Watching the UFC #
Great takedowns! #
What a disappointing decision, Shogun should've won! #UFC #fail #
There's an MMA expo going on at the Jacob Javits in NYC #

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Post from: my BJJ blog

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-10-30

Congrats on the brown belt.

Article #1, by Can Sönmez

[My plan for these articles (I may not stick with that name – I'm envisioning them as more like a weekly column – but 'article' is a convenient categorisation), at least initially, is to see if I can come up with something interesting by running through topics from the FAQ, along with anything that grabs my attention from around the net (e.g., the whole Gracie University debate, which resulted in this).

I'm also going to try and restrain myself to around five hundred words, as I tend to ramble. As its the first one, I'll cheat my own arbitrarily imposed rule: this introduction doesn't count towards the word limit. ;p ]

Even before the announcement that the 2016 Olympic Games would be held in Rio de Janeiro, the idea of Brazilian jiu jitsu as an Olympic sport was a popular topic for discussion among the BJJ community. So, is there actually any possibility BJJ could make it to the Olympics?

To be blunt, its extremely unlikely. There have already been convincing arguments put forward as to why that is the case. J-Sho, perhaps the most reliable source on the internet for BJJ statistics, laid it out in depth on the MMA.tv thread. As per this link he provided, which details the ‘Olympic Programme Commission Report To The 117th IOC Session’, there are thirty-three criteria to meet before you can become an Olympic sport. BJJ falls down on quite a few of them. For example, here are five big ones:

• Television coverage
• Press coverage
• Gender equity
• Anti doping
• Universality

On top of that, there’s the problem that places for new events are very limited: the IOC is trying to cut down their number, not increase them. BJJ would be competing against some of the most popular sports on the planet, while not even being officially recognised as a sport itself. Also, as J-Sho points out, further problems like domination by one country (Brazil would get a clean sweep in pretty much every weight category) and the similarity to judo are major stumbling blocks.

Ok, so BJJ has effectively no chance. Submission grappling is far better positioned, with support from FILA (and it doesn’t have the name of a country in its moniker, which helps), but its still a long way behind golf and rugby. Considering the above, why is it that all over the BJJ online community, there are people starting threads and launching petitions? Are they just ignorant of the IOC rules? Perhaps to an extent, but I think it is indicative of something more than that.

BJJers want their sport to be popular, to be acknowledged by the mainstream. They want to be able to go down the pub and talk about the Mundials instead of last nights football game. In short, we want to be accepted, just like everyone else. Imagine what Olympic status could mean: sponsorship, grass roots support from national governments, a huge increase in public awareness…its a tempting prospect.

Then again, look at taekwondo, the perfect example of a martial art ground down by its own success. In the rush to attract students and maintain profit margins, TKD became heavily diluted, losing the all-important element of ‘aliveness‘. Judo has fared better, because competition and randori have remained integral, so maybe BJJ would be able to follow that model. Still, there are those who feel that adaptation to Olympic strictures has had a detrimental effect on Kano’s creation, the most obvious change being a focus on high amplitude throws above all else.

However, BJJers should not despair, as they can content themselves with Caleb’s hopes on the Fightworks Podcast. An Olympics in Rio means global attention on everything Brazilian, with journalists ransacking the city for material.

Brazilian jiu jitsu’s Olympic dreams may be ill-founded, but the arte suave nevertheless has an excellent opportunity to feature as part of Brazil’s cultural heritage. So, fingers crossed that we’ll get to see some high quality BJJ documentaries aimed directly at the billions of people watching the Olympic coverage.

::: Next Article >

One of the big time, up ‘n’ coming women grapplers on the scene today is Hillary Williams, who came in third place at ADCC 2009 in Barcelona after submitting top talent Megumi Fuji by RNC. Gracie Magazine is announcing that she was just awarded her br…

First Cindy class in almost a month. Since the tournament is about a week and a half away, Cindy had us work guard/pass guard and then sparring for both the gi and no gi classes. In both instances, we did extensive standup – another tournament prep b…

***UPDATE***

CMBJJ (Chiang Mai BJJ) and EMAC (Executive Martial Arts Center) are proud to announce the arrival of Professor Pedro “Bebe” Schmall to Chiang Mai, Thailand. Pedro will begin instructing both gi and no-gi Brazilian Jiu-jitsu starting November 3^rd, 2009. The academy will be located immediately adjacent to the Bossotel Inn (10/4 Railway Road, Chiang Mai) directly across from the Chiang Mai railway station.

Pedro hails from the birthplace of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) where he began training under Fernando “Pinduka” Guimarães and the legendary Carlson Gracie. Earlier in his career, Pedro was a fierce competitor and perfected his trade alongside great champions such as Mario Sperry, Murilo Bustamante, and Ricardo Liborio. His determination and hard work earned him many tournament victories for the Carlson Gracie Team.

After Carlson Gracie relocated to the USA, Pedro continued his training under Royler Gracie who awarded him with his brown and black belts. In addition to his competition experience, Pedro has extensive coaching experience around the world including the USA, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Mainland China.

Pedro has been training and teaching Brazilian Jiu-jitsu for over 20 years. Pedro’s jiu-jitsu is no-nonsense, just heavy and tight, the way jiu-jitsu ought to be. If you would like to experience world-class Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and take your skills to another level, please contact CMBJJ (chiangmaibjj@hotmail.com) for more information.

The new schedule and prices are as follows:

Schedule

Weekdays (M-F)

6:00- 8:00 pm (Pedro)

8:00- 9:00 pm (Open mat)

Saturday

12:00- 2:00pm (Pedro)

Sunday

12:00- 2:00pm (Open mat)

Fees

3,000 baht= 1 month, 6 days/ week
7,500 baht= 3 months, 6 days/ week

1,500 baht= 1 month, 6 days/ week, students (under 18 years old with ID)

1,500 baht= Private lesson (Pedro)

——————————————————
Gracie Humaita black-belt, Pedro ‘Bebe’ Schmall, returns to Thailand and sets up shop in Chiang Mai after having lead the BJJ/MMA program at Beijing BJJ for the past 2 years. As one of the key instructors to the AOW pro-team, Prof Schmall brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience. -Luke

mobile phone: +(66) 855481574
email: pedroschmall@hotmail.com

Bio by Gregory Brundage

Pedro”BB”Schmall – Short biography/Interview

September 22, 2009

Pedro “BB” Schmall (June 22^nd, 1973) is widely considered one of the leading Jiu-jitsu instructors in Asia, having studied under Fernando Pinduka, Carlson Gracie and Royler Gracie. He has trained both Jiu-jitsu and MMA fighters in Brazil, U.S., Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Mongolia and most recently, China.

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Pedro “BB” Schmall began his sports life at the age of 8 when his father, Hermann Schmall, gave him a surf board while on vacation in the South of Brazil.

Though surfing by itself can be a tough and even deadly sport, so was the beach environment with which he had to contend. Surfers contend for each good wave and sometimes have fights. This was the environment that fostered the initial motivation to learn BJJ.

After three years of training Pedro, at the age of 18, was one of the best players in Rio de Janeiro. At that time, there was no UFC, and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu (BJJ) was little known outside of Rio. “People couldn’t even pronounce the name.”

Then in 1992, tragedy struck. He was in a motorcycle accident which shattered his left shin. A first surgery left him with a metal antenna sticking out his leg, and he walked in a crouch for a year. After the second year, doctors took bone from his hip and put it in his shin.

Meanwhile, the first UFC fights were held in 1993. Many of his teammates, like Jose Mario “Zen Machine” Sperry, Allan Goes, Paulo Filho, Victor Belfort, Wallid Smail and Ricardo Liborio have gone on to become legends in the MMA world.

After a second, and then third surgery, Pedro was still limping. In his own words: “I got really depressed. When I was dating my wife, Simoni, I was talking about my life. She listened and told me: ‘You have to fix your leg otherwise you will never stop limping for the rest of your life.’ I was out of shape (116kg), a brown belt, depressed and completely lost. Muay Thai and even soccer were completely forbidden.”

In December 2003, he had his fourth surgery, and the results were better than he’d hoped. No pain, no weird feeling, he could run, play soccer, fight Muay Thai, and BJJ. One year later, on exactly the same date as his surgery, he was awarded his life’s dream, a Black Belt from Royler Gracie.

PEDRO’S BJJ TEACHING CAREER

Pedro started teaching BJJ almost as soon as he started training with Fernando Pinduka back in 1989. He was promoted to assistant teacher in 1989. When he was training in Carlson Gracie Academy he taught small kids (6-8 years old) in morning classes. When he was promoted to Purple Belt (before the accident) he rented some mat space in a Judo school in Rio and started with his own group of students.

Shortly after the fourth surgery, and his promotion to Black Belt, in 2005 he moved to the U.S. to learn to speak English and tried to open a BJJ academy. Like most people, he started in someone’s garage, specifically a good friend named Dwight Schubert, who now is a BJJ teacher in Fort Collins, Colorado.

When the group started growing, he looked for a more professional place and met Hai Tran, who opened the doors of his academy for Pedro.

After six months in the States, he went back to Brazil to reunite with his wife and daughter. But he still wanted to spread BJJ around the world and started searching for other opportunities. In 2007, he taught in Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan, before settling down in Beijing. After two years in China, Pedro is read for a new challenge, this time in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where he will start a new MMA training center.

In Beijing, Pedro was responsible for training the Chinese fighters for Art of War. He also took part in a TV show, in which he explained the audience the BJJ technics utilized in the fights.

During his time in Beijing he went on two trips to Mongolia to teach and met two great MMA fighters, Dorjderem and Jadamba Naratungalag, who did a great job in Art of War 13. Pedro is also their manager, a new facet of his career that he intends to develop further in the future.

There are many great fighters in the world, but great teachers are harder to find. In class, Pedro puts safety first, and works hard to ensure that all students get the techniques he’s teaching, correct. His knowledge of BJJ techniques is encyclopedic, and he’s a man who loves the art and his job.

I had evening meetings at work for the third night this week, so I took the morning off and went to the 11 AM class at the Westin.  There were the two brown belt instructors, a blue belt, and three white belts.

We drilled the same three butterfly sweeps from last night (see prior post for the steps).  Since there were an odd number of students, I drilled the technique with both the white belt and the blue belt (note:  this is the blue belt I’ve really enjoyed training with because I’m solving the puzzle of stuffing his open guard sweep).

With the white belt, I got the opportunity to walk him through the steps and help him fine tune his technique on each of the sweeps.  Interestingly, I learned the techniques better by helping him fine tune his technique.

We spent so much time drilling the technique that we only had time to train with one person, and I was assigned to roll with the white belt that I had drilled the sweeps with.  Since he’s only been training for a few months, I decided at the outset that I would focus almost entirely on the sweep we just drilled an armbars from the mount because it’s one of my week techniques.  I got the sweep a couple of times and the armbar once.

Thanks Alex for the link…

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman begins with a preview of the IBF bantamweight title fight between champion Joseph Agbeko (27-1, 22 KOs) and unbeaten mandatory challenger Yonnhy Perez (19-0, 14 KOs), which will be held Saturday, October 31, in Las Vegas, and televised on Showtime in the U.S. We spoke about this fight with both Joseph Agbeko and Yonnhy Perez on a media conference call.

We next turn to the persistent issue of corruption in sport, including in the combat sports, with Jens Sejer Andersen, the Director of Play the Game.

Play the Game is an international organization based in Denmark which, according to its web site, “aims to strengthen the basic ethical values of sport and encourage democracy, transparency and freedom of expression in world sport.”

They have recently issued a “Call for action against all forms of corruption in sport”, which has been signed by numerous leading sports figures and journalists from around the world.

“Corruption in sport is seemingly endemic,” Jens Sejer Andersen told us, and we thus had a lengthy discussion about how to fight it. We examined what Play the Game is doing to help this struggle against corruption in sport both in the Olympic movement and in professional sports, why so many who do so end up receiving negative reactions, problems in Olympic boxing and wrestling, and the role of gambling in spreading corruption. We also discussed the “Call for action against all forms of corruption in sport” and the need for the establishment of an international agency to fight corruption in sport, similar to what the World Anti-Doping Agency has done to fight doping. And we explained what fans, athletes, media, and everyone else around the world can do to fight corruption in sport.

Once again, you will not find this kind of discussion about the fight against corruption in sport in most places in the media, but focusing on these issues is precisely what you can expect at No Holds Barred.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called “The Heist”, by Ian Carpenter.

Make sure to visit the official boxing forum for No Holds Barred, the MySpace Boxing Forum.

No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

BJJMart.com, your premier source for all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gear, videos, books, and much more.

American Top Team. Whether you’re a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site at http://americantopteam.com/.

GRACIEMAG, the most reliable source of information on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. GRACIEMAG represents Jiu-Jitsu philosophy and features news, profiles, history, photos, videos, and tips and secrets of the mother of all martial arts. Published since 1996 in Brazil, GRACIEMAG: The Jiu-Jitsu Lifestyle, is in both English and Portuguese, and is also online at GRACIEMAG.com.

Wrestling 411, providing coverage of the sport of wrestling on TV, the Internet, and radio. Wrestling 411 is produced by Media Sports Productions, whose sole mission is the marketing and promotion of the sport of wrestling.

FightBeat.com, for news, results, interviews, and free exclusive videos from the worlds of boxing and mixed martial arts.

Thanks, Eddie Goldman
EddieGoldman.com