Bulletproof For BJJ Podcast
Discussions on improving your BJJ, navigating mat-politics and all aspects of the jiu jitsu lifestyle. Multiple weekly episodes for grapplers of any level. Hosted by JT and Joey - Australian jiu jitsu black belts, strength coaches, and creators of Bulletproof For BJJ App. Based out of Sydney, Australia
Bulletproof For BJJ Podcast
The Return Of Gi: J-Rod's Unexpected Training Shift
The jiu-jitsu world is buzzing with an unexpected development: J-Rod, the ADCC silver medalist known almost exclusively for his no-gi prowess, has been spotted training in the gi with Tainan Dalpra at AOJ. This surprising shift has sparked fascinating conversations about what might be a cultural turning point in the sport. In order to have the GOAT conversation do you need to include both of the arts? Find out here why this may be very important for the resurrection of gi jiu jitsu and how someone like J Rod could bring the gi back to fame.
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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another Bulletproof for BJJ podcast. Why is J-Rod training in the gi Famous for being a purely no-gi guy? This phenom, this ADCC silver medalist, says that training in the gi is important. We unpack why. Also, why is this a message for things to come? Why is this a fortuitous telling of the change in jiu-jitsu culture? Is the Gi making a comeback? We discuss why high-level competitors are interested in training in the Gi and then Joey, in an unusual way, shape and form, pushes back to give a counterpoint as to why this may not be the case.
Speaker 1:Let's get into it now. Also, while you're there, we know you're watching, we know you're commenting. We love it all, and what we would also love is a like and a subscribe. It helps us out a lot and it will help us deliver more good info like this to good folks like yourself. Thank you Better listen very carefully. A good martial artist does not become tense, but ready. Essentially, at this point, the fight is over, so you pretty much flow with the goal. Who is worthy to be trusted with the secret to limitless power?
Speaker 2:I'm ready.
Speaker 1:Why is J-Rod training in the Gi? Is the Gi making a comeback? I actually made this call, I think, six months ago, maybe more, that the Gi inevitably would make a comeback. And when you have an ADCC silver medalist, someone who's specialized in no Gi, training for the majority of their career, talking about why the Gi is important, I think it's a sign.
Speaker 2:I was surprised to see him in the Gi.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and he'd been training with Tynan Dalper right, yeah, over at AOT, which is so cool. It's wild.
Speaker 2:Because he was originally pretty disrespectful to Tynan. When he was like, what did he say? He's like I heard there's some Gi guy that's come over to no Gi Tynan.
Speaker 1:Dalper or something.
Speaker 2:Anyway, I'll fuck that guy. Did Tyna beat him right? I think Tyna injured him out on points.
Speaker 1:This might be the case. Yeah, I think yeah.
Speaker 2:But in any case, yeah, it's great he's training in the Gi. But has he said that he thinks the Gi is important.
Speaker 1:He has said this and this is why this is what I would say. We know the popularity of no-Gi jiu-jitsu because the shit is exciting, right. We all know we it as exciting, right, we all know we. We can talk how good nogi is all day. It's not. That's not what I'm want to talk about. What j-rod has said openly he's posted about it, he's also said it on camera is you cannot call yourself the greatest if you cannot win in both. Right, he's young. Not only does he want to be the best at nogi jiu-jitsu, I think you know at his age, to be an ADCC silver medalist is fucking amazing, right, and he could very well go on to win it and do whatever else, but he believes for him in his career to be considered the GOAT the greatest, which is his aspiration. He must win a world championship in the Gi.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Or multiple times in the Gi. And this is the analogy I would draw. We are seeing more and more like the other week Victor Hugo classically came up as a gi guy Now obviously one in no-gi, and has subsequently beaten someone who is more the pure no-gi guy right in Nicky Road. Yeah, that gi folks are doing great in no-gi, yeah, right. And here's the thing, the analogy. This is a very crude analogy, but stay with me, stay with me If you can drive a manual car, you can also drive an automatic.
Speaker 1:Now, the complexity of Gi Jiu Jitsu to no Gi is not that simple. But if you only learn how to drive an auto, you can't just get that clutch and you're just like, oh fuck, yeah, you can't necessarily jump into a manual, you can't just jump across like that. And I'm not saying it's that simple, but the analogy, the reason why I bring that, is the skill set that you develop, whether it be more of a judo base or whatever it might be, training many, many years in the gi. It is, I believe, an easier transition to come over to no-gi and then change your skill set up. I believe that and honestly, when you get exciting guys like J-Rod he's very famous for jumping on people's backs, choking people, just getting after it.
Speaker 1:When you get more exciting people putting the gear on, exciting shit happens. Like Jansen Gomez, when he beat Tyne and Delpera, he was fucking just getting after it. He wasn't stalling for points, he was trying to win that match and I believe the more people that we see who are great competitors, have an exciting flair and a style of game going to the Gi, the Gi's coming back. That's how I feel about it. That's what I'm predicting. I mean, I did say it a while ago, but I think this is a very strong message coming from jay rod I take on this joe, can the game maker come back?
Speaker 2:I can't yeah I still can't you struggle. Yeah, I just jog because I'm like, I'm like, yeah, like those guys, right, micah, yeahah, j-rod, fucking Tynan, like these young generation grapplers are so exciting, right, yeah, and they'll be amazing to watch gi or no gi, sure, but I just can't separate the fact that the gi still lends itself to a game that is less spectator friendly. So, while I see that for some of those guys who have those, those aspirations, I I still don't think it'll be a viable enough pursuit for people like you.
Speaker 1:I just want to be fucking like, I just want to put on performances and be and go to adcc and do that thing, you know sure, but what I would say is, when you have a look at the super fights, which is where people are generating, you know, money and earnings from their matches. They're not really making money from tournaments per se. If you've got a super fight there's super fights in the gi as well you know they'll. They'll do strictly no game, but then they'll they'll put on game matches as well, right?
Speaker 2:so I I think that that's when the crowd goes to get drinks. It's rough.
Speaker 1:Potentially it depends on who it is who wants a say.
Speaker 2:All right, 10, I say's. We'll come with you, man. I hope you carry them. You're not going to go tall again.
Speaker 1:Depends who it is, depends who it is. But here's the thing you can tweak the rule set on Guy. You could change the rule set so that the people couldn't stall. It's been discussed many times. The ibjjf rule set as it stands does lend itself to a degree of stalling, winning by advantages etc. But if you were to bring no advantages submission only, penalties for stalling, type game I I think the G can still be fucking amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it could definitely be improved, but the but, the, the. The big dilemma for it is that the G just often makes it hard to see what's going on. Two people covered in fabric If they're both wearing the same color, even worse. And you're just like I'm not sure where the grips are, I can't see where the, whereas in no gear you're like oh, I can see the pressure, I can see the mechanics.
Speaker 1:Well, I think I don't entirely agree. I don't entirely agree. Judo, huge Judo, is actually way more people doing judo than doing jujitsu around the world. Massive, massive sport. They make one person wear blue, one person wear white.
Speaker 2:But judo is just the exciting bit, it's just the fucking like. You're sure they've got a little bit of groundwork sometimes.
Speaker 1:But you know, but it's admissions but, but.
Speaker 2:But. It's a judo is like the olympic lifting of of jiu-jitsu. You know what?
Speaker 1:I mean, yeah, but it can also be boring if you get two guys who don't throw each other and they're just Can be.
Speaker 2:Can be. But I would argue if you were like searching highlights, you'd find more judo highlights than you would like jujitsu gay highlights. Yeah, because it's like a dunk contest. Yeah, it's fucking sick.
Speaker 1:It's not a game, it's the dunk contest, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's like that's a good way to put it.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean like totally and and that that is why judo is exciting. But what I'm saying is to see what's going on like I just want you guys to throw back. You guys may not remember this match between canuto and lucas leprie a bunch of years ago in the gay bro.
Speaker 2:It was wild times I mean it's canudo, yeah, but lucas leprie does like a cartwheel, like can Canuto, goes to throw Lucas as he's passing.
Speaker 1:Lucas doesn't change his grips basically does almost like a no-hands cartwheel lands and then continues to pass and you're like what the fuck just happened?
Speaker 2:It's amazing, right, but you know why that felt so special Was because you'd been sitting in a desert of fucking entertainment for the whole day. Everyone's like this, half asleep, no, and then someone does a cartwheel pass.
Speaker 1:It's like what Did you fucking see that it wasn't a cartwheel pass?
Speaker 2:He almost passed by jumping in the air.
Speaker 1:No, it was a throw. Like Canuto was executing the throw, he didn't put his hands down, he just went. I'm going to do a flip. You're like what? How the fuck can you do that?
Speaker 2:Like that's not something that you necessarily I get it, but Gary Tonin does that every half a second in a no-game match.
Speaker 1:It's Gary Tonin, like possibly one of the most exciting grapplers in the history of the game. But you know also, gary's had matches which were not as interesting. You had matches which were not as interesting. You know what I love. I love big energy. I love big energy from my most reliable powder. That powder is Sodi. Sodi is today's sponsor. They give us the best blend of sodium, potassium and magnesium. Now, it's been said before, I'm a salty fella and it's not just because of my attitude, it's because I stay hydrated and that gives me big energy. So when I'm on the mats I make sure that I have a bottle with SOTY in there. Now you can get this kind of energy so you can perform on the mats by going to SOTYcomau. Use the code BULLETPROOF15,.
Speaker 2:you get 15% off and you can get that good powder today I think I saw a clip of gary gary having to do it around with, uh, dorian olivares before. Oh, true, yeah, and I mean gary. You know gary's sort of off the peak of his career, obviously, sure, but it was fucking some fast-paced shit man, I'm pretty sure that's what I watched.
Speaker 1:When you look at some of the best, craziest grappling of all time, whether it's takedowns, highlights you know Gary Tonin is up there. He would have five of your top ten highlights of like flying scissors takedown to heel hook, you know, like just crazy back takes. He is your mum's favourite grappler. He is, and he also kissed me in the bathroom.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:After ADCC. I had to wash my mouth out repeatedly after that. But I love you, gary, not like that. Here's the thing.
Speaker 2:I want it to happen.
Speaker 1:I see it happening because the ghee still matters to people who want to be the best. Want to be the best because when we talk about, like, uh, john denneher has said this, that he believes um, he didn't say his own student, he didn't say gordon ryan's the greatest of all time, he said hodger gracey is the greatest of all time because he classifies hodger as doing, you know, won the adcc multiple times, nogi champion. He didn't do as well in his mma career as maybe people expected, but he won across grappling's different spheres. Right, and it's difficult to say if you are only good at one element and there's folks who've won multiple, multiple titles across all the different spheres of grappling. You know what I mean. I think that's.
Speaker 2:That's where the question of high level guys, exciting guys, wanting to do the gi is because I want to be known as the goat yeah, I hear I think um and I um, you know this is this is going to be a somewhat negative take on the place, you know go there right.
Speaker 2:So you're seeing jay rod and you're and, and you're like, you're like this is an omen that there's a return, right, like we come from an older generation, right, sure, where it's like, yeah, you got to be good at both.
Speaker 2:Right, where you're like fucking, that's what jujitsu is, it's gi and no gi. Now you got this younger generation guys like, guys like j-rod, who, let's say, a year ago or two years ago, before he was fucking with the gi, j-rod's like's like fuck the guy. Yes, right, and this is the prevailing sort of culture. Right, it's like you got no guy gyms. Right, they're like fuck the guy, man, we're just interested in this. But because they still haven't, they're not that separated from the older culture they get to this point where they're really good and then they're like oh yeah, but actually to be the absolute best, you've still got to be all right at the Gi. So they've kind of still got a foot in both camps, even though their body is committed to no Gi, right, sure, I think it's just the timeline. The next generation after Nicky Rod are just going to be like what's a Gi? I think it's just moving further away.
Speaker 1:I don't think that's true. I think you can go just based off pure numbers, like tournament numbers. There's more people training in the gi than not.
Speaker 2:No, but that's a different discussion. No, no, no it's different because that, because that's the sport of jujitsu, which is different to the like, the um, you know, the jujitsu league that we love watching.
Speaker 1:No, I don't think it's different at all. I think the sport of jujitsu encompasses those people because they're the elite of the sport. But the culture doesn't live without everyone doing it. It's like saying religion is a book. It's not. It's the people following it, otherwise it's just a fucking book. Now don't, don't crucify me on that, my fellow religious followers, friends.
Speaker 2:That was pro, that was for the religious people.
Speaker 1:No, no, no. But what I'm saying is like you don't have this art without the people. I know, If you look at a younger generation and they're looking at, oh, Jay Rod's my favorite grappler, he's so exciting, yeah. And then, oh, he's doing Gi now. Oh, fuck, I want to do Gi now, Like Gordon Ryan. Was the Gordon Ryan? Stay with me. Now I like to do some random shit. He was the Conor McGregor of no-Gi jiu-jitsu the amount of just armchair fucking MMA fans who just got into it because of Conor McGregor. Like you know, he grew the sport immensely right Because of his showmanship, because of everything right. Who he is as a person to the side, him as a fighter, his ability to talk shit. Enough said, enough said Right. Make your point Gordon Ryan, same Outspoken, yeah, Big personality spoken yeah, big personality you might say cocksucker but but beating everyone undeniably at that time like undefeated, yeah, yeah, beating everybody.
Speaker 1:People like, oh, I I had people who were armchair kind of mma fans going what's with that real big jack guy in jiu-jitsu is he really? Is he that good? I'm like fuck, I hate to admit it, but yes, he, he is that good. The amount of people who go, oh, I want to be like Gordon Ryan, right, and that inspires them to do jujitsu. Well, if you've got people looking up to people like the Rotolo brothers or whoever who came up not just doing nogi but doing gi for a long time, and they are advocates for both, then that means the younger generation still does it. So that is my counterpoint to your counterpoint.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I think it definitely holds weight. But I think, at the end of the day and this is to what you said initially about like the sport and the elite of the sport and it's more than and I totally agree with that but at the end of the day, I think a lot of people will train Gi Jiu Jitsu but most people won't care to watch it as a spectator, as an enjoyer of sports, because it is kind of boring.
Speaker 1:I think that is context dependent. I think that's what we've known in the past and I think we can see an evolution of Gi J-jitsu, with more exciting grapplers doing more exciting shit in the gi I mean, I love the optimism.
Speaker 2:Like I said I've said it before and I and I wish it to be the case um very good, good chat that's the pod now.
Speaker 1:thank you for making it this far, indulging us in our, our musings, and if you've made it this far, you are obviously a tenacious, tough human, which you need to be to be good at jujitsu. But there's one more thing that you need to be good at jujitsu it's being kind, understanding, considerate, sharing, loving, and you're going to show your love by hitting like and also hitting subscribe. It helps us help more good folks like you. We appreciate it.
