Side Control is the name of my Brazilian jiu jitsu journal. The blog format makes it easy to keep track of my entries, as I track what I learn in classes, from the Machado and Gracie books, the 101 Submissions dvd series, or even just figure out on my own (like the counter to the stacking guard pass!). Hopefully, six months to a year from now I'll be in monthly tournament mode and talking more about what I experience preparing and training for competition.
To start things off, I've been training since August 2005. I've got a 1st degree black belt in chidokwan tae kwon do and wrestled my senior year in high school. 5' 6", 163 at my last tournament weigh-in in September. In that tournament, I lost my one and only match by armbar about a minute and a half in. See the archives for a breakdown on that fight.
We'll see what happens. But I think this will be a good move. I'll start loading the old entries from the non-online version over the balance of the weekend.
A few things. First, the URL to my academy. I study under Rodrigo Lopes, who is the first to receive a black belt under Marcio "Mamazinho" Laudier Vilamor, a 3rd degree jiu-jitsu black belt. "Mamazinho" is the highest ranked student of Ralph Gracie. Ralph was a student of Carlos Gracie, Jr. (a seventh degree black belt). This puts us on the Carlos Gracie Sr. side of the Gracie jiu jitsu, as opposed to the Helio Gracie side. Our highest ranked black belts include Rigan Machado (7th degree) and Jean-Jacques Machado (6th degree). Renzo Gracie is a 5th degree black belt under the Carlos Gracie Sr. lineage.
By comparison, the Helio side includes a lot of famous Gracies such as Rorion (9th degree), Relson (8th degree), Rickson (7th degree), Royler (6th degree), and Royce (5th degree). Plenty of great jiu jitsu guys to go around!
