Bulletproof For BJJ Podcast
Discussions on improving your BJJ, navigating mat-politics and all aspects of the jiu jitsu lifestyle. Multiple weekly episodes for grapplers of any level. Hosted by JT and Joey - Australian jiu jitsu black belts, strength coaches, and creators of Bulletproof For BJJ App. Based out of Sydney, Australia
Bulletproof For BJJ Podcast
We Built The GREATEST Grappler Of ALL TIME
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you took the best traits of the greatest BJJ grapplers (in their prime) ever and put them together like a jigsaw puzzle? Well, now you can wonder no more as we have constructed THE ULTIMATE GRAPPLER. We belkieve this combination of traits would make for the undisputed GOAT. If you have a different set up in mind, or you think ours is a load of malarky, sound off in the comments. We want to hear your fixtures of the greatest grapplers of all time.
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A good martial artist does not become tense, but ready. Essentially, at this point, the fight is over, so you pretty much flow with the goal. Who is worthy to be trusted with the secret to limitless power? I'm ready. Building the ultimate grappler.
Speaker 1:We're talking about taking the greatest of all time, taking the best of their games and combining to make a super human grappler. Like when you got figurines and you're pulling fucking arms off this, pull the iron arm off that one, fucking legs off that, and you're tacking on the shit. It's like the weapon you love. Like my son, he's combining Lego with dinosaurs and monster trucks. Amazing, and it's a fucking dinosaur with a monster truck like lower half Body and then like Lego arm and hat Like a centaur. Yeah, it's amazing. Yeah, and that's what we need in jujitsu. Like as if we didn't have enough freakish bodies with the drug use, we need to take the different games of the goats the greatest of all time and combine them to make a super, super grappler. I mean some of these, I'm guessing, maybe not necessarily the goats, no, no, no, no. I do have an issue with goat status, by the way, because it's often used as a plural and it's like well, hang on a second. How are they the greatest of all time? How can you have multiple?
Speaker 1:It is difficult to say, because I think originally, when the term came out, there had to be one yeah, but then because of, of course, but then also, I think, generational who, like, if we go to yeah, but then it's greatest of that time? Yeah, you could say that, but then someone could just be Not to pick up on the fucking syntax, you can't see using it. Not to get grammatically correct because we're straying, but no, it's more that if you're of a generation like, whether it be basketball or football or even MMA, there's plenty of people who go. No pride. Pride is the epitome of what fighting was right, especially when you see those soccer kicks you're just seeing Vanderlei Silver stomping on the head of someone You're like oh my God, it's different level.
Speaker 1:I'm going to go cross-generational. I have some picks. They're not necessarily the GOAT, but putting the elements of these people's games together, I believe, will create the ultimate grappler. All right, so I'm going to play the role of I'm hearing this for the first time and then I'm going to be adding my two cents and perhaps critiquing where needed. Sure, please push back. I think we cannot deny, and there's a context, right, because all certain grapplers have a time period where they're untouchable and then maybe they go past their prime Same with great fighters. So you pick them from an era.
Speaker 1:A lot of people what we're saying here is a lot of people listening are not going to be familiar maybe with some of it, and we'll do our best to explain why that pick. And perhaps for you listening, if you're not familiar with the person or the characteristic we're referring to, you can go and watch some shit on YouTube, search that match Fucking. Do your own research, oh, imagine, yeah, and then see how you choose to invest. You know, I'm thinking back to like maybe three, four years ago when flow grappling really took off with like maybe it was five years ago with content creation around jujitsu yeah, really driving it. If you had started jujitsu at that time, like certain people we know, basically all of the elite grapplers that they knew existed was like Gordon Ryan, nikki Ryan, nikki Rod, craig Jones and John Danaher, whoever they were pushing, and it was like, yeah, that's it. And it's like nah, bro, there's a whole fucking generations of motherfuckers. Yeah, definitely. So I'm going to start first of all with movement, because I believe the way a grappler moves, their ability to just move freely and with fucking reckless abandon and get good outcomes, is key. There's many great movers out there, but for me, the epitome of movement I'm going to say 2014 to 2019 Gary Tonin.
Speaker 1:Oh, strong pick, gary Tonin, fuck. Honestly, I've never grappled with him. I met him one time in person, two times actually. But to see him in the flesh do a flying scissors takedown to heel hook, like that, it's like being at a dunk contest. You did that on Najmi, didn't you? Yeah, najmi, it's amazing.
Speaker 1:Prior to the Micah Galvao J-Rod era, gary Tonin is the most exciting grappler to have ever walked the planet, in my view. Well, to give you a highlight of this, because gary's always been great with leg locks, they put him on polaris against rusamir toquinho. Polaris, yeah, oh my god. And he almost heel hooks. Polaris, yeah, he's all over him, bro. He, I mean, he gets slammed on the ground, he gets, he gets, he gets bit beat up, but he takes Flaherty's back Like bro. The weight difference Paul Harris, it's Paul Harris. You made Paul Harris Toquinho meaning stump, and at that time that guy was one of the most feared grapplers because he's a super dirty MMA fighter because he would gouge people's eyes and rip their leg, even though they'd tap. He got kicked out of the UFC, kicked out of Bellator. Great leg locks yeah, amazing for leg locks At a time when they weren't such a thing Well, it wasn't as popular and he was really leading the way. And Gary did amazing shit. He beat um Doreen Yo Burns you know Gilbert Burns when he was very, very high level in his grappling.
Speaker 1:He had a really good run at the was it the 2020 or the 2022 ADCC 2019. 2019. He won match of the year with Canuto. Yeah, he out wrestled the fuck out of Canuto. Yeah, it was some of the best wrestling I've ever seen. It was ridiculous.
Speaker 1:Was that the one where he ended up facing off against Gordon Ryan in the absolute? Yeah, it was some of the best wrestling I've ever seen. It was ridiculous. Was that the one where he ended up facing off against Gordon Ryan in the absolute? Yeah, and then Gordon just Big brother choked him, yeah, choked him out.
Speaker 1:But I mean, that's the thing you can't imagine is he's also just doesn't care. You can't take my back tape, he's so it's the creating of opportunities in how he scrambles. Yeah, that he just doesn't give a fuck, he just exposes himself constantly. Yeah, there's no static moment. And I think the thing is.
Speaker 1:The disappointing thing is his move to MMA meant his grappling kind of went down, which is a classic thing Jiu Jitsu. Folks go to a striking art, something like that, and then they're not focusing solely on their grappling and maybe they don't do as well at MMA. I mean, he did quite well in one championship he beat a bunch of dudes, but it was kind of the decline of his career. He got doused by Cade, didn't he? Or Ty, one of them doused him, I can't remember and it was like, oh yeah, and I mean, look, the Rotolo brothers are amazing for movement as well, right, but yeah, gary Tonin of that era 2014 to 2019, I believe if you could get a grappler with that kind of movement, regardless of weight class, elite. He put it on Dylan. Danis Wasn't able to finish him, right, yeah, but people forget that Danis is also a world champion and he's significantly bigger than Gary. Yeah, like he's a big frame cat. So you don't push back on that, joe. No, I'm, I'm solid. Hard to fight on tonin, all right, so I'm gonna go with.
Speaker 1:Maybe this is an older generational pick, but at the time I heard the most elite grapplers speak with great reverence. So I had my own bias because I saw him in person, because I was like amazed. When you see it live, you're like that's fucking unbelievable. And then when you hear someone like a Andre Galvan or a Boucher or Bernardo Faria speak with wide eyed enthusiasm about a person, you're like wow, this guy must be the guy.
Speaker 1:Adolfo Vieira, takedown and passing game, almost unmatched, I mean, in the Gi. I would say his era is kind of 2010 to 2014, 2015 amazing. And he started his career as the black belt hunter because he was a brown belt smoking black belts, but I witnessed him in person. He started his career as the black belt hunter because he was a brown belt smoking black belts, but I witnessed him in person just destroy at the Brasileiro and it was crazy to watch Because you know how oftentimes someone or a competitor will be in a bad situation. They go out of bounds and when they reset they put themselves in a better situation. Yeah, and the ref's like no, no, no, you were in a no, go back to the bad situation. No, no, no. I was like this Hedolfo would willingly kind of go. Yeah, you just put me wherever man and he would just fucking beast out of it.
Speaker 1:Wow, hedolfo Vieira, his takedown and gripping game. I heard Andre Galvan, marcus Buscesa and also Bernardo Freya say that Rodolfo had the strongest grips ever. You could not break his grips. If he got them, oh, wow. So if he grabbed the gi, you're kind of fucked. Now. Ultimately he did lose to Buscesa and Buscesa kind of came through as the ascending force thereafter. But even in Nogi, like it took him a little while, but he did end up winning the ADCC. Rodolfo Vieira he, he wasn't as good in Nogi, even though he was very good yeah, very nice.
Speaker 1:And unfortunately, another grappler who has gone to MMA and subsequently it's you know, it's it's the end of their great grappling career. It's where great grapplers go to die, in a way, like go to get some money and it's over. But I feel like that era Like when Messi went to America to play football, well, to own half the league, yeah, sure, like there's a point at which you stop being an athlete and you're a business person but yeah, I believe Adolfo Vieira's takedown and passing of that era, the kind of 2009 to 2015, is like even the greatest grapplers of all time will say that he is just unstoppable force. Yeah, I'll look, I I'll go with you on that. I, um, I didn't. I never watched, I wasn't, I didn't spectate in those days. But I am somewhat familiar with adolfo, his physique. I mean, he was on probably as much drugs as anyone. It was he's jacked. His physique is crazy.
Speaker 1:I still remember a classic video of him. You know you get those videos of when people go on a roller coaster, yeah, and it's, you know, the camera's like in your face, yeah, and it's him and bruno malficini. Oh, okay, they're on a roller coaster together or some fucking hectic ride at an amusement park and hadolfo's obviously huge and looks like a fucking monster, yeah, and then malfacini's like small and big smile and stuff, and they and and hadolfo is just like shitting himself in this and malfa's just smiling, it's, it's a real funny clip. Yeah, malfa's a beast and they're such good friends. Actually, it's really uh, it's, it's interesting.
Speaker 1:But uh, I mean there's been many great passes, uh, in the game of jujitsu gi and no gi, right, yeah, and there's plenty of people who would probably push back on on the choice, but what I'm talking about is the dominance in their prime. I'm not saying he was the greatest of all time, because there was a time period where he wasn't, yeah right, but when he was the best three, four time world champion, absolute champion, untouchable. Like everybody was scared like who's gonna? Who's coming second today to that guy? Yeah, so if you could take a grappler and just give them that prime, fuck. It's pretty, pretty frightening what you got. Oh, now something slightly different. No, and this is a guy, it's a popular vote Can't lose with this one.
Speaker 1:The back taking and finishing ability of Marcelo Garcia, oh, wow, we're talking rear naked, choke or guillotine? Yeah, like rear naked, choke or guillotine. Yeah, like choke related gi or no gi. Yeah, marcello's ability to take your back and choke. You's unmatched. Second to nine for like 10 years, from I'm talking like from early 2000s through to like when he retired, like 2014, 2015.
Speaker 1:Like the guy is just people call him the goat because he just he won the adcc, absolute, you know, as a, as a kind of 77, 80 kilo man, you know, yeah, and I think he's beloved, but people don't realize how vicious marcello garcia is, like the thing that I, if he was oh, marcello's so nice I trained with his training partners and they all, like they all speak with great reverence, they're all like, yeah, he's the man, but like, fuck, it was so terrible to roll with him. Oh, wow, he just goes a hundred percent. He just beats fuck out of you. Like now, maybe you know, obviously we change over time and maybe we all know marcelo is the kind of older, you know the man, but now he's like you know, he's so chill and oh, he's so friendly, comes across like a nice guy. Yeah, no, I would say that Marcelo Garcia in his formative years, like kind of you know the purple, brown, black and him coming out at being trying to establish himself as that legend, he was a vicious man. Wow, and all the guys that train who were the lower belts below him kind of hated training with him because he would just beat the fuck out of them. I kind of like and respect that element.
Speaker 1:And when you see the way he finishes, like he chokes out in his ADCC debut where he won and he beat Henzo and he beat Vito Shaolin, he chokes Shaolin out in a savage, savage way. There was some kind of problem going on there. It's kind of like a side naked choke, it's not like doesn't get all, and he sleeps him hard. Yeah, wow, it's really, it's full on. And I think that when you add in his guillotine game, it's pretty remarkable His ability to finish matches.
Speaker 1:Marcelo, marcelo, marcelo Garcia I mean obviously ex-guard there's that I didn't want to talk about him in the context of guard. I want to talk about Marcelo in his ability to finish Because he choked Shanji as well, did he? Yeah, he got Shanji's back and choked him. Yeah, wow. And that's when Shanji was also in his prime In a no-game match, in an ADCC super fight. Yeah, right, yeah, fuck Shungis. I mean, I don't think many people have beat Shungi right, like by submission no, very, very few. And so that's what I love about a grappler is their ability to fucking go for the kill. And don't get me wrong, there's plenty value in people winning on points, because that's part of the game too.
Speaker 1:Now, give me who's the intent, who's someone from the modern era that listens again and be like how can you be overlooking fucking this guy for taking the back and choking who do you think You've got to say like Gordon Ryan, he finishes from the back pretty much better than like that's the majority of Gordon Ryan's finishes, other than maybe a leg lock. It's take the back and strangle somebody. The way he fucking finished Galvan in the super fight was just like so masterful, so clinical, yeah, and I mean he just did it to everybody man, yeah, like anyone and everyone. That's. That is possibly. And you know the reason why I didn't want to choose Galvan Gordon within.
Speaker 1:This is an easy pick. There's nothing for you guys to learn. No, you get nothing from that, because you're already saying, you're probably already saying in your mind, well, why would you match up this composite guy against Gordon? And so let's see what happens. Right, because he's got. But I feel like there are some traits that really helped Gordon be as great as he is yeah, which we can get to later when we get to some of those other qualities. But, but, yeah, no, fair point.
Speaker 1:And I think, if we're talking front front choking, like, yeah, you'd have to take a Cade Rotolo, das, the DAS, yeah, no, no, no, I've got. I think that Is that a separate the Rotolos? Yeah, and I think you have to have a certain forearm length not only long arms, but forearm specifically to be able to do that, and they have that. I mean as much as they have their elite skills and amazing cardio and everything that makes them great. That forearm length thing is a huge piece within being able to just darts people from anywhere, yeah, and so that's for me.
Speaker 1:Me, it's a little trait dependent and that's why I kind of go, ah, you know, like I don't, I don't like to lean on something that's too trait dependent. A gift from deus, yeah, from the gods, like in the same way, like if somebody's like crazy flexible, maybe they worked on it, maybe they didn't like, but someone who's just super rubber, like people might be, oh, but what about Eddie Bravo's like rubber guard, cause that changed grappling of its time. Like if you can make someone super flexible, but it's like I don't want to lean on that to him. I want to go more to skill, yeah, particular skill, even though the DAS is a skill, don't get me wrong. I would say that the Rotolo's ability to finish with a DAS is like pretty unmatched.
Speaker 1:Yes, from that front headlock attack. Who you got? Oh, I'm going to go old school, let's throw it back. I'm going to OG. Which quality are we talking? We're going to talk submission rate. Submission rate Like highest submission finish in the history of the game, wow, okay. Who am I talking about now? I'm going game, wow, okay, who am I talking about now? I'm gonna talk about leg locks.
Speaker 1:Who has the highest percentage finish rate in the history of jujitsu? Minari matches to no masato of a regga rock. Uh, yes, no, no, no. I. Much respect to iminari. I love him. Um, we're talking dean lister. Motherfuckers, why would you ignore 50% of white grapplers? He's a mutant. He's a mutant. I met him, mike. He's out of his prime but he's I met him too. He's a fucking lovely guy. He's lovely, fucking lovely guy. He's such a lovely guy. Yeah, interesting, real character of a One of the eccentrics of jiu-jitsu, you know. But I think his percentage rate finish is 90, is 89%. It's something crazy that in like I think it's like 26 ADCC matches, he has like 24 or 23 heel hook finishes.
Speaker 1:Specifically Like when and now I'll speak with some inside information here when locky and craig were like how do we beat these top level brazilians, leg locks, who did they? Look to dean fucking lister. Now, obviously their execution was different. They didn't necessarily do it the way dean did it, because he was doing it in a time when back in 2001 you know this is it wasn't the flavor of that time, but he also wrestled Like it wasn't that he was an MMA fighter, he wasn't that. He was just like this pool guard kind of guy. He did a bunch.
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Speaker 1:But if we're looking at the most successful leg locker in terms of the amount of times he finished people with heel hooks, it's Dean Lister. Yeah, wow, you take that prime Dean Lister heel hook game. Yeah, he just fucked everyone up, including Adolfo Vieira Lister. Yeah, Wow, you take that prime Dean Lister heel hook game. Yeah, he just fucked everyone up, including Adolfo Vieira. He actually he. He submitted so many top level guys. It's a classic image of him hitting the an outside.
Speaker 1:Maybe I think it's like a knee bar heel hook on him. Yeah, it's kind of side knee bar with the twist. It's brutal, yeah, immaculate. Yeah, and so it's I, even though a lot of people know locky for leg locks and like craig and like even um eddie wolverine as really pioneering, like inside hill hooks in dds and all of that, yeah, the guy who really pushed it hardest early, dean lister well, yeah, and he was, I mean, danaher kind of quoted. That Lister was his sort of inspiration, wasn't he? Yeah, in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1:And so I think that if you guys have never really seen those matches, all you have to do is just go YouTube. There's a lot of highlight videos which I haven't seen a lot. Dean Lister's kind of probably sort of just pre-my taking an interest in watching. It's probably two or three generations before we even started doing jiu-jitsu, but you also got to um.
Speaker 1:It's also at a time when there's just much less content around it, right, yeah, so you're looking at like adcc highlight clips and the footage looks janky. It looks like kind of handheld shit, but it's the. It's odd because like they come out in like mismatched, like they're not wearing the slick gear that they wear now. No, you remember I was just thinking, when you said Marcelo Garcia when he fought Rico Rodriguez, yes, and Rodriguez walks out in basketball shorts from Charlotte Hornets and just cut off sleeves, yeah, and you're like this doesn't look professional. Marcelo has blue shorts and a black long-sleeved rashie, but then the Marcelocia like it's peeling off of it because you only got one right, because you're like what's a lot of money to get a rash? No, but it's just like the quality of, yeah, it wasn't. Like it's not like vhts fucking, like the two-tone gradient. No, the level of professional the grappling was, but the professionalism was far lower. Yeah, and when you go back and you watch Dean Lister, just put Dean Lister heel hook highlight you'll be like holy shit, this guy just wrecked everyone and it was.
Speaker 1:People might say it's less competitive, but I believe he was just way more effective at going to the leg and doing the thing. I mean, of course it's less competitive right at an earlier stage because the game is less evolved and there's less people in it, sure, but I don't think that detracts in any way from the impact one athlete was able to have, because it's still just a collection of like five to ten hardcore cunts that are the best in the world and beating the shit out of each other. Yeah, and that never changes like what they're five to 10 hardcore cunts that are the best in the world Beating the shit out of each other. Yeah, so, and that, and that never changes like what they're doing and how that and how many people there are preceding them. That changes, but the actual at that top level, it's always fucking savagery. Yeah, and the thing that people underestimate is like if you didn't, if you didn't have Dean Lister, you wouldn't have craig and lockie and and and a lot of these other guys subsequently in the form they've taken, yeah, so I think you can take a lot of um, if you understand these things, it puts a much better understanding on the modern game. Yep, and so we're building the ultimate modern grappler.
Speaker 1:Now this the next one I'm going to go to. This is my final one, but you, you feel where you're going. This because I want to just talk about the guard, guard gi or no game, because for a long time people hung shit on pulling guard, playing guard, like it, which it's kind of like that's not practical to fighting, that's not heterocentral. Uh, you know, people call it besmirch, the idea of a guard, right, when, for the best part, besmirching motherfuckers how dare you, for cinerous activities, besmirched me. This count, um.
Speaker 1:But think this this gentleman is a four-time adcc, two-time or three-time super fight champion, four-time world gi champion. No gi champion, like pretty much won as much as any person can win across all spheres and has beaten all of the best, as in beat Jacare, beat Galvan you name anyone, he's pretty much beat them. I think the only person he hadn't beaten in a competition is maybe hodja. Right, he's just beaten every one of your favorite grapplers. He beat them. We're talking bralio esteem, a motherfucker. Oh, wow.
Speaker 1:Now you might look at this and say, oh, maybe it's trait dependent because you've got very long, but this is a guy who, you can see, has had a huge influence on any guard player, gi or no Gi. This isn't just like, oh, he was a Gi guy. No, one of the most famous photos I remember is him doing a reverse triangle on Andre Galvan on the front of Gracie Mag and Andre Galvan being like oh my God, fuck. And the moment where he taps. And Andre Govan being like oh my God, fuck. And the moment where he taps. And he's like oh my God, and. And. And Craig actually borrowed a bit from um, his triangle game, from, uh, brawley, esteema, okay, and, and, and the amazing thing, I've been very fortunate to have met Brawley a bunch of times.
Speaker 1:Guy, he's always down to party, you know, and, and anyone I speak to is like, yeah, man, brother, he likes to party, he's always up for a good time, but his jujitsu is so fucking legit and this is something that it's kind of an older era that people wouldn't necessarily think of him when it comes to guard they might think of like the meow brothers, or they might think of the Mendez Brothers, aoj, you know, they might think about Cabrinha or like any of these guys who are great in Gi and no Gi, who have these guards which are just. Even a guy like Keenan Cornelius, who invented Wormguard and was great Gi or no Gi, like Braulio Stima is one of the most achieved guard players, as you would call them, and the list of people he's submitted is pretty hard to deny. Would you say, what about a Hodger Gracie as a guard contender People? Yes, but the reason why I would choose Braulio is because his guard is more open, right, hodger is famous for closed guard. Yeah, he just gets closed guard. He geese sweep, he get you, but he's a fucking giant, you know he's 6'5" whatever. The broadest shoulders, the longest legs. I mean, don't get me wrong, braulio Steamer's not a small guy. I think he's 6'2", could be edging up on 6'3". He's kind of like a lean, long guy, yeah, but the sheer size of Hodger is very overwhelming. I always find that I'm always like he's like a big motherfucker. And don't get me wrong, you would say Hodger has the most famous closed guard. The reason why I find Brawley Osteema more interesting and why I think he's a I wouldn't say better, but I like his guard game better is because it's gi and no gi. It's inverting, it's fucking triangles, it's taking the back, it's leg locks, it's you fucking name it. I think he has one of the quickest submissions ever, which you may or may not have seen, which is kind of from spider guard. I think he has one of the quickest submissions ever which you may or may not have seen, which is kind of from spider guard, and he like spins under to like a straight knee bar. He does it at worlds. It's very famous actually, cause he's just like knee bar and it's like Looks like 15 seconds. Wow, I was like what the fuck did he just do? There's some black magic right there, that's dark and you're like, wow, he just pulls it out. So I have put this list together because these are not necessarily the most obvious famous people, but if you combine all these elements, you are going to create the greatest grappler of all time.
Speaker 1:Give me your pick for armbar. Who are you going with? Huffer Mendes, huffer Mendes, huffer Mendes has the greatest straight armbar of all time. There's no, he's Michael Galvan. For me, he just Okay, fucking entry on those things. Michael Galvan's amazing, right, but I just Huffer Mendes can just Google them side by side.
Speaker 1:I think it's a little bit unfair because Mikkel Galvaum is so early right and you know, mendes is Hafa. Mendes has pretty much finished his career, done, yeah, yeah. So we haven't seen the best of Mikkel Galvaum. I don't think I've seen enough. No, no, no, no, no. You just have to just put in. Just, let's just trust the internet, let's just trust the algorithm. Don't trust the algorithm, but just search like hafa mendez, armbars. How many people is that guy straight armbarred? It is insane.
Speaker 1:What about, um? Who we going with for mental game? Oh, wow, so you know. So what you know of, I mean, and we don't have an insight to all the athletes on this front. I'll tell you who I fucking got for mental game. Okay, hicks and Gracie, oh wow, okay, just the fucking, the toughness and the confidence of that. Motherfucker, I'm going, I'm implanting that into this fucking super soldier. Oh wow, oh, motherfucker, I'm going, I'm, I'm implanting that into this fucking super soldier. Oh wow, I oh wow. This is really based on, you know, the seeing choke. If you haven't seen, who do you admire? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But also, you know, you get a bit of an insight into him as a, as a guy.
Speaker 1:The psychology of hicks and gracie is is impeccable because he was also, he was just doing as much no rules, no holds barred, fighting like stomping, punching the back of the head, shit as much as he was doing Kijijutsu. So this is why Hickson is so revered. He was doing that shit, um, in the eighties, before other people were even aware of it, before the UFC Mental game. Fuck, psychology here's. This is going to sound funny. I'm going to go with, like that, my opinion, and I I say this with the utmost respect the idiot savant of sports psychology. I'm going to talk about jacare soza, the alligator.
Speaker 1:That guy just does give no fucks. He comes in so hard, so, so fast. He really doesn't care who's in front of him. I'm fucking you up. His whole mental game is I'm fucking you up, and it is relentless. And he talks about not having the money to catch the bus home and he's like therefore, I must win the absolute. I'll have no food and no way to get home. Therefore, I must win that I'll have no food and no way to get home. Therefore, I must win.
Speaker 1:That attitude is just, you know those guys from Manaus, like you know Jose Aldo and like anyone who's from those, and Mika Govans from up there, the Milky Boys, right, like, if you're from a poor place and you have no other chance, you're like this has to work. I refuse to lose. Yeah, and it it's not complicated, it's not spiritual, it's not philosophical, it's just fuck you, I win today. And it's just unshakable and I, I've always found that really like, oh, like. You see a guy that big do a flying triangle or flying armbar, and the ferocity that, the intensity, I love intensity, and so, when it comes to like psychology, I, I, that's what I love about him.
Speaker 1:Jackarazian man, yeah, we think. Is there any? Are there any qualities or, you know, aspects of the game we've missed. We kind of had wrestling covered with tonin and hadolfo in terms of takedowns and then takedowns and pass, and then maybe you could say just someone who like, if we encapsulate it all, someone who's like entertaining, like somebody who's like a bit of a, a showman, like maybe that, that element of grappling because not all grapplers have that Like, give him the fucking Craig Jones. No, actually, if you watch Craig grapple, it's not super, it's not highlight material. No, but it's all the shit. It's all the shit around. No, no, no.
Speaker 1:I'm talking more. I'm talking more like no, no, no, no, no. This is not what I'm referring. I'm talking to like the X factor, the excitement, similar to Tony, like someone who's going to do a flying triangle, yeah, someone who's just going Do something where you're like, oh my God, what the hell? Something spectacular. Is there a spectacular grappler that you like Joe? Well, I couldn't. I mean Tonin would be my first pick, right, if I were to look beyond that, fuck. Who do I find really exciting? Fabrizio Andres, you know, fabrizio, yeah, but I'm actually going to say like Canuto, yeah, canuto's fucking exciting Flips.
Speaker 1:Who's the other guy that always comes out? He's got that real dark energy about him, fucking like Central American, american kind of vibe. You know the fucking dude, he's that Andy Varela. Andy Varela, he's got that and I apologize if I misplaced his origins there or his family, but him and Canuto to me come out and they're like I'm fucking putting on a show for cunts. Yes, and Varela has a particular nastiness. It comes across that there are bad intentions, yeah, and I mean that's exciting as a fan and I've never met Andy, so I don't no, but he grapples like a cunt, he goes hard, yeah, yeah, he's got that Shinya Aoki vibe to him. I was going to say Shinya is a potential.
Speaker 1:If we're talking showmanship, right, yep, yep, I would say that. I mean, could we? We're talking Shinya like 2010s? Yes, it's hard for me because, like my favorite, most spectacular like, when I think of showmanship, it often goes to MMA, not jujitsu. There's not many people who bring that element of of of. Not only am I here to grapple, I'm here to entertain the fans. Like, are you not entertained? And I think, when we think about the most recent best match of all time being, um, you know, tackett versus rotolo, oh yeah, that, uh, that element of entertainment, like getting a position, being like yeah, yeah, like, come on, you know like the crowd gets excited for it.
Speaker 1:I actually am going to say Leandro Lowe. Leandro Lowe has the ability, he's clutch, he could be down on points. He's going to take the back and choke the guy. He could be down on points and pull out the takedown against a bigger, stronger opponent he seems unlikely to look at and then he just does the spectacular, he commits all and makes it happen. And for me you know, you see him get the takedown he's just like, yeah, like you fucking know, it Drives on the crowd, yeah, and you feel the crowd, the interaction between the crowd and the grappler.
Speaker 1:I think that's also part of the reason why he was so beloved. Rest in peace. And that's, you know, part of the thing I admire about him, because I don't think of him as an athlete in the same way. I think of a Adolfo or kind of seems like, kind of average, like a little bit lumped and bumped, like a bit injured, and he would just make it fucking happen. And people thrived off the electricity of his ability to make it happen. Who would your pick be for the quality of never tapping the cunt that just lets like, just go for it. Bro Frank Conant, I'm not tapping Wow.
Speaker 1:Well, there's some pretty Like and we could say this is like the near impossibility to submit. Oh God, I mean, there's so many examples of people just eating it and then getting out. I'm going to say Vinnie Margulies, based on the Craig Jones fight, no, well, he fought the heavyweight final against Fabricio Verdum and Verdum had him in the deepest armbar. He fucking got out. Like it's unbelievable how elastic that man is for being a big heavyweight guy. But there's many examples. I mean, elastic implies that no tendons were broken. Well, no, they definitely. Well, I think, actually the bones broke with the Craig match. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it broke his tip-fib like a spiral fracture, more than he tore ligaments. There's so many matches he tore ligaments. There's so many matches Like you think about when Gary Tonin was getting armbarred by Hickson's son, cron, cron, gracie, that's ridiculous.
Speaker 1:Him getting out of that armbar is crazy. I'm having a hard time recall. I remember they fought. Yeah, I mean, that was Cron really doing great.
Speaker 1:We're talking about, about, I'm thinking fucking craig jones, gordon ryan. That was fucking deep, that was super deep, and and and and gordon did complain about how sore his elbow was I? I think for me it has to be, and I don't. I never remember which one is, but meow brothers, which one? Is it paulo or joel? Yeah, it would be paulo, again, with tie, tie breaking his leg, yeah, and the knee. Then that shot of the, the, the, the reverse, you bend on the knee, the knee for those who haven't seen it, it's just full hyper extension. You can actually see where the joint knee joint is kind of dislocated and ty is just like cranking, giving it everything. And is it it Paulo or Joao? I'm confident it's Paulo meow. Okay, just poker face. Yeah, just nothing, just like.
Speaker 1:Looking for the back yeah, just how do I take the back from you? Next position, yeah, oh man, yeah, you're probably right. Actually, I will say, like as much as Vinny probably is more famous in some of his escapes I know this firsthand a friend of ours and sponsored Bulletproof athlete, fabio Colloi Fabinho, from Alliance. He said that he had Paula Meows in a toe hold and touched his big toe to the back of his calf, like snapped his ankle, wow, completely. Like felt the ankle go and folded the ankle Wow, like that Didn't tap, got his back taken. He was like he's got a tap. No, wow, break my shit, I'm still going to take your back, I'm still going to get out of this. Wow, their willingness to take damage is pretty unparalleled. Yeah, take your back, I'm still going to get out of this. Their willingness to take damage is pretty unparalleled. Yeah, it's kind of psychotic. Yeah, um, that's the quality that we're looking for in the greatest. You want to be the next bulletproof sponsor because we've got we've got a lot of work to do to look after those bodies.
Speaker 1:But I mean, obviously there's so many great grapplers jiu-jitsu is so big so many people didn't get a mention. Of course, that's right. Some of the you guys listening are going to have some you know some up in arms. I'm sure how the fuck did so-and-so not get a mention? How come you didn't mention? And I think it's because and you're right in saying this, joe because of flow grappling, it's on one FC. You know there is so much media around jujitsu. People will have tuned into a particular event and be like, how come he didn't mention this match with this grappler? Yeah, what about Nikki Robb? Yeah, how about like fucking Adele? Yeah, man, her finishing rate, right.
Speaker 1:I guess the reason why I say this is for the newer generation of grappling, of grapplers and grappling. We haven't seen it completely reach its fruition. Like these, grapplers are still young. The greatest matches they're ever going to have are coming. Wait, fruition implies that there's an end point, does it not? Well, yeah, an end point when you fucking retire? Yeah, there are ways off, but I think, but the evolution is just forever, no, no, yeah, an end point when you fucking retire? Yeah, but there are ways off, but I think, but the evolution is just forever. No, no, no, no. But I'm saying that I'm talking about individual grapplers in their fucking prime. Yeah, our modern day guys, whoever's, like J-Rod, whoever you mentioned, they are not prime yet. They are, they're just hitting their strap.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like, the next five years is prime time for this generation of grapplers. Yeah, the, the, the Rotolos, or all of that generation, the Tacketts, uh, levi, all these guys like, it's prime time now. So we will see the greatest matches of all time in the next couple of years. I it's. We only have seen glimpses of that so far which was, you know, possibly you know, uh Cade versus um Tackett as the greatest match of the, the, the common modern era of grappling. So we have to revisit the conversation later.
Speaker 1:I feel I just want to use it. In five years, I wanted I wanted to like use this to shine a light on some folks that maybe aren't being talked about as well. Yeah, that's right. Hopefully this puts a spike in the YouTube fucking search results for probably our steamer. But yeah, we're just fucking around, it's good, it's good fun. Fuck, yeah, there it is, but we obviously know that you will have a different opinion Sound out in the comments. We do like to see it because it sparks conversation and, yeah, please feel free to reference famous matches that we did not touch on. We appreciate it.
