Stickgrappler's Sojourn of Septillion Steps: Rickson Gracie vs Eddie Bravo!! (OK, not really :-)

Sorry for the misleading title LOL @ me. Rickson Gracie vs Eddie Bravo would have been an EPIC match if it ever happened.

Instead, this is a video of Eddie Bravo explaining the Rubber Guard to Rickson!

Eddie was talking a mile a minute! Either he's excited to be talking to Rickson, one of the living legends of BJJ or perhaps it's because what he's talking about is something near and dear to his heart. He's passionate about the Rubber Guard because he created it and is happy to be teaching/explaining it. He truly believes in it and the passion flow through and is pretty evident in this video.

Rickson is a True Warrior/Martial Artist with an Open Mind ... living... adapting... he seemed reserved. Not sure if it was like anyone else seeing something being taught them by a master practitioner for the first time and he is soaking it all in, didn't have time to 'digest' it yet. Perhaps, he didn't want to say anything either yea/nay about the Rubber Guard until he had time to analyze it a bit more.

NOTE: I had scheduled this entry to publish, when I came across this from The Great Rickson Gracie by Eddie Bravo (bolded text my emphasis):

"[SNIP]

Sitting there for 3 hours listening to him tell those old street fighting stories gave my brain the chills. This was a dream of mine ever since I began my Jiu Jitsu journey 20 years ago. I actually never thought it would actually come true, even in recent years. Rickson just seemed to yoda like, too mysterious, too out of reach, like getting to hang out with Mohammed Ali or Michael Jordan. Like that would ever happen, right? But BOOM! It happened, and all of a sudden Joe and I were having a conversation with this enigmatic martial arts icon.

And just like that 3 hours flashed by and it was over. I swear I could’ve gone 10 hours, EASILY. But it was over and it was time to go. As we were walking out of the studio into the front waiting room I thought to myself, maybe I could show him the rubber guard really quick?? Or maybe he’s in a hurry to get somewhere and he simply wouldn’t have enough time?? F*ck it I said, I’m gonna give it a shot. Getting to show Rickson what my students and I have been working on the last 10 years would be insane. I didn’t know how much time he would actually give me so I felt my pitch would have to be machine gun like, I had to make as many vital points as possible before he said, “I’d love to see more but I got to be somewhere”. So I rattled off my rubber guard speech faster than ever, like those disclaimers at the end of Nissan commercials. I was sweating, out of breath, while inside I was thinking “Is this really Rickson Graice inside my rubber guard or am I on 25 grams of Ecuadorian mushrooms?!?!” I am very confident about my Jiu Jitsu philosophy, plus I just hung out with him for 3 hours but I was still obviously a little nervous to be showing this Jiu Jitsu god some 10th Planet material. I just had to get all the rubber guard scenarios out before he left which could have been at any moment. It was like Eminem on a gallon of Cave Man coffee, no cream, black like Charlie Murphy’s anus but with no rhymes. I couldn’t help it, I just had to let him see what we’ve been working on the last 10 years, especially since he, Jean Jacques and Renzo were the catalyst to it all.

When it was all said and done, Rickson, Joe and I took some pictures and just like that, he left. Whether or not Rickson was impressed with the rubber guard, doesn’t really matter, it wasn’t about that anyways, it was about picking his brain, getting them old legendary stories straight from him, hearing his philosophies on modern Mma and listening to him break down life, honor, courage, conformity and spirituality. God bless Rickson."

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Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Rickson Gracie vs Eddie Bravo!! (OK, not really :-)

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