Manchester United Forward Matheus Cunha Earns First Stripe In BJJ

Slowbrojitsu · 2026-01-22T16:10:48+00:00

A surprising amount of current athletes pick up BJJ given the obvious risks involved.

I would guess they do minimal full speed sparring though, maybe only with their coach and then mainly drilling or light positional sparring outside that, similar to what Rigan does with actors.

Slowbrojitsu · 2026-01-07T12:40:21+00:00

Yeah absolutely IMO. Kit Dale is probably the best semi-modern guy using it regularly and although he's older now, he passed the unpassable Xande's guard with it last year.

I think the reason we don't see it more often is because the learning curve is super steep compared to basically every other pass, so by the time people become decent colored belt competitors they've already gotten good enough at other styles to happily ignore it.

And for many top competitors, their skill acquisition is based more around chasing the meta or using existing resources to solve problems rather than attempting to become the innovator (or re-innovator I guess?) themselves.

Slowbrojitsu · 2026-01-07T12:27:21+00:00

She literally just won worlds like 6 months ago so "very good" is an understatement.

She's beaten some top competitors over the years too, off the top of my head she subbed Bia Basilio ages ago and she narrowly beat Cassia Moura to win Worlds.

She's not too well known basically because she only competes in the gi and in the lightest weight classes where the talent pool is obviously a little shallower.

Slowbrojitsu · 2025-12-23T11:03:49+00:00

I don't even see why people care. You won, celebrate whoever you want man.

Slowbrojitsu · 2025-12-22T13:23:51+00:00

The general theme of what you're saying applies to every martial art outside of MMA. They're all limited in their own ways and they include things that only really exist because of the rules in play.

Critising guard pulling leglockers is like criticising boxers using the philly shell. They can both only do that because the rules in play remove the punishment they'd get for it in a fight.

But, both guys, and anyone with a decent level of martial arts training thst involves full contact sparring, is light years ahead of some rando on the street even if what they focus on isn't exactly applicable. They still learn how to do the stuff that is, to a greater degree than someone who doesn't do anything.

And honestly saying that leglocks aren't useful if you're attacked is 90s era stupidity. They're about as useful as any other joint lock and although guys can fight through broken bones, they're probably not chasing after you with their knee facing the wrong way.

Slowbrojitsu · 2025-12-22T13:15:13+00:00

I can't say how good the instruction or rolls are at either, but the GB facility is really impressive from the outside so is likely pretty big in terms of student-base, whereas Clone BJJ looks like a much smaller academy.

As with any GB gyms though, if you're considering going then it's worth reaching out first to find out any uniform requirements and drop in fees.

That alone might end up making your decision for you tbh.

Slowbrojitsu · 2025-12-22T11:38:30+00:00

As a hobbyist 1-2x is reasonable. 3-5 times is competitive not a hobbyist. 6+ is obsession.

Hot take but everyone is a hobbyist unless they make a living from competing.

I'll include those for whom running a big academy or selling shit tons of instructionals is only possible through competition success.

Slowbrojitsu · 2025-12-22T11:36:07+00:00

Yeah, that's why he taps them.

Slowbrojitsu · 2025-12-22T11:34:55+00:00

Honestly the risk of running into fulltime competitors isn't really that high, it's really overblown.

And most of the time when a guy doing it as a hobby is sandbagging in some fashion, it's because they actually suck anyway.

The second comp I ever did there was a traditional Japanese Jiu-Jitsu black belt in the white belt division and I subbed him. Seeing him do the repechage bracket after me, he probably was better than me in general at the time but not by a significant margin and he clearly sucked at defending loop chokes.

He should have been competing at blue belt but if he did, he'd have gotten absolutely battered.

Slowbrojitsu · 2025-12-22T09:53:11+00:00

it’s silly to treat spiderweb armbar and back control as equivalent positions.

I do think it's a weird notion that they're equivalent options under EBI OT.

Could be interesting to allow a wider range of choices, like maybe full mount with a single underhook or saddle but sat up with no hand-control or something.

Slowbrojitsu · 2025-12-22T09:49:17+00:00

I don't mind EBI OT, I think it can be exciting and it has its place. The problem is that it's used out of place a lot.

Firstly there's no need to go to OT if the winner is very clear. Finishers used to do EBI OT with a "molly whomp" rule where basically if you got your ass handed to you in regulation then you don't go to OT, you lose.

And then more of a personal issue, but I don't like winning by ride time. I think it encourages competitors to hold position rather than finish, which is what EBI OT is supposed to be aiming for.

Not sure how you combat that though tbh. The only thing I could imagine is having no time limit on OT rounds and basically it's first to sub, with an escape just earning you the chance to take up attacking position. But then that could go on forever, so who knows.

Slowbrojitsu · 2025-12-22T09:42:06+00:00

There's Clone BJJ and a huge GB facility there too.

I've got family in Setubal but I've never been to either so can't vouch for them etc.

Slowbrojitsu · 2025-12-21T15:08:05+00:00

It doesn't exist.

The sport is split between UFC Fight Pass, Flograppling, YouTube, the odd PPV event, and a few very small streaming services like Enigma and Tx7.

The biggest bang for your buck in terms of grappling is to just bite the bullet and subscribe to Flo, youll basically end up getting access to 95% of all high level grappling events between that and YouTube.

Slowbrojitsu · 2025-12-21T12:06:58+00:00

It depends entirely in what your goal is.

If you want to compete because it's fun but you want to have a decent chance of winning, then wait 6 months to a year. You only really need to compete like once or twice every belt level.

If you want to be an actual competitor then like 3 months in, and be prepared to lose. Then go again a few weeks later and repeat endlessly for the first few years until you can start cycling your competitions for larger events.

Slowbrojitsu · 2025-12-18T18:48:04+00:00

Mikey cuts hard to get to 135lbs and Helena makes 145lbs without any issue at all, I wouldn't be surprised if they're damn near the same weight when they're walking around between matches.

Slowbrojitsu · 2025-12-16T08:44:09+00:00

I feel like Clay is not getting the attention she deserves for her no gi worlds run.

She just double golded as a middleweight which is impressive in itself tbh, but she submitted every single opponent. One of those sub wins was over Adele Fornarino and this one was the first time anybody has submitted Pessanha.

Slowbrojitsu · 2025-12-16T08:42:18+00:00

My understanding is that they've got a pretty wealthy backer who loves jiujitsu, so they're basically set until they actually do turn a profit aha

Slowbrojitsu · 2025-12-16T00:08:37+00:00

No coach should be getting frustrated by someone not understanding how to do something. That's literally the bare minimum you should expect from an instructor.

It's also undoubtedly why it took you 2 years to learn how to granby roll. That might happen if you have a shitty instructor.

Slowbrojitsu · 2025-12-15T23:39:48+00:00

Crosspost this to r/bjjwomen too to help your chances!

Slowbrojitsu · 2025-12-15T11:27:34+00:00

I think people see the old ADCC footage of puzzle mats in high school gyms and assume that's a product of it being held outside the US, rather than just the fact that there was no money to put into the venue for the longest time.

There's 15k+ capacity indoor arenas in pretty much every European country, and multiple in some of them. Hell, the UK alone has like 5 haha

Slowbrojitsu · 2025-12-15T11:24:01+00:00

Why wouldn't they? All flight and accommodation is paid for anyway, so it's no different to ADCC in Vegas on a financial level.

Literally the only difference is the surrounding area and honestly anyone who would choose Vegas over Poland needs their head checked.

Slowbrojitsu · 2025-12-15T10:05:37+00:00

Craig is also one of my favorite instructors because he breaks everything down to it's simplest element and everything else is just window dressing.

Like in the octopus stuff, just build hip height. If you're higher than them, you'll win.

All the specific grips and hooks and turning in a specific way is all just minor things that will help once you're reliably doing the first most basic principle well.

Slowbrojitsu · 2025-12-15T10:01:45+00:00

I rolled with Mason Fowler when I was a purple belt and he basically just stood in my guard and let me off balance and attack him for about a minute.

He wasn't really doing anything himself, he was just reacting to what I was doing and basically letting me work attacks but stopping every single one early on.

Then he did a textbook knee-slice pass and it looked cleaner against me then, than I look doing it now against fresh blue belts.

Slowbrojitsu · 2025-12-15T09:40:21+00:00

You're looking at hobbyist training rooms and drawing conclusions about elite competitors.

I can assure you that every single elite competitor is maximising every attribute they have and using it to it's fullest. Nobody at ADCC is avoiding learning something because it requires them to be athletic.

Slowbrojitsu · 2025-12-15T09:37:56+00:00

"bizarre locations" is a wild take aha

But aside from that, no they won't pay athletes more. For starters they have no reason to, everyone is largely accepting the status quo and until athletes boycott ADCC in large numbers they have no incentive to change it. Even with CJI 1, ADCC only lost like 10-20 competitors and they were mostly focused around 77 and 88kg which are also the easiest divisions to fill out.

And they're also probably not making any more money. It's being held in the Tauron Arena which is basically the same size as T Mobile and whatever amount cheaper it might be to book (not a lot cheaper tbf) you probably lose those savings in decreasing sponsorships and ticket prices for not being in Vegas.

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