April 23, 2012
This is a big week for bjjweekly as we are releasing Issue #100. We have three great videos including a nice Rolling Reflections with JT Torres. I spent the past 10 days in Abu Dhabi at the World Pro and also wrote a nice Travelougue outlining my experiences. I couldn't share everything but tried to give you the viewers a good taste of life as a BJJ athlete in the UAE. I'm glad to be back home and can't wait to start training again!

Roll Hard, Roll Often
Pete Roberts, Publisher

This Month's Expert:
RALEK GRACIE
TECHNIQUE OF THE WEEK
Ralek shares another secret with us this week. Standard defense from the armlock position is to grab your own collar or your own wrist. Ralek demonstrates two ways to break the grip. One of his secrets is to shake the head of his opponent vibrating the hand free. This shaking makes you lose focus and release the grip. It is very uncomfortable...WATCH NOW >

ROLLING REFLECTIONS
with JT TORRES
Pete and JT spent the past 10 days in Abu Dhabi competing in the World Pro. After the tournament they had some down time and shot this fun Rolling Reflections. This is a fast paced flow roll with a lot of technique squeezed into 8 minutes. It is not a competitive roll but instead communicative roll. Each person lets the other work... WATCH NOW >

Presented By:
ALEXEY CRUZ
BJJ POWER PLAY
This week, Alexey Cruz wraps the arm with his leg. On occasion your opponent will stop the position and not let your foot wrap completely. Alexey does not stop the momentum and drives his hook across his opponent's body creating torque on the shoulder. A quick shift of the hips and your opponent concedes the sweep......
WATCH NOW >

What Happens in Abu Dhabi Stays in Abu Dhabi
I am going to preface this article with "what happens in Abu Dhabi stays in Abu Dhabi". With that said, you can use your imagination as to how a bunch of 20 something pro BJJ fighters would celebrate after training for months and given the keys to the castle. At one point after the competition, Xande and Rodolfo were in the lobby trying to Berimbolo each other and Megaton was the ref. They were chanting "Rodolfo Miayo", playing off the success of the Miayo Brothers and their upside down Berimbolo game which we are all a fan of watching.

I am going to share with you my own experiences as both a competitor and a fan of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I won the Canadian trials as a brown belt to secure my ticket to the big show. It was an honor just to be there and even cooler that my roommate for 10 days was Wellington "Megaton" Diaz. No one knows Megaton's age but I think it is safe to say he is between 45-55. We may never know his age but what we do know is that he is the most consistent BJJ fighter of all time and is the only one to compete in every world championship. What was even more inspiring was he is out there doing it with 20 year old's in the adult division. I was honored to spend this time with him, and many nights we stayed up till early in the morning just talking about life, BJJ, business, and family. I didn't have any teammates over there but I really hit it off with the team Llyod Irvin guys and between Megaton and these guys they became my surrogate family during my stay.

The flight to Abu Dhabi was tough, 12 hours with no way of getting comfortable. My body was so tired but sleeping longer than 30 seconds at a time was impossible. On the plane we immediately had our first taste of the food we would be experiencing for 10 days. I am not going to elaborate but let's just say I lost 7 lbs in 4 days. I had a very hard time adjusting to the time change and the food. Eventually I was able to settle into life in the UAE. I now understand why they fly us out so early. It takes days to get acclimated to everything.... READ NOW >