► Renzo Gracie Jiu Jitsu || Garry Tonon • Master Renzo and The Art of the Choke || ᴴᴰ
Renzo Gracie Jiu Jitsu || Garry Tonon • Master Renzo and The Art of the Choke
In what was an epic night for fans and Renzo Gracie Jiu Jitsu (family and otherwise) alike, not only did extended RGA fam Garry Tonon pick up another win in MMA, but Master Renzo Gracie, at the ripe young age of 52 years old did the same, both predicated off the use of (I’m admittedly partial) the greatest Brazilian Jiu JItsu on earth.
If I have time I will breakdown some UFC this week as well, but first I want to take a look into how Maser Renzo and The Lion Killer used some spectacular transitions to get their respective finishes in their fights. Cheers.
(Backgound) Music: [No Copyright Music] Chill Lofi Hip Hop Instrumental (Copyright Free) Music – Days Like These https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMyudUrFlQQ
[No Copyright Music] Chill Lofi Hip Hop Instrumental (Copyright Free) Chillhop Music: Lakey Inspired https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT89A89s5DM
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These were mere re-calibrations for former champions, unsure of where they must go next, unlike the headlining clash. Dustin Poirier exorcised his Philadelphian demons and finished Eddie Alvarez in the second round. Logically, this should have a major impact on the trajectory of the lightweight division, but will it? Probably not.
Currently on a three fight finish streak over a former WSOF champion and two former UFC champions; in any other division it would be impossible to deny him title contention. But after a stalled linearity, he broke through right when everything was restarting and will not be afforded the opportunity that, in mine and many others’ opinions, he is owed.
Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones are very much the Batman and Joker of mixed martial arts. In hardcore MMA circles, it’s very difficult to have one without the other. DC is a hard-nosed grinder, dedicated to leaving a legacy in this game. He is a family man, respected by all who meet him, with zero controversies to his name. DC is order.
A year later, Daniel Cormier is at the top of the world, but that lack of closure imprisons both men. This is compounded by Jones’ hypothetical trajectory, which Cormier made manifest. Jon was supposed to be the one to bring balance to the force… Umm to unify the light heavyweight and heavyweight titles. Now he sits at home, watching as his destiny plays out in real time, only it isn’t him in the lead role. The narrative now has more emotional weight than ever before. The pay off should be fruitful, but a lack of one will leave a hole in the history of our great sport.
Nevertheless, she pushed on. After two more armbars, she earned herself a shot at Miesha Tate’s bantamweight championship. Rousey again apply the armbar, this time nearly ripping Tate’s arm off. After a title defense, Rousey met Dana White in Las Vegas, and took the opportunity to plead her case for women in the octagon. As Dana puts it “Fifteen minutes into a 45-minute conversation, I was like, ‘Holy sh*t, I’m in. If we’re ever going to do it, this is the woman to do so.’” Ronda was passionate, and laid her plans for domination in her division. Thanks to her recent performances, Dana’s mind was changed, and women about to fight in the UFC.
Not only did Ronda have to contend with this external commentary, she had her own in house cheerleading to score her career. Edmond Tarverdyan was the hype train conductor, and would take any given opportunity to praise Ronda to the high heavens. In a fit of particular sycophancy on the Joe Rogan podcast, Tarverdyan proclaimed Ronda’s ability to “destroy” boxing world champions on “any given day”.
Ronda Rousey was dismantled by the world class striker Holm. The champ found zero success, and chased Holly around the octagon while Holm picked her apart. Eventually, in the second round, Holly ended Ronda’s night with a head kick, and took away her precious UFC belt. At the time, many considered it the upset of the year at the least, and the upset of the ever at its conceivable most. The most dominant force in MMA had been stopped, and stopped handily.
When Ronda Rousey was 8, her father committed suicide. A detail I left out earlier, but one that becomes most important when consolidated with Ronda’s response to the Holm loss. It’s easy to point to a bad attitude, but depression runs in the family. Ronda had filled her life up to this point with competition and physical self-improvement. She had finally reached the athletic Holy Grail and had it violently snatched from her. Suicidal thoughts are not a choice, they are a symptom. In the grand scheme of things, losing a competition is incredibly unimportant, but when you define yourself by some definitive thing, depression is very much not an uncommon reaction to the inverse.
Who is to blame here? Is it Ronda? I don’t believe so. The loss to Holm clearly did something to Ronda, something she couldn’t work through on her own, which is completely okay. I believe the blame lies elsewhere. The UFC should not have put her in there with a killer like Nunes after a year off. According to Joe Rogan, the new owners were taking it for granted that Ronda would come back stronger and reassert her dominance, because she was their star. This is fighting, this isn’t the movies. If you don’t have the right people around you, then you aren’t destined for a redemption arc.
Ronda spent her infancy unable to express herself or communicate, it was easier to just do. Now she finds herself doing, not wanting to explain or exposit, crying when forced to. Whatever you think of her or her faults, you cannot take away what she did for women in sports, particularly MMA. After the Nunes fights Dana White told her “You built this. This doesn’t exist without you.” You know what, he’s absolutely right. Ronda deserves all the credit for what she’s done.
“I had to call my Mom back home, but I couldn’t do it yet. Making that call would require finding the strength to say: I lost. My gut twisted. I climbed to the very top of the seats. The arena was nearly empty. I settled myself at the end of a row of seats, up against a corner, pulled my knees up to my chest, and cried harder than I ever had since Dad died.” Ronda’s first hurdle was expressing herself to her mother. To Rousey, losing was a cataclysmic event; not a frame of mind she would ever seem to escape.
Immediately after the 2008 games, Rousey began to spiral. The pressure of competing and training for the entirety of her most crucial formative years had worn on her. Needing a break, she took a year off judo, and filled that time with mindless self-indulgence. She began drinking, smoking and partaking in weed and Vicodin.