BTG 87 - That's Easy

Hello and welcome to Breaking the Guard. Let's go over some of the news. Um, they just announced a who's number one card for June 20th. That looks to be very promising. We have Luke Griffith versus Victor Hugo. two very big men and two very groundbased grapplers. So hopefully uh they would get to the ground and we get to see some world class jiu-jitsu. Uh we then have Diego Pau going against Fabiso Andre and uh again that should be another amazing match. P is fantastic with foot locks andre has was recently shown in one of my breakdowns doing that highf flying arm bar. So that should be another excellent matchup. You have Jacob Couch versus Francisco Low. Uh there's Tynan Dalpra versus Jay Rodriguez. It's another very interesting matchup. Um you also have Elijah Dorsy versus Joseph Chen, which is another I mean these are some really good matches that they're announcing announcing. Ethan Krellststein versus Kabate. Yeah. So that looks like a really good card. I would definitely be looking forward to seeing that. Um, other things going on that I've seen one that uh again this is a spoiler alert. So if you wanted to watch Tyson Fury versus Ursk uh boxing match, tune away from this for a moment because I'm going to spoil it. Tyson lost uh split decision. Apparently, he got put down and um now that like well Tyson Fury is complaining saying that uh the the war in Ukraine made the refs or the judges favor uh his opponent who's Ukrainian. I don't know if he got knocked down in the fight and uh it seems pretty con at least from what I read. I didn't watch it. I just saw the results. Um but it seems like there's a good consensus that he lost that fight. So, uh, interesting. Right now, there was also a UFC yesterday, uh, that kind of flew under the radar for for most people. I just saw the main event, and it was Edson Barbosa versus, uh, somebody I wasn't familiar with. And that's that's kind of crazy in the UFC now. There's so many uh, fighters and so many cards that it's hard to keep up with all the different talent. Uh, but the guy that was obviously being set up to win was Leon Murphy or Leon Murphy. I'm not sure how you pronounce that. British fighter who's undefeated like now 14 and0 and one. I think he's got one draw or no contest. And very interesting fight. The first round, it seemed that uh Murphy was gonna impose a striking game plan in particular, focusing more on boxing and trying to keep um Barbosa from working a lot of kicks, which seemed mostly successful. At the end of the round, he took down uh and got on top of Barbosa and stood up pretty tall and got clapped with a really bad upkick. I mean, just a swiping upkick. So, it wasn't so much going up, but it was like a axe kick, you know, just chopped and caught him right in the side of the the face. And he was pretty much out. Fortunately, the bell saved him, but it took a moment to get him off. So, it's curious that they didn't stop it there. A case could have been made for it because he was kind of limp and even as they finally get him to stand up, he wobbled to the corner. He was rocked, you know. Uh, so unfortunate for Barbosa, you know, like a few seconds on the clock would have maybe been a TKO or a KO. Uh but credit to Murphy after that he pretty much dominated the fight. Uh he was able to land a lot of strikes and started to really beat on Barbosa. Although Barbosa was still game and was always dangerous and uh I forget which round was it, but he landed some mean calf kicks and leg kicks that started to force Murphy to switch stance quite a bit because he was his leg was getting chewed up. But the physical damage done by Murphy was pretty apparent. At some points it looked like Barbosa was about to get finished with his TKO because he was against the cage and he would kind of reach trying to grab uh onto Murphy who wasn't even there. It looked pretty bad. And so testament to both gentlemen because they were very tough. Apparently Murphy uh his nickname was the miracle because he was shot in the head three times and then hit by a car and he's still around. So obviously the dude's made of tougher stuff than normal people are, right? And Barbosa is up there in age for a fighter. He's 38 and still banging, you know, and some people said, "Oh, you know, Barbosa's over the hill, blah, blah." If you see Murphy walking out after the fight, it looks like he got hit by a truck. He's limping. His face is completely swollen. Barbosa still got it. Is this obviously Murphy is a young upandcomer and he's on the rise of his career. Maybe Barbosa is not on the rise, but he's obviously still very dangerous. He went five rounds with a very tough opponent and his opponent wore those five rounds, right? Like he is beat up pretty bad. U so that's a I think credit to both of those guys. Really tough fight. Uh stylistically also very difficult. I mean, if I was gonna fight Barbosa, my game plan wouldn't be stand up with him. That be take him down as quickly as possible because that dude's mean. Uh, his knees and the kicks are pretty brutal. But, uh, I mean, he's got a hell of a chin. He ate so many right hands and overhands and he just walked through them, you know. So, pretty impressive. Now, uh, in other news, we have the ADCC cards mostly set now, right? And, uh, one of the things that I found interesting for the the World Championships that I'm talking about is that you have in team New Wave four guys that might end up being in the same division. You have Luke Griffith who just competed in the Ultimate Submission, not the Ultimate Submission, I'm sorry, the UFC fight pass invitational and he weighed in at they clocked it in at 242 I think. So it's heavyweight. You have Maragali who was like 230 something which is heavyweight. You have Big Dan who's like 280 something heavyweight. And at least on the website, they still have Gordon Ryan under heavyweight, although I don't think he's heavyweight at this point. But either way, these four guys that are going to be again, I'm not sure if Gordon is going to do the heavyweight division again like he did last time. That would be interesting. I think personally he shouldn't. He's already won it now like three times. Um, and if he steps in there, basically he's going to take over the spot that maybe one of his teammates could have won, right? Uh, I don't know if it was me, especially considering all the health stuff that he's going through and I would just focus on that one super fight and let my teammates pick up some gold medals, you know, uh, or medal even because you can't even medal if you're in the same because the way ADCC does it is the quarterfinals teammates have to face. So basically they get one match because it's a 16-man bracket and then when they get to the final eight they have to compete against their teammate which means that they won't be able to meddle which kind of sucks right? Uh, so I mean as a coach I wouldn't want to put my athletes in that position. Now obviously if you got someone like Big Dan, he's going to be heavyweight no matter what, right? He's, you know, in the high 280s, the last I recall. And uh, so he's not going to be able to make any other weight class. The other three have moved around quite a bit, right? I think when I met Luke a few years back, he was like 217. Um, what you call again? Gordon obviously moves around a lot and he's on the lighter side of heavyweight if he was I mean I think he weighs in in 220s when he's up in weight. So he can obviously fight another 217 if he wanted to. Uh Margali can do it as well, right? So, uh, but what's unavoidable is that at least two of them are going to be in the same division. Even if one if they they leave heavyweight for Big Dan, uh you're going to have Maragali and Luke in that under 99 kilos, which again is unfortunate, you know, like that you have to have uh your teammates compete against each other and not get the opportunity to to go all the way to the finals. Uh but it's a cost of being in that team. Obviously, they're they've gotten as good as they have, not only because the high quality instruction, but also because uh they have very competitive training sessions where you're going against guys who are the best in the world. But the price of that is for these tournaments is that you might not be able to showcase yourself at the biggest stage. It's a it's a tough thing to and I mean it's not like he can go down either because then you got John Carla Boudini in 88 kilos and then you have Taza at 77. What they don't have I think is a 66 if I'm not mistaken. Right. And you got guys like Abe now who I think he just posted that he's gotten 57 or 58 a log a block submissions in competition and he's a 99 I mean 88 kilo guy. I don't think he got in this time around but uh he's been winning all the ACC opens so he's obviously going to be coming up in there pretty soon. So there there are divisions that are getting pretty crowded you know. So, I mean, as a coach, you got depth in your your roster, but uh it's it's just unfortunate that you're going to have to get wiped out early on, but it is what it is, right? Uh I just found it interesting that currently, as they have it stated, it's going to be four people in heavyweight. That's going to be rough, right? Um I don't I don't even think they would allow that. So, I think they only allow you to have two athletes in the division. So, I think what's going to probably happen, you might have Luke and Margalli uh in under 217 and then Big Dan and Gordon at heavyweight. And if Gordon elects not to, then you know, probably Luke would go up. Uh that would be my guess. But, uh, either way, they're going to have to be the the favorites of each of their divisions. I I think Luke is looking very sharp and he's being more tested and doing well with the testing. And obviously he just beat Kanye Darte who was a heavyweight champ I think a two-time champ. So that's a big scalp to have and that's going to give him a lot of confidence going in there. Big Dan still needs that mental development and hopefully he gets it. Like you know the only way you get it is through competing and obviously getting that training in that that experience of hard grinding matches and being crushed repeatedly and still coming out and showing up. Uh that could be tricky when you're the biggest guy in the room just about anywhere you go. I know right now I think for his training camp he he just went to Florida so that he can train with um Bucha and all the guys at American Top Team who have some really big dudes. I still think he's the biggest guy there though from what I saw. He made Bucha look like a normalsized human. Uh so it can be tricky to get those tough matches when you're the biggest guy in the room and you really can't train with the opponents that you would normally have. Uh the guys that given them trouble like Victor Hugo and um who was the other Max Himenez was another guy that gave him trouble. But he he needs to find it's hard, right? Like when you're that big to find and that skilled technically to find someone like that also and have him in your training room. Um, but hopefully he can get that and get a little bit more hardened mentally so that he can, you know, display his full potential. Cuz the one thing that I see is that when he loses, it's not because he got beat technically or that he got gassed. It's more like mental breakdowns. So, if he can get over that hump, I think he'll be a massive problem for anybody. Uh, so I I I hope we get to see that. Otherwise, I think Luke will make his way into the finals. I think Maragali has shown that he's pretty unstoppable right now. John Carlo also looking really, really good. You know, he ran through Gabriel Arges like a hot knife through butter. So, I'm not sure who's going to be the one who's going to be able to dethrone him. Uh Oliver probably has the biggest uh challenge from the as as I see it from the new wave guys for ADCC. It's a very tough division and uh he hasn't had that dominance in his matches. He he's won some very good matches and like this last uh Wednesday he won a very tight match, very technical uh but he doesn't have as much uh leeway for victory as maybe some of his teammates have. I think his division is particularly a lot more competitive, too. So, he probably has the toughest road ahead of him. Um, and like I said, I think 66, uh, maybe Gary Tonin used to do that division, but he's focusing more on MMA now. So, I think they lost that gap. So, that's the only gap in their roster that that I see at the moment. I don't know if they had anybody qualify either. I don't think they did. Um, but they obviously have very good representation for uh, this upcoming ACC. One thing I wanted to talk about is something that came up in conversation uh the other day, which is people who have the tendency to label or dismiss what other people do as easy, right? Whether it's a diet, a training style, an occupation. Uh I think for example it's very easy right now pun intended to say oh you know it's frustrating to see people on social media that are making millions and while I'm working a construction job you know doing 16 hour shifts and making a fraction of what they're doing. It's so unfair. They have it very easy. If that's true then why aren't you doing it? There's nothing stopping you from opening up a Instagram account or a Tik Tok and start posting videos from your phone. And if it's that easy, you'll become a millionaire overnight. Guess what? It isn't easy. It's hard, right? It's being made to look easy because you think, oh, like all they got to do is grab this and throw a video up and then they make money. It's not that simple, right? You just have no knowledge about it. So, you assume it's as simple as that. It's actually quite complicated and there's a lot of moving parts. The people I've seen that have real social media game, uh they're posting like eight, 10 times a day. They have video editors, they have to do lighting, and it's a whole uh production, right? It's not as easy as just selfie yourself, right? There's also a price to be paid as far as you're losing all your privacy now because you're you're choosing to, but you're exposing yourself constantly. And I've seen people who have stalkers and weird people following them around. Like there's a price to be paid, right? It's not easy. Otherwise, everybody would be a social media influencer and everybody would be millionaires, which obviously doesn't work, right? Economically doesn't make sense. So I urge you to not think that way and not to dismiss people simply because to in your mind you think it's easy cuz you equate what you do as difficult and a lot of people like to say that because they feel like it gives them some moral superiority like oh you know I am you know doing whatever work maybe I do uh construction or I'm an engineer here and I had to go through, you know, school and get a master's degree and pay all these, you know, student loans and I have to crank out 9 to5s and do overtime and stuff like that. Whereas people on social media, they don't even have to go to school. They don't have anything to pay and they just using a phone that maybe their parents bought them and they're they're making a fortune, right? All because you're doing something doesn't mean it's the best way or that it's the hardest path or that you are setting the standard for everybody else, right? Uh have some humility in that regard and realize that you might not be doing the hardest thing. Maybe someone else is doing the harder thing because they're being rewarded more for it, which usually means it's harder, right? People pay more for things because it's harder to get to, right? Uh, so they're seen is seen as having more value. We don't pay for dirt because it's all over the place. It's cheap, right? You pay for diamonds because there's a perceived scarcity to them. Harder to find, harder to to process. So, uh, I say that not just because to me it kind of bothers me when I hear that because I know I've done things that people have labeled as easy and I've also done that as well and then actually got into it and then realized, oh wait, I was totally wrong. This is much more difficult, more complicated than it seems from an outsider point of view. And I think it only creates uh ignorance on yourself and also more stress because you then feel like you're missing out on something or that you're being cheated at some opportunity. But when you realize, you know, that everybody has a a difficult path. There's no like a super easy way to uh being very happy and successful. Like there's a grind to everything, right? uh there's a struggle that's needed to achieve success. It just doesn't happen by chance. And uh having that mindset where you're like, oh, you know, what other people do is easy is only being dismissive of some other person's struggle. It's kind of like you watch a celebrity and you're like, oh, they're so lucky. Life's easy for them. You know, you didn't have to go through all the struggling and humiliation and a lot of them have trauma that they had to endure and sacrifice to be able to be in that spot than to be quote unquote lucky. Right now, what you might consider difficult might be some other person's easy and vice versa. Like some people feel like, oh, you know, if all they're doing is, you know, acting in front of a camera, that's so much easier than me when I have to, you know, do a construction job and physical labor and toil. And those are just different types of hard, right? Some people lift weights for fun. And, you know, when you're doing construction, you're basically lifting stuff around. Uh, I mean, again, I speak a little bit out of ignorance. I've done some digging, and digging sucks, right? excavating and stuff like that, it's a pain, right? So, or roofing work is pretty torturous, especially when you're out here in Vegas. So, I get that there's just different types of harm, right? Uh there there's no need to put other people down for whatever they're doing. And if you truly feel that somebody else has a better life path than you, that is going to bring you more riches and more success, then you should be following them and asking them questions and start engaging in that path if that's what you truly felt, right? Why are you missing out? You have the opportunity to do what they're doing, especially if you you have access to somebody who does. And if you don't, start networking and find it out. But if you're just doing it to make yourself feel better, then I mean you're just throwing yourself a pity party basically. So I rather and I think it's more constructive to look at what other people are doing with humility and recognize like obviously if they have achieved success in their field, they have done something uh that required struggle. It would be an anomaly if somebody did something and achieved major success that just landed on their lap. I'm not saying it doesn't happen. I think it like obviously people who inherit wealth and whatnot they might get some of that but on the most for the most part a lot of it is earned I believe and u I think there's value into recognizing that because then maybe you appreciate a little bit more what you do as well rather than thinking you just do the hardest thing possible and everybody else has it easy. It's going to make you not appreciate other people when you should because they're obviously serving roles in society that you are not capable of doing or that you choose not to and somebody has to do it. It would be like dismissing a guy who who is a garbage man. I remember back when I was a kid, you know, growing up in the 80s and 90s, it was very common to put down a garbage man saying, "Oh, you know, like you don't want to end up like a garbage guy." And um like well I learned later in life that they actually make quite a bit of money and uh while yeah it's pun dirty work it's rewarding work and it's also work that somebody has to do if nobody does it you know we we have garbage all over the place. So rather than put the guy down for putting, you know, being the garbage man, I should be thankful cuz maybe I don't like putting up garbage, but I'm glad somebody is and that they're getting well rewarded for it. Uh, you know, so I feel like it puts you in a better state of mind to appreciate people. And I think that makes you also more likely to be uh appreciated by those people, right? instead of I'm sure people who are on social media or the garbage man they might be used to people thinking less of them but if you are humble enough to recognize the value in them and just because society and you know colleges want to put down anybody who doesn't have a college degree and you can see the value in these people I think that just makes you uh more acceptable. I don't know, maybe I'm off topic there, but I feel like uh this kind of coincides with humility and to me it's a big part of life. Obviously, I feel in the martial arts and in general, anybody who wants to learn and grow has to have humility and whenever people uh say, "Oh, that's easy. Oh, they're lucky." It rubs me the wrong way. Right? So, I feel like I appreciate everybody. Don't uh dismiss or lower anybody's uh output in their work or whatnot. Everybody has value and I believe everybody has great value and we should be able to recognize that. That's my take. Anyways, you guys can let me know what you think in the comments. I hope you guys have a wonderful rest of your week and I'll see you later on.