Los Angeles (Round One)

First stop: Los Angeles. Los Angeles is great for BJJ and MMA because of how many resources you have within a 20 minute drive. Seriously, go 18 miles in any direction and you are not only bound to hit a gym, but you are bound to hit a gym run by a world champion, or an established MMA fighter. I began my stay training with New Breed. In fact, I began my stay actually staying with New Breed. I mean no offense to any other schools in the LA area, but New Breed Academy is the best. And the reason I say that has little to do with any actual training. John Ouano and myself have very similar personalities and feelings towards the spirit of Jiu Jitsu. Without hesitating, he offered the Academy to me as a place to sleep. And at any given time the door is unlocked and there are visitors from somewhere sleeping on the mats, or watching movies, or making sandwiches. Another great thing about new breed is the wide variety of instructors, teaching a wide variety of classes. It seemed like just as one class ended another was beginning. I was so worn out after only two or three days there. I would wake up at 5:45am and meet John at the beach to go surfing. Well, he would surf and I would flip over, or ride half way in on my stomach, as I desperately tried to stand up, then finally make it up right as the forward motion stopped. He later told me this is the same beach Rickson used to surf at. I bet Rickson had a wetsuit though, which I did not. El Porto's water at 6:30 am is a great reason to own a wetsuit, which I unfortunately did not. I would then head back to New Breed for either the 9am or 11am class. I like training as much as the next guy, but anyone that can last through four hours straight of a class run by Johnny Ramirez is a robot. I had to pick one of the two. the next couple of hours would be spent making sandwiches out of my little portable cooler, and sitting out at the beach reading, or listening to Elvis Costello. Sometimes both at once!! I would then return to the Academy late night for one more class and by the time all of that was done I would crawl off the mat and pass out.

These will be some of the most memorable days of my trip. More often than not, my day is centered around Jiu Jitsu. But this was truly LIVING jiu jitsu. Spending all day with fighters. Waking up as the first class started and rolling up my sleeping bag. Training as hard as I could and not holding back, not just once but multiple times a day. Using the beach to watch videos and rest my body so I could put it through more later. I think, at least for now, this is as relaxed and happy in life as I could hope to be. I lay out in the sun and feel the sand and listen to the waves breaking and just smile, knowing this is exactly how I want to be spending my life. This is when I feel lucky and think of what I am doing right now and how I am truly living my dream and making my wishes come true. not everyone can be as lucky as me to be in a situation to where they are completely content with every aspect of the present.

One black belt I was very, very excited to train with was Romulo Barral. He and Alberto Crane run a school together. I met them and filmed the class, and they stayed afterwards to shoot some interviews. I admire Romulo's jiu jitsu so much that I decided I needed more footage and ended up spending the next two days working with him. He took me to Gracie Barra in Cerritos, run by Renato "Babalu" Sobral. At this point in my trip, I had seen some pretty giant, scary MMA fighters. Renato takes the cake as the most intimidating human I have ever been around. I do not think a day goes by where he does not have a black eye. Following in the tradition of all other fighters I had worked with, he opened his academy to me and made me feel at home. What I did not realize when Romulo told me he would be working on MMA at Babalu's school was that Jiu Jitsu legend Rafael "Gordo" Correa would be there as well as Muay Thai legend Rob Kaman. I got amazing footage of Romulo sparring adn drilling MMA, hitting pads, conditioning, showering with a garden hose... everything you could ever want to see. I ended up interviewing a few of the guys in the gym as well and left really happy. Sometimes you get shots and sometimes you get SHOTS. This was one of those days where I wanted to run home and watch all the raw footage on my television. This is one of those days where I wanted to drop my camera and put on the gloves. I got home and texted my coach Ryan about how bad I wanted to gain weight and get stronger, and how bad I want to train harder and push myself harder. Ryan was excited as he often tells me "there is no such thing as a strong 134lb 5'11" guy." Seeing the work ethic and hard training by Romulo and the other guys at Gracie Barra Cerritas was inspiring and I honestly feel honored to have gotten to capture it. The next day I met with Romulo one final time, and rolled with him for awhile. The thing about rolling with Romulo is you have a choice. You are either going to tap, or you are going to fly. Myself, being an indecisive kind of dude, chose to do both. After launching me across the room and tapping me from places I honestly was unaware you can be tapped from we shot some technique footage. I showed Romulo a video of someone climbing a rope one handed. Amazed, he ran to the rope to try. What ensued was Romulo standing and gripping the rope with one hand trying to figure out in his tiny head how it is possible. He kept squatting as if he was just going to go for it, and then relaxing when it became obvious that his body would not do what his brain was telling him to do. It was a funny site. Off to the next town.