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Lex Fridman Podcast

#343 – Roger Gracie: Greatest Jiu Jitsu Competitor of All Time

03 Dec 2022

3h 6m duration
31109 words
3 speakers
03 Dec 2022
Description

Roger Gracie is a legendary jiu jitsu competitor and MMA fighter. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: - Bambee: https://bambee.com and use code LEX to get free HR audit - Mizzen+Main: https://mizzenandmain.com and use code LEX to get $35 off - Blinkist: https://blinkist.com/lex to get 25% off premium - Athletic Greens: https://athleticgreens.com/lex to get 1 month of fish oil EPISODE LINKS: Roger's Instagram: https://instagram.com/rogergracie/ Roger's Website: https://rogergracie.com/ Roger's Online Jiu Jitsu: https://rogergracietv.com/ Roger's match against Marcus "Buchecha" Almeida: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L-Ni7bFAHg Watch full matches at FloGrappling: https://flograppling.com PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: - Check out the sponsors above, it's the best way to support this podcast - Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman - Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman - Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here's the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) - Introduction (07:26) - The moments before a match (15:17) - Confidence (29:43) - Greatest jiu jitsu match of all time (51:04) - Renzo Gracie (1:03:21) - Braveheart (1:04:44) - Self-belief (1:18:50) - Cross-collar choke (1:22:53) - Mount position (1:39:07) - How to progress in jiu jitsu (1:41:22) - Best submission in jiu jitsu (1:45:55) - The greatest competitor of all time (1:48:01) - Roger's statistics (1:55:57) - MMA vs jiu jitsu (2:04:25) - Gordon Ryan (2:16:51) - John Danaher (2:19:23) - Bear fight (2:22:21) - Tie (2:32:53) - Advice for beginners (2:42:13) - Drilling (2:50:09) - Roger vs Bear, Lion, Gorilla, and Anaconda (2:55:14) - Advice for young people (3:05:02) - Love

Audio
Transcription

Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?

0.031 - 27.519 Unknown

The following is a conversation with Hadjer Gracie, widely considered to be the greatest jiu-jitsu competitor of all time. And now a quick few second mention of each sponsor. Check them out in the description. It's the best way to support this podcast. We got Bambi for HR services, Miz and Amain for style, Blinkist for nonfiction, and Athletic Greens for nutrition. Delicious nutrition.

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28.019 - 29.001 Unknown

Choose wisely, my friends.

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Chapter 2: What are the key moments before a jiu-jitsu match?

29.361 - 46.826 Unknown

And now onto the full ad reads. As always, no ads in the middle. I try to make this interesting, but if you skip them, if you must... sinfully, with the regret in your heart, skip them. You don't have to have regret in your heart. Let go of regret. Live without regret, my friends. Please still check out the sponsors.

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Chapter 3: How does confidence play a role in competition?

46.906 - 72.879 Unknown

I enjoy their stuff. Maybe you will too. This show is brought to you by Bambi, spelled B-A-M-B-E-E. It's an outsourced and automated human resources solution for businesses. It was built to give businesses a dedicated yet cost-effective human resource option at just $99 per month. There's so many things involved in running a business, only some of which I deeply enjoy.

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72.939 - 89.118 Unknown

Doing the innovation, the engineering, the details engineering, whether that's software, hardware, mechanical materials, all of it. I love the engineering. I love the early design stages when you're coming up with ideas. I even love the product design.

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89.498 - 110.901 Unknown

So coming up with a short-term and long-term vision of how to design things, how to bring joy to the world by building cool stuff, and then doing that at scale, doing mass manufacturing. Even that is super interesting. But to make all of that work, you have to do all the glue, the cohesive... chemistry that makes a business run.

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Chapter 4: What insights does Roger Gracie share about his greatest match?

111.062 - 134.576 Unknown

And a big part of that is managing the people. It's after all the people that do all the magic in a business. And managing the people is what's in English called human resources. So you got to use good tools for the job, great tools for the job. And hopefully... affordable, cost-effective tools for that job, which is exactly what Bambi is. You can schedule your free conversation today.

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134.637 - 159.838 Unknown

Go to Bambi.com and type Lex under podcast when signing up. That's spelled B-A-M-B-E-E. This show is also brought to you by Mizzen and Main, the maker of comfortable, stylish dress shirts and other menswear that I'm currently wearing, and I just popped my collar. Like, just because I'm feeling pretty good about this. I'm feeling stylish. I'm feeling sexy.

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161.221 - 187.301 Unknown

This feels like an SNL skit. What was it? When the guy's like looking in the mirror and doing positive affirmations. I don't think I've ever looked in the mirror and said, boy, you're looking sexy today. The moment I am, I think I'm on a slippery slope to a place I don't want to be. But anyway, so I'm obviously doing it just for jokes. It feels comfortable. I just like the way it feels.

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187.862 - 207.993 Unknown

I like the way it looks. My favorite thing to wear is a suit and tie for more formal or for when I'm doing more serious kinds of engagements like podcasts or presentations or just something I want to take super seriously. And then the most relaxed thing is just a t-shirt. But in between that is a dress shirt. And for dress shirts, comfortable, sexy dress shirts, I go to Mizzen and Main.

208.373 - 230.818 Unknown

I highly recommend them. I obviously wear a black dress shirt. Right now, you can get a special discount. Just go to Mizzen and Main and use promo code LEX. This show is also brought to you by Blinkist, my favorite app for learning new things. Blinkist takes key ideas from thousands of nonfiction books and condenses them down into 15 minutes that you can read or listen to.

230.838 - 260.003 Unknown

I'm not exactly sure why the pace of this segment of the program is being delivered at an increasingly fast pace. I wish I was able to talk this quickly during regular conversation. I think people criticize me for speaking too quickly. Well, that's a Freudian slip. Well, not a Freudian slip, but a misstatement. I think nobody's ever criticized me for speaking too quickly. Too much, maybe, yes.

261.065 - 284.469 Unknown

Too slowly, yes. Boring and monotone, yes. Check, check, check, but not too quickly. I think because I'm really thinking on the spot a lot, and I like the silence. I think the silence between words, at least for me, helps me think better. It also helps calm down the pace of the conversation where the other person can think.

284.789 - 310.807 Unknown

Oftentimes the reason I'm talking is not necessarily to express an idea, like I really, really want to express an idea, but it's really to express an idea in the service of the conversation, in the service of inspiring the other person to build on top of that idea. I really don't just want to sound smart or say something that I believe needs to be said. Most of the time, I'm trying to dance.

Chapter 5: What are the challenges of applying pressure in mount position?

5295.316 - 5307.073 Unknown

Easier. I'm not saying black belt level. I'm saying, well, maybe even black belt level. Easier for what? To hold somebody? To make them squirm and hurt. To create openings.

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5307.093 - 5308.314 Roger Gracie

You can't go to death with a big guy.

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5308.995 - 5309.616 Unknown

Yeah, you can't.

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5309.876 - 5310.277 Roger Gracie

You can't.

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5310.918 - 5311.018

Yeah.

5311.943 - 5317.29 Roger Gracie

He's going to push you back and come up. In the mount, he can't sit up. Not when you mounted him.

5317.89 - 5323.898 Unknown

The thing is also about mount is people on the bottom of mount panic more. So they fight harder.

5323.918 - 5344.955 Roger Gracie

Of course they panic. They expose. It's the most exposure you have. Because the person's arms are free. You cannot touch him. His head is too high. There's nothing he can do. His legs won't get you anywhere. He might touch your lower back. It's like nothing. You're most exposed being in the mouth.

5346.478 - 5355.679 Roger Gracie

Already you hold me side control a thousand times the amount of me having to look up when your face come down on me. Yeah. Side control. I hug you. You cannot hurt me.

Chapter 6: How can beginners progress in jiu-jitsu?

5357.082 - 5362.797 Roger Gracie

Mm-hmm. Okay, hold me, but I'm hugging you. If I hug you tight, what can you do against me?

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5363.178 - 5380.257 Unknown

Hold. It seems maybe it's just from, and again, I'm arguing just for the fun of it, but it seems like a more difficult skill to learn to apply a huge amount of pressure and weight from a mount.

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5380.237 - 5382.32 Roger Gracie

You don't have to apply pressure and wait for mouth?

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5383.102 - 5386.267 Unknown

Not apply pressure, but be heavy, right?

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5386.287 - 5416.981 Roger Gracie

You don't necessarily need to be heavy. You don't? No. Why do you, as people say, you feel extremely heavy? If I'm being heavy, I cannot attack. I have to choose. I can be heavy just to pin them, take the energy out to make them suffer. But the moment that I decide to attack, I can only be heavy if I'm sitting up straight. That's when all my weight drops down.

5417.061 - 5439.555 Roger Gracie

If I'm high, then I'm sitting on your chest and on your solar plexus. That's the worst position to be seated on the person because that's where he breathes. So in a high mount, sitting up straight, that's when I can be very heavy. I can make people feel my weight and be very uncomfortable, but I'm not in a position to attack. The moment that I want to attack, my body has to lean forward.

5439.535 - 5445.683 Roger Gracie

I have to approach the neck or the arms. The moment that I do that, my weight comes off my hips.

Chapter 7: What insights can be gained from failures in competition?

5446.183 - 5453.272 Roger Gracie

It goes to my knees. The weight is off you. But at that point, if you have... Now I'm attacking. I'm no longer heavy on you.

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5453.773 - 5475.048 Unknown

But you want to be at that point to remove any of the defenses they have or some of the defenses by getting their elbows... Now I'm either trying to get your call or bringing your elbow across to attack the arm lock. So what are some interesting details along the way that are tough to get to figure out What were the big leaps for you from white belt to the best in the world?

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5476.25 - 5494.883 Roger Gracie

You're trying to attack the neck, putting one hand in the collar. You're priving yourself that hand to place it on the floor. So now you're vulnerable to get breached, to get rolled over. Because if your hands are free trying to roll you over, you're stopped. The moment that you put your hand in the person's collar, now you have to be... Very careful with your body positioning. Very careful.

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5494.903 - 5518.8 Roger Gracie

The distribution of the weight. Yeah. And how, you know, how high you sit, you know, how tall your upper body goes. And then the biggest challenge comes as you're trying the second hand. That's the, you know, for the choke, that's the biggest challenge, the second hand. Because you already have, you know, you already don't have one hand. Now you are trying the second hand and...

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5519.978 - 5544.707 Roger Gracie

If one of my hands is in, you, as defending yourself, have two hands. One hand is already on one side. This side is getting attacked. You have two hands blocking that. I have one hand. There's no help for that hand. I cannot remove anything. That's the biggest challenge, getting one hand, getting past two. And not getting rollover.

5545.188 - 5555.822 Unknown

But I also have two hands on bottom. I have two hands and can also turn and do all kinds of stuff. Yeah. And my whole mind and everything is focused on that second hand.

5556.824 - 5559.127 Roger Gracie

Yeah. It's a big challenge. It's hard. Very hard.

5559.888 - 5563.553 Unknown

Is there an art to getting the first hand into a place where you...

5563.533 - 5582.441 Roger Gracie

It's less of an art because it's easier. I'll say most times I get my first hand in is when you're trying some move. You're trying to escape, you're pushing. I get the first hand in as an opportunity. And it's going to sit there for a while. And I go as deep as I can.

Chapter 8: How does love influence success in martial arts?

5582.481 - 5605.47 Roger Gracie

So the first hand, because the second hand is the hardest, I have to compensate the first hand to be as deep as I can. Right. If I cannot get the first hand in deep, I won't try the second. I need that first hand deep, then I go for the second. And it's deep and everything is like super tight? Super tight. The first hand has to be super tight. Otherwise, the chance of failing is very big.

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5606.362 - 5609.326 Unknown

does the opponent usually feel like they're screwed at that point also?

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5609.607 - 5626.53 Roger Gracie

Not as you put in the first hand. The moment that I position myself just prior to attempt the second hand, I think the way my body is positioned, the way I'm collapsing with my weight and they feel it's like it's, you know, this is terrible.

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5626.51 - 5634.097 Unknown

Yeah, how long did it take you to figure out how to reposition your weight once the first hand is in? Very quickly, because it would get breached out.

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5635.038 - 5643.206 Roger Gracie

Okay, so there's a good feedback loop there. Yeah, because one mistake you out. Like, one off positioning you out.

5643.586 - 5655.538 Unknown

But you still have to do that against the best people in the world. Yeah. Where's the way out for most people? Like, if you were in Mount against Puchesha, or some of the best defenses in the world? I mean, dude...

5655.518 - 5681.884 Roger Gracie

The way out is to... Obviously, it's to defend themselves and prevent the first hand to get deep. And I'll say the best... thing that they could do is try to change my positioning on the mount in a way that, you know, push me to a very low mount. You know, try to change the way I'm dominating you, not to be, you know, get me off the high mount pretty much.

5682.245 - 5692.939 Roger Gracie

Are you always, is it a slow, is it a fast thing to go from low to fast mount? A high mount. Slow, very slow. Because I need to beat your arms because you're holding me down. And the arms need to come out.

5693.18 - 5698.807 Unknown

It's a slow process. Okay. And you just, is there like a. Yeah.

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