#371 The Greatest BJJ Matches of All Time!

Speaker 1: I suck at jiu-jitsu. I'm going to tell you why I suck. I'm going to bring you this important message. I guess it's less. Are you ever chilling with your buddies that don't do jiu-jitsu and you're like, hey, jiu-jitsu is super exciting. And they're like, really, it is. And so like, show me, show me that it's so exciting. So you pull up your favorite jiu-jitsu match, like, uh, Roberto Cyborg Abreu versus Brendan Schaub, right? And you're trying to show them how exciting jiu-jitsu is, but you're starting to notice, oh, wow, this match is terrible. This is everything that I hate about jiu-jitsu. So you next it, you go to the next one, and then what is it? Oh, of course, it's a double guard pull for an entire 10 minutes and it's one on an advantage. And so now, your friend is 100% sure that not only do you waste all of your time doing jiu-jitsu, but jiu-jitsu is stupid. And so, I thought, why not put together a list of the top 10 greatest matches in the history of jiu-jitsu. So next time you're showing one of your buddies, hey, jiu-jitsu is cool, you can actually show them that jiu-jitsu is cool. And so, without further ado, let's step into the criteria that we used to rank these top 10 matches. The first and most important part of this criteria is the historic significance. Some matches had more on the line than we even realized, and you didn't actually find out how much was on the line until three, four, five years later when we get to look back and see in hindsight why these matches mattered. And so that is the historic significance is the top thing that we are looking at. The second thing, though, is the lead up to that match. Why were fans excited about that match? Was it old school versus new school? Was it a size discrepancy? Was it because there was a million dollars on the line? There are so many different reasons that a lead up could be exciting for a match, but that is the beauty of this is I will sit you down and tell you every story and every lead up for each of these matches. We linked every match, so even if you wanted to, you could watch the match while I'm still just talking in your ear and telling you about it, um, just by going into the description of this episode. Next on the criteria is the excitement. This is not the top 10 most exciting matches. That's a totally different list. And the reason that we kept this a little lower on the list is because some matches had such historic significance and such a powerful lead up that we don't even really remember what happened in the match. We just knew that it was significant, that it was great. And that is why we have excitement as third in our criteria. And then the fourth part of our criteria, and this will of course cause a lot of other confusion, is an unexpected result, an upset, if you will. We're not doing the top 10 greatest upsets in jiu-jitsu history. If you guys like these top 10 videos, we can do more of these. I've never done a top 10 podcast. Um, this was a shout out to Brian Allen. This was his idea, and we'll see if if it sticks. And so, without further ado, let's go ahead and get into the 10 greatest matches in jiu-jitsu history. And so, number 10 is actually going to be Gabby versus Gabby at the Worlds in 2021. I was actually at that tournament. I got to watch really the most significant passing of a torch in the history of jiu-jitsu at all. And I know that people who don't follow women's jiu-jitsu as much, and especially, there are so many Gabby Garcia haters out there. I would say almost everybody that you hear talk about Gabby, they they paint her in a negative light. And obviously, it is uh a physicality thing. A lot of people felt as though she did not have the best jiu-jitsu, even though she was the most dominant for so long, and she just had this significant size and physicality advantage over everybody that she was going with. And I obviously, you can't deny that that is part of it. But the other part of it is who has ever been that dominant in a sport? Like, especially in jiu-jitsu. Gabby was not just, we're going to be talking about in the male division, these passing of torches over and over, every five, seven, eight years. Gabby was the champion for all of that. She was the best for all of that. She was so significantly dominant that eventually she got bored and stopped competing as much, and then came back when jiu-jitsu had a a little more a little more clout to it. But, all that being said, is we look at Worlds 2021. And I think if you were following jiu-jitsu, you might have expected this to happen. You were seeing how good Gabby Passanya actually was. You may be going, oh, wow, this Gabby versus Gabby match could be the most significant match. This could be the match here. And when you saw how dominant in this match, just so you guys know, there's going to be a lot of spoiler alerts in this uh in this episode. But, when we got to see how dominant Gabby Passanya was, and then her carry that dominance through year after year, this was 2021. And she was that dominant until actually just a few weeks ago when she lost to Sarah Goval. And, I mean, that was the first time we've ever seen Gabby Passanya look like a human. And then also, just on the Gabby Garcia part, I know this can be confusing if you don't know the difference, but the Gabby Garcia part. Another part of this that people will not that they don't really understand, that they can't comprehend, is if you were to try to put together the top 10 most significant female matches in jiu-jitsu, Gabby's going to probably be seven of the 10. She's going to, whether it's losses, whether it's upsets that happened, right? But really, when I was looking at this spot, this could have been Gabby versus Gabby. This could have been Gabby Garcia versus Amanda Levy. This could have been Gabby Garcia versus uh Mackenzie Dern, when Mackenzie beat her in 2014, something like that, after losing to her a thousand times. And you see that and you go, oh, well, you know, one, people treated her as a villain, but two, man, she kept women's jiu-jitsu relevant for so long. And so, to me, I think that there is um a debt that women's jiu-jitsu has to Gabby Garcia that they'll never recognize because of the way that she looks. That's just my opinion. That's my hot take for you guys. If you guys have a hot take at any point, don't forget, call in, 951 hot take, and we can chat about it. So, now let's look at number nine. The ninth greatest match in jiu-jitsu history. This is the shortest match on the list by far, but the historic significance of this match, it it's one of the most historically significant matches in jiu-jitsu, and it's going to shock you. This is Lochlan Giles versus Kainan Duarte. Why is that such a significant match? Well, there's a few reasons, but the main one is this, because of Gordon Ryan. So, you have to understand in this time, this was ADCC 2019. Gordon is just about to go on his double gold run. Um, in 2017, he won gold in his weight class, and then I won't tell you, spoiler alert, I won't tell you something happens to him in the final of 2017. We'll talk about it later. But, 2019, Gordon is about to go on his dominant ADCC open class run. This would be the lead up. This is what sets him up to get his match with Andre Goval. There is so much significance to him winning this division. The only person who had a chance against him in that division was Kainan Duarte. The only person who had any any bit of a chance to beat Gordon in that division was Kainan. But here's what happened. Kainan got heel hooked in like two seconds by Lochlan Giles, a guy who lost in like round one or two of the 77 kg division. Kainan, like 99 or 99 plus kg. I don't remember which one he was in at that one. But, just an absolute monster. Absolute freak. One of, I mean, he won the open class at the last ADCC. And, um, this is what makes this so significant. Is Kainan and Gordon competed against each other one time. This would have been in 2000 and 18, I believe. Uh, either 18 or 17. This would have been Nogi Worlds. It might have been 17. Uh, regardless, Kainan was 90 or or not Kainan, Kainan was 19 years old, okay? And Gordon beat him in the last seconds of the match, passed his guard in the last seconds of the match. Really an amazing match. Here is the thing about that. Was it Worlds? Or was it Pans? It might have been Nogi Pans. I think that's why I'm confused. I think he beat him at Nogi Pans, because I thought it was in New York. Um, but, after that, Kainan just kept getting better and kept getting better. And obviously, Gordon did too. But the one match that Gordon always refused was Kainan. Was Kainan versus Gordon. And there was some there was some stuff that went on with like some camp that they trained at together, and then they didn't want the footage released, or or the the Otto's guys didn't want the footage released, and it was just a really weird it was a really weird thing. It was a really weird thing, but Gordon said, I'll never compete against this guy. I'll never compete against this guy. But then, it all finally happens where Kainan eventually gets to 2000 and when was that? 2024, 2020, yeah, 2024 ADCC. 2023? Whenever the heck ADCC was that year. But, Kainan finally wins ADCC. And so, Gordon being the open class champion, that means that two years later, it will be Gordon versus Kainan. Really, it should be, I guess this would be uh ADCC in uh in September this year. That should be the match that happens. Gordon retired. That match isn't going to happen. Actually, right after Kainan won the open class of ADCC, one of the first statements that he made was, I guarantee you that Gordon doesn't actually show up to the match, that he doesn't show up to compete against me at ADCC. We don't know if that's going to happen or not, obviously, but it seems as though Gordon is totally retired. Lochlan beating Kainan in 2019 ruined all of it for us. Screwed us all over, and it made people heel hook even more. And so, really, Lochlan Giles ruined jiu-jitsu there. Amazing coach. You should probably sign up for Submeta. But, he still ruined jiu-jitsu for us all. He ruined the chance that we would have gotten to see a prime Kainan versus a prime Gordon. And there would have been no more debate. But who knows? Lochlan ruined it for us. Lochlan also went on, seriously, the coolest small guy run, the second coolest small guy run in ADCC history. Um, we'll talk about the first at some point. Um, let's go ahead. Yo, Josh here, just wanted to interrupt the podcast really quick and tell you guys, from right now until May 1st, we're doing a pre-order of I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show rash guards. Every time I wear one on the podcast and a video goes viral, there's comments going, where do we get these rash guards? Where do we get these rash guards? It's not where. You can always get them at inpostwill.com. It's when. And right now, we are doing a pre-order from now until May 1st. You do not want to miss out and not be able to let people know that you, too, suck at jiu-jitsu. Let's get back to the episode. And we will move on. That was number nine. Let's move on to the eighth most exciting most exciting, no, greatest match in jiu-jitsu history. So, number eight. And there is beautiful history around this match. Around this rivalry. Erber Santos versus Felipe Pena. I mean, we could pick multiple matches from these two. And, okay, let me, you guys have to understand something. I don't make a lot of strong opinions on people, um, but Erber Santos is a terrible person, obviously. Very obviously. If you don't believe me, Google him. Um, absolutely terrible person. It was kind of, you could even feel that when he was a competitor before we realized he was, you know, all these other things that end in ER. Um, all these other bad things. You could see in the way that he treated people and the way that he interacted with people, and the fact that some of the nicest guys in jiu-jitsu just absolutely hated him. Probably not a good guy. And so, most of the time, it felt as though if it was just like a kind of a a seemingly decent human being competing against him, everyone was rooting for that other person. Now, the Felipe Pena Erber Santos match in at Euros. I don't, I'll I'll have it linked, of course. I don't remember off the top of my head what uh what year this was. But, that match, there is um there is a point in that match where Felipe is completely deep in a submission. Like, he should tap, he should tap, he should tap, he should tap. He's not tapping. He's not tapping. And then not only, he's down on points, he's in a submission. And that was what Erberth would do to people is he would get like, when he would when things would start rolling for him, he was so hard to deal with. He was so just physical, he was so fast, he was so good at running up scores and then submitting people once he did that. And, uh, yeah, Felipe just ate just ate the arm bar, bro. She's like, what if you just don't tap to this? Then what? And then all of a sudden, Felipe's chasing his back. And then all of a sudden, Felipe's hitting him with a bow and arrow choke. One of the craziest matches that you've seen. And you can always, and people can always make those uh claims about Erberth is really bad about losing comeback matches like that. That happened a few different times where he almost would seemingly give up in the middle of a match. Um, and then what eventually happened was they had a match in Brazil that ended up with like Erberth flying sidekicking people in the crowd. Um, that one was crazy too. That was actually on my birthday one year. We were, me and the boys were all watching, like, oh, we'll watch this fun jiu-jitsu event because I really want to see I really want to see how Erberth versus Felipe goes. And then it was like, Felipe's brother and Erberth fist fighting in the crowd. Uh, that was great, man. That was what a great time to do jiu-jitsu. What a great time to be alive. Now, let's look at number seven. And this is another one of those, you can't really call this one as much the passing of a torch, okay? Um, so, to understand the jiu-jitsu landscape around this time, we're going to look at Worlds 2012. But, to understand how significantly dominant Roger Gracie was, okay? It is uncomprehendable. It really is. Obviously, people will always want to say like, oh, no, Gordon's better than Roger. I don't buy it. I don't buy it. And the reason is is because Roger would do tournament after tournament. It wasn't all super fights back then. You weren't prepping for guys. Roger would show up, he would beat seven or eight of the best black belts in the world, some years all by submission, and a lot of times with no points scored against him. And this is the World Championships. No one was doing that. No one has done it since. And we all recognize that Gi is significantly harder than Nogi, and it's not even close. Uh, right? We all recognize that, right? But anyway, uh, I'll I'll digress from those things. But, uh, Roger is just incredibly dominant, and then he decides the worst decision that any jiu-jitsu guy can ever make that is very good at jiu-jitsu. He decides to go to MMA. Why? Why are we doing this, guys? Don't don't do it. Just stay just keep doing jiu-jitsu. You're great at jiu-jitsu. We want to see you in jiu-jitsu. I could have a list of the top 10 forgotten jiu-jitsu stars that went to MMA. And yeah, they probably made 15 grand to show and 15 grand to win a fight, but, brother, there is so much more significance now in in being at the top level of jiu-jitsu than being at a very low level of MMA. Um, yeah, so those are those are my random thoughts about moving to MMA. But, now the landscape of jiu-jitsu changes because Roger's not there. Rodolfo Vieira wins Worlds 2011. He actually competes against Buchecha and is relatively dominant uh in that match against Buchecha. And a lot of people were kind of choosing Buchecha to to be the next guy already in 2011. Well, then we fast forward to Worlds 2012. I still remember, I was at this tournament. Um, I lost and uh uh I was a purple belt and I took the L, boys. But, I actually won um two. I think I won two matches and then I lost. But anyway, it's irrelevant because I got to watch these cool matches. So, me and my dad are watching Rodolfo versus Buchecha, and it's getting significantly crazier as the match goes on. If you have never watched that match, maybe pause and and and click on it before I spoil this, because that match has so many exchanges that are crazy. There is a point where Buchecha is obviously going to win at the end of the match. And then all of a sudden, he is in a fully locked arm bar and then a locked arm bar sweep and then an arm bar and then just the match is so exciting, but then on top of it, that was the start of Buchecha. That was the start of his dominance. He was dominant. And that is like, when you see like, really, one of the Gordon's most significant wins that isn't really talked about was Gordon beating Buchecha at ADCC. That was that was Brazil's last hope to beat Gordon. That was what everybody was banking on. Was like, yeah, Gordon is going to, you know, is going to to lose to Buchecha. And that's not what happened. And, um, this whole thought though of Buchecha versus Rodolfo, just such a cool a a cool match overall because of when you, if you rewatch it, if you rewatch the YouTube video, you can hear the crowd going crazy. And, uh, you know, these guys thought Buchecha was the new king, and they were right. And I mean, he was dominant for years and years and years after that, becoming one of or the winningest uh adult black belt in in jiu-jitsu. And it's like eight eight gold medals at at Worlds, right? Like, dominant, dominant guy. And, yeah, that was that was the start of it. Super fun match to watch. Definitely worth the rewatch. Now, here's one maybe not as exciting, but historic significance just shoots through the roof on this one. And that is one we've already referenced a little bit. This is in the 2017 ADCC run, open class final. Who's in that final? We just talked about the semi-final. I believe that it was Buchecha versus uh Gordon in the semi-final, and um uh Gordon shoulder crunch swept Buchecha. And, uh, then we're in the final now, though. So, I'm going to let you in on a little secret that big cotton does not want you to know. Don't even get me started on big polyester. But right now, we are in the middle of a secret war. It is between hemp and cotton. One of them shrinks, isn't durable, and holds bacteria. The other is hemp. And the beauty of hemp, not just is how durable it is to make a Gi out of, to make a backpack out of, to make a fanny pack out of. The beauty of hemp is that it is anti-microbial, meaning that things are not growing and living inside of your Gi. And that is a beautiful thing to know, because you can know that with your nose. Your Gi doesn't stink. You are not the stinky guy. And our friends at Datsusara are the company for hemp jiu-jitsu. They have Gis that are made of hemp. They have some of my favorite bags. They have some of my favorite fanny packs. Again, all made of hemp. They don't hold odor. They are super durable. They look really cool. You'll get all kinds of compliments on them. And if you use promo code I SUCK at DSgear.com when you check out, you get 10% off of your purchase because they love the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show just like you do. And so, be sure to check them out at DSgear.com. Then, we're in the final now, though, against Felipe Pena. And what's interesting is, really, when Gordon came out and started dominating and started calling everybody out, the only guy that came in and answered and actually beat him was Felipe Pena. And if you've never seen that match, again, historic significance, just such a that was such a cool match to see because, again, you got this guy, this American guy, at a time that Brazil just absolutely dominates jiu-jitsu, Gi and Nogi. You've got this guy that comes out, starts winning these EBI's where there's some money, right? And so, why would no one come fight him there? Well, then he starts calling out people for super fights. He starts calling out everybody. He's willing to go against anybody, as long, of course, as it's Nogi. And then there is a point that one of the call outs stick, and it's going to be Felipe versus Gordon. This is before, this is at, I want to say it's like Studio 540. This is not a tournament. They're going to do a no time limit sub only match or something like that. They, uh, um, I think also at the same time, Nicky Ryan had a match with uh Kennedy Maciel. And, um, that also, very, very fun match to watch if you're into submission only matches that have no time limit. Typically, those suck. Those are not very exciting. Um, but at one point in the match, Felipe gets a back take and he gets the old face choke on Gordon, and he wins. So, now we're at ADCC 2017 where we have seen Gordon absolutely dominating. He is he is looking prime. And then all of a sudden, he's got the only guy that seems to be able to beat him. But there's just no way. There's no way Felipe can beat him again. That lightning can't strike twice. But, here's what we learned from Sweet Home Alabama. Lightning can strike twice. I mean, the movie, not the uh uh not the song. It's also the greatest, that's the greatest movie of all time. We did top 10 lists of the greatest rom-coms of all time. Obviously, number one, Sweet Home Alabama. I don't know where I went off that. Sorry, I totally lost my train of thought. Oh, yeah, Felipe Pena versus Gordon Ryan. This is, I mean, this is it. Gordon's about to win double gold after making the craziest claims ever, and then Felipe hits him with the smoothest back take and totally robs him of that chance. Totally puts a blemish on on the resume of Gordon Ryan. This time it's not some random sub only. This is the ADCC finals. This is what they both wanted to win, and Felipe still was able to pull it out. And yes, Gordon was able to, you know, come back and beat Felipe multiple times since then, but, do we buy it? Do we give, do we, listen, the first win over Felipe felt a lot like Leandro Lo had died 12 hours before that, and, um, there really, Felipe's team shouldn't have let him have that match. Um, whatever. That's that's my, this is just me telling you guys my opinion on how people should have handled things. But, yeah, if you're if that's the situation you're in, your best friend just dies, don't do it. I wouldn't. I would, you know, if it was one of my competitors, looking back, even if big, big match, big payday, all these things, like, nah, dude, we're postponing this. It's not happening. This is not, this is not happening. And so, and you really look at it, Flo was doing a lot of different stuff at that time. And that that match, um, that who's number one match where they, you know, where they whatever happened behind the scenes. And there was whatever happened behind the scenes. People seem to get fired after that. There seem to be a change, like changes at Flo after that that seem significant. And so, other people recognized that that was not handled well. Just on a high horse. We're supposed to be talking about Felipe versus Gordon 2017. Great match. You should watch it. I just gave you way too many fun facts on this. Okay, so now let's look at, actually, let's not go to number five yet. Let's look, I had a few honorable mentions that I did already reference already. One was the Amanda Levy versus Gabby Garcia. That could have easily been the Gabby versus Gabby. That was so significant, and the trash talk that Amanda Levy was doing. Levy, Levy, I don't know. I apologize, Amanda. But she was doing in the lead up. And then to go out, she gets the back take in the first like couple minutes. And then she's putting it on basically the whole match, finishes the match with the back again. That was so significant. That was so big at the time because she was much smaller, and she backed up the trash talk. It was a beautiful thing. That's one of our honorable mentions. This is the other honorable mention. If, I'm going to go on another crazy rant again. I'm sorry. This is just, I guess this is just what this episode is. So, years ago, right when Kainan Dalpra started his run, right when he started to just catch fire at black belt. Um, just dominating everybody. He competes against a not as known brown belt at the time. People were not aware of how significant this person was. But he competes against a brown belt in Mika Goval. They have a six minute match on, I sorry for not being able to shout this out off the top of my head, but on a card that, I don't remember what it was. Um, a match that someone should have made. And Mika wins that match. And honestly, I really believe this. If you rewatch that match, I thought this when I watched it. I thought Mika looked significantly better in that match. I didn't think that it was as close as we acted like. I thought that if you gave him 10 minutes that it probably would have went more Mika's way. But then since then, we as a jiu-jitsu community have been robbed of them not ever having a rematch. The stupidest, the stupidest booking in the world. I don't care what tournament it is. I don't care what they're wearing. I don't care what the rule set is. The fact that no one has booked the rematch of Kainan versus Mika is the most infuriating thing to me. It is, I am, I can't even put it into words. It makes me so angry. This is the most significant Gi match that you could make times 1 million. Let's all put our money in a pile, and then we can just let those guys fight over it. Please, somebody for the love of God, make that match. What are we doing? Who is even managing Mika at this time? Who manages this kid? Hey, Mika, go win everything, every tournament that you have to pay for entry and you don't get paid to win. But don't, now that you've made the most significant name for yourself, don't accept any matches, bro. You don't need, you don't need, you know, money? Okay, those are our honorable mentions. Let's take a quick commercial break so I can take a chill pill. Okay, guys, so you only have one to two days per week to train jiu-jitsu. Can you still be a competitor and win? Well, with Zero to Hero, you can. Oh, that's not what you have. You have three or four days a week to train. Oh, well, then you would just need Hero and Hiding. That is easy. You could be a great competitor. Oh, you want to try to be the best competitor in the world? You want a professional level? You need to go Hero mode. Well, the beauty of all three of these is all three of these six week jiu-jitsu camps that will teach you exactly how to prepare for your next tournament. All three of them are free and included in my new ebook, The Competitor's Journey. This is where I take everything that I have learned from the last 18 years of competing in jiu-jitsu, the last 10 years of coaching competitors, and I apply it into three very simple six week jiu-jitsu training camps that you can take and apply to your jiu-jitsu training right now for better success at your next tournament, less injuries, and even a better mindset. All you need to do is go to simplifyingjiujitsu.com/comp and you can download The Competitor's Journey absolutely free. Let's get back to the episode. And we are back. So, now we are at number five, the fifth greatest match in the history of jiu-jitsu. And this to me is Kron Gracie versus Gary Tonon. Gary Tonon is ADCC 2013. And Gary Tonon at the time was very unknown. Obviously, incredibly good, but he was not known as a guy that's going to come out and have a chance against Kron Gracie. At the time, ADCC 2013, Kron is like heavy favorite to win. He is primed, dude. He is so good at that time. And again, this is another perfect example of amazing jiu-jitsu guy goes to MMA and then is forgotten in the jiu-jitsu space. Everyone's like, yeah, he's not, you know, he's not that good. Bro, he beat Marcelo. This dude was was if he had just stayed in jiu-jitsu, there's no telling who he would have beaten. But, people want to do MMA. They want to fight MMA. They want to be in the UFC, whatever. That's what they want. Also, random note, I actually didn't, this is the only one that I didn't link the actual match. Um, you can find the match uh wherever you want. I actually linked the um short documentary that Stewart Stewart Cooper Films did on the match. Um, that is, you know, it really does explain and show you how significant that match was in in jiu-jitsu history. But also, that match was a 10 out of 10 in excitement. That was like, if you want, I and and this probably is, um, maybe it's not. Oh, it's close. This is probably top two of the most actually exciting matches on this list. Um, if you have not seen this, again, pause right now because spoilers are coming. Kron's dominating Gary to start the match. He's in mount. He goes for an arm bar and Gary does Gary Tonon things, and he wiggles out of the arm bar, and then he gets a back take. It is just such a fun exchange to watch. It's just such a fun match to rewatch even now. But also, um, Kron's in this documentary, he explains his thought process. He explains how they were training. He explains what he saw when he looked up at his dad who was coaching him. And, um, kind of like all of those things, and then how that last minute goes. And I won't spoil that part for you, so you guys can really just feel out that last minute. But, even references it in the documentary, um, something that I um Henry Akins talked about on the podcast when he was on, was um Henry was was coaching Kron at that time. He was talking about how many one minute drills they would do. And what a one minute drill was is I think you would be down like five or seven points, something like that. And you had one minute to score all of those points back or get a submission. And that's what a one minute drill was. And so, you even hear Kron reference like, yeah, my dad, I could see it on his face that he's like, how are you going to lose to this guy? How'd you lose to this nobody? And he said, but I was also thinking, I still got a minute left. We've been doing so many one minute drills. I can make a lot happen in one minute. And, man, he made a lot happen in that minute. That is such a fun match to rewatch. Highly recommend. Now, let's talk about, this was also a historically significant moment. And this is now, it doesn't feel as significant because of how much this match shaped, I mean, it shaped our understanding of jiu-jitsu. But, in ADCC 2003, it was Marcelo Garcia versus Rico Rodriguez. Rico Rodriguez, a heavyweight UFC champion, versus Marcelo Garcia, a tiny jiu-jitsu black belt, looks like a nerd. No offense, Marcelo. You're my hero. But, you agree. You agree with me. And, that match, just one, the insanity overall of that match. Um, the the size discrepancy, the fact that people are seeing live, oh, this is what they mean about a small guy being able to beat a big guy using jiu-jitsu. Both knew jiu-jitsu. There's even a point in this match where Marcelo gets the back take on Rico Rodriguez. And if you guys know the ADCC rule set, you're allowed to slam people to get out of submissions. But, you know, Marcelo has like a seat belt grip, and Rico Rodriguez just like with 280 pounds, jumps backwards and lands on him, right? And, um, they end up resetting that match. There's a there's a lot that goes into that. But, Marcelo eventually finishes Rico Rodriguez with what? With a heel hook. And at that time, you just, you have to understand that like, even when I started training consistently in 08, leg locks were so looked down upon. Even 2011, 2012, I mean, obviously, there is a there was a huge explosion of leg locks in in trying to learn them when the Danaher Death Squad came onto the scene and started winning all these EBI's with leg locks and just with a good understanding of leg locks. And it was very obvious that a lot of people didn't have a good understanding of defending them. And so, um, but to say that they were invented, you know, in 2012, 13, 14 is just not true. Marcelo is hitting single leg X, X guard in that match. He's playing butterfly. He ends the match with a heel hook. This is like, this is what jiu-jitsu eventually became. You and this is like another thought of this, is if you listen to anybody talk about studying jiu-jitsu, any really significant high level guy that isn't obviously right this second, that hasn't only been training for five or six years. But all of them will reference that they studied Roger and they studied Marcelo. Those two two guys, their jiu-jitsu helped shape so many other people's jiu-jitsu. But at the time, a guy like Marcelo, his jiu-jitsu was unique to him. People weren't playing butterfly single leg X X guard. People weren't doing that. And he was. And this was just such a beautiful display of what jiu-jitsu could be. And I think that is why we put it at number four. And so now, we're down to the top three greatest jiu-jitsu matches of all time. Okay, guys, so I lied to you. I am a liar. That's my bad. So, my friends at BJJ Mental Models, they were going to send us a new course, but they keep messaging me saying, hey, too many people keep downloading the Rob Bernaki course to move on. I mean, they're giving away an $80 course completely free just because they love the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show. Just because they love I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show listeners. So, if you go to BJJmentalmodels.com/suck, you get to get Rob Bernaki's seven part course, Jiu-Jitsu for Imbeciles, completely free. This is a conceptual approach to jiu-jitsu learning and to all the things that make jiu-jitsu work. It'll take all those moves, all those random techniques that you know, and allow you to kind of systematize them into a format that has been proven. And again, this is completely free because the people at BJJ Mental Models love you guys. So, if you go to BJJmentalmodels.com/I SUCK, you will be able to download this free course from Rob Bernaki, and I am telling you, it is going to change the way that you look at jiu-jitsu. And so now, we're down to the top three greatest jiu-jitsu matches of all time. And you could probably put any of these at number one. But, if you know me, you know where I have what I have at number one. If you know the show, I've I've told you guys this a million times that I think what I have at number one is the greatest jiu-jitsu match of all time. But, let's start with number three. And I think that a lot of people could put this as their number one, especially with the argument of historic significance. Number, number three is also from ADCC 2003. So, Marcelo versus Rico Rodriguez was from ADCC 03, and our next match, Eddie Bravo versus Hoyler Gracie. Again, obviously, the Gracie name was popping back then, bro. These were the best jiu-jitsu guys, and everybody knew it. And then you get Eddie Bravo, some rando trials winner that is going to show up and have a chance against Hoyler? I doubt it, right? Well, we get to see some rubber guard. We get to see some chill dog. And then we get to see Eddie Bravo hit a triangle choke on Hoyler Gracie. And really, this was this was the biggest upset in jiu-jitsu history for a very long time, if not forever. If not still to this day, the biggest upset in jiu-jitsu history. Now, why do I say that this could be the top the most historically significant thing? Is, does 10th Planet exist if Eddie doesn't win that match? I don't know. Like, does does 10th Planet exist if Eddie doesn't show up and win that match? I don't know. It's a good question. Does Joe Rogan end up being a black belt in jiu-jitsu if he doesn't meet Eddie and learn under the 10th Planet system? You know, I know he was a John Jack guy too, but, does he? More importantly, does episode 911 of The Joe Rogan Experience with Eddie Bravo and uh uh Alex Jones, does that come out if Eddie Bravo does not hit this triangle choke? Honestly, probably not. The most significant podcast in the history of the world, besides obviously, a few different I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show episodes. But, does that come out without Eddie hitting Hoyler with the triangle? Do people play rubber guard now? Does the meta of jiu-jitsu totally shift? Does what jiu-jitsu is totally shift if Hoyler just wins that match like expected? And that to me is like, that is why you can argue the historic significance of it. This is so many things happened because of the snowball effect of Eddie Bravo beating Hoyler Gracie. And even to this point, they, you know, eventually had a rematch on Metamoris years and years later. And, I know the purists that love the Gracie family are like, oh, yeah, Hoyler Hoyler was all over him. Honestly, I know that it was sub only and then there was like no decision. And if there is no if there's no sub, it's just a draw. If you watch the match, you'd probably say, ah, Buchecha Buchecha won this one. And so, it just kind of confirmed what we all thought. Like, we'll never know who would win in their prime because Roger's just not in his prime anymore. So, then some years go by. And and there's this announcement. Roger versus Buchecha, one off match. Not at a tournament. Not like, it's at a tournament, but not for a tournament. It is a super fight. And it's this thought of who's going to be who is going to be the guy? Who is the guy? There's no way that old man Roger Gracie can beat Buchecha. So, the match starts. And I'm not exaggerating. I was, me and my dad are watching this um uh live streamed. And literally, you can feel how much tension is in the room at that tournament. Everybody had an opinion on this. Because you also have to understand, this is old school versus new school at the time. Now, of course, how it always works is you look at Buchecha, he's an old school guy now. But at that time, this was new school versus new school jiu-jitsu. Buchecha plays tornado guard and he bear bolos guys. He's a ultra heavyweight, and, you know, what he's unbeatable. He plays the new school game. Roger's going to play closed guard and try to do foot sweeps and stuff. There is no way. Roger's not going to mount them or something, right? So, the match starts. And like I'm telling you, the tension in that match, those first couple shots that Buchecha takes, it like, it built more tension. Because you're going, okay, well, Buchecha normally just blast doubles everybody. Uh how was how was Roger able to stop that? How was Roger able to beat him there? That's weird. And so, then there's more transition. There's more happening in the match. And there's this point where maybe Roger's going to try to trip, maybe he's not. Oh, he pulls closed guard. Buchecha lands one knee up. If you're anybody else, it's probably good, right? This is probably a good thing. But when you're going with Roger, there's a sweet, people called it the Roger sweep. And it is when you're in one knee up closed guard. He was the king of that off balance controlling your sleeve. He'd do a cross sleeve grip, um, to do it. And what's really beautiful about that transition of that match, the cross sleeve grip that he grabs to do the sweep, um, you know, he goes across and grabs and then starts to off balance towards that post. He starts to use it to come up. When you watch the uh Metamoris match, Buchecha would switch to tornado guard anytime Roger would get on top and he was able to get underneath and sweep. This transition, Roger keeps the cross sleeve grip. Buchecha goes to sweep with that tornado guard. And if you watch, that cross sleeve grip is like elbow knee space. It's like inside space. And it is what opens up Buchecha. What eventually is what opens up the back chase. And then eventually is Roger getting the submission. You see this, and this was literally. And I know that people will try to say, no, no, Eddie versus Hoyler. No, no, Kade versus Tacket. Bro. This is the greatest moment in jiu-jitsu history. Why? Because it showed without a doubt that even at the highest level, that physicality can't beat better jiu-jitsu. It showed. And better jiu-jitsu doesn't always mean advanced jiu-jitsu. Watch the moves that Roger hits in that match. Obviously, watch the moves that Roger always hits. They were a lot of white belt moves that he got to the highest level of black belt. You watch the transitions in that match, and you watch the simplicity of a back chase and the finish. And who knows, like, probably none of us could have survived with with Roger on our back. But you even see the significance when Roger was in bad positions at that Metamoris match, how much better he was at defending those bad positions. As soon as he got to the dominant position, in the Gi match years later, he got a submission very quickly. And that is what I consider this the greatest match, the greatest to me, the greatest moment in jiu-jitsu history. If you could imagine, there's always debate in sports, in every sport. Who would win Michael Jordan versus LeBron in their prime, right? In every sport, it is like this. Who would, you know, who would win between the best golfers? Who would win between the best MMA fighters in their prime? And you're never really able to get that answer in any other sport because physicality seems to trump everything else, right? Being more physical than the other person, being bigger, stronger, faster, seems to trump everything else in every other sport. But for this one moment, we got to see Michael Jordan come back and slam dunk on LeBron. And it settled every debate. And it wasn't about size, it wasn't about strength. It was about the most beautiful jiu-jitsu. And that is why I put this in as the greatest match of all time. Is because I don't think anything shows how beautiful jiu-jitsu can be, how amazing jiu-jitsu can be better than the old guy coming back and beating the young guy. Beating the guy that is too athletic to be beaten, that is too unbeatable with just the most basic Gracie jiu-jitsu. With timing, with technique, with angles, with weight distribution. That is why that is the greatest match of all time. If you want a great podcast on that, um, Lex Friedman uh interviews Roger Gracie, and they spend 30 minutes just breaking down that match. And it's I've probably watched it 10 different times. It's so fun to hear Roger's perspective. And you can hear it. He he cared so much about winning that match. But then on top of it, he trusted his jiu-jitsu so much that it almost seemed as though he didn't care about winning that match. And that's what makes it beautiful. That's what makes it the greatest match in the history of jiu-jitsu. Maybe you disagree. If you disagree, let me know in the comments or, of course, give us a hot take at 951 hot take. You can leave us a voicemail or send us a text message. And if you like these top 10 episodes, give me some ideas on what I could do for a top 10 episode. Um, I kind of enjoyed it. It was kind of fun getting to tell you guys some stories from my perspective because from all of these, except for the 2003 ADCC ones, I was training full time. And, you know, even then, like ADCC 2003, my dad and I had on VHS tape before we actually trained real jiu-jitsu because we were the weirdos. You know, everyone's like, no, only jiu-jitsu people will watch jiu-jitsu. There's no way anyone who doesn't train would watch jiu-jitsu. We were the weirdos that ordered all of the, you know, out of the magazines, all of the IBJJF Worlds, all of the ADCC's way before we were training jiu-jitsu because we just like martial arts. We like the idea. We like fighting. And, um, yeah, all that being said, hopefully this gives you guys some perspective on kind of the history of jiu-jitsu competition. And hopefully, 20 years from now, we'll do another updated episode on the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show when the podcast is super duper famous. And, um, yeah, maybe it's 10 different matches then. Who knows? Um, but that's all I have for you guys today. I hope you enjoyed today's episode, and I hope that today's episode helps you guys suck just a little bit less at jiu-jitsu. Have a great day, guys.