Bitetti Combat, Copa Podio, and Twerking with Kit Dale

Nicole and I at Bitetti Combat 17. Photo by Bitetti Combat MMA 

It's been an extremely busy week down here in Rio and I am finally getting a chance to sit down and write a quick recap of all that is happening in the Cidade Maravilhoso.

Kit Dale and Poitr Hallman in the House

This past week we have had some pretty big names in the BJJ and MMA world staying at the house.

Flow rolling with Kit Dale. Photo by bjjpix.com

First Kit Dale, the Aussie grappler known for both his grappling and his sense of humor stayed at CR for the final prep for the Copa Podio Middleweight Grand Prix. While here Kit was more than willing to hop on the mats here in the house and work techniques and concepts with everyone. I had the opportunity to hop on the mat and get some flow rolling in with him. His smooth transitions and cutting edge techniques were simply amazing. There were times (many in fact) that I thought I was improving my position only to fall into a trap he had set up. Like I said above not only is Kit a great grappler, he is pretty hilarious. He was constantly cracking jokes and making us all laugh. Included in this was a photo shoot in which he had a group of us doing thai chi and twerking.

Twerking with Kit Dale. Photo by bjjpix.com

We also had UFC fighter Piotr Hallman stay here for a couple of days fresh off his come from behind victory at UFC Fight Night in Belo Horizonte. While he was only here for a couple of days, he was a really nice guy and went all over the city with people from the house. Just goes to show you never know who you will meet here at CR.

Bitetti Combat

The coaches and fighters at Bitetti Combat 17.

On Friday night Nicole and I headed into Botafogo to watch a few of my teamates compete in Bitetti Combat 17. Both my teamates Reyzinho and Daniel won decisively by TKO. Both guys showed an impressive mix of techniques, mixing in strikes with takedowns and counters and unloading some viscous shots from all positions. In preparation fro Reyzinhos fight I went back stage into the warm up area to run him through the wrestling part of his warm up. We briefly covered several key positions for his fight and worked to keep him warm. After his blitzing TKO in the second round the crowd went wild. It was great to see the guys use the techniques I showed to help them attain victories. It shows me the work I am doing is making a real difference in their fights.

Copa Podio

On Sunday 12 of us hopped a bus to Tijuca to watch the Copa Podio. As a testament to what a great guy he is, Kit gave the guys tickets to get into the show. The matches were great; in my opinion the most exciting Copa Podio yet. It started of with an exciting omaplata choke finish from Clark Gracie in a submission only match. The Grand Prix itself was also great; the matches featured high caliber athletes with many different styles. This provided us with some incredibly interesting match ups. Some of the highlights from the grand Prix were Travis Stevens amazing judo throw of Felipe Pena and Felipe's many impressive finishes throughout the matches. Top it of with an impressive win from Leandro Lo in a nogi match up and you had one exciting night!

Some of the CR guys at the Copa Podio. Photo by bjjpix.com