Tonight we had the Royce Gracie seminar at The Academy of Mixed Martial Arts. It started at 6:00PM and went for three hours. I got to meet and train with many new people, including Royce. Royce's amazing performances at the initial Ultimate Fighting Championship events over a decade ago spurred my initial interest in BJJ back in September 2005.

He's the one on the bottom, breaking the other guy's arm.

The UFC was set up by Royce's half-brother Rorion to be a giant infomercial for Brazilian jiu jitsu. Through the UFC the spectacle of "no rules fighting" as evolved into the sport we now call mixed martial arts. I think initially the Gracie family achieved what was intended in terms of exposing jiu jitsu and ground fighting to the world as a crucial component of the martial arts.

The actual class was interesting because it was accessible. He didn't focus on flashy moves that nobody's ever going to get any use out of in the real world, and instead gave us a progression from one situation to the next. We did some hip-toss warm ups followed by a range of drills, including:

• Bear-hug escape to hip toss
• Block punches in headlock control, hip toss
• Sit-down roll-over escape from side headlock control into cross-body mount
• Cross-body mount escape (swap legs, hip escape, top knee through, grab ankle, pull through) into ankle lock
• Sleeve (ezekiel) choke from mount
• Gi pass choke from mount
• Fake lapel choke to armbar from mount (cupping the shoulder on the way through)
• Holding the mount drill, where the bottom wasn't allowed to escape but could only defend

Afterwards we had some question/answer time which was OK, but we could have used it better. I'd have rather watched a 5 minute roll between Adam and Royce, but that didn't happen.

Royce had seen some guys (there were about 40 people at this seminar and they weren't all from our club) being overly rough on each other - forearms to the face as they're on mount, digging elbows into eyes, that kind of thing. He wasn't impressed and neither was I when he mentioned it. It's not the kind of culture our club has and it's poor jiu jitsu. You won't submit Royce (or me, or anyone) from a forearem to the face but you will piss them off and they will be looking to do the same to you.

People confuse training with competition.

Aaron said he was rolling with a guy, who's a regular at The Academy, that was doing this kind of stuff. Adam apparently had to keep saying to him "not so rough" and "slow down" and come question time Royce gave him both barrels. This guy wouldn't shut up and take his licks and it was embarrassing. He kept trying to find situations in which excessive force was suitable, and the reality is that it's not. The conversation went kinda like this (paraphrased and lines read between):

Fool:         "But can you grind their face?"
Royce:        "No, you shouldn't."
Fool:         "What about hurting someone with a forearm to the nose?"
Royce:        "No, that's bad sportsmanship."
Fool:         "What about elbowing their eyeballs?"
Royce:        "Are you even listening?"
Fool:         "What about hitting them with a fist to the mouth?"
Me (to Fool): "Why don't you try that on Royce?"
Everyone:     *chortle*

The evening wrapped up and we all had some photos with Royce. I got him to sign my copy of "The Gracie Way" which I was happy about. Aaron and I also bought some shirts, but they're for Future Music so I won't spoil the treat :)