When I found out that the latest part of Choque : the untold story of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil is out I had to read it. As revelation Part 1 was full of new stuff. Never before had someone gone and actually tried from the newspaper archives to trace BJJ history. Part 2 was dull, mostly because not much was happening. The "founding" was past and the "global limelight" was yet to come.
As before the author Roberto Pedreira writes in strict chronological order. Maybe more than before I was bored by listing of Valetudo, JJ, professional wrestling, ... results. It is good that the author is meticulous but list don't too fun read make. Maybe a bit more the bias or the motive of the series is shown. "Founders" of BJj have tried to polish their history and have even told straightfaced lies. Yes, professional MMA is full of good stories that sell. Truth seldom sells. And as the author himself points out; real, even fights are often boring whereas scripted fights are full of surprises.
The story od the rise of BJJ is told from the perspective of Brazil so it leaves most of the actual stuff out. If you are interested in why UFC was born and how then this is not for you. If you however are interested in what was happening in Brazil at the time and how did new MMA affect Brazil this book is for you. For those readers that have not read Choque 1 (which I recommend) there is at the end of the book there is a 10 page summary of what the author thinks happened in the early days of JJ in Brazil and whether BJJ is Judo.
Ok for those that have read so far and are interste´d in Roberto Pedreiras views, here is a summary;
- Carlos and George Gracie started as students and then instructors of Donato Pires dos Reis's Ju-jitsu academy.
- There is no contemporary evidence of the claimed link to Maeda and his teachings
- Helio Gracie started as competitive rower and swimmer and only later branched into JJ
- Up until the 1930's everything that is printed and everything that is shown tells that the Gracie's were doing vanilla JJ i.e. stuff that you can read from old books. There is no evidence of what BJJ currently teaches.
- There is lots of records showing Gracies took lessons, interacted and had students going to and from Judo schools.
- There is no evidence of new techniques invented by the Gracies - all can be found in old Judo books
- the divergence of BJJ and Judo started in 1950s and 1960s when Judo went for international sports and BJJ went for professional fights.
As before the author Roberto Pedreira writes in strict chronological order. Maybe more than before I was bored by listing of Valetudo, JJ, professional wrestling, ... results. It is good that the author is meticulous but list don't too fun read make. Maybe a bit more the bias or the motive of the series is shown. "Founders" of BJj have tried to polish their history and have even told straightfaced lies. Yes, professional MMA is full of good stories that sell. Truth seldom sells. And as the author himself points out; real, even fights are often boring whereas scripted fights are full of surprises.
The story od the rise of BJJ is told from the perspective of Brazil so it leaves most of the actual stuff out. If you are interested in why UFC was born and how then this is not for you. If you however are interested in what was happening in Brazil at the time and how did new MMA affect Brazil this book is for you. For those readers that have not read Choque 1 (which I recommend) there is at the end of the book there is a 10 page summary of what the author thinks happened in the early days of JJ in Brazil and whether BJJ is Judo.
Ok for those that have read so far and are interste´d in Roberto Pedreiras views, here is a summary;
- Carlos and George Gracie started as students and then instructors of Donato Pires dos Reis's Ju-jitsu academy.
- There is no contemporary evidence of the claimed link to Maeda and his teachings
- Helio Gracie started as competitive rower and swimmer and only later branched into JJ
- Up until the 1930's everything that is printed and everything that is shown tells that the Gracie's were doing vanilla JJ i.e. stuff that you can read from old books. There is no evidence of what BJJ currently teaches.
- There is lots of records showing Gracies took lessons, interacted and had students going to and from Judo schools.
- There is no evidence of new techniques invented by the Gracies - all can be found in old Judo books
- the divergence of BJJ and Judo started in 1950s and 1960s when Judo went for international sports and BJJ went for professional fights.