Hello From Brazil!

[Merryprankster]

Hello all!

I'm in Rio--Barra area. Enjoying myself rather a lot. Training for the World Championships on Friday and Saturday--my weight class on Friday, then the Open on Saturday. I expect to get smashed and don't particularly care--I've been a purple all of 4 months or something... My opponent, however, is in for the guard pulling of his LIFE! :)

Training here is good. To anybody who has heard that training is BETTER in Brazil and that the US doesn't produce people with the same level of understanding, that's bull****. Everybody feels like they earned the belt they have, including me. All the BJJ I learned works just fine. I did get smashed badly by one Brown Belt from the Favelas (slums) just outside of Rio. Very tough guy, very nice fellow. He gave me a T-shirt. I think it was just so he could lay claim to me as his new b!tch.

I blew my knee out BAD on Tuesday, but vioxx, ice, and a new knee brace are keeping things under control.

The food is not bad. I've not had time to explore the restaurants, and I have had to keep my weight managable too. But after friday night.... Ahhhhhhh :)

Anyhoo, I'm grabbing a sammich, then off to bed.

Cheers all,

James

[Serpent]

Good luck man! Let us know how it goes.

What do you mean when you say you blew out your knee? Like a candle?! :confused:

[guohuen]

Sounds great! Take care of the knee and have a good time.


P.S. I was going to say let us know how it goes then I had the realization that Serpent already said this. Strange that I keep doing this. Maybe I'm related to Bill Bradley.:p

[Serpent]

Who's Bill Bradley?

[guohuen]

A Senator with a penchant for plagerism.

[Serpent]

Aha! I see.

[Xebsball]

Barra area, huh. Thats some pretty wide space to cover... tell me where you are hidding from me more precisely...

j/k
:D

Enjoy your training and tounament

[Suntzu]

good luck…. And take some pictures for us to see…

[Cipher]

That's really cool. I'm sure you will do well you seem like you know your stuff.

That does does sound painful though, you blew out your knee. Do you mean just bruising it or did you tear something? Good luck.

[rogue]

Good luck and have fun. Remember to use the secret Dim Mak techniques that you've learned here, they won't know what hit them. :)

Safe journey home MP.

[Shaolindynasty]

Cool, try to keep your mind on training. Those Brazilian women can be really "easy' to get also watch out they might be dudes. Uhhhh........Just keep training.

[Tigerstyle]

What Serpent and Suntzu said (Good luck, tell us how it goes, and take pictures)

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

hi.

[MonkeySlap Too]

Really cool. I love the idea that the mecca for this sport is Brazil. A much more...enticing pilgrimage, eh?

[NorthernMantis]

Hey how are the garotas over there?:D

[Felipe Bido]

Good luck. DP and post pics

[diego]

Bido u live thier why do you need a freakin postcard:D
Just open your curtian:rolleyes:

So what exactly is blew my knee?.

[Felipe Bido]

Er..Diego..I live in DOMINICAN REPUBLIC...You know...beaches...girls...cigars....rum....baseball players...

Brazil is the hometown of Mr. Xebsball :)

[norther practitioner]

If you need any advice on the knee thing, just ask.....
Good luck, and beat someone up for all the kfo heads....
and when you bring someone down yell "Lay down, your my *****" (at the club a week ago, these two dudes were talking trash, the tall one said to the shorter, you could be my *****....then the fight ensued, the short dude proceeded to knock out the other guy, and yelled the preceeding phrase).

[Xebsball]

LOL Shaolin Dynasty is right there, if its too easy, oper your eyes real wide and take a better look before you move on :D
There are some high tech she-males on the streets this days

[diego]

ISHT, bido i pulled a Bush ~ oh yall have negroes in brazil2 :rolleyes: :confused:

i realized my typo after i submitted, didnt edit figured may aswell say sup.. wassup!. :-)

[dnc101]

I'm happy for you. Have a good time.
Come back with some good stories for us home bound types!

[Merryprankster]

I cannot DP and post pics. My girlfriend would be unhappy. :)

When I say blew out my knee, I mean that I have probably sprained the lateral collateral ligament. Seeing as I was limping around until we managed to get some vioxx, I'd say that's a safe bet. I'm about 80% on that knee, but whatcha gonna do?

Cheers all. Training soon.

Bye!

[Nevermind]

Hey, Mp! Just wanted to say good luck and I commend you for "walking the talk". Kick butt and post pics! Peace.

[diego]

i couldnt be bothered to reread the first post, but is this a weekend long comp? " cant remember if you said that:) "

I'm curious how many fights will you have by the time your done, and how many competitors are at this and whats the bleachers #'s like...is this a huge event?.


Regardless sounds like fun, n watch who u think is a hot chick ie lookout whos glueteus's u be peepn cuz i heard something like thier mardi gras queen is a dude!.

[old jong]

Have fun! :)

[fa_jing]

I've also got a tournament tomorrow, so good luck today and tomorrow, let's both win our comps! Mine isn't as major as yours but it is very important to me. It's a continuous point sparring that allows low kicks and takedowns, 2-minute fights. I'm going up against the black belts. My first tournament in about 12 years.

-FJ

[ShaolinTiger00]

Give 'em Hell James!

[Merryprankster]

I will have, at a minimum, two fights. It is a single elimination tournament, and I am competing in the open and my weight. I also happen to know that my first round opponent in my weight placed high at the Pan-Ams. We shall see if I can give him hell :)

Thanks all... I'm off in a few hours to play!

[truewrestler]

Is anyone else from Lloyd's competing?

[Merryprankster]

tw;

nope, I was the only one.

As far as giving them hell--well, I lost in the first round both times. I won't discuss friday's weight-class match. It was so bad, I was angry enough to come back the next day and prove I belonged on the international playing field. I wound up losing a hard match 5-2 in the open. I swept him for the initial 2 then spent the next three minutes trying not to get swept, because, as I had come up, I landed in a funky off balanced half guard position (his half guard--I was on top). Eventually I got swept. I never made it back to a solid guard position, and had to start turning inside to avoid the guard pass, but he had a DEATH GRIP on my gi at the hips, with his elbow tucked down hard to the mat. This prevented me from getting parallel and rolling back in for guard or coming up top for the takedown or inversion points. Since I had turned in to avoid the pass, I was down by an advantage.

So in a last ditch effort to get back to guard, I rolled away hard, shrimped my hips INTO him to create some space, and started to shrimp back the other direction to clear space to regain guard. He felt the movement, and passed round for north-south (69 for all you perverts), and quickly tried to take my back. Then time was called. Then I went out and ate too much beef at the local barbeque joint.

The losses lit a fire under my ass. Next year, I'll have a year more of experience. I don't think it was too bad a showing for somebody who's only been doing BJJ for 2.5 years--but still not good enough. Look for my name at the top of the Pan-Am placings in April and a good showing at the worlds ******!!! :D

[MonkeySlap Too]

Hey, thats really good for 2.5 years. Best of all, your attitude is solid. I remember my first BIG (like, not the regional ones at my high school) Judo tournament. I was all ****y, and dodging my weight class, because it was the largest, and fought my way up in the open division - which meant fighting giant mooses (I was 155 at that age). My first draw was a Samoan. If there was ever an argument for genetic superiority, I think it's the Somoans. It is really hard to hurt these guys. Needless to say, I got squished in my first match.

The next year I fought both divisions and it took much longer for me to get squished! :p

[TaoBoy]

Hey good going MP. Good luck for next year. And take care of that knee.

[MA fanatic]

One of my friends just competed in the world championships. He
lost. He regularly trains in the Gracie Barra area. Says there are several bjj schools all in the same neighborhood. From what I hear, a great place to train. Good luck man. Kick some but.
MA fanatic

[dubj]

Yeah, I have samoan friends and will agree with you on that one monkeyslap.

[truewrestler]

Merry,

Sounds like you fought hard man! Did you cut at all? =)

How is your experience in Brazil? Still down there? Who are you training with? BTT like CW?

Dan

[truewrestler]

or are/did you train with Dalla and Big Brothers?

I looked at the results (top 5 each division) for your name or anyone else from Big Brothers and couldn't find anyone from the team that placed... but the translation by altavista might not have been very good.

[truewrestler]

to the top!!

[Xebsball]

what are you trying to translate dude?

[NorthernMantis]

It's good that you didn't go there with your ego. Use these as a learning experince and analize your weakneses. That's how most greats got up to their level, by anizing what their faults were.

[LEGEND]

****it Merry...quit talking about BJJ...did u roll with any bikini thong Brazillian chicks down there???

[truewrestler]

Xebsball,

I had the mundials (worlds) results translated when they were only available in Portugese. I'm sure I can find them in English now. Maybe I'll look right now =)