Mendes Brothers Camp

When Gui ask me if I wanted to roll with him I was super pumped. I had rolled with Gui once before and he had dominated me quite easily. He is the world champion at his weight division and one of the best in the world all-round. I was nice and warm now from the drills, technique and specific training. This is what I had travelled halfway across the world for. We started and I was not sure if we were going to start from the knees like everyone else in the class, or start from standing, as Gui was on his feet ready to go. Regardless of my confusion we tapped hands and commenced, this is where any chance of a fight, on my behalf, was squashed. I was completely destroyed from this point on. Guilherme had no trouble passing my guard as, he was later to tell me, I did not control the distance well enough and he was able to close the distance on me and control my hip movements. His movements were fast. I mean FAST. This was crazy to me. I had never seen anyone control so well while continually moving. There was a reason Guilherme, and his brother Rafael, were world champions and I was finding out why. I have rolled with black belts before, but this level and precision of technique was amazing. Every time I moved I found myself in a worse position than before. Every time I thought I had pre-empted one of his movements I found it to be another trap that I had fallen into. When I found I had no other choice I mistakenly used strength to escape, sweep or control and inturn failed in every escape, sweep and control. I succumbed to a choke from underneath side control involving a lapel and the back of his heel, an armbar and a few other solid maneuvers. I remember at one point I looked up at the iPad, which was used as the timer, thinking “Oh man there is still three minutes left.” This is the first time I have ever rolled and wanted the time to finish quickly; because I was being beaten so badly. This feeling was by far a bad feeling. It just came from the fact that I felt utterly powerless and had nothing to bring to the table. Right now I was feebly fighting a loosing battle for my life. At one point we were both standing, Gui was attempting to get his grips on my lapel and I was furiously hand fighting in order to deter his grips. He locked on and dived his lead leg towards my lead leg, at lightening speed, to perform a foot sweep. I was fast enough to move my leg to avoid it, as soon as I planted my foot back on the mat he tried for it again. Lucky I have speed on my side. I thought that if I left my lead leg out there again he might attempt another sweep and I could counter attack. I left my leg there as a bait. It was at this point I thought in a panic “Oh man I don’t know what to do for a counter!!!” But it did not matter because I found out not only can Gui foot sweep quite well, he has a killer single leg too. Down I went.

When the timer finally sounded I was exhausted. I was on the defence for seven minutes against a mini tornado. Gui is a light featherweight and feels like Hercules older stronger brother. There is no doubt to me now why Gui and Rafa are considered the worlds best. Every technique they have taught, he used at lightening speed. He was super precise in each position without a fault. I could only move when and where he wanted me to move. It was a humbling and an inspiring experience. When I had rolled with Gui a year earlier it was easy to see he was taking it a bit lighter on me. This time he stepped up the pace, but I know he could take it to another level if he wanted too. I now know the level I want to achieve in BJJ. It is always easy to say you want to be the best, but I believe that you have to know the best before you can actualise that goal. I will go back to Australia and drill, solidly, the techniques Gui and Rafa taught at the camp. I believe their system and concepts are the most efficient and effective that I have seen in BJJ and they are the new way. If anyone is ever interested I strongly urge them to go to the Mendes Bros gym the Art of Jiu Jitsu. OSS