I first ran in to Eddie Bravo out back of KOC one time. He has checking his glucose level and administering his glaucoma medications. Surprisingly we never had hung out before. But, I had already seen him fight all over. Eddie had a notorious reputation up at Ralph’s Academy of being a tough competitor and this was even before the twister craze. Then he was all over the place with some new spine-cranking move he could get from the top or bottom. We featured him pulling this move at a World Grappling Games a few years back. You can check out the video here. After that the internet has never died with Eddie Bravo talk. Now he has moved on to even bigger notoriety, by tapping out Royler Gracie, one of the greats fighters ever at Abu Dhabi the super bowl of Submission Wrestling. The hype never quits with this guy.
Now my brother Cade is training there in Hollywood with him and I have seen his game just explode. So next time I was in town I went strait over there like a fiend looking for a script. That was exactly what I needed. I needed a script for my 1/2 guard game and I really wanted some work on my triangle too. I had seen a little rubber guard and I wanted more.
Eddie’s school is right on Santa Monica Boulevard in heart of Hollywood which only seems appropriate for a famous jiu jitsu guy. The school is inside Bomb Squad Boxing where they have 2 rings set up and good-sized mat space.
The first thing that I noticed is Eddie runs his class a little different that I am used to. Like most Brazilian jiu jutsu schools, I learnt on the “show it three times and go practice it on your partner” method. Eddie runs his class more like drill sergeant, breaking down the move into all the simple steps in order and then practicing the sequence. His system of perfect practice makes perfect really works well. I found that the step by step system he used really let the moves set in to my head and my body was learning and remembering the moves. Eddie really is a great teacher. I learned so much there is was great. I left with a lot more confidence in my 1/2 guard and a basic knowledge of both the twister and the rubber guard. I only spent a few weeks training there. I really wish I had more time because the guy training there are really cool and it is a great learning environment. There is a lot of innovating going on too, besides the twister and rubber guard there is a whole new assortment of new moves coming out of 10th Planet jiu jitsu. The Zapital, the Saturn, and the Fairy were just a few of them that I got caught in.
If you want to get your money’s worth out of your training and you have an open mind to new techniques then I highly recommend that you head out to Cali and do some training with Eddie and the boys. You will learn a lot and get some good training.