Has anyone ever trained there or rolled with any of the brothers? If so, share your opinions please.
had their class when they came to torrance to teach the week royce fought matt hughes.. they are absolutely self defense oriented and have an outstanding level of detail in their instruction.exactly what you expect from humaita black belt. smooth and fluid.
I'm not knocking them, just asking. Do any of their students compete? Or are they really truely all self defense?
Did you get to roll with them?
I would love to train at Valente's at this point in my life, I could care less about sport bjj these days.
Great info seabastard. I live inPA. But if I visit I will stop in.
I was just kind of curious about them because I saw a seminar posted on Facebook
Thanks.
lam - Great info seabastard. I live inPA. But if I visit I will stop in.
I was just kind of curious about them because I saw a seminar posted on Facebook
Thanks.
Ah, cool, no worries. We have a blackbelt out in your area, Chris Garber (http://www.theself-defensecenter.com/about.html) I'm sure you could hit him up too for more info or whatever.
I train under a Valente Brothers BB and I visit the North Miami Beach headquarters once or twice a year. Pedro Valente has tested me for each of my belts. I'm only a purple belt but he has mopped the floor with me every time I've rolled with him. I think their focus on self defense deludes people into thinking they don't spend time rolling. I have found their grappling to be as good or better than any place I have visited, including competition-oriented schools. 
I don't mean this out of disrespect but out of curiosity. When I hear schools talking about how they are focused on self defense and not sport BJJ, how do they factor in any type of collar choke?
Do the students drill brabo, clock, collar, etc...? If so, how is that not sport jujitsu?
If it's self defense, I understand focusing on the guillotine and RNC. Anything else that uses the Gi seems completely in sport BJJ realm.
Moaozinho - I don't mean this out of disrespect but out of curiosity. When I hear schools talking about how they are focused on self defense and not sport BJJ, how do they factor in any type of collar choke?
Do the students drill brabo, clock, collar, etc...? If so, how is that not sport jujitsu?
If it's self defense, I understand focusing on the guillotine and RNC. Anything else that uses the Gi seems completely in sport BJJ realm.
I remember reading an interview with Mario Sperry (in Black belt mag) around 98 after he had beaten Royce Gracie in BJJ comp, I think the jist of what he was saying was that Royce was in the USA too long and hadn't been exposed to 'new' bjj sport techniques like the clock choke and the his jiujitsu was like going to a museum. This makes me think that the old school / self defence BJJ didn't have too much reliance on collar chokes.
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sebastard -Makes sense. Thanks for the reply!Moaozinho - I don't mean this out of disrespect but out of curiosity. When I hear schools talking about how they are focused on self defense and not sport BJJ, how do they factor in any type of collar choke?
Do the students drill brabo, clock, collar, etc...? If so, how is that not sport jujitsu?
If it's self defense, I understand focusing on the guillotine and RNC. Anything else that uses the Gi seems completely in sport BJJ realm.
Fair question.
To answer it, we do. And to put it into context, it's not that they care that something is "new", or "jiu jitsu for jiu jitsu", as long as it is striking aware and you can pull it off with a sweater or a t-shirt as well.
That's why I think there's a bit of confusion between what people think "self defense jiu jitsu" means in general.
They expand the curriculum all the time, even with "sporty" things, but when we do it is always modified (if needed) to be striking aware. But e.g. they added some lockdown stuff last year, but as a method to replace guard (it's great for moving people's hips down to get back to closed guard).
We do all of the "fancy" collar chokes, rolling stuff, loop chokes, brabos/d'arce, peruvian neck ties, yada yada. They're cool with whatever doesn't get you punched in the face.
They do separate the "fundamental" (pure self defense simple stuff) from the "advanced" (just striking aware jiu jitsu) and it is always noted when we're training "jiu jitsu to beat jiu jitsu".
Hope that made sense.
rydney -sebastard -lam - Great info seabastard. I live inPA. But if I visit I will stop in.
I was just kind of curious about them because I saw a seminar posted on Facebook
Thanks.
Ah, cool, no worries. We have a blackbelt out in your area, Chris Garber (http://www.theself-defensecenter.com/about.html) I'm sure you could hit him up too for more info or whatever.
The VB site only showed affiliates within Florida. Do you know where any other schools are that have VB graded instructors by chance?
Jack Walker is a VB Black Belt in Columbia/Irmo SC and he is excellent!
Chango
Moaozinho - I don't mean this out of disrespect but out of curiosity. When I hear schools talking about how they are focused on self defense and not sport BJJ, how do they factor in any type of collar choke?As an fyi the Gracie academy in Torrance covers this stuff as well. They just leave it for the "master cycle" which is blue belt and up
Do the students drill brabo, clock, collar, etc...? If so, how is that not sport jujitsu?
If it's self defense, I understand focusing on the guillotine and RNC. Anything else that uses the Gi seems completely in sport BJJ realm.
Denis Kelly -Moaozinho - I don't mean this out of disrespect but out of curiosity. When I hear schools talking about how they are focused on self defense and not sport BJJ, how do they factor in any type of collar choke?
Do the students drill brabo, clock, collar, etc...? If so, how is that not sport jujitsu?
If it's self defense, I understand focusing on the guillotine and RNC. Anything else that uses the Gi seems completely in sport BJJ realm.
I remember reading an interview with Mario Sperry (in Black belt mag) around 98 after he had beaten Royce Gracie in BJJ comp, I think the jist of what he was saying was that Royce was in the USA too long and hadn't been exposed to 'new' bjj sport techniques like the clock choke and the his jiujitsu was like going to a museum. This makes me think that the old school / self defence BJJ didn't have too much reliance on collar chokes.
Sperry beat Royler. He was speaking about the Wallid vs Royce match
sebastard - I am a VB brown belt. I'm at Miami HQ. We don't have a competition team, but there's students that compete.
I'll compete once in a blue moon, there's several guys that fight MMA, but yeah there's no focus on sport jiu jitsu at all.
There's lots of sparring, which always starts standing up, everything is with striking in mind, and on Saturdays the gloves go on.
They prefer we don't get too tangled up in point based stuff but are cool with people's personal choices in general. If you're looking for a team based competition environment it's probably not the right place for you.
If you have any specific questions just let me know.
If I could find a school here in Western NC that followed this format I'd be on it. BTW,what are their thoughts on half guard? When I did practice I always held in mind what the street application would be for any technique. I always felt half guard was a sure fire way of getting a beatdown unless it was a prelude to quickly taking the back.
pheonix5 -sebastard - I am a VB brown belt. I'm at Miami HQ. We don't have a competition team, but there's students that compete.
I'll compete once in a blue moon, there's several guys that fight MMA, but yeah there's no focus on sport jiu jitsu at all.
There's lots of sparring, which always starts standing up, everything is with striking in mind, and on Saturdays the gloves go on.
They prefer we don't get too tangled up in point based stuff but are cool with people's personal choices in general. If you're looking for a team based competition environment it's probably not the right place for you.
If you have any specific questions just let me know.
If I could find a school here in Western NC that followed this format I'd be on it. BTW,what are their thoughts on half guard? When I did practice I always held in mind what the street application would be for any technique. I always felt half guard was a sure fire way of getting a beatdown unless it was a prelude to quickly taking the back.
Halfguard is a transition to a position, not a position in itself. To sum up my thoughts on the half guard.