I am going to preface this article with "what happens in Abu Dhabi stays in Abu Dhabi". With that said, you can use your imagination as to how a bunch of 20 something pro BJJ fighters would celebrate after training for months and given the keys to the castle. At one point after the competition, Xande and Rodolfo were in the lobby trying to Berimbolo each other and Megaton was the ref. They were chanting "Rodolfo Miayo", playing off the success of the Miayo Brothers and their upside down Berimbolo game which we are all a fan of watching.

I am going to share with you my own experiences as both a competitor and a fan of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I won the Canadian trials as a brown belt to secure my ticket to the big show. It was an honor just to be there and even cooler that my roommate for 10 days was Wellington "Megaton" Diaz. No one knows Megaton's age but I think it is safe to say he is between 45-55. We may never know his age but what we do know is that he is the most consistent BJJ fighter of all time and is the only one to compete in every world championship. What was even more inspiring was he is out there doing it with 20 year old's in the adult division. I was honored to spend this time with him, and many nights we stayed up till early in the morning just talking about life, BJJ, business, and family. I didn't have any teammates over there but I really hit it off with the team Llyod Irvin guys and between Megaton and these guys they became my surrogate family during my stay.

The flight to Abu Dhabi was tough, 12 hours with no way of getting comfortable. My body was so tired but sleeping longer than 30 seconds at a time was impossible. On the plane we immediately had our first taste of the food we would be experiencing for 10 days. I am not going to elaborate but let's just say I lost 7 lbs in 4 days. I had a very hard time adjusting to the time change and the food. Eventually I was able to settle into life in the UAE. I now understand why they fly us out so early. It takes days to get acclimated to everything.

I remember a while back reading a Rickson Gracie quote where he said that “Once jiu-jitsu is in your blood, you would rather die that go one day without it”. At the time this really hit home for me. It was true. Not having jiu jitsu in my life would be dreadful.   For most of you reading this you have probably gone through a period in your training where you have become ultra-obsessive about BJJ, where you spend the time when you are not training thinking about training, when the thought of not training is too awful to even consider. There are so many positives virtues from training and what I this article will be about is looking at the negatives of not being able to train. What I do want to discuss is the emotional impact when you can’t do the thing you love.

I am currently suffering from a knee injury that has kept me out of action for a couple of months now.  I would say this is the 2nd most serious injury I have suffered, the 1st being a shoulder injury that kept me from training regularly for about 1 year.  Having had two so long lay offs I think has given me a perspective on why I want (maybe even need) to train.

For me the physical pain was something I could cope with. The withdrawal from my drug of choice was what was far less tolerable.

On our bjjweekly trips we get to spend lots of time with our experts. Sometimes you the viewer don't get to experience their personalities. This week we threw together some quick "outtakes" of Rafael Rebello. He had us cracking up so much it was hard to film, here are a few of the "PC" outtakes…enjoy!

Controlling the head movement of your partner is a good way to take control of the fight and puts you in a dominant position!

Jiu Jitsu Make You Nervous?

Ever been nervous before a fight? Tight knot in your stomach, sweaty palms, wondering what you are doing and why you are here? Are you ready? Did you train hard enough? Are you out of your league? Are you going to get hurt? Are you going to look foolish?

Warriors living in Feudal Japan often studied Zen as a way to help develop the mindset required to master martial arts. Yagyu Munenori, a swordsman who studied Zen, wrote in his Book of Family Traditions on the Art of War:

Troll Creek Jiu-Jitzsu is a cartoon created by Ola Lanteli. He and his son train together, and this started as a fun project for the two of them. Soon there were drawings of troll jiu-jitsu everywhere and Ola started a training blog for the trolls here.

Is this you?

Every school has at least one Takes It To The Limit Guy, some schools I’ve been to are filled with them. You know the type, he only has one speed and every roll is like the Mundial finals.