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Eddie 'Twister' Bravo: Pride Bushido, MMA Notes
Reported By: Boxing Insider - 02/01/2005 06:14 PM
Boxinginsider.com: You were on the Underground congratulating one of your students last week, Gerald Strebendt, for winning a the first ever MMA match with a Twister. Can you tell us about that.
Eddie Bravo: Well, Gerald has been the 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu prototype for a few years now. I have been training him since 2001. He's the proof that I'm not the only one who can do these crazy things. Anybody can do them if they put their mind to it, if they dedicate themselves to my system. Anybody can learn it. Gerald was the first to master the Twister and it was inevitable that he was going to start pulling it off in MMA, and finally he got it against Dave Elliott in Engalnd and he got it in under a minute, so he became the first ever in MMA history to pull off the Twister. I knew he could do it. I knew eventually it was going to happen. It just takes time.
Boxinginsider.com: I want to ask you both of those questions. First, can you give us a broad definition or explanation of what your system is, then I'll follow up with the Twister.
Eddie Bravo: My system is just a system of grappling -- my strategies and my philosophies. My system is based on squeezing and controlling with underhooks, overhooks, head control, and staying tight. My system is -- although I've never done MMA, it's an MMA-based system. I haven't done MMA yet, but, if I ever do it, I don't want to have to adjust my style. I never want to re-do things. I wanted my style to be MMA-ready so that I wouldn't have to adjust it too much if I ever jumped in the cage. I'm going to have to work hard enough on my wrestling and my striking, so I don't want to have to mess with readjusting my jiu jitsu. My way of doing jujitsu is 90 percent MMA-ready. I've been working on it for almost 10 years now, and it's different.
Boxinginsider.com: For fans who don't know, can you try to explain exactly what Twister is?
Eddie Bravo: The Twister is actually a wrestling hold, "the guillotine" in folk-style wrestling and high school wresting, but when I started trying to do it in jujitsu, the name "the guillotine" was already taken, so my instructors would always call it the Twister. After a while it became my nickname, and the name just stuck. But in wrestling there's no set-ups. You get the guy's back in wrestling because they give it to you, so you really don't need to set it up. It's pretty easy to pull off in wrestling. In jujitsu giving your back is taboo, so I had to come up with different angles, different ways to get the Twister without getting the back. So that's what I did.
Boxinginsider.com: Moving on now to Pride Bushido. This is the now unannounced card. We are under a deathwatch if we leak to anybody. Cro Cop is wasting no time in getting back into the ring after losing to Kevin Randleman. He will take on Hiromitsu Kanehara in Bushido's next main event. Do you think that his last fight will affect him at all mentally in this fight as far as strategy is concerned? And do you think he may be coming back too soon?
Eddie Bravo: By US standards I think he's coming back too soon. He got knocked the f*** out by Kevin Randleman, and that just happend a few weeks ago. Will it affect him in his next fight? I think he wants to redeem himself and get back on the winning track, so maybe that loss is going to motivate him in this fight a little bit more. I mean, he has to win. If he loses again, his stock is going to drop even more. He doesn't want to be a flash in the pan. So I would put all my money on Cro Cop in this fight.
Boxinginsider.com: Carlos Newton will be taking on Daiju Takase in a match that could be a grappling fan's dream. What do you think about this fight?
Eddie Bravo: A good fight. Both great grapplers. Takase has shown to be one of the very few Japanese fighters who is actually improving from fight to fight in the grappling department. He seems to have an open mind and is trying different things. Carlos Newton -- everybody knows him as one of the top grapplers in mma. This is a hard one to call. Takase is a powerful wrestler with good submissions but Carlos Newton is a little more well rounded. As well as being a great grappler he's got good wrestling, boxing and judo. This thing could go either way, but I would give it to Carlos Newton.
Boxinginsider.com: Team Gracie is squaring off with Team Japan once again. What are your thoughts on these team battles Pride is having?
Eddie Bravo: It's massive. They've got Ryan Gracie versus Ikuhisa "The Punk" Minowa, Ralph Gracie versus Gomi, and Ricardo Almeida versus Ryo Chonan. That's going to be interesting to watch.
Boxinginsider.com: Each match individually.
Eddie Bravo: The Ralph Gracie versus Gomi fight is probably going to be the most interesting one. I think Ralph Gracie is the most technical of the Gracies when it comes to fighting in MMA. In the last Gracie versus Japan Ralph showed the most technique. He's going to need it against Gomi. Gomi is a real powerful Japanese fighter with good at wrestling and decent striking ability. But I think Ralph is going to take him out. As far as Minowa versus Ryan Gracie, that's another good match up, but I think Ryan Gracie will win that one. Minowa is, again, one of those rare Japanese guys who is always improving his ground skills, but I think Ryan is going to be too much for him.
Boxinginsider.com: What are your thoughts on BJ Penn taking a fight in K1 MMA against another UFC vet Bang Ludwig (the weight for this fight will be at 170)?
Eddie Bravo: As far as the business side of it, well, contracts are contracts, but I have nothing to do with that. I have no idea what's going on, but, as a fan, the BJ Penn fight with Ludwig will be very interesting. Duane Ludwig is probably the best striker in mma form the States, but I don't think BJ is going to have any problem with him. I think he's going to take him down and just completely dominate him. Duane Ludwig is not known as a grappler, and BJ, he's wizard when it comes to fighting on the ground. Duane Ludwig's only chance is to catch him standing,but there's a small chance of that happening, so I pick BJ by domination.
Boxinginsider.com: How do you think this fight will affect the status of the UFC welterweight division, specifically the title?
Eddie Bravo: Like I said, I don't know what's going on. I don't know if Zuffa is going to let BJ come back. I'm not sure. I don't know what they're thinking. I have no idea.
Boxinginsider.com: Cabbage went against Nevada State's athletic commission suspension and fought on that Rumblel on The Rock show card and lost. What do you think the UFC should do with Cabbage now after he didn't win the fight? He fought and lost.
Eddie Bravo: I love Cabbage, but if he violated his contract...........
Boxinginsider.com: He was under Nevada suspension because he was knocked out in Las Vegas.
Eddie Bravo: Well if Cabbage broke something in his contract, if did something illegal he should be punished -- but to what extent I don't really know. I would like to see Cabbage back in the UFC. He's one of my favorite fighters. I think he has always been entertaining and he's always showed tremendous heart. Fans love him, but as far as a suspension or some kind of punishment for what he did, I don't know how that works, to tell you the truth. I don't really know too much about the story to really comment on it.
Boxinginsider.com: People are interested, Eddie, tell us about your DVD and where people can buy it.
Eddie Bravo: My DVD is still available. It's getting great reviews. Everyone's loving it. You can buy it on www.sherdog.com and www.onthemat.com. It has 17 of my grappling matches from Blue Belt all the way to the Royler match. It gives you an insight to my career in jujitsu. Buy it. You won't regret it.
Boxinginsider.com: We'll finish up this one with: tell us the latest on your book.
Eddie Bravo: The latest on my book is that I've just signed the contract with McGraw-Hill, which is one of the biggest book publishers in the United States. It's going to be the first jujitsu book on a major label.. We're about a third of the way through and we're very excited about it. The D-day should be some time in the Fall.
Eddie Bravo is a regular boxinginsider.com contributor and be reached at twisterbravo@sbcglobal.net
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