This is the third in a series of 'advanced' moves for JIU-JITSU.NET that I am releasing as 'never before published'. Once again; I can't promise you haven't seen this anywhere before, but I haven't.

I live in upstate New York, approximately one hour from Catskill. The Catskill Mountains are unquestionably some of the most beautiful topographical resources New York State has to offer, but fight fans equate Catskill with something else: Cus D'Amato's army of great young boxers. Cus D'Amato was an old school trainer whose no-nonsense attitude and killer work ethic elevated a host of boxers to greatness. Most young people watching guys like Floyd Mayweather Sr. and Richie Giachetti bumbling around the ring apron don't remember Cus, but D'Amato was to boxing what Carlson Gracie was (and arguably is) to jiu jitsu. Cus made Floyd Patterson into the youngest heavyweight boxing champion in history. Muhammed Ali was determined to take this honor away from Floyd, but didn't quite squeak in under deadline due to Sonny Liston's ducking and dodging. Floyd's record would ultimately be broken, however, by another of Cus' young warriors: Mike Tyson.

Mike Tyson burst onto the boxing scene in the early 80s and never stopped bursting. His lightning fast KOs made him almost universally regarded as the most dangerous fighter in the heavyweight division. By the age of twenty, Tyson had floored Trevor Berbick to gain the heavyweight crown just a few months shy of the record set by Patterson. This was the first of three belts Tyson would eventually take, consolidating the heavyweight championship and making him the undisputed champion of the world for a time, until his ultimate defeat at the hands of James "Buster" Douglas, which turned all of boxing on its ear and sent Tyson down a road that would ultimately lead to disgrace, destruction and ruin. His attempts to regain past glory have been met with failure, for the most part, and his recent performance against Etienne, while showing promise of the Tyson of old made him question his future in the sport.

Back in 1996, a similar story was being played out. In October of that year, Vitor Belfort debuted at the Hawaiian SuperBrawl, knocking out Jon Hess with Tyson-like speed and accuracy in twelve seconds. Belfort was only 18 at the time and was hailed as the greatest Brazilian fighter of the day by both pundits and his legendary trainer, Carlson Gracie. Skeptics claimed Vitor "Gracie", as he was sometimes called was a fluke and Brazilians in the know pointed readily to fighters like Rickson Gracie, Mario Sperry and Ricardo Liborio as clear superiors to Vitor, but the truth was undeniable. Belfort had what no one had; confirmed skill on the ground backed up by near professional level skill with his hands. His abilities earned him the moniker "The Phenom" by commentators when he entered the Ultimate Fighting Championship at the age of nineteen in UFC XII. In just over two minutes total time, Vitor had knocked out his two opponents and become the youngest UFC tournament champion of all time. Carlson and all BJJ stylists not bearing the name Gracie celebrated at their new champion. In his next fight against Tank Abbott, Belfort continued the streak, knocking out the dangerous brawler in under a minuet. A championship bout with the winner of the Maurice Smith vs. Mark Coleman battle seemed inevitable.

Unfortunately, Belfort would later lose to Randy Couture and fight an ADCC style match at UFC Japan against Joe Charles, which impressed few and made the world wonder if the Phenom was nothing but a fluke. A series of incidents no less bizarre than Tyson's biting of Evander Holyfield's ear started to arise around Belfort. First he ducked out of a fight with Frank Shamrock that would indisputably have made both of them legends, then he did the same with Tito Ortiz. In between he'd lost a largely inactive fight to Kazushi Sakuraba and fought two boring ground and pound matches against Gilbert Yvel and Daijiro Matsui, respectively. His fight with Vanderlei Silva catapulted him back into the forefront of the new light-heavyweight division, but his eventual fight with Chuck Liddell seemed to put the Vitor Belfort legend to rest.

I met Vitor Belfort on the streets of San Diego in 2000, a few days after his fight with Yvel. He was hanging out at Rodrigo Medeiros' Pacific Beach school, hyping his appearance in PRIDE and catching some sun. I was star-struck, of course, when I met him, but after I recovered from the initial shock, it dawned on me, looking at Vitor, how young he was. He couldn't have been older than twenty-two but here was a guy like me looking at him like he was a legend. I can hardly begin to imagine the pressure that must have been on him and Tyson before him.

The point, if there is a point to be gleaned from these tales, is that our expectations as fans on people so young to essentially be so violent can end up ruining their lives. Tyson said as much after his fight with Etienne, leading pundits to say "well, what else is he good at?" Similarly, fight fans criticized Belfort when he decided to appear on a soap opera instead of fighting Tito Ortiz. Certainly, acting has more of a future than battling with Tito (as Ken Shamrock proved). As fighters get younger and younger and men with immense talent, like Robbie Lawler, begin to emerge, we should be understanding of the fact that sticking with this sport really is a handicap on one's future. It's a sad truth for the zealots to face. It's sad for me to face because I'm one of them, but as much as I'd love to see Frank Shamrock battling it out with Vanderlei Silva, I'd rather see him succeeding in building a life. MMA needs to protect and provide for its stars, otherwise they'll all end up like boxing's greatest cautionary tales, i.e. Larry Holmes and Mike Tyson. Vitor made a statement that sometimes the sport doesn't hold any interest for him, so he does other things. Bebeo Duarte may not understand or approve of this, as he said in a recent interview, but it really is for the best. MMA isn't soccer and doesn't land you the lifelong endorsement deals to line the pockets and feed the family. Next month I plan to interview a fighter personally about why he participates in this mad sport and what direction he ultimately sees himself and his peers going in it. Until then, keep on rollin'...

Diami J. Virgilio
March, 2003
kneeblock@yahoo.com

SECOND DEGREE BJJ BLACK BELT MAURICIO"TINGUINHA" MARIANO FROM GRACIE BARRA SCHOOL WILL BE CONDUCTING 2 SEMINARS IN MARCH.TINGUINHA IS FAMOUS FOR HIS GREAT SPIDER GUARD TECHNIQUES AND HIS EXTENSIVE NUMBER OF TITLES IN BJJ, INCLUDING 2 TIMES BRAZILIAN CHAMPION AND 2nd PLACE AT THE WORLD BJJ CHAMPIONSHIP. FOR MORE INFO ABOUT TINGUINHA GO TO WWW.TINGUINHA.COM

First Seminar

LOCATION: 
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DATE: MARCH 16TH (SUNDAY)
TIME:KIDS WORK SHOP: 11AM-12:30PM
ADULT SEMINAR :1:30AM-4:30PM

CONTACT:MARK 559-  7312743 OR DAVID 559- 7562343

Second Seminar

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DATE: MARCH 22ND (SATURDAY)
TIME:11:00AM-2:00PM
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