Inspired by Crush Crawfish's thread, I'm wondering if anyone else has had similar experiences to these.
About 6 years ago I was living in London and training at London Shootfighters. The two guys who run this school (and still run it today, one of the best places to train in England) worked as bouncers at a club in London - Cafe de Paris or something.
So they just finished kicking out a bunch of rowdy/violent rugby players and had just settled down to look around and make sure the place was calm again.
Near the bar they see some stocky guy, shaved head and with messed up ears. Ohhhhhhh shit... They're going to have another tough one here, so they go over to kick him out.
It turns out that it was Fabio Gurgel
After picking up their jaws and making sure he got the royal treatment at that club, they told him about their school -- and he visited the very next day and rolled with everyone for about two hours. Being the unlucky sob that I am, I missed this because of work and only heard about it.
Apparently phrases like "with ease" and "not breaking sweat" don't even come close to describing the blood bath -- but it was apparently one of the best and most educational experiences at that club.
I've got another story, but I'll post that later to avoid the FRAT -- oooops, too late I guess.
"Near the bar they see some stocky guy, shaved head and with messed up ears. Ohhhhhhh shit... They're going to have another tough one here, so they go over to kick him out."- Wow you guys kick people out based on appearance alone?
It's just that they finished kicking out a large group of rugby players because they were being violent and abusive - they just thought they saw another one of the rugby group.
Another one from the school I train at now (Gracie Barra Greece)
There were a couple of older martial artists who wanted to get some really good brazilian jiu jitsu training so they actually organised a private seminar with Rodrigo Medieros (not bad eh?)
They're not going to be tearing up the tournament circuit or anything, but they had some spare cash and genuinely wanted to find out more about the art.
SO - R Medieros is in Greece but without any fanfare or advertising - and my instructor (Christos Markez) gets a phone call on his mobile. He was obviously bowled over and completely shocked - and R.M came by the club to train a bit... Aris (assistant instructor) was in the car as well and said it looked like his mobile phone became christmas or something and he was making weird gestures at it until Aris new what he was talking about.
The great international BJJ brotherhood at work eh?