Carlos Machado BJJ Black Belt William Vandry just sent in this article looking at how far BJJ has come in the state of Texas, as well as giving a brief rundown of how Texas competitors fared in the Mundial recently.ÿ Take a peek:
“My, look at the time… in what seemed like just yesterday, Texas was a fledgling state for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) and tournaments as well as competitors.
In 1993 when Royce Gracie broke the mold in the MMA scene, Texas craved knowledge and instruction in BJJ.ÿ In the mid-90’s, Relson Gracie had come to Texas for a seminar in which eager note taking was treasured, at a time when Black Belt Magazine’s classifieds section of BJJ video tapes were the source for Texas. ”
….click on Read More to read the entire article.
MOTHER TEXAS IS RAISING HER BJJ BOYS AND GIRLS VERY WELL
by William Vandry
August 13, 2002
My, look at the time… in what seemed like just yesterday, Texas was a fledgling state for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) and tournaments as well as competitors.
In 1993 when Royce Gracie broke the mold in the MMA scene, Texas craved knowledge and instruction in BJJ. In the mid-90’s, Relson Gracie had come to Texas for a seminar in which eager note taking was treasured, at a time when Black Belt Magazine’s classifieds section of BJJ video tapes were the source for Texas.
Then the Machados come to town. In February 1995, Rigan and Carlos Machado conducted their first seminar right here in Austin, my hometown. Instead of satiating Texas’ ravenous appetite for BJJ, this only made Texas crave more. In October 1995, legendary BJJ champion and instructor Carlos Machado announced he would be teaching BJJ in Texas.
“Are you kidding me? An actual BJJ black belt here in Texas?” And he did just as he said. December 1995 was when Carlos Machado decided Texas would be a force in BJJ, and true to his prophecy it now is.
Plainview, Texas 1996: UFC champion Royce Gracie comes to town!! Well over 100 people attended (including myself) and later on, Royce developed a bond and friendship with Pat “Hawk” Hardy in the small town of Jasper. To this day, Pat is still affiliated with Royce. HOUSTON TEXAS!! Yep, not to lag behind, Eric Williams (Pedro Alberto) and Saul Soliz both have active academies in BJJ… Saul is even getting quite developed in the fight promotion scene… keep it up Saul, Texas needs people like you…
The virus grows… from backyard classes, to garage mats, to community centers, to rented spaces at other schools, to actual academies, BJJ is here to stay in Texas!!
April 5, 1997, Carlos Machado starts the virus of tournaments… the healthy plague grows and grows… Machado brown belt Tery Corkran way up in North Texas now has his own organized tournaments, tournaments crop up even down to way South Texas, and even here in the Austin-San Marcos area we have fledgling tournaments that are growing like a weed from Jeff Tovar (Japanese Hanno-Chikara Jujutsu) and Phil Cardella (Relson Gracie BJJ).
In 1999 Corpus Christi exploded with a tournament, and now in the Houston-Conroe area, Alvis Solis (Machado BJJ) just got through helping out with a successful tournament last weekend.
No longer fledgling competitors, Texas has raised and mothered sons and daughters in the realm of BJJ competition through tough losses and fantastic, emotional wins. Setting a prime example, Carlos Machado has never been one to rest on his laurels, he has shown Texas what courage and leadership is about… he competed in the 2000 Abu Dhabi world grappling championship and motivated all of us in Texas after a great 20 second triangle choke on a Russian wrestler… his drive has personally touched me, and I myself had been injured with a head trauma in 1997 and am legally blind, yet I too, motivated by Carlos, had got back into the tournament scene in 2000 as well. All of a sudden, Texas has blue belts and then purple belts, then brown belts and NOW…. NOW, from the days of scrounging for BJJ videotapes and gathering to watch pay-per-view UFC’s, to gawk in awe of videos of world champions such as Mario Sperry, Roleta, Bustamante, Roberto Traven and of course Ricardo Liborio,
NOW, all of a sudden on June 1st we get the first four BJJ black belts promoted right here in Texas!
In this day and age, unfortunately BJJ, MMA and related schools, competitors, etc., as a community we collectively sometimes seem to have an unneeded or unneccessary bashing which does nothing to promote our martial art or our own image. The Ryan Gracie incident in Brazil is being patched as best we can… I think Ryan has realized this and hopefully understands that he has a tremendous weight on his shoulders… the Bobby/Ralph Gracie incident all over the Internet has been talked about…. and no doubt, they both have learned from these incidents, scrutinized themselves and attempt to be the best role models in their community…
I think Texas has a great community in BJJ, and despite articles/incidents like the aforementioned, on June 1st when Carlos Machado promoted myself, Travis Lutter, Klay Pittman and Tim Burrill to BJJ black belts (pictured above), there was nothing but the utmost respect and support as well as applause. Carlos Machado’s speech for me personally gave me tears of joy for my community and my pride to associate myself with everyone at that tournament. THIS IS TEXAS BABY!
In Rio de Janeiro Brazil, the Mundial – the World Championship Brazilian Jiu-jitsu tournament was held. This is the epitome of the best of the best, and putting it on the line. Although costs for flights, hotels, etc. to Brazil are definitely not cheap, and are reasons why you dont see 500 people from the United States every year, Mother Texas still sent her BJJ representatives.
Machado Dallas had gathered a group to represent Texas, with Carlos Machado students Tim Burrill (Machado black belt), Klay Pittman (Machado black belt), James Brown (Machado purple belt), Anthony Perosh (Machado brown belt), Kenny McClure (Machado brown belt), and let’s not forget well known UFC competitor Elvis Sinosic(Machado brown belt).
How did they do? Not too bad there… Tim Burrill lost 2-2 by advantage point in the absolute division… unfortunately Tim had injured his back during the second half of the match. To quote Tim: “This was disappointing but I WILL be back for another chance next year.”
Klay Pittman unfortunately had division champ and awesome red-hot Fabio Leopoldo his first round… Klay did well for a while but lost by choke. HE WILL BE BACK AGAIN.
James Brown lost by points… keep it up James! Anthony won his first match and lost his second… the Aussie has always loved the Mundial – as a blue belt Anthony took 3rd there.
Carlos’ best leglocker in Dallas, Kenny McClure submitted his first opponent in the brown belt division by ankle lock…way to go Kenny! He lost his second match by points…
What does this show? From videotapes and scarce seminars to brown belts and black belts competing in the Mundial, Mother Texas has raised her BJJ boys and girls very well…. however, with the BJJ virus growing in Texas, I have a feeling you ain’ t seen nothing yet!
Back to the mat,
William Vandry
Machado BJJ Black Belt
www.austinbjj.com