Wow. What a great documentary. It doesn't seem so long ago that the UFC was Martial Arts vs. Martial Art. Before the UFC 1 grapplers were considered 2nd class martial artists. Grapplers were thought of as inferior to the traditional striking arts such as Taekwondo, Karate, Kickboxing, Boxing among others. For me, watching this documentary took me back, I was only 8 years old when I saw UFC 3 with Kimo vs. Royce Gracie. I couldn't believe what I was watching, I expected this Kimo guy to break Royce Gracie in two. Even though I was only 8, I couldn't fully grasp what I watching until I go to High School and watched it again. As a HS wrestler it amazed me how someone could win a fight off of their back, in what I thought, and many people thought was an inferior position. The first 4 UFCs really opened the eyes of the Martial Art world and saw that if you can take a pure striker to the ground, then you would completely nullify their superior advantage on the feet. What I think was the even more impressive victory than the one over Kimo, was at UFC 4 when he defeated Dan Severn, who outweighed him by 70-80 Pounds. Looking back at that victory opened eyes of many that even wrestlers can be defeated by this new thing called Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
As pointed out in the documentary, today nearly every UFC fighter has had some training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu even if its only for defensive purposes. I got the chance to meet Royce Gracie Last year and I am very glad I went. He had an unique aura to him that combined: being an over the top nice guy, with the stoic look of I can whip someone up if needed. Royce Gracie is truly a legend in the sport and so are all of the Gracies for revolutionizing Martial Arts. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is as important to Mixed Martial Arts as the forward pass is to American Football. It is not the end all be all but a very important tool. If you get the chance to learn Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, do it, I don't think you will regret it.
No comments:
Post a Comment