By now, I’m sure most if not all of us have heard of Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida. The tall, menacing figure from Sao Vincente, Almeida has made waves in the game of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and has left his mark at just 23 years old.

With epic matches against the likes of Andre Galvao and Roger Gracie, Buchecha has shown that the sky is the limit. One can imagine what his shelf at home looks like with all of the shiny stuff hanging from it, but none of those awards were more impressive than his run in 2012 at the World Championships.

Competing in both his weight class (100kg) and the open weight class, Almeida would leave his last impression on the event by the time it was all said and done. Having ran through his division, Almeida claimed gold. Not content with just one gold medal, Marcus would also go on to claim gold in the open weight division to boot.

Pick on Somebody Your Own Size-Dominating the Super Pesado Weight Class
The large man that he is, its mind boggling that there are BJJ players that are in the same weight class as Almeida. Blending his unique and unassuming speed with his hulking strength, Almeida seemingly has a leg up on the rest of his weight class.

The combination seems almost natural for Almeida. He floats around the mat with such ease, yet by looking at him, it seems as if he should have great difficulty with the movement. The man they call ‘Bucecha’ is most certainly a force as his weight class.

Taking On All Comers In The Open Weight Class
Not only did Almeida assert his dominance amongst his own peers, he also ventured out and took on all comers from all shapes and sizes. Having had to compete in more open weight matches than his own weight class, Almeida showed outstanding stamina.

His opponents were no slouches, either, as he was given some stiff competition. Names such as Rodolfo Vieira, Roberto Alencar and Bernardo Faria all fell to Bucecha. In the finals, Almeida was able to redeem his 2011 finals loss when he got a shot at redemption against Leonardo Nogueira.

Can Lightning Strike Twice?
Obtaining double gold is no easy task. Almeida turned many heads when he did it last year, and helped make a name for himself. With the World Championships a stone’s throw away, many are wondering if Marcus can repeat and win double gold again.

It’s a tough task, there is no doubting that. Given his dominance last year, there will be a target on his back this year and everyone will be gunning for him.

However, even though it seems extremely difficult, if there is anyone that can win double gold in consecutive years, it’s Almeida.

Daniel Faggella

Tim and Ernest sit down with longtime training partners, the Helluva Guys, Sean and Dave. The Helluva Guys discuss a variety of topics mostly centered around dating, relationship advice, and training jiu-jitsu while managing a girlfriend or wife. The guys share their crazy stories and experiences for the premium subscribers. This one is a little different but we think you’ll enjoy.

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• Tim Freeman
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Later, Tim and Matt sit down to talk with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu great Robson Moura. The guys talk about Robson’s start in Jiu-Jitsu, going from purple to black belt in one year, and Robson’s incredible streak of winning four straight World Championships at the black belt level.

Later, the guys take on a few message board threads about how to get disqualified in a Jiu-Jitsu match, critiquing a match, and whether or not Rorion is the devil.

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• Tim Freeman
• Matt Freeman

Dan Faggella is a BJJ Academy Owner, No Gi Pan Am Champion at 130 pounds, and recognized expert in the area of leg locks. Dan is offering a Free DVD featuring breakdowns of some of Toquinho’s BEST Leg Lock finishes, found online at: www.BJJLegLocks.com/Mastery
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Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts fans alike know the name of Rousimar Palhares and what he is known for. The man they call Toquinho, or ‘Little tree stump’, Palhares has left his calling cards on many limbs as a lethal, lethal leg lock wizard.

In a ADCC 2011 match with the well known David Avellan, Little Tree Stump (c’mon, tell me that isn’t an awesome nick name!) applied one nasty, vicious heel hook! Right away, you could see the pain and discomfort takeover Avellan’s body, as he fell victim to yet another Palhares heel hook.

Eyes On The Prize

Watching this match, there was one thing that I noticed from the jump; Palhares’ hand placement. Even while he was in Avellan’s guard, Rousimar always had one hand on a leg of David, clearly focusing in on a leg lock.

The one advantage Palhares seemingly has over most, if not all of the people that he faces, is his pure strength. He is built like, well, a little tree stump! His build allows him to exert his dominance on the opposition and makes it that much more difficult for people to get him off of them.

Every single transition and move had the common factor of Palhares scheming on one of the legs of David Avellan, clearly waiting for his time to spring a trademark leg lock. His time came, and latched on for dear life, ending the match…or did he?

A Restart

Quickly, Palhares locked on a nasty looking heel hook. This caused the ref to jump in and end it, which is where things get a little murky. Avellan was bewildered and had idea as to why the ref would step in and end it, claiming that he didn’t tap out. Meanwhile, it seemed as if Rousimar went in for a hug but ended up clubbing David in the back of his head, forcing Avellan to shove Palhares away.

After some debate, the ref chose to restart the match in the center of the mat from the same position. This time, Rousimar did not hesitate the end it and cranked the heel hook with some serious intent. This time, Avellan had no choice but to tap out due to the pain.

Watching it in slow motion, you can almost see the leg of Avellan start to bend; it isn’t pretty what so ever. After the match, David remained on the mat clinching his leg in pain, unable to get up off of the mat. Palhares continued looking for a hug and began bowing, but David was not pleased with how things played out and did not recognize the post-match display from Rousimar.

So the moral of the story is simple: Rousimar Palhares collects legs for a living. This match was a perfect example of that as the leg lock was brutal and clearly hurt Avellan. The scary thing is, it seemed as if Palhares did it almost at will, exerting his dominance whenever he chose to. Who knew a Little Tree Stump could be so dangerous.

-Dan “Micro” Faggella

Tim starts off the show talking about last weeks interview with Kevin Casey. The guys talk about Duane Ludwig’s success at Team Alpha Male. Tim talks about a recent video he watched of Rickson and Rolls Gracie training in 1980. Tim also talks about trash talking on the mat and how far is too far. Later the guys talk about how to analyze a new gym.

Tim, Matt, and Ernest sit down with Rickson Gracie black belts, Luiz Claudio and Thiago Veiga to talk about Rickson Gracie training stories, the upcoming Rickson Gracie Seminar May 18-19 in Chicago. The guys also talk about invisible jiu-jitsu, the importance of details in BJJ, and who really knows invisible Jiu-Jitsu.

Later, Ernest talks about the upcoming Big Man’s Seminar.

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Later the guys sit down with Kevin Casey to talk about training under Rickson Gracie, being friends with the late Rockson Gracie, promoting himself to blackbelt and dealing with the fallout, and being on the The Ultimate Fighter.

Afterwards, the guys talk more about the Diaz brothers.

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• Francisco Torres

Tim, Matt, and Ernest sit down with Roy Harris to talk about his extensive background training in over 25 martial arts, what it was like training with Guru Dan Inosanto and Sifu Paul Vunak, and how Roy discovered Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu on asphalt in a parking lot grappling match. Roy talks about what self defense really is and how it should be taught as well as his approach to teaching students. He also reviews his approach to belt testing in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, shares a story about an overly aggressive brown belt, and his “A” game.

Later, Matt gives his UFC 159 review and the results of his latest Fightpick Showdown.

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Tim sits down on with 7th Red and Black belt Fabio Santos. They talk about the state of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, competition, the belt system, the IBJJF, the good/bad of Jiu-Jitsu, and many more topics.

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Tim, Matt, and Ernest flip the script. Ernest hosts the show and interviews Tim as the featured guest. Tim takes on the announcing duties and Matt co-hosts. Ernest interviews Tim about his background in Jiu-Jitsu, how Inside BJJ started, balancing family and training, and the guys discuss a ton of topics.

Tim

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• Ernest Mello

Dan Faggella is a BJJ Academy Owner, No Gi Pan Am Champion at 130 pounds, and recognized expert in the area of leg locks. Dan writes or Jiu Jitsu Magazine, Jiu Jitsu Style, MMA Sports Mag, and more – find more of his leg lock articles and resources at www.BJJLegLocks.com

There’s a really cool show out there in the TV universe by the name of Sports Science. Originally its own show on smaller networks, the show has sense moved to ESPN and has gotten it’s feet under them as the go-to sport science show.

They analyze some amazing things what they do is truly fantastic! They break everything down to, well, a science! It goes to show how impressive certain athletes can be in any given sport. It also does a good job of breaking down just how difficult each individual sport can be.

I recently found a really cool video that they did a few years back with former two time UFC Heavyweight champion, Frank Mir. Known for his brutal ground game and willingness to break a limb or two, Mir helped Sport Science breakdown the difference in force, and danger, between arm locks and leg locks.

Arm Locks

Going for his arm bar, the initial force is just 60 lbs. For what it’s worth, they also tell the viewer that Frank delivers close to HALF A TON OF FORCE on a punch! Sheesh. Anyway, the arm bar is enough to do damage, but when you factor in the high level grapplers that he faces can easily defend against it.

However, when Frank engages his hips the amount of force jumps stays at 60 lbs but given the torque added there is a brutal 150 newton meters being applied to the hold. This is far more than enough to snap a limb, just as Tim Sylvia who had his arm broken by Mir back at UFC 48.

Leg Locks

After Frank arm barred the dummy, he proceeded to knee bar it. Upon doing so, Frank snapped the leg right in half…the leg was being held together by a METAL ROD! What’s interesting is that Frank applied the same amount of force; 60 lbs.

However, he was able to exert 175 newton meters onto the joint, which is more than the arm bar despite the same force! The reason for this was because legs are longer than arms. When you attack the limb, since it’s longer it becomes more vulnerable to the pressure being applied. Also, with the arm bar, Frank has a very limited range of motion on the move.

The knee bar has a great range for Frank to work with, thus allowing him to add more and more pressure to the hold, causing the weak structure of the knee to crumble slowly.

So there you have it, the arm bar vs the leg lock! After looking at the information, it’s easy to see that the knee bar is the more devastating more of the two but lets be real…both really hurt!

-Dan Faggella