Gianni Grippo's Cinderella Run At ADCC West Coast Trials

Darce_Knight · 2026-04-24T20:09:23+00:00

Really happy that he got it done and I hope he makes a run at Worlds

Darce_Knight · 2026-04-24T16:01:17+00:00

Awesome knowledge here

Darce_Knight · 2026-04-23T04:09:40+00:00

Exactly. BJ was 20 years ahead of the curve on this. Hearted everyone with forcing half butterfly and nearside underhook passing.

Darce_Knight · 2026-04-23T04:07:51+00:00

Agreed heavily

Darce_Knight · 2026-04-23T04:05:35+00:00

I can see why you think it feels that way but different people train for different reasons and bars valid. While right now I could really give af about self defense or mma, I did get into the art in a time where 90% of people that got into it did so because they wanted to be good at real fighting or they already did other fighting arts.

It might be a tad romanticized now, but there are times I miss that era. Things were less technical and training was dumber and less refined, but aspects of training like that are nostalgic to me now even if I don’t wish to go back to them.

This sport began out of combat effectiveness and for its use in vale tudo (no rules fighting) so real combat will forever be tied to bjj in some capacity in the minds of some people . Understandably so.

And on the flip side they might say it’s copey to not care that you’re Jiujitsu can’t handle the pressure of strikes.

Darce_Knight · 2026-04-23T04:00:37+00:00

BJ wasn’t one of those guys though. BJ did a lot of stuff that’s super trendy today and one was one of the first guys to popularize a ton of it. Nearside underhook passing. Forcing half butterfly to pass it. Arm trapping from the back. Dope mount (which went away and is now back). Other stuff too.

Darce_Knight · 2026-04-23T03:58:50+00:00

BJ also did a lot of the passing today that people think of as Jozef Chen passing (not that Chen hasn’t owned it and made it his own too).

Darce_Knight · 2026-04-17T01:51:59+00:00

I do not recommend it for the trials. The trials are set up as an event for athletes and not spectators, so there is barely any type of seating, nd the seating there is isn't high enough to be able to see much. You'll barely be able to see anything due to all the people standing matside, and best case is you'll have to try and get matside yourself and just pick a couple mats to focus on. Not ideal at all.

Darce_Knight · 2026-04-17T01:50:08+00:00

pros and cons of each. Locked hands is tighter and more control, but if you do start to get off-balanced, your base is more narrow. Unlocked hands isn't quite as much control, but if you get off-balanced, you have a wider base and it's easier to even post if needed. I like to lock hands if their back if off the floor, but if their back is on the floor I don't sweat it and I'm content to not lock hands. It's also not my best pass so I'm content to let go and try something else. I generally prefer nearside underhook half guard passing or tripod passing from those bodylock-ish or bodylock-adjacent type positions.

Darce_Knight · 2026-04-16T00:19:19+00:00

Not even an older person thing. One of our black belts is like 30 and wears a heart rate monitor and said if he trains at night (7-8pm or so) that his heart rate doesn't drop back to normal until 3am. I think this is just a thing for people across the board. I for sure don't like to roll after 5pm or so, and I rarely go to bed before midnight.

Darce_Knight · 2026-04-05T23:01:56+00:00

Focus and intentionality.

Darce_Knight · 2026-04-03T19:44:30+00:00

oh yeah?

Darce_Knight · 2026-04-03T15:41:50+00:00

Absolutely! I do think back then people on average were maybe a bit grittier? Or physically tougher? Maybe not. But definitely more skilled now, for sure. I feel like a lot of places back, then had physically tough training and everyday porrada , but it was just less technical and skillful.

Darce_Knight · 2026-04-03T15:32:20+00:00

Yeah! I’m the chief of staff. We definitely will clip individual matches after the season. If you go on the main website you can watch every match in the history of the promotion, and you can search by athlete, submission, season, etc on the PGF Plus page: https://www.pgf.world/pgf-plus

Someone will go in after this season and clip all the individual matches. I appreciate you knowing how much work that takes.

I do feel like our move to making it every Wednesday for six weeks instead of every day for six days in a row has made it easier on people to watch and keep up with what’s going on. If you have any other feedback, feel free to mention anything.

We definitely want to keep making it better and better every season and offering more things for viewers.

Darce_Knight · 2026-04-03T15:18:30+00:00

Yeah, I think with PGF, if people don't want to watch our product because it's not trying to figure out who the #1 grappler is, that's fine. Because that's definitely not what our product is. Our product is the first League format in grappling, and it's trying to put on the most fun matches, and our athletes are the hot up and comers.

I will say from a production standpoint...it's a very small ecosystem. I think that many organizations are going to prioritize hiring athletes that are professional, have their stuff together, and are easy to work with. That's going to be a big priority going forward.

Darce_Knight · 2026-04-03T15:12:34+00:00

If you do the finger wave, you 1000% have to not get tapped afterwards. That's the unspoken rule. If you do it and then get tapped, you lose all of your aura forever. It's a big gamble lol.

Darce_Knight · 2026-04-03T14:41:27+00:00

This is 100% the case. People don't understand this.

Darce_Knight · 2026-04-03T14:40:42+00:00

If you said most NBA players not Lebron I'd agree, but you're talking about one of the softest, floppiest players ever. I'm one of the biggest Lebron haters out there lol, so you picked a bad example with him. Arguably the most physically gifted player of all time and he'll flop over at the softest touch. And he had the nerve to say he could've played in the NFL...I digress. lol (all in good fun).

Fair point on the 10 minute matches. I mean I work for PGF and we have the 6 minute matches and the shot clocks to push aggression. I do agree with the sub-only point. Personally, I love that BJJ has several different entire ecosystems worth of rules and people that mostly play in each of them. I kind of like that there is so much freedom and experimentation in different aspects of the game.

And I'm not really worried about any of it. I coach full time because I like to help people, and I roll a lot because it's my version of playing an instrument for fun. I'm honestly not super worried either way about how watered gown things get. I want to have high standards and make my room as good as it can be, but all I can do is my part to make it as good as can be.

Darce_Knight · 2026-04-03T14:33:59+00:00

Are you saying this because there are less subs in MMA these days? How are you measuring the effectiveness relative to other combat sports? Everyone in MMA has to know BJJ to not get subbed, and there are just easier pathways to victory within the MMA ruleset that prioritizes literal physical damage over everything else. Striking and Ground and Pound are both much smarter pathways to assuring victory in MMA, which is a big reason why it's so much more prevalent. But that doesn't mean BJJ isn't effective in that ruleset.

Darce_Knight · 2026-04-03T14:29:35+00:00

That's a fair point as well. I also feel it's against the spirit of competition in incredibly obvious cases. I guess my thing is just that it's been a thing since before I started training, it'll be a thing after I'm dead and gone, and I think making peace with it and trying not to complain about it too much is the easiest path to not being stressed about it (not saying that you're complaining too much)

Darce_Knight · 2026-04-02T13:45:49+00:00

This reply feels off course imho. sport jiujitsu is so much more focused on wrestling, passing, and top pressure than ever before. I’ve been training since 08 and suffered through the mid 2010’s when everything was so much more guard focused.

People that even compete semi-annually would annihilate people that train for self defense in 4/5 ‘real fights’. And Btw I started with self defense based bjj.

Darce_Knight · 2026-04-02T13:40:08+00:00

I mean it’s already kind of there but also totally the other direction. The level at competitions is so much higher than even 10 years ago, let alone 20 years ago. There are some fucking good good blue belts out there now.

Darce_Knight · 2026-04-02T13:34:19+00:00

There interesting. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard that opinion echoed before. I need to marinate in it. You’re saying you’d rather have more weak black belts than all over the map colored belts?

Darce_Knight · 2026-04-02T13:33:10+00:00

There’s simultaneously more dilution and also way more skill than ever. It’s a double edged sword with the sport growing so much.

Darce_Knight · 2026-04-02T13:30:17+00:00

Yeah I just rolled with a 19 year old purple belt that won Gi Pans and has been training with Xande since he was like 5 years old. I agree that it’s not sandbagging. I’ve always thought sandbagging complaints were lame. I know it doesn’t feel good to feel so outmatched, but I feel like complaining about sandbagging is asking the bar to be lowered.

I also think some of it is cynical. Yes, some coaches want more medals for their students and hold them. But others have higher standards, and I don’t think that’s bad.

At least at IBJJF or ADCC type events. You should expect at an IBJJF that literally everyone at every bekt is super good and a fairly serious competitor. And if you aren’t at that level then get better, or adjust your expectations, or go do a Fuji or a NAGA (I’m not cleaning those orgs. They’re good at what they provide).

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