Hey guys - I'm a BJJ Brown Belt and have been competing for a long time. I usually relied on my wrestling background and a few basic judo throws to get me by in comps. It worked, but I always felt like I was missing a piece of the puzzle :)
Just recently started committing myself to learning judo with a GREAT instructor. I am totally LOVING it! Really learning a TON of stuff and the details are AMAZING.
My instructor is very high level Judo player and also trains BJJ with us as a blue in BJJ. He looked at me funny when I first rolled into his Judo class wearing a white belt. He said he thought I was at least a Brown in Judo. I told him even though I'm a Brown in BJJ I haven't earned it in Judo - so out of respect I wear the white :)
Anyway - I have the same buzz I had when I first started BJJ way back in the day. I just wanted to come on here and give you guys in the sport HUGE props. I know this site has alot of stupid BJJ vs Judo crap but I never got into all of that. Always considered our sports like brothers.
It was a guess. Not a whole lot of detective work other than looking at Furacao's profile.
The description was "very high level judo player." Jake is the first person that would pop in anyone's mind for that area. Plus he trained some BJJ with Paulo Fernando when Paulo was training at Sanshi. Thought he might have gotten his blue in BJJ.
Paulo was training alot at Sanshi a few years ago. Can't remember exactly when I saw him there. Its been awhile since I was there. I think he was already a black belt from living in Brazil. His judo is pretty good.
I know Mark from him being one of Tony's students. He trains hard and has a great work ethic on the mat, and learned from a great instructor. I'm glad to hear that he is taking some time to teach, and helping to grow the sport.
I empathize with you. I'm a purple in BJJ and felt I needed to add tools to my game in the stand up grappling department. I started training in Judo about 2 months ago and wish I did it a LONG time ago. It's a great martial art -- very scientific and technical. I really want to get black belts in both Judo and JJ now.
Just curious where your judo school is located. Does Tony Mojica teach in the Los Angeles area?
That is awesome to here Bro. You are going to have a blast. I am just curious because I have been trying to find a good judo school to train in the Los Angeles area. Someplace that has really good technical instruction as I have had 2 knee surgeries and would like to really emphasize on technique for a while before I start training hard again.