December 20, 2024 • 23 mins
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, welcome to the Bulletproof for BJJ podcast.
Now, over the weekend, one ofJT and myself's heroes, crone
Gracie, got knocked out in theUFC, and this caused us to talk
about what happens when elitelevel grapplers go to MMA.
Now, in today's episode, we'regoing to talk about how the
evolution of a fighter canreally determine what kind of
(00:21):
future they have in MMA, andsometimes, like what we're
seeing from Krohn, it can end upin great sadness for us
grappling fans.
I'm also going to tell you,guys, the super awkward story
about when I met Krohn and hadthe opportunity to train with
him, and I expect that you willprobably cringe just as much as
(00:43):
I did when the interactionhappened.
It's a fucking banger of astory, though, hey, but we also
go into, like, what a successfulMMA career looks like for
grapplers.
If you like UFC, if you likewatching grapplers enter the MMA
sphere, you're going to dig theepisode.
Let's get into it.
Hey, also, do us a favor.
You like listening to the show?
(01:03):
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(01:23):
this thing, which we is over.
So you pretty much flow withthe goal.
Who is worthy to be trustedwith the secret to limitless
(01:52):
power?
I'm ready, bro.
Did you see what Bryce Mitchelldid to Kroen Gracie on the
weekend?
It was so for me.
Me, it was painful to watch, itwas sad, I mean.
Yeah, me too.
There was, like I've alwaysloved Krohn.
(02:13):
I feel like Krohn is possiblyor Krohn, depending on how you
want to say it probably thegreatest waste of potential of
jiu-jitsu crossing over to MMA.
Like it didn't translate.
No, that's what I'm saying, no,and I mean, he came across with
the obvious gaps that you seein grapplers who become MMA
fighters.
(02:33):
Sure, but then they normallyclose those gaps up and level up
their striking and all thosethings, sure, and he seems to
have just not done any of that.
He seems to have just stayedwith, with the skill set he had.
I watched a documentary.
Uh, I don't know, it wasactually a documentary maybe it
was just vlog series of histraining.
He's training with the diazbrothers and this is like a
(02:54):
bunch of years ago actually fouryears ago, five years ago it
appeared to me that he was justgetting dumber.
This is a hard thing becausethe vice, the chrome grace he
eats yes, yeah, he's yes, and heeats sushi late at night and
he's clearly struggling to putsentences together.
He's talking about trainingwith the Diaz brothers.
(03:15):
He's clearly getting hit in thehead a lot.
He's also smoking weed.
You're like, oh bro, he needsto go train with Tito Ortiz.
Oh my God, no, no, god, no, no,no, no.
The huntington beach bad boy.
I mean, if you're in cali, shit.
There's clearly one option,dude I.
I think.
The difficulty for me is Iremember seeing gron come up in
(03:37):
jujitsu with a very unique nostyle kind of style, like he
didn't play one guard or onepass and did exceptionally well,
found great ways to submitpeople, even though I did see
him get absolutely mauled bySergio Moraes.
His first year at Worlds gotdestroyed and then also saw him
(03:58):
got completely fucked up byDourinho in the final at 2012
Worlds.
I think he was great in the Giand also his match against Gary
Tonin is an amazing match at theADCC, you know like, and he
almost submitted Marcelo Garciawith a guillotine which people
forget.
Like Marcelo got out, but itwas fucking close.
(04:20):
Like it was a very do or diemoment and Marcelllo got out of
it like a champ, but it was veryclose the potential for crone
gracie to become a new epic mmalegend.
So it would be very hard to liveup to his like father's
reputation.
Right, because he was like a,he helped build the game.
Yeah, the potential was so bigand the result has been so very
(04:44):
little and so frustrating, Ithink, for a lot of fans who
believe in his ability.
Yeah, and I mean toughfootsteps to follow in right,
being Hickson's son, like youcan only imagine that Hickson
would be a pretty tough fella asa father and that, sure, just
coming into the scene with thatlast name being his son, there's
already a huge amount ofpressure on you.
(05:05):
Sure, just coming into thescene with that last name being
his son, there's already a hugeamount of pressure on you.
Sure, yeah, it's.
You know, for any MMA andjiu-jitsu fan, there's been a
lot of disappointment inwatching his MMA career.
So, on the weekend, for thosethat didn't see it, I didn't
actually see the whole fight,but it looks like he's getting
touched up on the feet.
Bryce is coming in and Krohnjumps close guard on him and
(05:30):
Bryce catches it, catches itright, and then pulls the arm
out, frames his forearm acrossKrohn's chin or face and then
just dumps him back, slams himand hits this huge frame and
then, I think, follows up withtwo elbows and he's out.
And it was like it was perfect.
It was the perfect response tosomeone pulling closed guard on
(05:51):
you.
And it's like I mean, I knowwhen I get tired right and doing
jiu-jitsu, I'll do somethinglike that, I'll jump a closed
guard.
It's like it's a habit that aworld-class mma fighter cannot
have no.
And and look I as someone whohas had very limited mma
experience but trained for mmapositions that you usually go to
(06:13):
in jujitsu, which are good inbjj, are just not good in mma
like just being in closed.
Even if you guys throw back towhen GSP fought Matt Serra.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
(06:34):
I apologize, johnny Hendricks,english fella missing an eye,
bisping Bisping, he was copyingit from close guard.
Right, he was getting elbowedin close guard, but that's both
athletes very tired on theground.
Right, jumping close guardsfrom standing, that's some risky
(06:55):
shit.
If you haven't got a hold ofsomething, yeah.
If you've got a fuckingguillotine wrapped up or a
strong overhook, yeah, like forsure.
But just jumping it so that wecan go to the ground now is a
really fucking bad strategy.
And half guard, half guard thisis the thing I wanted to talk
about.
Like, I always thought halfguard was a great spot, right,
like it's safe, it's economic.
No, if you look at most greatMMA fighters, like Fedor or any
(07:19):
of the guys who, like evenKhabib, will try to push to half
guard because you're thenattached to the hips so you can
just wail on them, wail on theirbody, like it's a bad place to
be, and so I think we all havethis.
It's kind of I don't know,maybe it's childish this idea of
like, oh, but if only theycould put it together.
(07:42):
Every outing has shown thatthings have not improved right.
And the longer a person fights,it doesn't matter how famous
your last name is.
Usually the quality of thefighter does not go up right,
because you take a lot of damageand what I had seen even off
that like vice thing where he'schatting, he's copying.
(08:03):
I talk about volume punching.
You have to have the skull andthe neck of a Diaz brother to
take that many hits.
You have to be Max Holloway totake that many fucking hits and
still have some semblance of abrain.
And I don't think that KronGracie has the the skull and
neck genetics to be volumepunched in the head and still
(08:25):
make good decisions.
I mean, motherfucker's got ajawline Real, recognized, real.
You know what I'm saying.
That's tough, bro.
This whole volume punching likeit's oh yeah, now, if you decide
to jump close guard in a realfight and your opponent slams
you on the ground and knocks youout, that's your fault.
(08:45):
However, if you want helpbuilding a strong, robust body
for jiu-jitsu, we can help youwith this.
Now, if you don't follow thisadvice, that's your fault.
But here's the deal you canmake a good decision and let's
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(09:07):
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(09:28):
So to that point about, like youknow, seeing the evolution of
the fighter once they enter, say, MMA.
I think that's what's veryexciting about watching, like
Boucher yeah Right, he isgetting better.
Yeah, and even Adolfo, where hehasn't been up and up and up,
but you can see changes and youcan see mistakes.
(09:48):
But he's been in the UFC forages.
He's had terrible losses.
He lost to a blue belt no, no,he has.
But you can at least I'mguessing you can see that he's.
I mean, there was that losswhere he got arm triangled,
which was really bad.
Dude, he's an ADCC champion.
What the fuck is he doing?
I know the hardest thing for meis I have always revered Adolfo
as being one of the baddestmothers in Jiu-Jitsu ever,
(10:10):
because I saw him live, I sawhim destroy so many great folks
and just was so overwhelmed withhis prowess to see him do so
poorly Like.
I think people forget thatDamien Meyer is possibly one of
the only Jiu-Jitsu guys toreally live into their MMA
career, like even Jacare didn'tquite.
You know, you know, like, youknow, there was a time when
(10:34):
people thought, oh, jacare andmma, it's going to be amazing.
And then he met bobby knucklesand then that kind of didn't
work out very well.
You know, like, yeah, we alwayshave these great hopes of
jiu-jitsu folks doing somethinggreat in mma and it doesn't
doesn't necessarily translate.
I feel like damien meyer is theonly guy to really no, that's,
that's right.
I mean, yeah, fuck that.
And some of the other bestgrapplers, you see, are not
(10:55):
strictly grapplers, right,they're MMA fighters or they're
wrestlers who learned somejiu-jitsu.
But my point there was that youwant to see some kind of growth
right in the fighter and whenthey come in and you see none,
you're like fuck, like it'sdisappointing, because you want,
(11:17):
you want the jiu-jitsu guy tosucceed.
Yeah, fuck, I'd love to seecrone just crush everyone.
Yeah, you know, I'll tell youabout that time I trained with
him.
You may have, but please regale, it was so fuck, it was one of
the most, uh, awkward experienceof my life really.
I, um, I was in la and I washanging out with shanji and we
had done some training, I thinkin in the morning or something.
And then Shanji was like hey,do you want to come and train
this afternoon?
We're going to go to Crohn'sAcademy.
And I was like wow.
And he's like, yeah, hicksonjust gave the academy to Crohn.
(11:40):
He just stepped down.
And he's like, so it's prettysick, we'll go see it.
And I was like, wow, I mean,all a bit of a chance encounter,
that's cool.
And so, um, we kicked it at hisplace for a bit and then we went
over there and um, there was aclass going on and uh, we get in
and uh, the class starts andthen we're just off to the side
(12:04):
of the class and there's likesome guys gathering, arriving.
You know, we get in dress whereI can't remember if we put the
gear I think it was no gear, Ican't remember and um, shanji's
like do you want to?
You want to train with us oryou want to train in the class?
And I was like I'll train withyou, guys.
You know that looks sick.
And uh, harlech gracie turns up, all right.
And shanji's like, oh, fuck,harlech's here.
(12:26):
And like, and I was like, oh,what's the deal?
And oh, he's tough, like he's atough role.
And so I was like, wow, like Ididn't even know if I let Gracie
ride at the time, but I waslike, oh, wow, okay, he must be
really good.
And a couple other dudes, Ithink there was six of them.
All Gracies, yeah, like youknow, take your pick right.
And I, what was I at the time?
(12:48):
Was I blue belt?
I think it was a blue belt,yeah, yeah, that's fucking tough
blue belt, right amongst theseblack belt champions.
And we get we, you know, they'reon sign, we're sitting, we're
sitting around.
And crone's like, yeah, I'lljust get the class started and
then we'll get, we'll come overand figure it out, guys, so hang
.
And harlech's like hey, man, doyou want to do like a warm-up,
warm-up, roll?
And I was like, yeah, bro, thatsounds sick.
And so we like do the thing.
(13:09):
And we just start like flow,rolling.
And I'm like just trying to,trying to do something.
And he's just like sweet me,fucking this.
That I'm like I just felt likeI'd never done any jujitsu and I
I instantly got hit with thatfeeling of like your jujitsu
fucking sucks.
You are so shit, what are youdoing here?
And I'm like I'm here and I'mlike I'm like, oh, this is
(13:29):
horrible, painful.
And so we did the five minutesor whatever.
And then, um, I think shanjisaid to me um, oh, cron's like,
hey, all right, so we're gonnado 10 minute rounds and we're
just gonna go back to back forthe next 60 minutes.
Oh god, and I'm like fuck, 10minute rounds, I've never even
heard of such thing.
And um, and then shanji lookedat me and he, I think I'm pretty
(13:51):
sure shanji had seen my rolewith harlech, yeah.
And then he's like, hey, if youwant, you can still jump in the
class.
And I'm like, thanks, shanji,I'm gonna jump in the class,
jumped in and went to war withsome fucking blue belts and uh,
anyways, at the end of thesession, uh, the class finished
up and then we're watching thoseguys finish their rounds.
(14:13):
Krohn gets injured with Shunji,or someone Gets injured, someone
runs off, gets the ice pack,it's the thing.
You know, a bit of a palaverlimps off the mat.
And then you know Shunji and Iare like getting changed,
getting showered up to get outof there, whatever.
And we leave and Krohn's in thelittle sort of front office
(14:35):
that is at like the, theentrance to the academy, and
he's in the office, he's justleaning back on this chair all
the like a bunch of his studentsaround and they're watching
something on the computer and,um, they're all watching this
thing, blah, blah, blah.
And uh, shunji's like, hey, youknow, let's go.
And I I'm like, oh fuck, I gottago say thanks, you know they.
No, no one charged me oranything, you know.
And I'm like it's crone, gracie, man, you want to be grateful?
(14:56):
So I like I like waved and likecrone and all the guys like
I'll see you, man and I, and Ijust like ducked in and I was
like man, thanks so much forhaving me, it's a pleasure to
meet you.
And uh, he put his hand out andwe shook hands and as I shook
his hand, he recoiled and waslike, ah, I've got torn skin
there, what?
And I'm like, oh sorry, oh okay, well, see ya.
(15:21):
And it was like he had this bigtear right, like a bit of
broken skin, and I was like,fuck, that was so fucking
awkward.
Yeah, like it gave me the handand then was like, oh, kind of
like you know, why did you dothat to my cut?
Couldn't he have offered hisother hand?
(15:41):
I was like this is fucked, wejust need to go.
That's so strange In front ofall these boys in this little
office, like already feelinglike super diminutive, you know.
Anyway, I was like, oh, I hopeit heals up, cron Bye, don't get
a skin infection.
That's so strange.
Couldn't he have just gone likefist bump with the other hand
(16:03):
or something?
I mean that would have beengreat for me, right, you know, I
mean just, but Just odd, butdidn't, I guess, guess I go?
Wasn't he aware he already hadsome fucking man?
Oh, I'm bleeding everywhere.
Yeah, why would you do that tome?
It's, yeah, it's jiu-jitsustigmata, bro, it's on you, your
royalty, it's how it goes.
But that's so strange.
Oh look, yeah, it was just oneof those ones where you're like,
(16:24):
ah, today wasn't.
Today was awesome, but also notthat awesome.
Yeah, it kind of.
You know, it didn't go quiteright.
Yeah, like the, like the rolewith Halleck, like that, and
then just being like you're sofucking shit at this, and then
injuring Krohn's hand, like that.
I was like you need to get thefuck out of here, bro, you
didn't injure him, his lack ofself-awareness fucked that up.
(16:47):
But that's so strange.
I mean it's time.
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Uh, I don't know, it's.
It's difficult.
Man, I I one time met crone inan elevator with hickson oh wow.
But.
But I could, I?
I I wanted to talk to them, butthey just refused to talk to me
(17:54):
.
Like I was at Worlds and theywere staying in the same hotel
as us and I saw that they werebeing interviewed separately,
like they'd been kept away fromthe crowd.
And I had said to Fabio, likecause he?
He told me stories aboutHickson.
I'm like can you go up and talk?
Like are you allowed to go upand talk to Hickson, like can
(18:15):
you like?
He's like see how you go.
He's like, you know, I'mfriends with Hickson, it's cool,
but he's like if you don't knowhim, don't just roll up on him.
You know, like not like he'sgoing to be mean to you, but
he's just like that's just notwhat he's like.
You know, and it wasinteresting, him and Crone were
very much separated fromeveryone and they always had a
couple of guys around them.
You know, and I'm like, yeah,they're like royalty, right,
(18:37):
respect.
I just step into the elevatorand you know, you know you can
have the awkward, like like youknow you might do it.
Oh, hey, how's it going.
Or oh well, hey, how good is itsomething you know, as long as
they're how long they're on the13th floor.
I'm on the third floor, likeyou, just you do it.
I step in and it's just thosetwo and no one else.
(18:58):
And I step in and I just theysee the recognition on my face
and I'm like, oh, and there wasa moment of pause.
I'm like, should I Just?
Should I bow, should I shake it?
What do I do?
And then they both kind oflooked at me and then they both
looked at the elevator counter.
They both looked away and justacted like I was there and I was
like I'll just turn around, I'mnot going to say shit, I just
(19:24):
wanted to give props, showrespect.
That's all I wanted to do.
I wasn't looking for autographs, nothing.
But they just were like, nah,they just, you know, they both
stonewalled me and I was like,fuck, I really don't matter, do
I?
All right, fair enough, like Ijust, I was like I don't want to
fuck up.
I, you know, I mean, why wouldyou do this?
(19:53):
And then Hickson would havechoked me unconscious.
Bro, it's an interesting thingbecause we also project so much
onto these people.
Yeah, they're just humans, youknow, yeah, and they have great
skills, but they're also theirown kind of weird too.
So you don't want to?
Yeah, it's, it's hard to readinto that, but man, what does
(20:14):
this mean for?
Well, I still hold hopes forcrying.
I mean, I don't know what hisufc um contract is like, but I
I'm like, I'm still fucking like.
If that guy's fighting, I willalways be interested in the
result and I'll want to see himfucking smash.
Yeah, but someone even put apost up meme talking about aljo
versus, like aljermaineainSterling, one of the best to
ever do.
It puts on absolute highlightreel grappling scramble fest on
(20:41):
the prelims yeah, oh, youhaven't won a fight in five
years, but your last name'sGracie.
You're on the main card, son.
Yeah, how fair is that?
Like that's bullshit.
This guy's a previous championand ridiculous.
I mean, they've always hatedAljo by the looks of it, but
he's incredible, he's great anda good dude from all reports.
(21:02):
You ever see that one where heslipped up in the post like he's
doing a hype-up piece to thecamera and he meant to say blah,
blah, blah, I'm coming for thatass.
But he said blah, blah, blah,I'm coming on that ass.
And then he's like coming forthat ass.
You ever see that?
No, it's so fucking good, superawkward.
(21:24):
I mean that's Aljo, right, he'sa funny cat.
But I mean I felt I felt badfor him because I watched that
match and it was great and he,he, he should have won in my
opinion.
I felt it was a bad decision,like there was a couple of
decisions.
Oh, you watched his fight.
Yeah, yeah, right, and I man,he did so.
Well, considering they'retrying to, they're trying to
(21:46):
bring up this like russianwrestler, what have you.
Yeah, how did great man Tookhim down a bunch, like it was.
It was very close match, but Istill feel like, anyway, aljo
might've won, but it it ispainful to watch Kron be
terrible and be on the main cardand Aljo have like a stellar
fight, win or lose, and just beon the prelims.
(22:06):
Yeah, it's kind of sucks, butthis is the bias, the world we
live in.
Maybe, maybe, yeah, it kind ofsucks, but this is the bias, the
world we live in.
Maybe he needed to be relegatedto the prelims to fucking bring
the best.
Oh God, is that what it did forKron?
Did him being elevated bringout the best?
Well, no, but we don't alwaysrise to the occasion, do we?
No, apparently not.
Sometimes we just fall to closeguard.
Fuck, anyway, I'm still inthere, I'm not, I'm off, I'm off
(22:30):
the bandwagon.
Never was on the bandwagon,even Hidolfo.
I lost heaps of respect forHidolfo because it's like these
guys are training with the bestMMA coaches in the world.
You can't make it translate.
Like man, go back to jiu-jitsu.
Like, don't stay there, it'snot even worth the fame.
(22:51):
Adolfo's fighting.
What's his name?
From Smeaton Grange, jacobMalkoon.
Yeah, that'd be interesting.
Michael Sidney Boyer, one ofRob Whittaker's teammates.
I've trained with him a littlebit in the past.
Strong beard, strong man, greatwrestling, great wrestling and
just fucking tough as nails.
Yes, like fucking tough asnails.
Yes, like fucking tough asnails.
I think he could knock Adolfoout.
I mean, adolfo obviously hasamazing jujitsu and also can
(23:18):
wrestle, but dude, Malcolm's gotthe fucking hands.
Yeah, I mean, that's what it isright.
I mean that's how fuckingAdolfo gets triangle choked by a
blue belt.
Is you crack him in the face abunch of times?
Yeah, and he hadn't, yeah, notconscious of it.
So there it is.
Hey guys, if you like the show,do us a favor.
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Do it now.
Thank you, preach.
Hey, welcome to the Bulletproof for BJJ podcast.
Now, over the weekend, one ofJT and myself's heroes, crone
Gracie, got knocked out in theUFC, and this caused us to talk
about what happens when elitelevel grapplers go to MMA.
Now, in today's episode, we'regoing to talk about how the
evolution of a fighter canreally determine what kind of
(00:21):
future they have in MMA, andsometimes, like what we're
seeing from Krohn, it can end upin great sadness for us
grappling fans.
I'm also going to tell you,guys, the super awkward story
about when I met Krohn and hadthe opportunity to train with
him, and I expect that you willprobably cringe just as much as
(00:43):
I did when the interactionhappened.
It's a fucking banger of astory, though, hey, but we also
go into, like, what a successfulMMA career looks like for
grapplers.
If you like UFC, if you likewatching grapplers enter the MMA
sphere, you're going to dig theepisode.
Let's get into it.
Hey, also, do us a favor.
You like listening to the show?
(01:03):
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It's about like 30 seconds ofwork for you, but it goes a
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this thing, which we is over.
So you pretty much flow withthe goal.
Who is worthy to be trustedwith the secret to limitless
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power?
I'm ready, bro.
Did you see what Bryce Mitchelldid to Kroen Gracie on the
weekend?
It was so for me.
Me, it was painful to watch, itwas sad, I mean.
Yeah, me too.
There was, like I've alwaysloved Krohn.
(02:13):
I feel like Krohn is possiblyor Krohn, depending on how you
want to say it probably thegreatest waste of potential of
jiu-jitsu crossing over to MMA.
Like it didn't translate.
No, that's what I'm saying, no,and I mean, he came across with
the obvious gaps that you seein grapplers who become MMA
fighters.
(02:33):
Sure, but then they normallyclose those gaps up and level up
their striking and all thosethings, sure, and he seems to
have just not done any of that.
He seems to have just stayedwith, with the skill set he had.
I watched a documentary.
Uh, I don't know, it wasactually a documentary maybe it
was just vlog series of histraining.
He's training with the diazbrothers and this is like a
(02:54):
bunch of years ago actually fouryears ago, five years ago it
appeared to me that he was justgetting dumber.
This is a hard thing becausethe vice, the chrome grace he
eats yes, yeah, he's yes, and heeats sushi late at night and
he's clearly struggling to putsentences together.
He's talking about trainingwith the Diaz brothers.
(03:15):
He's clearly getting hit in thehead a lot.
He's also smoking weed.
You're like, oh bro, he needsto go train with Tito Ortiz.
Oh my God, no, no, god, no, no,no, no.
The huntington beach bad boy.
I mean, if you're in cali, shit.
There's clearly one option,dude I.
I think.
The difficulty for me is Iremember seeing gron come up in
(03:37):
jujitsu with a very unique nostyle kind of style, like he
didn't play one guard or onepass and did exceptionally well,
found great ways to submitpeople, even though I did see
him get absolutely mauled bySergio Moraes.
His first year at Worlds gotdestroyed and then also saw him
(03:58):
got completely fucked up byDourinho in the final at 2012
Worlds.
I think he was great in the Giand also his match against Gary
Tonin is an amazing match at theADCC, you know like, and he
almost submitted Marcelo Garciawith a guillotine which people
forget.
Like Marcelo got out, but itwas fucking close.
(04:20):
Like it was a very do or diemoment and Marcelllo got out of
it like a champ, but it was veryclose the potential for crone
gracie to become a new epic mmalegend.
So it would be very hard to liveup to his like father's
reputation.
Right, because he was like a,he helped build the game.
Yeah, the potential was so bigand the result has been so very
(04:44):
little and so frustrating, Ithink, for a lot of fans who
believe in his ability.
Yeah, and I mean toughfootsteps to follow in right,
being Hickson's son, like youcan only imagine that Hickson
would be a pretty tough fella asa father and that, sure, just
coming into the scene with thatlast name being his son, there's
already a huge amount ofpressure on you.
(05:05):
Sure, just coming into thescene with that last name being
his son, there's already a hugeamount of pressure on you.
Sure, yeah, it's.
You know, for any MMA andjiu-jitsu fan, there's been a
lot of disappointment inwatching his MMA career.
So, on the weekend, for thosethat didn't see it, I didn't
actually see the whole fight,but it looks like he's getting
touched up on the feet.
Bryce is coming in and Krohnjumps close guard on him and
(05:30):
Bryce catches it, catches itright, and then pulls the arm
out, frames his forearm acrossKrohn's chin or face and then
just dumps him back, slams himand hits this huge frame and
then, I think, follows up withtwo elbows and he's out.
And it was like it was perfect.
It was the perfect response tosomeone pulling closed guard on
(05:51):
you.
And it's like I mean, I knowwhen I get tired right and doing
jiu-jitsu, I'll do somethinglike that, I'll jump a closed
guard.
It's like it's a habit that aworld-class mma fighter cannot
have no.
And and look I as someone whohas had very limited mma
experience but trained for mmapositions that you usually go to
(06:13):
in jujitsu, which are good inbjj, are just not good in mma
like just being in closed.
Even if you guys throw back towhen GSP fought Matt Serra.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
(06:34):
I apologize, johnny Hendricks,english fella missing an eye,
bisping Bisping, he was copyingit from close guard.
Right, he was getting elbowedin close guard, but that's both
athletes very tired on theground.
Right, jumping close guardsfrom standing, that's some risky
(06:55):
shit.
If you haven't got a hold ofsomething, yeah.
If you've got a fuckingguillotine wrapped up or a
strong overhook, yeah, like forsure.
But just jumping it so that wecan go to the ground now is a
really fucking bad strategy.
And half guard, half guard thisis the thing I wanted to talk
about.
Like, I always thought halfguard was a great spot, right,
like it's safe, it's economic.
No, if you look at most greatMMA fighters, like Fedor or any
(07:19):
of the guys who, like evenKhabib, will try to push to half
guard because you're thenattached to the hips so you can
just wail on them, wail on theirbody, like it's a bad place to
be, and so I think we all havethis.
It's kind of I don't know,maybe it's childish this idea of
like, oh, but if only theycould put it together.
(07:42):
Every outing has shown thatthings have not improved right.
And the longer a person fights,it doesn't matter how famous
your last name is.
Usually the quality of thefighter does not go up right,
because you take a lot of damageand what I had seen even off
that like vice thing where he'schatting, he's copying.
(08:03):
I talk about volume punching.
You have to have the skull andthe neck of a Diaz brother to
take that many hits.
You have to be Max Holloway totake that many fucking hits and
still have some semblance of abrain.
And I don't think that KronGracie has the the skull and
neck genetics to be volumepunched in the head and still
(08:25):
make good decisions.
I mean, motherfucker's got ajawline Real, recognized, real.
You know what I'm saying.
That's tough, bro.
This whole volume punching likeit's oh yeah, now, if you decide
to jump close guard in a realfight and your opponent slams
you on the ground and knocks youout, that's your fault.
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(09:28):
So to that point about, like youknow, seeing the evolution of
the fighter once they enter, say, MMA.
I think that's what's veryexciting about watching, like
Boucher yeah Right, he isgetting better.
Yeah, and even Adolfo, where hehasn't been up and up and up,
but you can see changes and youcan see mistakes.
(09:48):
But he's been in the UFC forages.
He's had terrible losses.
He lost to a blue belt no, no,he has.
But you can at least I'mguessing you can see that he's.
I mean, there was that losswhere he got arm triangled,
which was really bad.
Dude, he's an ADCC champion.
What the fuck is he doing?
I know the hardest thing for meis I have always revered Adolfo
as being one of the baddestmothers in Jiu-Jitsu ever,
(10:10):
because I saw him live, I sawhim destroy so many great folks
and just was so overwhelmed withhis prowess to see him do so
poorly Like.
I think people forget thatDamien Meyer is possibly one of
the only Jiu-Jitsu guys toreally live into their MMA
career, like even Jacare didn'tquite.
You know, you know, like, youknow, there was a time when
(10:34):
people thought, oh, jacare andmma, it's going to be amazing.
And then he met bobby knucklesand then that kind of didn't
work out very well.
You know, like, yeah, we alwayshave these great hopes of
jiu-jitsu folks doing somethinggreat in mma and it doesn't
doesn't necessarily translate.
I feel like damien meyer is theonly guy to really no, that's,
that's right.
I mean, yeah, fuck that.
And some of the other bestgrapplers, you see, are not
(10:55):
strictly grapplers, right,they're MMA fighters or they're
wrestlers who learned somejiu-jitsu.
But my point there was that youwant to see some kind of growth
right in the fighter and whenthey come in and you see none,
you're like fuck, like it'sdisappointing, because you want,
(11:17):
you want the jiu-jitsu guy tosucceed.
Yeah, fuck, I'd love to seecrone just crush everyone.
Yeah, you know, I'll tell youabout that time I trained with
him.
You may have, but please regale, it was so fuck, it was one of
the most, uh, awkward experienceof my life really.
I, um, I was in la and I washanging out with shanji and we
had done some training, I thinkin in the morning or something.
And then Shanji was like hey,do you want to come and train
this afternoon?
We're going to go to Crohn'sAcademy.
And I was like wow.
And he's like, yeah, hicksonjust gave the academy to Crohn.
(11:40):
He just stepped down.
And he's like, so it's prettysick, we'll go see it.
And I was like, wow, I mean,all a bit of a chance encounter,
that's cool.
And so, um, we kicked it at hisplace for a bit and then we went
over there and um, there was aclass going on and uh, we get in
and uh, the class starts andthen we're just off to the side
(12:04):
of the class and there's likesome guys gathering, arriving.
You know, we get in dress whereI can't remember if we put the
gear I think it was no gear, Ican't remember and um, shanji's
like do you want to?
You want to train with us oryou want to train in the class?
And I was like I'll train withyou, guys.
You know that looks sick.
And uh, harlech gracie turns up, all right.
And shanji's like, oh, fuck,harlech's here.
(12:26):
And like, and I was like, oh,what's the deal?
And oh, he's tough, like he's atough role.
And so I was like, wow, like Ididn't even know if I let Gracie
ride at the time, but I waslike, oh, wow, okay, he must be
really good.
And a couple other dudes, Ithink there was six of them.
All Gracies, yeah, like youknow, take your pick right.
And I, what was I at the time?
(12:48):
Was I blue belt?
I think it was a blue belt,yeah, yeah, that's fucking tough
blue belt, right amongst theseblack belt champions.
And we get we, you know, they'reon sign, we're sitting, we're
sitting around.
And crone's like, yeah, I'lljust get the class started and
then we'll get, we'll come overand figure it out, guys, so hang
.
And harlech's like hey, man, doyou want to do like a warm-up,
warm-up, roll?
And I was like, yeah, bro, thatsounds sick.
And so we like do the thing.
(13:09):
And we just start like flow,rolling.
And I'm like just trying to,trying to do something.
And he's just like sweet me,fucking this.
That I'm like I just felt likeI'd never done any jujitsu and I
I instantly got hit with thatfeeling of like your jujitsu
fucking sucks.
You are so shit, what are youdoing here?
And I'm like I'm here and I'mlike I'm like, oh, this is
(13:29):
horrible, painful.
And so we did the five minutesor whatever.
And then, um, I think shanjisaid to me um, oh, cron's like,
hey, all right, so we're gonnado 10 minute rounds and we're
just gonna go back to back forthe next 60 minutes.
Oh god, and I'm like fuck, 10minute rounds, I've never even
heard of such thing.
And um, and then shanji lookedat me and he, I think I'm pretty
(13:51):
sure shanji had seen my rolewith harlech, yeah.
And then he's like, hey, if youwant, you can still jump in the
class.
And I'm like, thanks, shanji,I'm gonna jump in the class,
jumped in and went to war withsome fucking blue belts and uh,
anyways, at the end of thesession, uh, the class finished
up and then we're watching thoseguys finish their rounds.
(14:13):
Krohn gets injured with Shunji,or someone Gets injured, someone
runs off, gets the ice pack,it's the thing.
You know, a bit of a palaverlimps off the mat.
And then you know Shunji and Iare like getting changed,
getting showered up to get outof there, whatever.
And we leave and Krohn's in thelittle sort of front office
(14:35):
that is at like the, theentrance to the academy, and
he's in the office, he's justleaning back on this chair all
the like a bunch of his studentsaround and they're watching
something on the computer and,um, they're all watching this
thing, blah, blah, blah.
And uh, shunji's like, hey, youknow, let's go.
And I I'm like, oh fuck, I gottago say thanks, you know they.
No, no one charged me oranything, you know.
And I'm like it's crone, gracie, man, you want to be grateful?
(14:56):
So I like I like waved and likecrone and all the guys like
I'll see you, man and I, and Ijust like ducked in and I was
like man, thanks so much forhaving me, it's a pleasure to
meet you.
And uh, he put his hand out andwe shook hands and as I shook
his hand, he recoiled and waslike, ah, I've got torn skin
there, what?
And I'm like, oh sorry, oh okay, well, see ya.
(15:21):
And it was like he had this bigtear right, like a bit of
broken skin, and I was like,fuck, that was so fucking
awkward.
Yeah, like it gave me the handand then was like, oh, kind of
like you know, why did you dothat to my cut?
Couldn't he have offered hisother hand?
(15:41):
I was like this is fucked, wejust need to go.
That's so strange In front ofall these boys in this little
office, like already feelinglike super diminutive, you know.
Anyway, I was like, oh, I hopeit heals up, cron Bye, don't get
a skin infection.
That's so strange.
Couldn't he have just gone likefist bump with the other hand
(16:03):
or something?
I mean that would have beengreat for me, right, you know, I
mean just, but Just odd, butdidn't, I guess, guess I go?
Wasn't he aware he already hadsome fucking man?
Oh, I'm bleeding everywhere.
Yeah, why would you do that tome?
It's, yeah, it's jiu-jitsustigmata, bro, it's on you, your
royalty, it's how it goes.
But that's so strange.
Oh look, yeah, it was just oneof those ones where you're like,
(16:24):
ah, today wasn't.
Today was awesome, but also notthat awesome.
Yeah, it kind of.
You know, it didn't go quiteright.
Yeah, like the, like the rolewith Halleck, like that, and
then just being like you're sofucking shit at this, and then
injuring Krohn's hand, like that.
I was like you need to get thefuck out of here, bro, you
didn't injure him, his lack ofself-awareness fucked that up.
(16:47):
But that's so strange.
I mean it's time.
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Uh, I don't know, it's.
It's difficult.
Man, I I one time met crone inan elevator with hickson oh wow.
But.
But I could, I?
I I wanted to talk to them, butthey just refused to talk to me
(17:54):
.
Like I was at Worlds and theywere staying in the same hotel
as us and I saw that they werebeing interviewed separately,
like they'd been kept away fromthe crowd.
And I had said to Fabio, likecause he?
He told me stories aboutHickson.
I'm like can you go up and talk?
Like are you allowed to go upand talk to Hickson, like can
(18:15):
you like?
He's like see how you go.
He's like, you know, I'mfriends with Hickson, it's cool,
but he's like if you don't knowhim, don't just roll up on him.
You know, like not like he'sgoing to be mean to you, but
he's just like that's just notwhat he's like.
You know, and it wasinteresting, him and Crone were
very much separated fromeveryone and they always had a
couple of guys around them.
You know, and I'm like, yeah,they're like royalty, right,
(18:37):
respect.
I just step into the elevatorand you know, you know you can
have the awkward, like like youknow you might do it.
Oh, hey, how's it going.
Or oh well, hey, how good is itsomething you know, as long as
they're how long they're on the13th floor.
I'm on the third floor, likeyou, just you do it.
I step in and it's just thosetwo and no one else.
(18:58):
And I step in and I just theysee the recognition on my face
and I'm like, oh, and there wasa moment of pause.
I'm like, should I Just?
Should I bow, should I shake it?
What do I do?
And then they both kind oflooked at me and then they both
looked at the elevator counter.
They both looked away and justacted like I was there and I was
like I'll just turn around, I'mnot going to say shit, I just
(19:24):
wanted to give props, showrespect.
That's all I wanted to do.
I wasn't looking for autographs, nothing.
But they just were like, nah,they just, you know, they both
stonewalled me and I was like,fuck, I really don't matter, do
I?
All right, fair enough, like Ijust, I was like I don't want to
fuck up.
I, you know, I mean, why wouldyou do this?
(19:53):
And then Hickson would havechoked me unconscious.
Bro, it's an interesting thingbecause we also project so much
onto these people.
Yeah, they're just humans, youknow, yeah, and they have great
skills, but they're also theirown kind of weird too.
So you don't want to?
Yeah, it's, it's hard to readinto that, but man, what does
(20:14):
this mean for?
Well, I still hold hopes forcrying.
I mean, I don't know what hisufc um contract is like, but I
I'm like, I'm still fucking like.
If that guy's fighting, I willalways be interested in the
result and I'll want to see himfucking smash.
Yeah, but someone even put apost up meme talking about aljo
versus, like aljermaineainSterling, one of the best to
ever do.
It puts on absolute highlightreel grappling scramble fest on
(20:41):
the prelims yeah, oh, youhaven't won a fight in five
years, but your last name'sGracie.
You're on the main card, son.
Yeah, how fair is that?
Like that's bullshit.
This guy's a previous championand ridiculous.
I mean, they've always hatedAljo by the looks of it, but
he's incredible, he's great anda good dude from all reports.
(21:02):
You ever see that one where heslipped up in the post like he's
doing a hype-up piece to thecamera and he meant to say blah,
blah, blah, I'm coming for thatass.
But he said blah, blah, blah,I'm coming on that ass.
And then he's like coming forthat ass.
You ever see that?
No, it's so fucking good, superawkward.
(21:24):
I mean that's Aljo, right, he'sa funny cat.
But I mean I felt I felt badfor him because I watched that
match and it was great and he,he, he should have won in my
opinion.
I felt it was a bad decision,like there was a couple of
decisions.
Oh, you watched his fight.
Yeah, yeah, right, and I man,he did so.
Well, considering they'retrying to, they're trying to
(21:46):
bring up this like russianwrestler, what have you.
Yeah, how did great man Tookhim down a bunch, like it was.
It was very close match, but Istill feel like, anyway, aljo
might've won, but it it ispainful to watch Kron be
terrible and be on the main cardand Aljo have like a stellar
fight, win or lose, and just beon the prelims.
(22:06):
Yeah, it's kind of sucks, butthis is the bias, the world we
live in.
Maybe, maybe, yeah, it kind ofsucks, but this is the bias, the
world we live in.
Maybe he needed to be relegatedto the prelims to fucking bring
the best.
Oh God, is that what it did forKron?
Did him being elevated bringout the best?
Well, no, but we don't alwaysrise to the occasion, do we?
No, apparently not.
Sometimes we just fall to closeguard.
Fuck, anyway, I'm still inthere, I'm not, I'm off, I'm off
(22:30):
the bandwagon.
Never was on the bandwagon,even Hidolfo.
I lost heaps of respect forHidolfo because it's like these
guys are training with the bestMMA coaches in the world.
You can't make it translate.
Like man, go back to jiu-jitsu.
Like, don't stay there, it'snot even worth the fame.
(22:51):
Adolfo's fighting.
What's his name?
From Smeaton Grange, jacobMalkoon.
Yeah, that'd be interesting.
Michael Sidney Boyer, one ofRob Whittaker's teammates.
I've trained with him a littlebit in the past.
Strong beard, strong man, greatwrestling, great wrestling and
just fucking tough as nails.
Yes, like fucking tough asnails.
Yes, like fucking tough asnails.
I think he could knock Adolfoout.
I mean, adolfo obviously hasamazing jujitsu and also can
(23:18):
wrestle, but dude, Malcolm's gotthe fucking hands.
Yeah, I mean, that's what it isright.
I mean that's how fuckingAdolfo gets triangle choked by a
blue belt.
Is you crack him in the face abunch of times?
Yeah, and he hadn't, yeah, notconscious of it.
So there it is.
Hey guys, if you like the show,do us a favor.
Like subscribe Audio platforms.
Leave us a five-star review.
Do it now.
Thank you, preach.
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