A group of BJJ enthusiasts are cultivating a dedicated family of hard-working adults and children through Jiu-Jitsu. It is called BJJ-4-Change, and leading the way is Patrick Bittan, an expert in Rickson Gracie style self-defense. Patrick recently hosted a jiu jitsu mastermind conference in Paris with some of the BJJ-4-Change European board of authority to discuss his plan–to promote what Rickson Gracie always taught him.
“Pressure, progression, and perstinicany of engagement” is the right direction for the sport. It’s simple” says Patrick. “Sport Jiu Jitsu does not translate to real-life self defense” Bittan adds. He knows that modifications need to be made to the sport, and soon.
Bittan’s coach, Rickson Gracie, believes “sport style” Tournament Jiu-Jitsu is losing effectiveness because of some of the currently enforced rules:
“The rules today, they go against what I believe, so in my view it’s a must changing also the rules, stopping the stalling. If we stop the stalling in the competition there is a huge change because people are used to being more dynamic and looking for either escape or control, so it’s a different approach. I really enforce competition, the rules that are really crooked right now.”Said Rickson
“I don’t want to make a huge change in the rules, it’s not about reinventing the wheel, but I will take off the advantages and I will penalize the stalling positions. So by just those two little things the dynamics of the fight will be completely different because the guy is not going to be like sitting down just waiting, you know, stalling. So he cannot stall, and because the points are kind of classic points the advantage becomes another different, very complicated way to judge the fight. So taking the advantages and taking the stalling positions like penalizing stalling will be a great change of the dynamics of the game”
Black belt Luis Heredia made a visit to Europe and discussed the sport with Bittan. After their visit Heredia noted that there is no better practitioner in Europe to promote this traditional training than Bittan.
With confidence, Heredia noted, “Patrick is not teaching Jiu Jitsu , he is teaching “Gracie Jiu Jitsu.”
Patrick Bittan who recently hosted a jiu jitsu master mind conference in Paris with some of the BJJ-4-Change European board of authority to promote this approach and his direction is clear :
Change the Rules!
”Our problem is to restore effectiveness in our martial art through the tournament settings, because these last 20 years (dominated by IBJJF tournaments) that have promoted “anti-Jiu Jitsu moves” (stalling, 50/50 positions, etc) that have forced BJJ athletes to change their techniques and strategy for tournament play, which certainly does not translate to real life self defense” said Bittan, a known self-defense expert .
“The reason that we are creating global group masterminds, it is to take the time today to talk rules so we can get this figured out for the future…This is important!…and we can have fun while we are doing it, as a community”, he says .
To do this Patrick is traveling globally to meet with coaches all over the world.
Patrick announced his 2018 agenda with Bjj4change which will kick off with a BJJ tournament, seminar, and mastermind conference (June) in Hawaii. He has also partnered with Luis Heredia (Rickson Gracie Black Belt) and BJJ-4-Change to showcase an action-packed tournament that will be filmed for a Netflix documentary and recorded by BJJ-4-Change.
BJJ-4-Change is already known for developing special events like the Dominican Republic at their 2016 winter camp in Punta Cana under wedding terraces “rolling ” on the beach. In their last event in Paris, the participants rolled BJJ super fights on a boat underneath the Eiffel tower for the world to see here is the video:
Media sources such as BJJ photographer William Burkhardt of BJJpix, Adidas (who donated Gis for the event), as well as Gracie Magazine, and Jits magazine also came out to cover the historical event, as other BJJ greats, like Braulio Estima and Robert Drysdale, were in attendance.
Patrick believes that making the modifications to the tournaments will make them more marketable to the general public and will have a better chance of getting into the olympics.
Rickson thoroughly agrees and regularly promotes activity focused and progression driven tournaments referencing that “It’s good for the audience, it’s good for the practice of the athlete who becomes more realistic in the action, the way he moves, it’s good for the sport because it creates a more interesting vision of the sport itself.”
Patrick partnered last year wit BJJ-4-change, who is now working with him to host more events that will provide shots for their Netflix documentary currently in production. (check out www.bjj4change.com to follow)
The BJJ-4-Change camps are meant to showcase the many unique people, like Patrick Bittan, who are pioneering the growth of BJJ. These speakers for the sport are promoting peace, engaging in good causes, and bringing about awareness of the sport to larger audiences.
Amidst his already busy schedule, Patrick is currently on a world tour teaching his special methods of tactical self-defense training, which combines traditional military and law enforcement training with pure Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, a concept that most tactical instructors have failed to develop.
After traveling to America in 2016 to instruct the US Marshals, Patrick was asked to consider a transition from Europe to America so that he can begin planning the opening of his North American training facilities. Patrick has started working with gym, coaches, and facilities like Nova Gyms in Milwaukee, WI who recently reached out to Patrick for consulting of their incorporation of Brazilian jiu-jitsu into military and law enforcement training that they can begun projects for.
It’s clear that Patrick takes jiu-jitsu very seriously, which is why he has partnered with BJJ-4-Change. He believes that their intentions to showcase the art of Jiu-Jitsu positively to the world also aligns with his visions of changing the sport for the better.
