Rickson Gracie e David Levicki no Japan Open, em 1994. Foto: Susumu Nagao

Técnica catalogada com destaque na cartilha de defesa pessoal do Jiu-Jitsu, o pisão é um golpe extremamente eficiente para você controlar a distância em relação ao adversário, quando a luta se desenrola em pé. Não funciona para levar o oponente a nocaute, como um chute alto de Mirko Cro Cop, mas sim para bloquear a aproximação do inimigo e também para abrir caminho, caso o seu objetivo seja clinchar e botar para baixo.

Foi assim que Rickson Gracie abordou David Levicki em 1994, no Vale Tudo Japan Open, evento em formato GP, que serviu de embrião ao Pride. Desde aquela vitória do Gracie, mais de 20 anos se passaram, o vale-tudo virou MMA, e a popularidade do pisão foi gradativamente diminuindo em eventos como o UFC.

Claro, os adversários dos lutadores oriundos do Jiu-Jitsu evoluíram tecnicamente. Turbinaram o sprawl, refinaram a trocação, estimularam a contundência das joelhadas, virtudes que sem dúvida alguma dificultam a aplicação da solada clássica do Jiu-Jitsu. As próprias regras dos eventos passaram a confrontar o pisão, afinal, trata-se de um recurso técnico que não fomenta a trocação frenética, e sim um combate agarrado, com menos apelo em termos de audiência nas transmissões pela TV.

Apesar disso tudo, se você reparar bem, o pisão ainda vive na elite do MMA. Quase sempre de forma adaptada, mas está lá. Repare, por exemplo, nas soladas do fenômeno Jon Jones, cujas pernas compridas e a ampla envergadura favorecem o lutador a cozinhar seus adversários a uma distância segura, ao mesmo tempo em que os golpeia de forma contundente. Não importa se uma técnica está na moda ou não. Basta ser eficiente e você deve estudá-la com profundidade, compreendendo sua essência e adaptando-a ao seu estilo de jogo. Pense sobre isso. Oss!

Luxury training session at Alliance’s Rio de Janeiro chapter: Victinho Paiva, Gurgel, Gigi, Léo Leite and Roger Gracie among others (Publicity photo)

Roger Gracie, who is tabbed to face Anthony Smith this coming January 12 at Strikeforce, made sure to get in some first-rate training during his stay in Rio de Janeiro.

Besides the MMA sparring he’s been getting in at Team Nogueira, Gracie (5-1) made the most of the weekend before Christmas to stop by Alliance Rio, an academy in the city’s upscale Leblon neighborhood run by Alexandre “Gigi” Paiva, an old buddy of his father Maurição Gomes’.

On the 23rd of this month, for example, practice turned into a great big study session on Jiu-Jitsu as applied to MMA, thanks to the presence of Fabio Gurgel, who spent Christmas in Rio, and Léo Leite and others of the team’s young talent.

“Gigi knows a great deal about No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu. And as Roger’s opponent is good on the ground too, they went over some things the guy likes to do, moves the American is frequently seen doing, things like that,” Fabio Gurgel told GRACIEMAG.com over the phone.

“The session was focused on the clinch. We did some clinch technique training as well as some work on Roger keeping us from getting up. Léo Leite and I went bouncing around on the ground and Roger had to keep the pressure on so we wouldn’t get up. It was good for getting his game tighter. It was another cool exchange between Roger and our team, which is always good for the gentle art and a pleasure for us,” Gurgel added.

Roger will be taking on Anthony Smith at the Strikeforce event in Oklahoma City, Okla., on the 12th of next month. Check out the complete card for the event:

Strikeforce: Marquardt vs Saffiedine
Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
January 12, 2013

Nate Marquardt vs. Tarec Saffiedine
Daniel Cormier vs. Dion Staring
Josh Barnett vs. Nandor Guelmino
Gegard Mousasi vs. Mike Kyle
Ronaldo Jacaré vs. Ed Herman

Under card (broadcast on Showtime Extreme)

Roger Gracie vs. Anthony Smith
Tim Kennedy vs. Trevor Smith
Ryan Couture vs. KJ Noons

Non-TV-broadcast preliminaries

Jorge Gurgel vs. Adriano Martins
Michael Bravo vs. Estevan Payan

For more UFC and MMA coverage,

visit GRACIEMAG.com’s Choke MMA section

Fabricio Werdum celebrates win over Mike Russow at UFC 147. Publicity photo.

by Vitor Freitas

Last Saturday in Nottingham, England, during UFC on Fuel TV 5, Fabricio Werdum was one of the fighters causing the biggest buzz – without even putting on gloves or gracing the arena with his presence.

All because the big winner of the evening, towering Dutchman Stefan Struve, took out the until-then undefeated Stipe Miocic and issued a challenge to the 2003 and 2004 Jiu-Jitsu world champion.

Struve wants his shot at Junior Cigano’s belt, and he sees the stalwart grappler from Brazil as being a shortcut to getting it. Werdum, on his part, is ready to take on anyone who might catapult him to a rematch with the champion, so the match looks quite plausible.

As a fan, what do you think of the matchup? Is it a good fit for the fighters? How about for the UFC?

Fabricio Werdum is coming off back-to-back wins in the event, against the heavy-handed Roy Nelson and the wrestler Mike Russow. In both of them, Werdum relied on Jiu-Jitsu’s precepts: make the opponent uncomfortable the whole time. Recently, he showed how such methods also apply to clinching and throwing knees.

Note how he grabs the wrist of the hand cupped behind the winsome interviewer’s head, making her uncomfortable and at the mercy of his strikes.