A world renown instructor with over 30 years of competition experience, Master Fabio Santos talks about the good and bad sides of Jiu-Jitsu’s growth, his time spent with Rolls and Rickson Gracie and the old “Dojo Storming” days. Click “Read More” for show notes!
SHOW NOTES:
- His beginnings / Beach bum life
- The growth of Jiu-Jitsu
- How Jiu-Jitsu has drifted from its original roots
- The importance of tradition
- The pros and cons of learning Jiu-Jitsu online
- The benefit of maintaining a smaller affiliation
- His memories of Master Rolls Gracie
- Training under Master Rickson Gracie
- Humility and trust
- The importance of resiliency
- Jiu-Jitsu’s self filtration system / Having to kick a student off of the team
- Code of conduct in the academy
- Rickson as a disciplinarian
- The new rituals of Jiu-Jitsu
- Rickson’s challenge matches
- His decision to move to the US
- “Dojo storming” in the 90’s
- The explosion of Jiu-Jitsu’s popularity after UFC 1
- Jiu-Jitsu in the US compared to Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil
- Combat Jiu-Jitsu rules
- The value of training in the gi
- Why he feels in-house tournaments aren’t as valuable as open tournaments
- How helpful is competition to improve your Jiu-Jitsu?
- How he has stayed competition-ready in his later years
- The biggest obstacles in life Jiu-Jitsu has helped him overcome
- Life in Brazil
- What keeps him motivated to keep training