Mrs Cyborg

I came across this photo for the forthcoming edition of Ultimate MMA magazine and I thought it was really cool.

So I posted it on the forums and was unpleasantly surprised by some of the responses – some of which have since been removed. So this blog entry is about the BJJ and MMA fighter Cristiane Santos, more popularly known as (Mrs) Cyborg.


According to her website, she earned the nick-name ‘Cyborg’ when she started dating Evangelista Santos, himself a well-known MMA fighter with the nick-name Cyborg (the two are now married).

Her Wikipedia entry states she has an MMA record of 8 wins and 1 loss.
Her most high profile fight was against Gina Carano in August [click here for fight report]. The fight was the first time that a major MMA promotion (Strikeforce) has featured a women’s fight as their main event.
She is also a BJJ purple belt and recently fought Penny Thomas in the semi-final of the ADCC in Barcelona. In my interview with Penny (out in shops soon folks!), she talks of her in glowing terms. Mrs Cyborg is clearly a very competent and highly regarded competitor and fighter.

So why the controversy?
One quick google search of her name brings up a large amount of commentary from various people – stuff about her looks, her sexuality, her personality – basically lots of vile and misogynistic comment. Quite awful really.

Now this type of banter is common to sports in general. Look at the kind of remarks that athletes such as Fatima Whitbred and Martina Navratilova have had to endure over the years, and more recently, Caster Semenya.

Anyway, I don’t want to dwell on the negative, let’s look at the positives to this amazing character, woman and person:

Here’s a funny video where she puts to sleep a reporter:



Here is a highlight reel.

Her MySpace page:

byMeerkatsu

in MMA, women

November 04, 2009

Mrs Cyborg

I came across this photo for the forthcoming edition of Ultimate MMA magazine and I thought it was really cool. So I posted it on the fo...

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Top 10 MMA Submission Moves

Just came across this list of Top 10 Submission Moves from AskMen.com
I'm not sure what their criteria is in rating the moves into a Top 10 as one is surely as good as another in terms of doing the job, ie a causing a submission. They are probably rated according to how easy the technique is to set up and how quickly one can get the submission to work. So, according to AskMen, the Top 10 in reverse order are as follows:

10. Gogoplata - yeah, pretty hard to set up if you are not flexible but real flash submission to get if you can.

9. Knee Bar - there is a reason why knee bars are banned at BJJ comps until brown belt. Ouch.

8. Ankle lock - the straight lock version is nasty, but add rotational force and it is crippling. Again, banned from comps until brown belt (rotating ankle locks).

7. Kimura - old school technique but one that still catches people out, erm like me.

6. Arm triangle - scarf hold type submissions involving uke's own arm against his neck are very effective if done properly. Helps to have long and very strong arms.

5. Arm bar - only in at No5!! This is probably the commonest submission I see at BJJ class, but granted, this is an MMA list, so maybe not as common.

4. Triangle choke - this is probably the second most common submission I see at BJJ class, especially when Nick 'triangle' Brooks is doing em.

3. Omoplata - good old back hammer, or elbow lock and shoulder dislocation. I agree, quite hard to set up, but a real shoulder wrecker.

2. Guillotine - I very rarely see this in BJJ class, it does occur, but more so in nogi and MMA where the uniform doesn't get in the way.

1. Rear naked choke - yes, probably the king of all submission whatever the genre or style. Not called sleeper hold for nothing, victims of this technique really do look like they are nodding off.

byMeerkatsu

in BJJ, MMA

March 06, 2009

Top 10 MMA Submission Moves

Just came across this list of Top 10 Submission Moves from AskMen.com I'm not sure what their criteria is in rating the moves into a Top...

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Anything goes

Anything goes - no, not the musical of the same name, I'm talking about 'vale tudo' which apparently translates as 'anything goes'. It is the style of MMA (mixed martial arts) fighting that was taught by the Danny Burzotta seminar I just attended. Danny used to train in our trad JJ system and won so many competitions in so many events they were thinking of just handing him the medal each time to save everyone the bother. Anyway, that was a few years ago and Danny has since carved an MMA career for himself, first as a fighter, now, mainly as a trainer and promoter.
Danny began the session with submissions and takedowns from the clinch. Immediately it was obvious to the group we were in for an interesting ride, as the seminar progressed we sampled techniques from Muay thai, submission grappling, BJJ and even a technique that reminded me of our JJ syllabus.
Let me say that Danny, is a huge man. Standing at 6'3'', weighing 105 Kg and wall to wall muscle, he also has amazing technique and agility.
I partnered Bartek, our club's Polish strongman, who in true Bartek fashion, threw in lots of cheeky moves and variations from the standard drills that goaded me into a full on sparring match with him each time. It was great fun, but we probably should have been a bit more respectful as it could look like we were mucking around.
There was lots of interesting techniques but I felt a little removed from the whole MMA concept as it is a bit far from where I personally want to go with my ju-jitsu, although I do of course enjoy watching MMA, it is not something I want to train in anymore. Having said this, the whole seminar was good. I learned several new things, including the 'anaconda choke' which I have never done before. This was wicked and me and Bartek rolled around thrilled to be able to hurt each other in such a technical and flashy way!
Finally, at the end, we were matched up by Danny for some groundfighting. My first bout was with Bartek but we both agreed we were just gonna go light. Then I was matched with a young lad who I did not know before. He was pretty aggressive but in the end I subbed him 5 times in a row including my newly acquired anaconda choke. But then I got complacent and got caught in a silly ankle lock (duh!). I must say, this bit of sparring at the end really got my competitive spirit going and acted as a lovely taster for the big Jikishin tournament ahead.
If I had to voice once criticism, I would say that, whilst hosting MMA seminar is a nice introduction to the art, I think most members of my JJ association require seminars that are more relevent to our style of sport groundfighting (which is more judo and BJJ based than MMA). Unless that is, our style is going to change to MMA, in which case I will definitely be up for it - anacondas, boa contrictors, pythons and all.

byMeerkatsu

in jikishin ju-jitsu, mixed martial arts, MMA

September 28, 2008

Anything goes

Anything goes - no, not the musical of the same name, I'm talking about 'vale tudo' which apparently translates as 'anything...

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Special One

I used to think I was a bit different to other martial arts practitioners. No, seriously, I mean being an established instructor from a trad martial art who moonlights in another (almost rival) martial art (BJJ) can't be too common right? And for a short time it probably was the case, since most of the BJJ comrades I met in the early days were people who only trained in BJJ. But recently I have come across quite a wide variety of guys, several of them who are instructors at their own school of martial arts. At Nick's club, one chap I met told me he runs a taekwondo-based MMA school here: http://www.ukblackbelt.com/ As a two stripe blue belt I thought he would be good, and in the two milliseconds it took for him to sink an armbar on me, my thoughts were quickly realised. God forbid I ever engage in a stand-up spar with him if he is this good on the ground. In fact BJJ now seems to attract a lot of guys who also train in other systems, especially trad JJ, like me. And the BJJ instructors and classmates seem to be very cool about this. It speaks volumes about the confidence they/we have in the art. Clearly, the idea that including an effective ground-based strategy into your repertoire is widely agreed to be important. So I am the special one no more, but I’m glad. The more we all learn to appreciate each other’s style, the better the world of martial arts. No secrets I say. Oh yeah, here’s the blooper reel to illustrate just how special I am:



It was grading day for my club students on Sunday. I had quite a few guys grading and all passed, thankfully. But a couple of errors were pointed out by the senior senseis had me cringeing because I was the one that taught them the erroneous techniques. Invigilating gradings is also frustrating for me as I can't help but look on at other students and critically thinking, Nooo, that was wrong, wrong, wrong. But having to perform in front of a judging panel is a nervous thing and nerves can play havoc with your memory, coordination, and ability to do, erm, ju-jitsu.
So thankfully, the senseis grant a large degree of allowance for this.
Speaking of grades, as we all know, BJJ awards grades ad hoc and not on a formal grading like trad JJ. so it was a nice surprise for me to be awarded my third stripe at blue belt by Nick Brooks. I'm quite chuffed as I feel accepted into the fold at what is still a fairly new club for me. I'd better watch my back though. A three stripe blue belt I think makes me technically the most senior non-teaching regular at the club. Gulp!

byMeerkatsu

in BJJ, jikishin ju-jitsu, MMA, traditional ju-jitsu, video

September 16, 2008

Special One

I used to think I was a bit different to other martial arts practitioners. No, seriously, I mean being an established instructor from a trad...

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Fight First - Porchester Centre, 23rd March 2007

Just got back from the MMA event at the Porchester Center in Bayswater. This is the first event hosted by the Fight First Team and it was not without its hitches. The omens were not good when, two days before, I heard that all the RGDA-UK fighters, including Sami 'The Hun' Berik had pulled out due to injury and an objection from the organisers of Cage Rage Contenders. The argument being that the Fight First Promotion was 'No rules' and Cage Rage do not want their fighters being associated with events that could lead to adverse publicity.


On the actual night, half the remaining fighters either did not show up or pulled out at the last minute, leaving a frantic search for replacement fighters. One poor chap had about five minutes notice before he volunteered to take someone's place. Unfortunately for him, it was against a much bigger guy.
The whole event was therefore a bit of a downer. The interminable wait between each fight was only marginally made more bearable by the capoiera and samba dancing entertainment. But the final showpiece fight of the night ended up being a lightweight boxing match which was more of a scrap than anything you see on TV.
To cap off my night, my photos of the event turned out really crap. My lens was simply not fast enough and I couldn't get a set-up to work well in the poor light and fast action. If you really want to see my crap efforts, click here.
Let's hope the next Fight First promotion is more successful.

byMeerkatsu

in fight, mixed martial arts, MMA, photography

March 24, 2007

Fight First - Porchester Centre, 23rd March 2007

Just got back from the MMA event at the Porchester Center in Bayswater. This is the first event hosted by the Fight First Team and it was no...

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