like, predicting the future, and did you see it potentially being where the sport would go in regard to its popularity and where the money potentially could be? Or was it just that you was it the MMA? What was it? Why did you lean that way?

Speaker 2: 8:47

Well, I wrestled, you know, in high school. I sucked, I wasn't very good, but, and you know, the only, the only, the only guy that wore a gi in the UFC was Hoyce, you know. So if they would have had like henzo go in there, they could have easily had henzo, um, he wouldn't have worn a gi and I don't think the gi would would be as big. I think hoist made the gi huge because hoist went in there with the gi and he dominated, he crushed, he um shocked the world, he influenced. His performance influenced the whole world. You know, we wouldn't be here if hoist didn't go out there and do what he did. Um, I saw ufc2 first and I was just completely blown away and, um, you know, it changed my life. So he, he, just he decided to wear a gi, you know um. So when, um, right away, though, as a white belt, I I was already asking no-gi questions and stuff, I'm like, well, we're getting really comfortable grabbing collars and sleeves, but nobody in the UFC is wearing a gi.

Speaker 2: 10:03

Although if you look at Gracie in action Horian, he had some valetudo fights. Action Horion, he had some valetudo fights. There was a lot of valetudo fights Like MMA Style fights with the Gi. I mean, if you look at Gracie in action, there was a bunch. I watched it recently. I'm like, wow, there's way more MMA with the Gi than I forgot, I forgot. You know. Do you remember that one fight it was Horion in a boxing ring. Gee, then I forgot. I forgot that. You know. Do you remember that one fight? It was Horian in a boxing ring. He fought like a kickboxer and they blurred the guy's face out Because the guy was thread-blossom. But the fight's still on there. You just can't see who it is. And I mean Horian had a gi on and he was like punching and kicking and elbowing and kneeing. It was pretty crazy. Gracie in action one. Gracie in action two. Those are classic videos, man.

Speaker 2: 10:54

I just wasn't too. I just didn't like the whole yanking and pulling and playing tug of war with the gi. I liked Nogi better right from the start pulling and playing tug of war with the gi. I was. I liked a nogi better right from the start. And um, I also thought that if my back was against the wall and I lost my job as a dj at the strip club, you know and I was forced to get a job and if it was between waking up at five in the morning to swing a hammer all day, or roof all day, or m I would do MMA.

Speaker 2: 11:26

I never wanted to do MMA. I loved it. I was like the biggest fan ever. But that's horrifying and terrifying at the same time. So I didn't want to do it. But if my back was against the wall I would do it. I'd do MMA over any kind of manual labor job. So I wanted my jiu-jitsu to be as MMA ready as possible, in case I ever had to do MMA. So that's the main reason I got into no gi. And it's faster. The gi is prestigious and I wouldn. You know it's prestigious and you know I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the Gi. I got my black belt in the Gi, it's just. I like no Gi better. You know the Gi is a little too slow for me. You know it's there's. You know you look at all the big grappling shows. They're all no Gi.

Speaker 1: 12:24

I mean there are a couple of gi ones and those are cool but I think the pace of no-gi makes it easier to watch on TV. Yeah, I agree, man, and was that the case you kind of mentioned? Obviously the big shows are no-gi which they are now, but back sort of 20, 25 years ago when you were sort of moving in to this and sort of founding 10th Planet. I mean, what was the scene like back then? Was there much no-gi competition or was it primarily just the gi back then and then MMA sort of separate to it?

Speaker 2: 12:57

Well, there were a couple pure no-gi schools. Like Chris Brennan, he had Next Generation, it was all no-gi schools. Like Chris Brennan, he had Next Generation, it was all no-gi. And Dave Terrell was up in Northern California, he was all no-gi. He came from a wrestling background and there was a Grappler's Quest which was a no-gi tournament. That was like in 2000. So in the 90s there really wasn't no-gi for ADCC. I think ADCC started like in 97 or 96, 97. That was the first no-gi. And then Grappler's Quest popped up and I don't know when Naga came out, but there wasn't too much no-gi. Most of the tournaments were with the gi. Yeah, so very first tournament in the United States was a gi tournament. It was at the LA Police Academy.

Speaker 2: 13:54

I did that. I was a blue belt. I did that. I didn't know, I would just sweep. I did that. I was a blue belt. I did that. I didn't, I would just sweep. I had my old school sweep from half guard and I would wait until there was a minute left and then pull off the sweep because I had no top game and if I swept, if I swept dudes too early, they'd be able to sweep me back. I didn't want to give them any time to sweep me back. So I waited, I would just hold. I would just hold with the gi, just hold and half guard, and when there was a minute left I would hunt for that foot and do my old school sweep and just hold for dear life.

Speaker 2: 14:28

1996, that was the first tournament, the first Jiu-Jitsu tournament. And then Joe Morera, he was, I think he was the first guy to really blow up tournaments. He had the biggest tournament. Joe Marrero was the biggest promoter and I remember everybody was a white belt and a blue belt and you know each state had one purple belt, you know, and there was like one American black belt, like Craig Kukoc, and he was like in New York under Henzo. Everybody was a white belt and a blue belt. So at these tournaments in the 90s the Joe Moreno tournament it would be like 50 people in your bracket as a blue belt, because there'd be nobody at purple or brown.

Speaker 1: 15:08

Yeah, it's mad. I think even IBJJF, they didn't introduce the Nogi division until much later on as well, right?

Speaker 2: 15:16

Yeah, I don't know when they started Nogi, but I'm going to say like maybe mid-2000s, something like that.

Speaker 1: 15:26

Yeah, I think it was definitely a bit later.

Speaker 2: 15:27

ADC definitely influenced the whole Nogi scene. I think if Sheik Taknoon and that whole story, that's an amazing story, that's a movie in itself. If that didn't happen, who knows where Nogi would be right now? Adcc is responsible for where Nogi is today.

Speaker 1: 15:47

Yeah, and the story you just mentioned there, is that just the starting of ADCC? That you mean?

Speaker 2: 15:52

Yeah, like the Sheik. Nobody knew he was a prince billionaire from Abu Dhabi. You know he was going like to San Diego State. He was training jujitsu at Nelson Montero's and no one had any idea who he was. And when he graduated he wanted to bring jujitsu back to Abu Dhabi. So he got a bunch of people like Henzo and everybody. He just paid them all a bunch of money, paid all their bills and said come on, we're going to blow up jujitsu in Abu Dhabi. And then he started ADCC. There's one dude, you know it's like that's so cool. He didn't do that. Who knows where jujitsu would be now? He's responsible for it all.

Speaker 1: 16:31

Yeah, I don't think I knew that was the.

Speaker 3: 16:34

Argyros story. No, I never heard that either.

Speaker 2: 16:36

So cool you guys haven't heard that story. No, it's a killer story. I mean it's like a movie.

Speaker 3: 16:43

Yeah, it sounds like a fucking movie. A chic billionaire just hiding knowing how much he's worth and just creating ADCC.

Speaker 1: 16:51

Yeah, man, it feels like there's been a couple of moments like that right when you had obviously hoisting in UFC and then you know you had that with ADCC and and you know now you're potentially seeing obviously what could be another kind of step in history, with obviously these events offering much bigger purses now, and obviously UFC get involved directly with BJJ as well. I mean, you ever did you ever think that jujitsu would even make it to where it is now, sort of back then?

Speaker 2: 17:21

I did. I, I was so into jujitsu, I was so obsessed with jujitsu that I thought this is going to be huge. I mean I just, I mean, if I, if I was addicted to it, I'm like why wouldn't everyone else be addicted to it? I felt like it could be huge. It just had to be. For me, it just had to be done a certain way, like that's what I do with my shows. Um, you know, my goal is to try to make it as, um, entertaining for the audience as much as possible, you know. So, uh, the way I put together shows, it's it's the audience first, like well, what would? What do they want to see? So that's why I added strikes to jiu-jitsu. The audience likes strikes. Not all the competitors do they don't. They're like fuck that.

Speaker 3: 18:05

No, I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I wouldn't get slapped constantly, I'd be like fuck that.

Speaker 2: 18:12

Can you imagine you ask the bracket and the audience decides if they want strikes or not. They're all going to decide. If you let the competitors you know the competitors in my show that come from MMA oh, they love the strikes. It's compared to MMA, it's like pussy jujitsu. You know what I mean. But when you're coming back other way, when you're coming from a pure sport jujitsu background, adding the strikes uh it, when you're coming from a pure sport jiu-jitsu background, adding the strikes is scary. It's not something that all jiu-jitsu players want to do.

Speaker 2: 18:46

When I brought back EBI, I added strikes to EBI. It's not sub-only anymore EBI Although my next show is going to be sub-only because we're in Texas and Texas we can't do combat jiu-jitsu. It's not sanctioned. So I'm forced to go back to sub only. I don't want to, but I'm forced to do my next show in San Antonio. It's the day before the UFC in San Antonio. It's going to be old school sub only, rules, ebi rules. But I, I, I didn't want to do that. I like the striking, I like the threat of knockouts and TKOs and stuff and it moves the action along a lot better. You know what I mean, because some matches it's a guy trying to pass a dude's guard and dude on the bottom just has an unpassable guard and then you just have a match with really nothing happening. But if you had strikes it's a little more exciting, in my opinion.

Speaker 3: 19:44

It just changes the game completely, though, doesn't it? You add strikes into anything. I was doing a bit of MMA today, and every time they were trying to pass my guard it was cracking me in the face. I was like, oh God, here we go, and I was just trying to close the gap. It just changes it completely.

Speaker 2: 19:57

It just brings the jujitsu a little closer to MMA, a little closer to reality, keeps the jujitsu from getting too sporty, which is great and beautiful. Sporty jujitsu is awesome. You know, choking someone out with the back of your jacket, that's fucking killer. That's awesome. That could come up in real life. For sure you could choke dudes out with T-shirts and stuff easily. But I think I like jiu-jitsu and strikes better.

Speaker 2: 20:26

It's a little closer to MMA Because MMA has a lot more than combat jiu-jitsu. It has Muay Thai, kickboxing, a lot more wrestling. We only allow wrestling for a minute. We don't have stand-ups, we have get-downs. We have the opposite. I come from a wrestling background but I just want to focus on jiu-jitsu and combat. Jiu-jitsu has a little something that MMA doesn't have anymore. You can't do a 16-man tournament. Mma. You could in the beginning and they did in the beginning.

Speaker 2: 21:01

Ufc 2 was the 16-man tournament, which was that's the event that changed the world was UFC 2. It was 16 unknown martial artists. Like most of them were low-level. You know what I mean. And people will say, ah, hoyce fought a bunch of bums. Like people forget that. Hoyce wasn't considered the best one in the family. Like you know, he even admitted that Hickson was 10 times better than him, and you know. And Horian didn't want to put Hickson in because he was too yoked and he would have killed these guys too easy. So, yeah, it was filled.

Speaker 2: 21:36

Ufc 2 was filled with a bunch of no names and a couple of bums. Maybe you know what I mean, but not. You know it is what it is. You know, hoyce wasn't the greatest jujitsu player in the world either, so it was like it definitely proved, it was clear that jujitsu was missing from the world's martial arts, the world's martial arts. You know, the world got caught with its pants down. No one was doing a proper ground fighting, and Hoyce proved it, you know, and changed the world. And we all owe Hoyce, we all owe Jorge, hicks and Enzo, the whole Gracie family. You know, without them like I wouldn't be here.

Speaker 1: 22:16

Yeah, man, I agree with that 100. To conclude, my point.

Speaker 2: 22:22

Um, combat jiu-jitsu can do 16-man tournaments. Mma can't. You can't do a 16-man tournament anymore. They're too brutal, no one would survive. But in combat jiu-jitsu they can survive. So the 16-man tournaments end up being like super fight factories, they're like mini documentaries. So that's how jiu-jitsu can compete with an MMA show. Do 16-man tournaments. A bunch of single matches, know a bunch of single matches. You know the MMA has a bunch of single matches, you know. So you know, in my opinion, I try to do uh, I think you know I try to do what MMA can't do, you know, cause there's a lot of stuff we can't do, like we don't have kickboxing, like I said. So I'm just trying to make jiu-jitsu as entertaining as possible. That's it. And by putting the strikes in, it makes it more entertaining.

Speaker 1: 23:25

And it also keeps jiu-jitsu from getting too crazy, too unrealistic in my opinion. So that's the Texan event, other than the. The texan event is that the the plan moving forward, then, to just to keep the combination of of combat and evi and just go with the strikes moving forward well, we do most of our um shows in mexico and in mexico strikes uh, you know, it's the wild west out there.

Speaker 2: 23:46

And in california. In california it's actually sanctioned, so you can combat jiu-jitsu in California. And in Arizona it's also sanctioned, so we could do jiu-jitsu with strikes in Arizona, california and Mexico, just not in Texas. So whenever we're in Texas who knows when we'll be back in Texas? But when we're in states that haven't sanctioned combat jiu-jitsu, we're forced to go back to OG EBI rules.

Speaker 1: 24:14

And with the sort of tournaments, with combat jiu-jitsu, is that on one night or is that spread over a couple of days?

Speaker 2: 24:22

No, it's all one night. 16-man tournament takes about three hours.

Speaker 3: 24:25

That's the hobby Sick, isn't it? That would be, so takes about three hours. That's the. I'll be sick on it. Oh, he's so good.

Speaker 2: 24:28

Yeah, you can. I mean they're all up on UFC bypass. I don't know if you guys, but you don't need to know each show.

Speaker 2: 24:36

It's like its own season, it's its own. You don't need to know about the show after it or before it, or the three shows before. Every show is its own little world. Every show is its own little world. You know, three hours 16-man tournament. You don't have to know any of the guys At UFC 2, nobody knew anybody.

Speaker 2: 24:53

But by the end, by the end of the 16-man tournament, when you got to the finals, you knew those fighters very well. You just saw them. You just saw their last three fights both of them. So you know that's how it works. Usually, the first round, you're like, okay, who are these guys? Who are these guys? You know you might know a couple guys, you know we got stars in there too, but you know, by the time you get to the semifinals, you know the Final Four. It's like the playoffs, you know, and then you know them very well. And then the finals, you know them really well. So, yeah, yeah, it's on the UFC Fight Pass. Ebi Combat Jiu-Jitsu. We got a female version, medusa. Very exciting. Jiu-jitsu with strikes is my favorite.

Speaker 1: 25:35

That's why I do it yeah, man, the the Medusa event that you ran is that? Um, that was a female only event.

Speaker 2: 25:41

You said yeah yeah, medusa is uh, yeah, basically just Combat Jiu-Jitsu 16 16 female tournament. But they could strike to the head, to the face, to the body. It's like MMA jiu-jitsu basically.

Speaker 3: 25:57

So sick. Yeah, man, it's tough Fucking each other up.

Speaker 2: 26:03

I love it. I love it. I hate it when it's over, when we get to the finals like, oh it's almost over, man, I love it. I hate it when it's over, when we get to the finals like, oh, it's almost over damn.

Speaker 1: 26:09

I love it. Yeah, man, and with all this like traveling and promoting and everything, do you still get on the mats much yourself these days, Eddie? Still training much?

Speaker 2: 26:16

I'm teaching more than ever. But you know, I got some nagging injuries, man. I'm 55 years old man Looking good though, brother, I'm almost done rolling, I'm sorry to say, but I'm trying to rehab my shoulder. I re-injured my shoulder again. I had back surgery like seven years ago and it's like they're telling me I need another back surgery. So I'm a mess. But I do yoga almost every day and I'm lifting weights trying to stay in shape. You know I'm teaching, you know as, more passionately than ever. It's just hard to roll, man. You know there's so many animals in my room Like I just keep getting hurt. Every time I come back I keep getting hurt. My body could barely handle it. So, yeah, I want to roll, so bad it sucks. Yeah, sorry, I want to roll, so bad it sucks.

Speaker 1: 27:10

Yeah, sorry to hear that, dude. We talked to quite a few slightly older jiu-jitsu players and a lot of them talk about using the gi to slow down the pace and that sort of thing. Ever consider putting the gi back on and slowing things down a little?

Speaker 2: 27:24

You know what? Maybe that might be the thing. I go back to the gi.

Speaker 3: 27:29

Imagine that full circle, go back to the key, just stall and half guard again.

Speaker 2: 27:34

Oh, my god, I'll just hold. I might have to. I thought about it and you guys bringing it up is making me think about it again. I might have to do that. I'll just go back to Jean-Jacques. He's really close to me, he's like 10 minutes away, so I might just. Maybe I will, maybe I'll just rededicate myself to the Gi. That might be the only way I can get rolling and stay injury free.

Speaker 1: 28:01

Yeah, this is it, man. Maybe we could see you innovating the Gi game and coming up with some crazy rule sets to make the Gi more exciting? That could be cool.

Speaker 2: 28:09

I do have a crazy gi move that I came up with when I was a purple belt. It's called the hangman. It's like the beginning of rubber guard. It's like I have a guy in my full guard and I'm holding his head. He's in my full guard and I grab the back of his collar, like the back of his neck, and open up his collar and stick my foot in there and then cross my feet. And if I could stick one of my feet in the back of your collar and then I crossed the other foot on top of it and then I stretch my legs out like a lockdown, you're trapped.

Speaker 3: 28:46

And it's an arm unstoppable arm bar. I'll be trying that tomorrow. I'll be Googling it and trying it. It's unstoppable armbar.

Speaker 2: 28:51

I'll be trying that. Tomorrow. I'll be Googling it and trying it.

Speaker 1: 28:53

It's really flexible, though it's not for everyone, not too bad, I'm certainly not mate, so I won't be trying that I'm getting there, mate.

Speaker 3: 29:01

I'm getting there. I'd say I'm not overly flexible, but I'm not Not flexible. You know what I mean.

Speaker 1: 29:06

Okay, yeah, but there's this flexible, and then there's like 10th planet, eddie.

Speaker 3: 29:09

Brown yeah, that's what I'm saying.

Speaker 2: 29:12

The crazy thing is people think I'm way more flexible than I actually am. People think I'm like the most flexible guy. I got students that are way more flexible than I am and I'm like I got students I can't put my leg behind my head. I got to do it. I can't put my leg behind my head. I got students that can put. I got a student, derek Rayfield. He could put himself in a dead orchard. He could triangle legs behind his head with both his arms. He's way more flexible than I actually am because I rely on it so much and I'm only using it, but I'm not that flexible. I'm like all right, I'm like you know, like my flexibility is at like a minus. You know there's guys out there with a plus flexibility Jordan Worth. Watch him.

Speaker 3: 30:10

I got told today that I'm doing a super fight in September and I'm fighting a lad who's apparently go-go-plattered five people. What's his name, I don't know? Mike something. He's a really young, flexible, powerful belt, but he's supposed to be really good at those go-go platters. Someone told me today and I was like fuck. Speaking to Eddie later, I asked him how to defend it. Is he a 10-ply guy? No, I don't think so. I don't think so. But it wouldn't surprise you, mate, if he trained there. He's up in Manchester, okay okay.

Speaker 1: 30:44

But, mate, I think so much of the stuff that you kind of innovated back in the days is kind of used so widely these days, isn't it? You know? I mean, you see it everywhere like.

Speaker 2: 30:52

What technique are you talking about exactly?

Speaker 3: 30:54

just in general. I remember when I was a white belt. I remember just watching YouTube of um of you doing rubber guard and I barely knew how to pass someone's guard and I was trying rubber guard on people, stupid shit like that. I was thinking about that earlier. I was thinking fucking hell, some of the stuff like lockdown I loved lockdown, didn't I? Through the whole of white belt, electric chair trying electric chair, everybody. But that's all just from your videos and YouTube and just watching 10th Planet stuff.

Speaker 2: 31:23

That's awesome, man. You still electric chair people, or did you give up?

Speaker 3: 31:28

on it? No, I still did. Yeah, I still did Because you kept breaking people's knees, that's why I? Broke a few knees.

Speaker 2: 31:35

Somebody with an electric chair.

Speaker 3: 31:37

Yeah, yeah, I've done his ACL in a comp, wow.

Speaker 2: 31:42

You know what? I've done probably 7 million electric chairs and I've hurt maybe two people Like there's like they just turned wrong and they like they didn't go with it right. And what's crazy is when you have a lockdown in like you're basically like inside of their leg, you're squeezing the lockdown so you could feel like you could feel the tendon rip off the bone. You could feel it.

Speaker 3: 32:09

it's disgusting, like whoa, it freaked me out yeah, that guy's knee just like exploded, like it was like bang, like a tree branch snapped, and I was like whoa, both of us stopped instantly and it was like yeah, but I think it was.

Speaker 1: 32:23

It was uh sort of white belt comp sort of a little while back and the dude just didn't have a clue, I think, of the danger he was in. That was a problem right.

Speaker 3: 32:31

Yeah, he's a big dude as well. When he's like much bigger than me, I think he was just trying to muscle out of it, and then it was like when I put him in the splits he was just like you know shit happens, you know, I mean it's, uh, it's.

Speaker 2: 32:43

You know people tear their acls playing basketball and volleyball. Yeah, yeah, you know. So of course, in Jiu Jitsu it's going to happen here and there.

Speaker 1: 32:52

Thank God they signed the waivers yeah, that's it yeah but he's not done it for a while, but it's still there in the back pocket whenever he needs it.

Speaker 3: 33:02

It's just do you know what? That's the move that I go to. When someone starts getting the better of me and beating me and I can't sweep them or I can't do anything, I'll get them in lockdown and electric chair them. That'll be like. That's pretty much my go-to now if they frustrate me, because I know I can get it on every time.

Speaker 2: 33:17

Yeah, I basically always go for it. I mean, my game is I'm going to try to sweep chair or something from dogfight and if it works, great. Um, if it doesn't work, then I go to rubber guard. Rubber guards always. When the sweeps don't work, then I go to rubber guard. That's, that's generally my uh, a strategic dna. There's some times where I play rubber guard for a couple months because my sweeps are working, you know, and I'm just sweeping everybody and you know, if I sweep you and pass your guard, no need for rubber guard yeah.

Speaker 1: 33:50

Yeah, it's good, eddie, we'll let you go in a second because we know you're a busy guy and you need to shoot, but is there anything else that you've got going on that you want to sort of let our audience know about?

Speaker 2: 33:58

um, I think we you know ebi is coming up. Uh, september 12th, it's going to be the day before the ufc in san anton. That's why we're doing the show out there, just so we can piggyback it and stuff, and there's going to be a lot of people in town. So give them something to do on that Friday night. It should be insane. Keith Krikorian is on it, max Hansen is on it, gianni Grippo is on it, even Bryce Mitchell. Bryce Mitchell is doing it. Shit man that'd be cool, you got Bryce Mitchell on.

Speaker 3: 34:30

That's sick.

Speaker 2: 34:31

Bryce Mitchell's doing it. He's a savage dude. Not very many UFC fighters that I've known personally, that I've known, jump in the rooms and just roll with the toughest guys. Very few people do that. You know who did that? Conor McGregor.

Speaker 2: 34:53

Conor McGregor came down to my gym and you would think that he was so famous that he would just be like, oh, I'm not going to roll with. You know, I'm only going to roll with this guy or that guy. Conor McGregor rolled with everybody. He didn't give a shit. And same thing with Bryce Mitchell. Like, I respect that, you know, because once you become, you know, famous for fighting in the UFC, you know you kind of have a target on your back and these blue belts want to. You know they want to tap you and say they tapped this famous fighter and you know it ends up making it so that, like, these high level UFC guys aren't really, you know, rolling with everybody. But Bryce Mitchell, he don't give a shit. He comes to my gym and rolls with all my tough guys and he's good too. You know Bryce Mitchell's no joke, he's super legit on the ground that's sick.

Speaker 3: 35:38

Yeah, I'll definitely be watching that it'll be awesome awesome Eddie.

Speaker 1: 35:43

Absolute pleasure to meet you. We look forward to seeing you at CJI and yeah. Thank you very much, thank you, very much, thank you.

Speaker 3: 35:49

You draw on me.

Speaker 2: 35:50

Okay, man See ya.