i agree with you. what i meen is that sport BJJ guys train to fight off other BJJ guys usually. such as reversals or escapes for BJJ specific techniques.not focusing on things like headlock escapes,punching defence, bear hugging escapes etc. as well as lots of sparring from the knees. where as Some of the gracies might simply train to defeat an opponent with little knowledge of ground fighting, or BJJ. rather they'd train to defeat someone who will be the average brawler, or mugger.
Which is harder? Defeating someone who has no knowledge of ground fighting or someone who knows ground fighting? Regarding rolling from the knees, if you actually look at the takedowns in Gracie in Action and Royce's fight. You better just join a wrestling gym or a judo dojo if you wanted better takedowns.
We practice defending against all those things at our Gracie Barra branch, and we spar from knees, standing, bottom guard, top guard, rear mount, turtle, top mount, bottom mount, side control, knee on belly...I could go on ad nauseum.
ive been doing some research into the gracie academy and barra and am starting to understand what you guys are talking about. i had been wondering why the gracies would start a video series program for grappling art the focuses so heavily on drills and sparring with other people. seems like rorian is taking full advantage of there glamorous family name. i looked at the barra chicago website which seems to enphasis the whole complete fighter mentality. offering even a muay thai class. something not offered in gracie academy. while we all love to grapple. striking knowledge is still neccersary. so i have 2 more questions: 1.)so who is royce affliated with and rickson affiliated with. academy, or barra? 2.) so this next question is a bit of topic but, what are you guys opinion on the machado brothers jiu jitsu. same crap different toilet? or is there approach different. i also seldom here there named brought up in modern MMA.
Gracie Barra is an organization started by Carlos Gracie Jr, whose father was Carlos Senior, Helio's older brother. Most of the Gracies associated with Gracie Barra are from the "Carlos line", while Gracie Academy and GJJ are more of a Helio thing. I can't speak much about other schools, as my experience is confined to training at Gracie Barra, but I can tell you that at our school cross training is definitely encouraged. In addition to the various BJJ classes that are taught, we also have Muay Thai, boxing, and judo taught by qualified and certified instructors. Most of the BJJ instructors have experience in other arts, as well: the owner of the school has a JKD background, another instructor is a hapkido black belt, etc. I don't think you can say the same level of openness is found with GJJ. Royce was a great fighter, no doubt about it, but you have to realize the way that he trained is much different than the way students at the Gracie Academy are trained nowadays. If you want to get good, you have to practice like Royce practiced in his day, not like he and his family are teaching now.
Royce is in good terms with rorion but is doing his own thing. Rickson is usually affiliated with Gracie Humaita, the Original Gracie Academy from Brazil that is founded by Rorion, Royce and Rickson father, Helio Gracie. I agree, they are less famous then their cousin. The Machado are cousin to the Gracie, Carlos side. They are from Gracie Barra but are now doing their own thing. How do you recognize Brazilian jiu jitsu? Mount, guard, armbar, chokes?
