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My introduction to grappling arts was wrestling through my uncle who wrestled in middle and high school.
Then I learned about the effectiveness of Gracie Jiu Jitsu through Royce Gracie after watching UFC 4, then renting each UFC for the next month until I was convinced. Grappling is superior to striking (if the striker doesn’t know grappling, of course). I’m not a full blown Jiu Jitsu head. Open minded, but definitely all about Jiu Jitsu (grappling).
Then I learned about Sambo (which after the recent seminar, I realized Sambo is 100x more than just leg locks. It’s awesome material).
But it wasn’t until I started to train with Chris Herzog (look him up) that i realized the effectiveness of Judo. YES JUDO. Wait, so a martial art that was made into an olympic sport is actually deadly? Man, you don’t even know. And while this video shows the beauty of Judo on the mats, just imagine being thrown like that on concrete in real life. Yeah. This stuff is no joke. Not to mention, the Newaza part of Judo is basically quick attack grappling. My coach teaches us Judo stuff and I’m like, wait, so you mean Judo had this years before BJJ had this? (Mind blown) Inverted triangles. Flying armbars. Judo “been had.”
I mean, I knew guys like Judo Gene Lebell are legends. And Karo Parisyan used great Judo in real fights. And Ronda Rousey, one of my favorite fighters, is an Olympic Judo competitor and wins comps just off Judo tech. I just didn’t know how beautiful it was until recently. Man, I’ve been missing out. And it sucks because Coach has temporarily halted Judo and Sambo from our schedule since most guys are into no gi BJJ. But I think, if our guys were exposed to the beauty of Judo and Sambo, they’d change their minds.
