Rickson Gracie is nothing if not somewhat consistent. The Gracie family patriarch has been adamant about his old school approach to bjj for quite some time even saying things like:
Rickson Gracie: ‘A Black Belt Competitor is Just an Amateur Black Belt’
In his recent Joe Rogan podcast, he clarified one important dilemma. Several years ago he went on the Joe Rogan Experience and Eddie Bravo explained to him his rubber guard system by literally putting him in the position:
Joe asked him once again to clarify his view on the rubber guard, and Rickson explained why he wasn’t a fan. For him, it won’t work on anybody good:
“If you know what to expect and what to handle, you can defend. It’s good to surprise someone but once they know better, it doesn’t work. ”
In a past interview, he revealed he simply did not like it. You can watch Rickson Tell it in his own words:
“if the guy is know what’s doing you put yourself in a very awkward position and just waiting your opponent to get panic but if you cool enough to do what is supposed to do, RUBBER GUARD IS VERY INEFFICIENT I don’t feel that can escalate to something positive if the guy knows better. I prefer positions that even when the guy try to avoids it I’m able to escalate to submit.”
In this video, Marcelo Garcia (5xADCC champion and multiple BJJ world champion) shows his prefered method of navigating around the rubber guard:
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