Anthony Bourdain: Bill O’Reilly come get your @$$ kicked

When television host, author, syndicated columnist, and political commentator Bill O’Reilly controversially claimed he had reported from a combat zone, 4 stripe white belt under Igor Gracie Anthony Bourdain called him out.

“Bill O’Reilly, if you’d like to experience a report from a real combat zone, you can come over to Renzo Gracie Academy any day that I am in New York – you can get your ass kicked by a 59-year-old man.”

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O’Reilly is not likely to take Bourdain up on the offer.

Back in 2011 on the ‘Factor’ O’Reilly attacked mixed martial arts, after CBS aired Elite XC, calling it “barbarity.” In 2006 he debated with UFC president Dana White and then middleweight champion Rich Franklin, and argued that MMA was more dangerous than boxing, as it allowed kicking.

Bourdain on the other hand is a huge fan of the sport, and was introduced to it by his wife Ottavia, a purple belt under New Zealand John Danaher, who trains twice a day, and competes. Ironically, Ottavia first started BJJ when Gina Carano appeared on CBS, the same circumstance that led O’Reilly to sputter about barbarity. Their daughter Ariane, born in 2007, also competes. 

In an interview earlier this year with Neil Davidson for The Canadian Press, the host of CNN’s Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, detailed how training in BJJ has improved his life. Losing 30 pounds and getting into the best shape of his life at 58 is only the start of it.

“I didn’t get into this for my health,” he said. “But I thinks it’s a byproduct of (when) you come in every day, try real hard not get your ass kicked.”

“Look I’ve had to make adjustments. If I know with absolute certainty, as I do, that just about every day I’m going to be waking up early in the morning, going into the academy and getting my ass kicked by some 22-year-old wrestler, yeah it certainly changed my alcohol intake, I can tell you.

“I’m not drinking anywhere near what I used to and I’m much moderate in my eating habits — because you really pay a price for misbehavior immediately on the mat. You feel it and you pay a price in physical pain and humiliation.”

“It’s a lot like being back in the kitchen again, in my first days as a young cook where I was the worst cook in the kitchen and there was so much to learn. And every day that I did manage to learn some tiny technical detail that made my game better, that was the kind of satisfaction that I haven’t had in a while.”

“People in the BJJ community tend to be very nice and very generous.”

“I have to be realistic. I’m 58, I will never be winning medals against people a third my age. Jiu-jitsu will not make me younger or smarter — well maybe smarter. I will probably not live long enough to ever get my black belt. But I really deeply enjoy the process of sucking a little less at something every day.”

“The UFC is a preferred date night for my wife and I whenever we can, whenever I’m not traveling for my show. If there’s a UFC event, chances are we’re front row.”

And he doesn’t roll with his wife, as she’s too good for him. But Bill O’Reilly, he’s ass he’d kick.