Monday, February 02, 2015
No Holds Barred: Rose Gracie on Gracie Nationals 2015, Education, and Sugar
On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with Rose Gracie.
Our main topic was the latest edition of the Gracie Nationals.
This submission-only grappling event will take place Saturday, February 7, and Sunday, February 8, as part of TheFitExpo. The location is the Los Angeles Convention Center, 1201 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, California 90015.
A gi tournament will be held Saturday while a no-gi tournament will be held Sunday. Men, women, teens, and kids are all welcome to participate.
Besides various seminars including one by Renzo Gracie, there will be two no-time-limit, submission-only superfights. In these, Javier Vazquez will face Garry Tonon, and Denny Prokopos will face Eddie Cummings.
The event will also pay homage to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and MMA fighter Joe Camacho, who passed away in December 2013 at the age of 41.
We spoke with Rose Gracie by phone Sunday.
"I'm excited for one more time to be leading the way for the submission-only movement. That's what we call it now, where matches are ended by a submission only," she said.
In the tournaments, before the finals, and because of the large number of competitors, 15-minute time limits have been put in place. If there is no submission when time expires, both competitors are eliminated from the tournament. Thus, she said, "It works as a qualifier for the actual final match."
The finals of each tournament have no time limits.
"The two competitors go against each other with no time limit, no points, no advantages, until somebody actually submits," she said. "So we have matches that go very quickly, because their mentality once that is going on is very different, but we have matches that go on a very, very long time. So it's just a fun and more exciting way to watching these matches."
The only exceptions are the kids' tournaments, where no winners are declared, the competitors are sometimes restarted in positions to try to make the matches more competitive, and all kids receive first-place medals.
The idea is that they "cater to the whole family."
Plans are also being made to post live streams of the superfights and black belt matches, with details to be finalized shortly.
We discussed the thinking behind these submission-only events, which she emphasized is carrying on the legacy of her late grandfather, the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu co-founder Helio Gracie.
Besides being passionate about continuing in the traditions of her family by putting on these submission-only events, Rose Gracie is passionate about fighting to reverse the wretched state of the American educational system and its failure to teach students how to think. We discussed that at length, including her own experiences dealing with the bureaucracies in her daughters' schools.
In addition, she is also passionate about the health dangers created by the dangerously high amounts of added sugar in so many common foods and beverages in the typical American diet. Diseases such as obesity and diabetes are rampant in America, including among the youth. Many of these problems can be dealt with simply by changing one's eating habits. Thus, she is engaged in a battle to eliminate junk and sugary foods and beverages from what is served to children in many schools.
And we discussed the plans for holding several more of these tournaments this year, the background of many competitors in them, getting the word out on these events, and much more.
You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link doesn't work, please try another.
No Holds Barred is also available on mobile phones and iPads through Stitcher.
Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.
The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.
No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:
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 AmericanTopTeam.com.
Defense Soap, an effective, deep penetrating body soap with natural antifungal, antiviral, and antibacterial soap ingredients. Defense Soap is the best cleansing body soap for men and women athletes who are involved in contact sports such as MMA, wrestling, grappling, jiu-jitsu, and judo, to help their antifungal, anti-ringworm, anti-jock itch strategy. Check out their web site, at DefenseSoap.com.
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Labels: BJJ, Eddie Goldman, education, grappling, jiu-jitsu, Nationals, No Holds Barred, Rose Gracie, submission, sugar
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
No Holds Barred: Rose Gracie Cracks the Code
On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again speaks with Rose Gracie, the president of the Gracie U.S. Nationals and the Gracie Worlds, about the set of rules at these events where there are no points or judges and a competitor can only win by submission.
The 2012 Gracie U.S. Nationals jiu-jitsu tournament, which featured both gi and no-gi divisions, took place January 28-29 in Los Angeles. The 2012 Gracie Worlds, also with gi and no-gi divisions, will take place Saturday, July 14, and Sunday, July 15, at the TheFitExpo San Jose at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California.
We spoke with Rose Gracie by phone on Monday to follow up on our interview which took place before the Gracie Nationals.
"I literally felt like I cracked the code," said Rose Gracie about the results of using these rules allowing only victory by submission. "It was literally in slow motion like watching the rebirth of jiu-jitsu."
We discussed how these rules reinvigorated this competition and made it better for both the athletes and fans than under the old rules, which had points, advantages, and judges. She explained how these rules go back to the original vision of jiu-jitsu pioneered by her family, including her grandfather, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu co-founder Helio Gracie, and her father, UFC co-founder Rorion Gracie, who attended the event to support her. We also discussed the relationship of jiu-jitsu to mixed martial arts, striking and grappling, the drug testing which took place at the event, the coverage by the media, how the kid's competition was conducted, the importance of using events like these to teach children values to make society better, how events under these rules may once again revolutionize jiu-jitsu, and much more.
You can play or download No Holds Barred here. You can also download No Holds Barred here. If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.
No Holds Barred is also available on mobile phones and iPads through Stitcher.
Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.
The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", by Ian Carpenter.
No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:
ONE Fighting Championship. ONE FC is Asia's largest and most prestigious mixed martial arts event. ONE FC features the best Asian fighters and has initiated the ONE Asia Partnership Network, which includes most of the major MMA promotions and MMA gyms in Asia. For more information, go to their web site, at ONEFC.com.
DARE Championship. Based in Thailand, DARE is a mixed martial arts event where fighters from all over the world compete to become the DARE Champion. DARE is one of the first MMA promotions in Thailand, and has been televised in many countries and online. For more information, go to their web site, at DareFightSports.com.
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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/.
Labels: BJJ, Eddie Goldman, grappling, jiu-jitsu, MMA, Nationals, No Holds Barred, Rose Gracie, submissions, Worlds
Thursday, January 26, 2012
No Holds Barred: Rose Gracie Explains Submission-Only Victories at Gracie U.S. Nationals
On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman speaks with Rose Gracie, the president of the Gracie U.S. Nationals and the Gracie Worlds.
The 2012 Gracie U.S. Nationals jiu-jitsu tournament, featuring both gi and no-gi divisions, takes place Saturday, January 28, and Sunday, January 29, at the Los Angeles Fitness Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
But unlike other jiu-jitsu and grappling tournaments, including this event in previous years, the 2012 competition has a new set of rules: you can only win by submission. There are no points, no advantages, and no judges in these 15-minute matches.
Rose Gracie, who is the granddaughter of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu co-founder Helio Gracie and the daughter of UFC co-founder Rorion Gracie, had become dissatisfied with the lack of offense, scoring, action, and technique she had seen in many jiu-jitsu and grappling tournaments.
"People can win a match without even attempting a technique at all, and they're proud of it," she explained. "It's not jiu-jitsu anymore."
In addition, there will be drug-testing at the 2012 Gracie U.S. Nationals, a first for such an event.
We spoke by phone on Wednesday with Rose Gracie about this event and these innovative new rules. She also discussed the changing role of women in the Gracie family, and in jiu-jitsu and grappling as well.
It will indeed be very instructive to see how these new rules work out at this event, so expect a follow-up soon after the event.
You can play or download No Holds Barred here. You can also download No Holds Barred here. If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.
No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:
ONE Fighting Championship. ONE FC is Asia's largest and most prestigious mixed martial arts event. ONE FC features the best Asian fighters and has initiated the ONE Asia Partnership Network, which includes most of the major MMA promotions and MMA gyms in Asia. For more information, go to their web site, at ONEFC.com.
DARE Championship. Based in Thailand, DARE is a mixed martial arts event where fighters from all over the world compete to become the DARE Champion. DARE is one of the first MMA promotions in Thailand, and has been televised in many countries and online. For more information, go to their web site, at DareFightSports.com.
Beezid.com - Penny Auctions. Your #1 source for exciting auction shopping and outstanding deals on just about anything! Top rated, most trusted auction site online. Where do you shop? Beezid.com - Penny Auctions.
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/.
Labels: BJJ, Eddie Goldman, grappling, jiu-jitsu, MMA, Nationals, No Holds Barred, Rose Gracie, steroids, submissions
