Top Notch Jujutsu, Starring Shinya Aoki

[vrax]

This is Shinya Aoki. He's in the top 5 at submission Jujutsu in the world. Here is a highlight reel. Skip to 1:51 for the action, which as a strange and special bonus is set to Portishead.

OH! Right, fair warning, there is a technically beautiful, but visually disturbing elbow break at about 5:05. If that will squick you, skip it.

Comments

[suchid]

Who would you rate alongside Aoki as having Top 5 Submissions in Jiu-jitsu?

[vrax]

Bj Penn
Minotauro Nogeuira
Eddie Bravo
then kind of a zillion way tie. But those are definitely the guys who I think are really at the top.

If you include players form any discipline you have to give a nod toward Josh Barnett, but he's clearly not doing JJ.

Fabricio Werdum, many Cesar Gracie guys, Jake Shields, the Diaz brothers etc. Of course he's out of his prime now, but Rickson Gracie will always be one of the all-time greats.

[suchid]

I'm confused as to Eddie Bravo. ;) I would substitute him for Roger Gracie.

[vrax]

Well given that Bravo taught Aoki, I cannot agree but Roger is excellent. Hmm. Roger makes a good one to round out the top 5. Bravo and Penn have also trained together extensively.

[musicksempire]

I have a huge imaginary boner right now from that.

[vrax]

!!

[justbeast]

Ok, I was watching these, and kept going "what is going on? why do they cut away before the fight is over? Or, why is the ref breaking them up so soon?"

And it was only at 4:00 that I realized, those guys were tapping out, like, right away.

I think I see what you mean.

[vrax]

They cut out some of the seconds spent struggling. To make it a better show. But he's amazing, no doubt.

[justbeast]

Is he crying there at the end, in the last scene, when the guy is holding his hand up? Why?

[vrax]

Because he just won his first championship belt, and it was an emotional moment.

[justbeast]

Ahh, I figured it was something like that

my impressions

[desayuno_ingles]

1) It must be amazing to be so focused on something, I just imagine those guys virtually hear nothing but each others' breathing in those few minutes they are scrapping.

2) I can see why an manly homo would love this shit. Abso-frikkin'-lutely!

3) I almost missed the elbow break. And then watched it like, five times again. That stuff happens so fast! Every time you warn us, you almost don't need to.

Re: my impressions

[vrax]

I only warn out of love. Also? Even though I am Bi and have a crush on a couple fighters, when they're in action I am just watching and appreciating the technique. There is no sexual element to the fighting at all.

Re: my impressions

[desayuno_ingles]

Oh yeah, I know that. But then, sometimes, you also get to imagine yourself all jammed up in so-and-so's crotch!

Right, and my other thought was that I could probably watch this kind of thing b/c there's no real bashing each other around. I think the athleticism is really cool, but the pounding a blood turn me off of boxing.

Re: my impressions

[vrax]

To be fair one of last Saturday's fights was a total bloodbath. They're rare, but they do happen. And small cuts happen a lot.

It depends on who you're watching and how their style matches with that of the opponent. If you have two kickboxers fighting it's a lot more likely that you'll see blood than if two grapplers are going at it.

But, see the whole crotch jamming thing, within this context i'd just be thinking about ways to choke or secure a better position. Lame and unimaginative as that may be.