Eduardo is teaching in Cyprus for two weeks, starting April 16. The school will continue to run like normal. Here are some shots of his trip.

You can check out the photos from Pe de Pano’s seminar here.

Marcio “Pe de Pano” Cruz, a Gracie Barra black belt, a world champion in both the Mundials and ADCC, and a current UFC fighter, will be holding a two hour workshop on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 at 6:30 PM for $30.

Note: Regular class will not be held.

Date: Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Time: 6:30-8:30 PM (instead of regular class)
Cost: $30.00

Pe de Pano will also be training with us daily until he leaves on the following Wednesday.

Update: Photos are up now! View the gallery here »

Carlos Gracie Jr. gave an excellent seminar this last Sunday. It’s always a pleasure to hear Carlos talk about BJJ, its history, its future, the growth of Gracie Barra, growth of the sport, teaching, coaching and pretty much anything.

Someone asked him if he’s trying to get BJJ in the Olympics, and I know this is common question online, so I’ll share his answer. He said he doesn’t plan on getting it into the Games since the requirements call for the sport to be represented in about 70 countries, with each country having full black belt teams, both male and female. He left it open as a possibilty, but didn’t see it happening until further down the line.

The instruction was very clear and detailed, as always. He did a good job of explaining the strategy behind the technique, and each move tended to naturally follow into the next. He didn’t just show a bunch of flashy moves isolation or try to overload us with “advanced” techniques. He said he likes to use seminars to share techniques between the different Gracie Barras, and that he always makes it a point to find a black belt who is doing something well and sharing his way of doing a technique. You can see this in what he taught below.

Techniques:

• Gripping and sitting to triangle (like Roger vs Xande)
• Uchimata to sacrifice throw (Carlinhos’ favorite)
• Uchimata to ankle pick (Marcio Feitosa’s favorite)
• Grip break to omoplata from standing
• Omoplata to triangle, counter defense with backwards triangle
• Sitting armbar from standing (that Joao “Big Head” Salgado won 80% of his fights using)
• Recovering from being flattened out in butterfly guard to sweep
• Countering underhook with armdrag and sweep from butterfly guard

• Countering hook sweep defense (posting leg) with another sweep

  The triangle from standing was similar to the one Roger used to beat Xande, and he used the same grip for the uchimata variations.

  Overall, a great seminar by a friendly and skilled instructor.