Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
Posts about martial arts history.
With Choque, Vol. 2 (Amazon affiliate link), Roberto Pedreira picks up the story of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in what he considers its heyday in Brazil, 1950 – 1960. Besides Carlos and Helio Gracie, several other academies, such as Oswaldo Fadda’s, were also thriving. Judo was gaining in popularity but had not overcome Jiu-Jitsu in popularity. Vale Tudo matches were at the height
Ad Santel gained his reputation as a dangerous catch wrestler from his frequent bouts with judoka from Japan during the 1910s and a story from the second George Hackenschmidt training camp for the Frank Gotch rematch. According to legend, Frank Gotch paid Santel, a skilled submission wrestler, $5,000.00 to injure Hackenschmidt’s knee in training. While this story may or may
I recently read Choque: The Untold Story of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil, Volume 1 by Roberto Pedreira (Amazon affiliate link), which tells an alternate story of BJJ’s beginnings than we have been told by in various interviews with members of the Gracie Family. “Choque” translates to “shocking” in Brazilian Portuguese. While Pedreira exhaustively researches and cites primary sources, mostly Brazilian newspapers,
I have spent a lot of time studying different rank systems. The rank system seems to be a modern concept started by Dr. Jigaro Kano, an educator, who wanted a system of grading to separate students. Over the next century, numerous styles adopted the belt rank system but the only commonality was the belt systems meant what the creator decided
On November 12, 1993 at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado, a fourth degree black belt in the little known art of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu (commonly called Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in the United States) cut through an eight man style versus style martial arts tournament. Royce Gracie would turn the martial arts world on its head. After his walk through the
When I first started training in martial arts in 1995, the stories tied to the founding of most martial arts were pretty fantastic with superhuman feats of physical prowess and fighting ability attributed to their founders. Whether Kung Fu, Karate or Judo, the founder took the skills learned in previous martial arts, modified it and defeated everyone. These claims are
Ryan Hall fought Gray Maynard at the TUF 24 Finale on December 3, 2016. I heard about the bout on the Anik and Florian podcast. Ray Longo talked about the bout and shared his concerns that Hall completely shut down Maynard but his style may make it difficult for him to get fights. After watching the bout, I understand what
My daughter asked me the other day if I had seen any of the Olympic Judo. She was surprised when I told her I had not. Besides being a black belt in Taekwondo, I’m a brown belt in Judo. Like both my sons, Caity trained in both TKD and Judo as well. However, I find most of the Olympic process
On St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 1905, St. Louis sports fans were treated to a special match between local professional wrestler George Baptiste and traveling Japanese jujitsu practitioner Arata Suzuki. Baptiste delighted local fans by quickly defeating Suzuki in two straight falls. George Baptiste was a professional wrestler and all-around athlete, whose powerful swimming saved many St. Louisans from drowning
3 times over the last 150 years, martial artists created more modern versions of older martial arts. Unlike many prior systems, the innovators of these modern martial arts chose to share this information with outsiders and spread their arts around the world. Jigoro Kano’s dissemination of Judo is the best case study for how to develop and spread a martial