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| Nabas, Dennis, and I after a technique photo shoot. Photo by Hywel Teague |
This week was the six month mark of
living in Rio and with each passing day Nicole and I are enjoying
Brazil more and more. We celebrated by going to a local sushi
restaurant for their delicious all you can eat sushi. As with every
week here in Rio I had some amazing opportunities, including going to
BOPE training HQ and helping train some of the elite soldiers.
Unfortunately my training was cut a bit short because of an injury,
but I still got some awesome work in.
Week of Training
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| Drilling takedowns during Gringo Class. Photo by bjjpix.com |
On Monday I got the week started off
right. The mornings wrestling training was an intense drill session,
with a little bit of live wrestling at the end. We were joined by UFC
lightweight Gleison Tibau who came in to train with us while he is in
Brazil. First off I don't know how that guy ever makes 155, he is the
biggest lightweight I have ever seen; he easily walks around at
185-190lbs. Despite his bulk he is incredibly light on his feet, he
moves quickly and precisely. When I had a chance to wrestle with him
he didn't use his strength, he used technique. We went back and forth
for a couple of minutes with shot attempts but finally he set up a
double leg and used his explosiveness to drive me half way across the
mat. I was still defending, but when he pushed me against the cage it
was all over, he popped in his hips and lifted me like I weighed
nothing, then took me down. Gleison is a super nice guy who stepped
in to offer some great pointers on mma wrestling techniques. After
class we were talking and he said he really enjoyed how I taught the
class (the drills, details, explanations, etc.) and techniques that I
used. It made my day. If there is one thing my time here in Brazil
has taught me, it's that I deserve to be here with some of the best
in the world. In the afternoon the other guys from the apartment (our
two new guests Vlad and Berry) and I went to Dennis' Gringo Class. We
worked some excellent armbars from side control
and as always the
live rolling was competitive and fast paced.
Training with BOPE
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| At BOPE HQ. |
On Monday night Antoine called and
asked if I wanted to go with him to help train members of Rio's elite
BOPE, and of course I jumped at the opportunity. So Tuesday morning
Antoine picked me up and we headed across town to BOPE HQ. I had been
there once before, for a CR visit, but this trip had a bit different
feel as I wasn't there to tour, but rather work out with and help
train some of the members of BOPE in wrestling. The base was alive
and bustling. A large group of soldiers were in the briefing area
getting briefed for some sort of mission. There was also a good deal
of political activity going on as well. Several politicians from the
prefecture were there to watch a judo
demonstration by children who had
suffered from crack addiction in the favelas. I know to most the idea
of teens and children dealing with addiction of a drug like crack is
a completely foreign idea, but it is an unfortunate issue that has to
be dealt with in the impoverished areas of Rio. Luckily programs such
as these, that work hand in hand with the UPP, help kids who have
suffered one way or another from drugs, gangs, and violence. The
programs offer structure, support, and a feeling of family. I have to
say I was really impressed by the kids, they were all disciplined and
worked incredibly hard. It was an awesome opportunity to watch them
put there techniques on display. We headed down to the gym, which has
a large mat space and began to train. There were four members of BOPE
training with Antoine and I (normally there numbers are larger, but
there were guys prepping for missions). They were all serious
athletes who when not training for missions are training to fight or
compete. On of the guys, Jayson, even spent time in the U.S training
wrestling. I got a chance to show them some boxing for MMA takedowns
and we had a chance to do some live wrestling. It was a ton of fun
the guys were all in great shape and aggressive which always makes
for fun training. By the time we finished there was a group of BOPE
watching and I was introduced to them. They all were super friendly
and excited to have me there. One of the guys, Richardo, spoke
English and invited me back to train whenever I was able to and said
if I had any questions about Rio to let him know. He then finished by
asking me this question, “Have you ever trained parachuting?” To
my response of “No” he said, “Well we'll change that.” An
interesting statement to say the least. One of the members of the
group I was introduced to was 01, the Commander of the BOPE. He was a
very nice guy who was enthused to have me there working with some of
his troops who were preparing to compete. As we left, passing by BOPE
suiting up to go on patrol and various other members cleaning
weapons, Antoine explained some of the rigorous training of the BOPE.
Of the last class of 100 only three made it through the training to
become members of the elite BOPE force. In the last three days the
trainees go with no sleep, incredibly limited food and water; they
spend the days running countless simulated missions and physical
tests. The final step is running up the large hill (closer to a
mountain) that BOPE HQ is on and performing tasks along the way; at
three stages trainees must fight in hand to hand combat. The first
stop is an all out MMA style fight (no protection gear) against a
single opponent. Farther up the hill they have to fight multiple
opponents at the same time, and at the final stage they have to
battle armed opponents and disarm and “pacify” them. With
training like that I can see why the BOPE are regarded as some of the
best in the world. From BOPE HQ we headed over to Brazilian Top Team,
where Antoine helps the MMA fighters train wrestling. There must have
been 30-40 guys in there training. We finished the session out with
about a half hour of live goes and hard drills. My take downs were
feeling great, my flow started coming back strong and I started to
use setups and take downs I hadn't attempted in a while. The guys at
BTT are friendly and with my ever improving Portuguese I was able to
talk and interact more after training. After a quick and delicious
lunch at Bibi's with Maurilo Bustamante (former UFC Champion, one of
the founders and head coach of BTT) and some BTT guys we headed back
to Barra.
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| Some of the judoaka students at BOPE. |
On Wednesday I
had another tough Gringo class with Dennis. Nabas and I drilled hard
takedown work during the warm up before we reviewed and drilled the
armbars Dennis had shown on Monday. We then learned some great sweeps
as our opponent stands in our guard. During the rolls I was able to
work some new techniques into my game. It's a great testament to the
power of drilling a technique. Even though I have learned some of the
moves in the previous few training sessions, the high amount of reps
drilled every session added them to muscle memory and allowed me to
try them in live rolling. I'm starting to really get more comfortable
with my own style of BJJ and finding things that work well for me.
On Thursday I had
happen what nobody ever wants to deal with...injury. While drilling
takedowns with Nabas and Vlad I landed wrong on a trip and twisted my
knee and heard a pop accompanied by searing pain in my ankle. Nabas
quickly ran and got ice and I immediately started to ice my leg. They
helped me back to the house where I continued and wrapped my leg. On
Friday my leg still hurt and as a result I had to spend most of the
day in bed. Saturday morning I headed into the public hospital to get
x-rays, thankfully they showed no broken bones—which was a huge
relief. Hopefully my ankle will heal quickly and I'll be able to get
back on the mat noon.
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