Jean Jacques Machado in ADCC / Photo by Susumu Nagao
One of the attractions on tap for the October 14 Metamoris Pro event in San Diego, California, is the matchup between gentle-art professors Jean Jacques Machado and Nelson Monteiro, the two gentle-art idols from the early days of Jiu-Jitsu in Abu Dhabi facing off in a 20-minute match where only submissions count for the win.
Riding the wave of intrigue surrounding the match where neither points nor advantage points will be scored, the black belt Eddie Bravo, a student of the Machados’ from way back, brought up the way in which his teacher Jean Jacques overcame the lack of fingers on his left hand, living and touching proof of the adaptability so characteristic of Jiu-Jitsu.
“For those who don’t know, my master Jean Jaques Machado has no fingers on his left hand. That’s why his overhook is the best in all of Jiu-Jitsu. No one comes even close to his overhook. If he had fingers, he’d be grabbing the gi just like everyone else. Because he had no fingers he couldn’t grab anyone sleeve; he had to overhook everything. Over the years, he developed an Olympic wrestling overhook,” says Bravo in the following video.
“That’s why in Abu Dhabi, when everyone was trying to figure out what to do with the No-Gi game, we had all these legends in Jiu-Jitsu who were masters of passing guard and finishing, but they didn’t know what to do without the handles, and they were going up against all these wrestlers who were masters of controlling bodies without handles, but they didn’t know how to pass guard or finish. […] epic battles of nothing going on […] a sleeping pill. And then Jean Jaques came along and crushed everybody, finished everybody,” he elaborates.
Take note of the effectiveness of Bravo’s left hand, inspired by Jean Jacques, and watch how he uses it to bring the opponent to him, remove his base and hook sweep in No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu.