British grappler Owen Jones has called out what he sees as a major double standard in the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu community.
Speaking on The White Monster Podcast, Jones said Brazilian athletes frequently preach respect but often behave in the opposite way during competitions:
They’re always big on this respect thing, but then all of a sudden after they win, they’re out here screaming in my face saying: “Yeah, this is Brazil. This is Brazil. F*ck you.”
And then they’re threatening to end me and I’m getting DMs about ending me.
Jones contrasted this with the criticism Faris Benlamkadem receives for using trash talk to promote his matches.
Yet at events like Who’s Number One, Jones said Brazilian competitors were acting aggressively even before anyone stepped on the mat:
I’m just sitting in the corner and I have the sixth place guy throwing up the middle fingers up at me saying: “F*ck you.
Faris walks up. They’re like: “F*ck you, Faris. We despise you.”
And I’m like: “This is the respect that you’re trying to say you have?”
He argued that talking before a match actually takes more courage than people think:
It’s very easy to like just go into every match and be like: “Oh, well, we’ll see. I respect my opponent.”
When you put yourself in the position to look like the fool in a situation where you talk smack, you build up your confidence, maybe you talk a little trash and you lose, you’re almost putting yourself more at risk than anybody else.
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