I recently snagged the 2009 Pan Jiu Jitsu Championship DVD set from Jiu Jitsu Progear. As hinted in a previous blog post I have been watching more Jiu Jitsu related videos in my spare time. I like the DVD very much so far although I haven’t been able to watch all the fights yet.

I was excited to get the DVD because I wanted to find a solid set of fights to watch and learn from. Instructionals are great for learning, obviously, but it’s hard to have techniques sink in when you are doing other things when watching TV. With this DVD set I can intermittently watch at my leisure.

Some people have complained that videos/DVDs like this fall short because the fights are not narrated (there are no announcers). I disagree: it is one of my favorite features (or lack of feature); I like being able to watch and make my own observations. If I where watching it live I think announcers would be appropriate.

I hope in watching these fights I will be able to pick up little nuiances and techniques. Will it work? That’s the topic for a future blog post.

Below is the official promo for the video.

The next Pan Jiu Jitsu championships are in March.

Yesterday I was forwarded this great video demonstrating Gracie Jiu Jitsu with Rickson and Royler Gracie. I don’t know the context of the video or where it is from, although the announcers reference Pride Fighting Championships. It demonstrates some Gracie self defense techniques followed by sparring.

I like this video for showing what clean, expert Jiu Jitsu looks like to novices and experienced practitioners alike.

Thanks Brad!

Last night 46-year-old Randy Couture fought Minotauro Nogueira in UFC 102. After three full rounds Couture lost to an unanimous decision. Nogueira won the match – and while some moments were closer than others, I think anyone would be hard pressed to disagree with the decision.

I am writing this because I wanted to give a shout out to Couture. Couture was defeated, but he didn’t really lose. I felt Couture showed remarkable heart and toughness. He kept pressing on, escaped some perilous dominant positions against a bigger, exceptional grappler, and fought hard.

Despite the loss for Couture, this is the type of match that made me feel good and inspired. Everyone is familiar with Grantland Rice’s famous quote:

“It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.”

For Couture VS. Nogueira, it’s the spirit of this saying that is most relevant here: the idea that when anyone competes with genuine effort and heart – they are likely to come out a winner of some sort, regardless of the outcome of the match.

Congratulations to Nogueira for a good victory – and congratulations to Couture for giving a great, authentic effort and a good fight.

Anyone who loves martial arts has probably seen the show Human Weapon on The History Channel at some point. One of the things I remember the show doing well was demonstrating techniques with computer animation.

So it should have been no surprise to me to find a short, 21-second clip from the show demonstrating the technique when I was searching for examples of it in MMA competition on Youtube. Check it out:

Obviously, segments like these only show the basic physics of a move. As a learning tool, however, videos like these could be quite effective – the 3d animation, the rotation around the virtual participants, and commentary could all point out specifics very differently than live-action instruction videos.

The show was great and if you missed it you can watch clips of it on Youtube. As I write this I recall that they may have released a DVD of both seasons. I guess I will see if Netflix has it…