Last of the BJJ Mohicans Make a push in MMA

Everything in MMA happens in cycles. We started out with BJJ being king of the hill taking out all challenger in the early UFC’s and asserting complete dominance, followed by wrestlers learning how to negate it and claim dominance for a bit, shortly there after the importance of striking and superior recovery time resurfaced thanks to guys like Maurice Smith and Frank Shamrock until they were defeated by superior graplers and so on and so on… the wheel keeps turning and the sport keeps evolving.

Bj Penn is the first and only person to wear both the mundial/pan ams IBJJF medal & UFC Belt and for a long time it looked like the rest of the Elite BJJ squad had given up on the misison but with the re-emergence of Nobuyuki Sakakibara and the rumours of Pride’s re-emergence the second half of 2015 we’ve witness the resurgence of participation in MMA by Real World class BJJ competitors.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not taking anything away from those who just went the MMA route.

I am one of them, realizing early on while Jiu-Jitsu is my preferred martial arts as a hobby in terms of a fighting tool it is just one more in a batch of skills I would need develop in order to become a complete fighter.

That being the case I delved pretty deeply into other arts early and often in my training.This is the route taken by most people who compete in MMA today, so it is very rare you see a real world class BJJ competitor transitioning from the ADCC or IBJJF circuit to MMA at a high level but that is exactly what taking place right now.

Ryan Halls half guard to leg lock game (seen on the Ultimate Fighter reality show) has everyone buzzing… Hmm maybe this “Sport BJJ” isn’t totally useless after all.

This is great as it brings attention back to just how effective every technique in the art is when applied to a high level practitioner especially vs someone who has no clue about the position, but Ryan isn’t the only one or even the most highly decorated of this new batch of athlete looking to make their way in the world of MMA.

I am no doubt forgetting some but off the top of my head but here is a row of BJJ killers making the transition in the coming months

• Andre Galvao –  Perenail BJJ champion and leader of Atos BJJ, Returning to MMA in Japan in the new Pride event
• Gabi Garcia- Womens Champion debuting in Japan in the new Pride event
• Buchecha- Current  BJJ king training in Southern California and spotted at AKA training with the likes of Cormier and Cain Velsquez, he is looking to debut soon.
• Kron Gracie- Had his first fight earlier this year in China & taking his 2nd match likely in Japan at the new Pride event
• Ryan Hall- signed to the UFC and bringing BJJ back to masses 1 heel hook at a time!!!!
• Rafael Lovato– I believe on his 2nd fight recently in a local promotion.
• Ary Farias– Yes the same kid from art suave video Jacare segment, now a killer on the mats & working his way to the UFC most likely

Not a kid anymore
Last of a dying breed????

This is a very special group of athlete to me as there will always be BJJ and grappling experts looking to make the jump into MMA but this is likely the last batch of guys who started out training thinking of fighting mixed martial arts like Royce Gracie and other BJJ pioneers did while at the same time managing to reach the pinnacle of the art competitively in the Gi.

There maybe exceptions to every rule but given the tactics needed win at the highest levels of sport BJJ today I don’t see many people doing that successfully & crossing over going forward which is cool and simply means the art is growing so fast each element has taken on a life of its own. Some complain but i call it evolution what my friends is really what the art of Jiu-Jitsu is really all about.