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 Greatest Grappling Upsets Of All Time
Ladies and gentlemen, the greatest upsets of all time in grappling. We're going to get into it. This most recent weekend there was a huge upset in the world of NCAA wrestling In the heavyweight category. We're going to talk about it. The internet is on fire. This got me sparked and I said you know what, joe? We need upsets. What are the top five greatest upsets in combat sport history? You're about to find out. And also, what is number one of these five exceptional matches.
Speaker 1:Ladies and gentlemen, the excitement builds, as only an upset can bring the electricity of sport to life. Let's get into it now. Also, on an exciting tip please hit the like and subscribe button. It means a lot to us. Keeps the electricity flowing. Do it now. 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? I'm ready.
Speaker 1:The greatest upsets in the history of grappling. I'm talking about the greatest upsets of all time. Now, joe, on the weekend they're saying it's the greatest upset in the history of the NCAA. Now, I'm a bit of a nerd for the wrestling which is not just wrestling, that's all college association. Yeah, right. And so his name is Wyatt Hendrickson. He's a heavyweight and he went up against Gable Steveson. Gable Steveson was Olympic gold medalist and you might have seen him training with John Jones. Yep, he did it. Can't miss him because he does the mad back Jones. Yep, he's he, he did it. I can't miss him Cause he does the mad back flips. He's so athletic for dude, as thick as he is, and at the last, in the dying seconds, he beat a great Georgian champion who was favorite to be Olympic champion. So him becoming an Olympic champion was an upset of sorts, right. And then after that, people like God, no one's stopping Gable Steveson, and they didn't know what he's going to do next. Is he going to do MMA? Is he going to WWE? You know what's this guy going to do, cause he's such a beast, right? Isn't this his last year at college? Yeah, I always find that funny. However, were a bit. I don't know if they're upset, but they felt like he was cherry picking to go back to college, like it's oftentimes that once you're a collegiate champion and you go to, like national team or you go to say, the Olympics, that's the. You know you've moved on, yeah, and for him to go back to college. There's a few people like this guy coming back to kind of beat up on people, yeah, in the dying seconds. So he was down. I think it was three to five or it could be like two to four. He was very close.
Speaker 1:Wyatt just commits on this leg and it looks like maybe Steveson doesn't really fully respect it and he turns the corner and switches it to a double and then he just powers through and the whole stadium is losing their fucking minds and you're like this is not possible. Is this possible? And it fucking happens. Less happiness. Lose their fucking minds. I lost my mind. I was like Gable Steveson lost. Is that possible? And this is what I want to talk about.
Speaker 1:It got me on a fucking tornado of thought about the greatest upsets, because the internet is ablaze with that being the greatest upset in NCAA history and I was like fuck, what other great upsets have there been that make grappling so fucking great? Oh, let's go there. What's yours? You got one that sticks out. Well, I got. Fuck. I'm tormented. Don't give me the top 100. I've cut it back to the top 50,. Joe, I want to start with one. That is kind of personal to me because it blows my mind that this guy called it before he did it. Craig Jones versus Leandro Lowe oh yeah, now this hurts because I am a massive Leandro Lowe fan. Hero, forever ROP. I love Leandro. I cried for a week after he passed away. It still upsets me to this day.
Speaker 1:Craig at the gym said he might end up matched up against Leandro at ADCC because Leandro was seeded as like a number one or number two for that category, right, and Craig was not. He was not rated at that time and he said Leandro won't tap. And he said this in the gym we were standing around after training. He's like, oh, I think I probably have to like, cause he moves a lot, I probably have to fuck his leg up somehow, I don't know how, like I'd leg lock him. He probably won't tap, but I'll bust him up and then I'll take his back that's what he said Because the only way I can beat him is I have to choke him out. Right, there's the only way, because he's not going to tap to something.
Speaker 1:He fucking called his shot in the gym, like two, three months before, and that's exactly what Craig Jones fucking did, dude, he heel hooked him first. He heel hooked him. Leandro didn't tap kind of spun out, but it fucked his knee right so he couldn't do his amazing knee cut on the right side, which is what he always does. Craig kind of gets the arm drag sit out, does the amazing kind of rollover back take and fucking chokes Leandro low. It was spectacular. Craig was a nobody at the time too, not no, but he wasn't. He wasn't what he is. That was his breakout moment, yeah.
Speaker 1:And then, yeah, I mean I don't think, do you think that Leandro would have been looking at tape of Craig Jones? I don't think Leandro watches tape of anybody, right? I, leandro, would have been looking at tape of Craig Jones. I don't think Leandro watches tape of anybody, right? I think he even watches tape of himself. He just comes in, does, he just does. And that was amazing.
Speaker 1:Because then he then did the kind of jump triangle against Murillo Santana. That's right, bad day for Brazilians. And then I think this might be the same tournament he did end up losing, unfortunately, keenan, uh, because he would have fought gordon in the final. It would have worked out. But then he, um, he beat chow sonnen in the, uh, absolute oh, was that that calm, yeah, yeah. And then they became great mates, as I saw a clip that popped up the other day and it was like it was something like it was. Craig jones is such a gangster. Here's clips of him like submitting MMA guys and it was like him versus Chael. It's like it's a different sport and Chael's old Craig absolutely ascending and maybe Chael at the end. That's right, but yeah, it was an awesome tournament for him. That was a fucking. I remember that that was huge, huge upset, massive upset. Tournament for that was that was a fucking. I remember that that was huge, huge upset, a massive upset, and I believe that he's really what got the ball rolling for him.
Speaker 1:It's a bit of a wild card entry into the conversation, but was that around the same time that levi beat, uh, lucas leprey? No, that happened a little bit after. It happened like one or two years after, Did it? No, levi? But it was also specifically how Levi beat. He biramboloed Lucas Lepre, yeah, which no one, like the Meows weren't able to do it, keenan wasn't able to, no one was able to fucking birambolo Lucas Lepre and fucking. You know, that's what Levi did and it was immaculate to see him be so determined and fucking. You know that's what Levi did and it was immaculate to see him be so determined and at that time I mean Lucas, I think he won the absolute. And the people are saying he was fatigued, that's why Because they run the absolute first and he fought a giant guy in the semis and who knows, but that was definitely Lucas Lepre at his peak and Levi came through and won. That was for sure an upset.
Speaker 1:Um, I didn't, I, I, I, I didn't know how that match was going to go, but it made my heart swell. Lucas, one of those guys you, just you tend to think he never loses. Oh, he got beaten by Leandro, was his kryptonite. He had lost to Leandro like probably two or three times, but pretty much anyone else Lucas Lapre would beat, yeah, right, and they wouldn't score any points on him. So for him to get out pointed was just like pretty, pretty tough, huge, yeah.
Speaker 1:But let's, maybe, let's go sideways, because this is your mention. Let's go outside of grappling for a second. Fuck, yeah, real shit. Let's go Fuck off, get the fuck out of here. Are we talking about cricket, tennis? Where are we at Golf? Something real.
Speaker 1:Let's go to MMA, because what did you bring up your opinion of, like one of the great upsets. Greatest upset. Greatest upset Leon Edwards, kamaru Usman upset, greatest upset at leon edwards, kamara usman, one, sir, the fucking head kick in the fifth round. Oh my god, that stopped the entire world headshot right. And then, yeah, and then the fucking the chat. Yeah, but the the chat with the coach. Oh, come on, leon, yeah, pull it together. Yeah, yeah, stop feeling sorry for yourself, like, because it's you can, even what joe and whoever else is like commentating. He's like, oh, he's got to do something now. He's like, like, he's down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was just, leon just looked terrible the whole fight. He was just not in it. You know, yeah, and I really struggle to understand how he was able to do that. You know, like, how he was able to fucking snatch victory like that, because you're like, but he landed a couple shots before he did the kick. Right, you see him, yeah, like, he's like peppering, you know doing the thing, but you're just like you've just been getting dominated for fucking four and a half rounds. You know to be like to just get the timing and the execution perfect. Boom, yeah, like, yeah, staggering, it was colossal. Kamara expects him to go low, he goes high. It's like a baseball bat to the side of the head Clean knockout, folds in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and in that moment I think everybody was doing the Joe Rogan like, ah, like I got out my seat, man, I was at the RSL, I was like I actually didn't care who won that, but that result filled me with enough adrenaline I was going, I was nonstop for the next six hours. Yeah, like that was fucking amazing. And this is what I want to tap into Joe this feeling that the magic trick of sport, which is the upset, it's fucking electric Because it's I think it's what really why we're there. Yeah, you're you kind of you want that. Well, you're not. Well, it's not always what you want, but but yeah, that that thing is like if you could, I mean if you could get that every time you'd want it. Oh, it's, it's the, it's the heroin of, yeah, it's the, it's the cocaine of sport is the upset. And I'm actually going to I wouldn't necessarily say it was an upset, but for sure, if we look at momentum when Nate Diaz beat Conor McGregor, ah, because at that time McGregor looked untouchable, but what I had thought before at that time, like he looked untouchable, but what I had thought before at that time, like he was just beating everybody.
Speaker 1:But Connor gave up reach. He gave up height and he was kind of coming up a weight category, which is all the advantages Connor had always had against all his opponents. He's always taller, longer and had better striking. And you're going against the guy with the concrete head. This is a guy you're not, connor's not, going to knock out. Yeah, so you've taken away three major things.
Speaker 1:And I remember talking to a friend who made a bunch of money on that day. A friend of mine made like 16 Gs. He bet on Nate and he bet on Misha Tate, oh yeah. And Misha Tate beat Holly Holm that day. Beat Holly Holm that day, oh, wow. And you could say, holly Holm beating Ronda Rousey is also that was a huge upset. Another head kick Wonderful left head kick. Oh my God, amazing. And actually my partner, ola, was at that. Oh, was she At that event in Melbourne?
Speaker 1:I think I still watch highlights of that and I'm like, fuck, yes, holly Holm. Yeah, it was a great moment. It it was just like justice was delivered with a swift, fucking snap kick to the head. That's a fucking Lebanese snap kick to the side of the head mate. Amazing. If you don't know what we're talking about, that's fine. If you know, you know it's back when comedy used to come on a CD and you'd play it and listen to it and then mild racism was allowed in Australia. But yeah, eric Banner could do no wrong.
Speaker 1:I think, when I think about that, the great thing was Nate had fallen out of popularity and everyone was like no, nate's a write-off. And when Nate was Nate's like no man, I'll talk. You know I'm that. Talk Like I'm original, like gangster, like this guy. But the funny thing is Connor was making fun of the good parts of Nate's personality, like, oh, he teaches jujitsu to kids. What a fucking pussy You're. Like no bro, that's nice. That shows that he's actually a good person. Like. You know Nate, as wild as he is as a human, he's actually like he's got heart. He's not just a fucking asshole. You know Nate, as wild as he is as a human, he's actually like he's got heart. He's not just a fucking asshole, you know.
Speaker 1:And it was so interesting the buildup, because I felt like it really reignited Nate's career. Yeah, but he did what no one else was able to do, which was weather the kind of Connor storm and then just keep slugging at him. And then when Connor just didn't like eating the shots shot in, got defended, got starved, connor shooting a takedown Like it was such a Hail Mary, wasn't it? He's like I don't want to get punched in the face anymore. And then the like hitting him, turning him over and choking him. Yeah, I ain't surprised motherfuckers. Oh, it was immaculate, I don't yeah, yeah, I mean, you know I was probably Conor wasn't as much on my radar at that time, but I remember the fight itself being fucking huge, iconic, yeah, and I think I was actually disappointed that Conor lost, oh, I think at the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I think, a lot of people, he had a lot of positive energy, Everybody was loving. Yeah, it was exciting watching the ascendancy steam train of who he was, but, uh, no, he, he gave away too many elements there, I believe. But yeah, fuck, mma does present so many. I mean there's so many that we could list, but those ones that just stand out in your mind which just get you out your seat. To that point I'd say connor versus jose aldo oh just was a huge upset, because no one expected Jose to lose like that, not that far Like Jose Aldo for those that don't know is one of the best MMA fighters of all time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 10 or 11 title defenses. Yeah, like so fucking good. And you're like, oh, at the very least this is going to be a great fight, fun burner fight. Yeah, like Jose is like super aggressive, you know. And then he just gets ganked in like 10 seconds For me the most disappointing fight of my life. Yeah, I would agree, I was spewing, I was so upset. I mean, it was an amazing moment. I was in an Irish pub full of Irish men. I fucking love going to those Irish pubs, I love Conor McGregor. I was just crying. I had to leave. I couldn't be there. I wanted them to cry. No, I just left, you know. But it's just those moments in time. You're like, okay, it's the Conor McGregor time now. Like it's how it goes. What do you got? All right, mate.
Speaker 1:I want to actually say Jacare versus Hodja Gracie, we're going back into the archives, og. We're talking Tujuca de Tennis Club, clube. I'm telling you, man, that match that's when Hodja was the goat. Basically he's beating everybody. He wasn't quite 10 times champion yet. But this is back when the World Championships was still in Brazil. Right. I mean, don't get me wrong Jacare at the time was a champion and had beaten many people. For those that don't know, yesacare at the time was a champion and had beaten many people. For those that don't know, yes, jacare saw it in the ufc.
Speaker 1:That same guy was a jiu-jitsu world champion and I think it looked far more frightening as a grappler. Yeah, yeah, yeah, adcc gi, no, gi didn't matter. That guy was so explosive. Yeah, he just fucking double leg you shoulder, throw you like. He was so dynamic and he was kind of old by the time he got to the UFC. Yeah, he was definitely past his prime Combat age. Yeah, for sure, but he was just.
Speaker 1:The reason why I was upset was Hodja. Gracie was just absolutely close guard, fucking sweeping mounted cross, choking everyone. It didn't matter who he fought, he beat them. And he gets Jacare in an armbar and Jacare just fucking shucking out the referee's looking at him and he fucking breaks Jacare's arm and kind of semi dislocates his shoulder and Jacare just fucking grits out and he's up on points. He just shoves his hand in the belt and was like come get me, sucker, and you're like what the fuck? And Hodges is like ref, stop it. I broke his fucking arm. He's like, no, no, no, get up, fight him. And Hodges is like, oh shit, I'm down on points.
Speaker 1:And at that time it was considered to be the greatest jiu-jitsu match of all time Because it was kind of this epitome of like. Well, it's funny that it was the greatest match of all time because it's the epitome of pride, of like not tapping, yeah, yeah, break my arm, yeah, now I'm the champion. I won through pride. Is that the epitome of jujitsu? Bit of an irony there, but man, it is still. If you go back and you watch that match, it's very back and forth. I think Jacare does get a takedown, maybe two, but yeah, hodja, maybe the score's like 6-4. It's pretty close and just by virtue of Jacare winning the absolute against Hodja Gracie, it's like one of the only losses in Hodja's history, other than maybe one or two to Shunji.
Speaker 1:I feel it important to share a piece of context here for those less initiated with the Portuguese language, because I remember when I was a white belt, hearing one of the brown belts at the academy talking about this match, yep, and I was like, oh, wait, what was this? And he was like, oh, when Hodja Gracie fought Jacare, yeah, and I'm like both of those. Like, if you're not, when names of hodja and jacquard, I'm like these guys have got french names, like there's a french dude. Yeah, all I heard was jac. No, jac, you know, and you're like, you're like what? Like it just made no sense to me. Now we know their household names for us, right, yeah, yeah, jacquard means alligator, doesn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah, and that, and that was his thing. Yeah, he used to do to crawl out. Yeah, it was mad, but, yeah, just so funny.
Speaker 1:And then Roger Gracie, obviously like, yeah, he's got the R in his name, but it's the soft R. Yes, it's just those little things that most of us get now. But I think someone who maybe started jiu-jitsu and doesn't live in Brazil just a few weeks ago would be like what the fuck is with these cunts? Yeah, isn't it Roger? Yeah, I'm talking about Roger. Is that Roger Gracie's brother?
Speaker 1:I've only seen yeah, no, but it's something about the at that time, the popularity of the R being a strong first letter in a name. So many of the Gracies, their name starts with an R. I mean that was a belief that Leo had right, or whatever. Yeah, so that's how it goes. It may be confusing, but I actually want to switch gears. My son Leo Yep, it's actually R-L-E-O, you just don't pronounce the R. I don't know if you know that. Is that something to do with his cultural heritage? No, I think.
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Speaker 1:The reason why I would say for me, this stands out as one of the greatest upsets of all time is I was there and I felt the energy change in a stadium. Now, I think sometimes, if you're in a stadium whether you're watching a soccer match or whatever it is something happens and it electrifies the crowd. It's like some gladiatorial shit 2019. Let Let me throw you back, joe. Take me.
Speaker 1:There was a bit of stuff going on. There was some matchups, there was a lot of talk had and it was all about Philippe Pena, pena versus Gordon Ryan, right, which was absolutely one of the most disappointing matches in the history of oh no sorry Philippe Pena versus Andre Galvan, right, oh, this is at ADCC, adcc, when Andre just bullied him the whole time yeah, yeah, and took him down and it looked like Penna didn't even show up. Yeah, he looked unwell. He looked the opposite of what steroids should do. Yeah, andre looked the epitome of what steroids should do. Looked the epitome of what steroids should do. It was just crazy, crazy, the contrast between them. Whereas previously, the 2019 Penner had beaten Gordon Ryan Right In the absolute. Yeah, and it was like whoa, penner is the man like Nogi, wow, you know. And and Gordon since then had kind of built himself up and be like no fuck that I'm coming up. So what was so interesting about this tournament?
Speaker 1:We had seen Lachlan Giles win at Connectic as part of Team BJJ Fanatics. So Lachy was coming in and had submitted almost a whole team by himself Right on, and you know, being in the training hall at that time was pretty special. Craig had gone across to DDS, he wasn't around so much and so, yeah, we're just training leg locks and guard retention and wrestling. It's pretty much all we did for like 12 months. That was what the training room was all about. And to see Lockie build the kind of backside 50-50 heel hook game which he openly says he got it from the Meows and Cabrinha and they used it for 50-50 to get sweeps. He was going to use it to get inside heel hook because both him and Craig had agreed. This is the most effective submission To see that.
Speaker 1:To see what he did at Connecticut and just do this run and beat heavyweights, beat all sizes, beat Mancha who at the time hadn't been submitted, by a leg lock and exploded his knee. This is in Connectic. Yeah, it was a revenge match. It was like the first match, and that time Mancha Kerr was training at Marcelo's gym, I believe before he went across to Unity and was considered to be a really great no-gi grappler. Mancha Mancha yeah, I think he has an Indian background. Okay, I'm not sure no Mancha was. Maybe he was silver at no Gi Worlds or maybe he was a no Gi World champion. I don't want to discredit him. He's an amazing grappler in his own right. Yeah, and he had beaten Lockie before and so it was like a bit of revenge there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but when Lockie went to ADCC 2019, first round, he gets Lucas Lepre, yeah, and Lucas Lepre does one of the best fucking wizard backtakes I have ever seen. And I was standing Matt side for that shit and it broke my fucking heart. All of us were harboring this secret hope that Lockie would dark horse, the lightweight category yeah, and he fucking didn't. Lucas camped down, squashed down, didn't let Lockie get to the legs and then he fucking fucking did this kind of passing, leaping, rolling back. Take, it was phenomenal. You're like what the fuck was that? Took Lockie's back and then he fucking, fucking. That was pretty much the match and we would gut it because we really thought Lockie was going to do something big.
Speaker 1:And I was there backstage when the man in question fuck, the previous ADCC organizer, fucking Moe, moe Jasim said to Lockie oh, oh, because he's not the organizer anymore, no, not anymore. And he said, oh, do you want to do the absolute? Livia was there, lockie was there, I was just standing nearby eating some fucking Chipotle which was supplied, not an athlete, just lurking in the background eating all the snacks and Simon Carson, who's the co-owner of Absolute, the founder of Absolute, but yeah, and Mo said, do you want to do the Absolute? And Lockie's like, oh, I don't know. And Liv's like, don't do it. So I was like, fuck off, don't do it, like that's dumb.
Speaker 1:And he said, well, look, I know you had a, you know you had your challenges qualifying. He's like if you do well, in the absolute, I'll give you a free invite back. You won't have to qualify again. Wow, and like he's like, fucking, sign me up. Fucking, the big guys always want to pressure, they always want to come in. That's perfect for leg locks.
Speaker 1:Yes, I was like yeah, and first round he gets kind of latte. Who's just destroyed the heavyweight category one? Right, yeah, just won the division heavyweight champ. You're like, oh, my fucking god, bro kind, and didn't respect Lockie and I I'm, you know, no, probably reason to respect him or consider him a threat. And within three minutes he got heel hooked and that, I believe, was actually the biggest upset right there. That was the moment. That was the moment where everyone went holy shit. Like, don't get me wrong, gary Tonnen was on one. He was putting on a fucking highlight reel, but the tournament was not the most interesting tournament. Patrick Gaudio was having a fucking war with Mike Perez which went for 20 minutes and no one fucking scored and I think he half got a takedown. He won on decision and it was boring as fuck.
Speaker 1:There were some matches which were boring. There were some matches that were great, like Craig's matches, pretty fucking awesome but his final against Matthias Denise terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible. Not Craig's fault. Like Matthias, just backing out, backing out Wins on a takedown, that's it. Like that was it sucked. You want to get leg locked. It was getting so boring that Braulio Esteema started like doing the Mexican way, with the crowd trying to get the energy up because the matches like everyone wanted to see, you know, a match between Gordon and Buescherscher, that's what it was really shaping up for Right and out comes Lachlan Giles and beats Kynan Duarte and I'll tell you I just fucking lost my mind.
Speaker 1:I lost my mind in the most selfish, abusive, fanboy kind of way, told everyone they were wrong, even if they probably thought they were right or whatever. I was just flipping people off, being obnoxious. I fucking told you Lachlan Giles, motherfucker, which I had Like I didn't know if he could pull it off, but I told a bunch of people he's going to win by inside heel hook. Yeah, wow, because that was like his only real option. Yeah, and he fucking did it.
Speaker 1:And then, yeah, man, we went down there and he was fresh, he looked relaxed and Patrick Gaudio had completely almost died fighting Mike Perez for 20 minutes and was lying on the ground. And the ref's like you've got to stand up, man, you've got to get on, you've got to fight this guy. Oh wow. And he was like give me five minutes. You know, like you're at a tournament and they're like you're up in five minutes. I just fought. Yeah, the match was 10 minutes, give me 10 minutes, we've got to run this thing. And I was looking around, I was looking at Hodge, I was looking at Keller, I was looking at Simon, looking at the kind of team around us, and we were like, could he do that again? Like fuck. And Lockie was like how good's that. And we were just like bro Olivia, like we just so great. And what did he fucking do?
Speaker 1:Now, to his credit, patrick Gaudio actually gave Lockie the hardest match out of all those guys. Yeah, right, almost passed, didn't let him leg lock him Like they fought for a decent amount of time. But he also refused to tap. So when Lockie finally got that leg, he popped those ligaments. Real bad, I had to break some shit. Yeah, he said it was like three big, loud cracks from that knee, yeah, wow. And you can see Patrick's like, ah, yeah, that's loud cracks from that knee, yeah, wow. And you can see patrick's yeah, you know, that's the famous image, isn't it? Yeah, of like patrick turning out of it. Well, actually, no, that. Or is that canaan? No, no, no, that's that's.
Speaker 1:That's where it goes next and this is where the legend fulfills itself, because I think in that moment, when it happened a second time, everybody was like this guy is fucking on something. Yeah, like this is happening. This dude's going to win. This guy has got the formula. This little guy and he's not that little Like you've ever met Lockie, he's like an average size guy, but they're gigantic humans. They're huge by comparison. And then next round, probably bigger than me, some of them. Well, there you go, but just only, but just only just bigger than than uh joe. But he fought gordon ryan. The next round. I was a yeah.
Speaker 1:And what's crazy is, prior to that match, they're clearing everyone out, like seth daniels is running it from fight to win. He was like fucking everyone off, even though I had like a coach's badge. There was athletes like everybody's trying to get around. Everybody wanted to get Matt's side. It was like a high school scrap. Everybody's like, oh, fuck, and it was Gordon Ryan versus Lachlan Giles, and everybody had that want for the magic of the upset. If Lachlan Giles could beat Gordon Ryan, the jiu-jitsu world would just open into a black hole and just fuck, it would crater. And it would just open into a black hole and just it would crater and it would just turn into a new dimension.
Speaker 1:And everybody was there and I overheard, I, this is no light. This is firsthand. I'm here. And just across there is um, uh, tom, what's his name? Many DVDs used to coach Gordon. Tom DeBlas is there. And Tom DeBlas is not coaching, obviously, but he's watching this match and we're all there, because by this point, no one gave a fuck. Sir Daniels didn't even give a fuck, like, we just wanted to see this match. And he said, oh shit, he's leaving his legs out there. And he said About how Gordon's playing. Yeah, he's playing with fire, what's he doing? That's what Tom DeBlas said.
Speaker 1:And Lockie went to the heel and as he went to get the bite, it kind of slipped, yeah, and everyone was like, oh. And then also, I think Gordon was like what am I doing? Yeah, why would I? He needed that to switch on and then he just pulled the legs out, he got low, he crushed, and I mean Lockie held him off for I think eight and a half, almost nine minutes. Eventually he passed and crushed Lockie's face off, like Lockie had this crease over his face from where Lockland had, from where Gordon had squeezed his face off, but it took him almost 10 minutes to do it. So that was like you're like, okay, fair, but what that then set up was Bueschersche versus Gordon.
Speaker 1:But then the match between the giant and the giant slayer, which is Muhammad Ali weighing in. That's what it was Muhammad Ali weighing in at 125 plus kilos against Lachlan Giles weighing in at 72 kilos. That's what it was. And I'm telling you from the stands like it was like gladiator. Lockie sits the butterfly guard and Lachlan sitting on the ground is shorter than Muhammad Ali's knees. It is un-fucking-believable. Muhammad Ali is a fucking giant, he's a massive human and I mean he's lost weight now. He started doing MMA. He's doing a few other things, but he looked the biggest he's ever looked at that tournament.
Speaker 1:And Lachlan sat and he just scooted forward and everyone's like you could feel the fucking energy in the stadium of people being like is this going to happen again? Because surely Muhammad, he knows, he knows what's going to happen. So Muhammad kind of walks forward into the garden and so Lockie starts going to K guard and tries to spin a bit and then no, like Muhammad backs out but his instincts of years and years of training of pressuring in and coming in, he just went back into the guard and Lockie's like you sure, bro? And he's like, yep, I'm coming in. And Lockie said, okay, we're doing this Back. And Lucky said, okay, we're doing this Backside. 50-50, motherfucker rolls through. And that's when you see that magic clip of Muhammad being like, oh my God, I'm going to have to tap.
Speaker 1:And the whole stadium fucking exploded. It was so immense To be there and feel that fucking energy is the greatest moment in my jiu-jitsu life. Wow, more than anything because that is a guy who never got his shine and has just absolutely done the world beta thing. Yeah, and the reason why I can say this with great definiteness, you know, other than my blinded love for this guy, was the respect he got from everyone on the floor. Yeah, every single champion came up to him and went bro, you did it Like what you did the best, yeah, you know, I mean Andre Galvan got all the belts, the championships, all that. The line to see Andre was like 50 people, maybe a bit more. The line to see Lockie was like 500 people. Wow, like everybody wanted to just get somewhere near him because what he did was so surprising and it was that magic of the upset, yeah, and it was just like, yeah, hard to encapsulate in words what that, what that does, not only for the love of jujitsu, but what that can do for, like the love of an individual athlete. Oh, of course, yeah, I mean I remember, um, I remember seeing trying to leave ADCC with Lockie the next two years later when he you know he didn't do it particularly well that time round and uh, in the weight division and uh, he couldn't leave, people were just bailing him up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know you saw heaps of stars walking around there quite freely. You know like it's not like everyone's getting back lucky got bailed out, like he couldn't move and he had to say to people we were trying to go and he wanted to get out of there and he's like I mean we're all together. Right, I think you'd already left but we'll share in a cab because we're going back to the same place and he people come, oh, lucky, can I get your autograph, whatever. And he'd be like, oh, can I get a photo? And he'd say, yeah, can we just walk 25 meters, walk with me, and then we'll stop and do the photo there. And this this was he was strategizing, right like this gives you an idea of what kind of guy he is. This is like how am I going to get to the taxi stand? All right, 25 minutes, 25 minutes, you know, yeah, but yeah, like I, and I didn't. I, I didn't see anyone else, um, getting fucking harassed to that degree. No, he's the reluctant, he's the reluctant celebrity. Yeah, he doesn't want that, does he like? No, I myself, hodge, we had to kind of like screen him to get him out of the stadium on that day.
Speaker 1:But it's wild to me to see the response in other people who I have idolized and like Josh Hinger was just like you did it, lockie, look at you, bro, wow. And even Gordon's response Gordon was impressed. Gordon was like bro, wow, well done, you know, like he did. He was like until Lockie started like shooting shots at him and being like we should have a match, I see. Yeah, that was like a preceding thing, but that idea of the giant slayer and the smaller person beating the bigger person, and I believe… I mean, it's kind of the hero's tale of jiu-jitsu, isn't it? It is, which we don't really get to see play out that often because the giants also know jiu-jitsu.
Speaker 1:But that was one of those moments where I was like fuck, the little guy's doing it, yeah, and now the giants all bought his dvd. Now the giants are all like locking, god damn it. But there it is, folks. The, the power and the energy of the upset is, I think, the the greatest thing in sport. And and fuck, I'm sweating right now, joe, I'm going to just have to have a Red Bull to calm down. That was sick Fun to relive, good times. There it is, folks. Thanks for listening, guys, see you.
