Eddie Bravo: Best base for MMA is breakdancing
Why BJJ master says best base for MMA is breakdancing
10th Planet founder Eddie Bravo recently appeared on Joe Rogan Experience – Fight Companion, and the friends discussed the best base for mixed martial arts. Bravo wisely asked what age the prospective future champion was when he or she started, and then offered a characteristically ingenious answer.
If you’re a kid, I would say get into breakdancing and wrestling,” said Bravo, as transcribed by Iva Djokovic for BJJEE. “Do that together and get into it hard and do jiu-jitsu Sundays, whenever y’know – submissions, little pass the guard here…
“But make sure you’re putting enough time into wrestling and that breakdancing combine them both because we all know wrestling translates beautifully into jiu-jitsu and now we know breakdancing translates even better into jiu-jitsu.
“Cause when you’re doing breakdancing you’re doing way more crazy things than when you are wrestling. Wrestling is nice, simple basics stay on the top, balance, base… Stay on top, boom, drive through… Stay on top don’t let a guy get on top of you boom…
“You’re not asking your body to do these crazy maneuvers like in breakdancing. When you’re used to doing crazy s*** like spinning on your head in slow motion and s*** like that – the amount of control you have to have over your core and the strength to do all that s*** it’s like crazy yoga, capoeira, touch-butt all that s***.
“All that s*** combined into one because breakdancing is f***ing everything. It’s gymnastics, it’s wrestling, it’s everything, yoga, pilates… There’s Grambys in it, there’s Rubber Guard – there’s all sorts of s***. Breakdancing is endless. So it just makes sense. On paper it makes sense. That would be the best things to get your kids into. Base, balance, core strength that will translate into anything.
Bravo knows exactly what he is talking about. One of his top students is Geo ‘Freakazoid’ Martinez, who came from a breakdancing background, and earned his BJJ black belt in only three years.
(55:50 mark)
Image courtesy of the Eddie Bravo in