Draculino interview by Stephan Kesting

Hi there, I’m working on a new, big, and very cool BJJ project which recently took me to Houston, Texas. That trip was a blur – we were working like crazy and filming till 2 or 3 am most nights.  Just to show you how busy we were, I didn’t even get a chance to drive just down the road and visit NASA…  Which, given my interest in space, science and exploration, is pretty much a hanging crime!! But one person I did make time for was Vinicius ‘Draculino’ Magalhães.  This guy is a fantastic resource for the BJJ community, and I wanted to pick his brain about the ongoing evolution of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. Dradulino started training in Rio in the 1980’s back in the days when many of the big names in BJJ were just young kids with blue and purple belts around their waists.  Plus he’s trained many great competitors in the sport, as well as having personally competed in BJJ, ADCC, and MMA himself! In our 24 minute conversation Draculino talked about: How beach fights for the hottest surfing spots brought him into jiu-jitsu What it was like training with the top Gracie and Machado fighters in Rio in the 1980’s How self defense and vale tudo training were incorporated into class back in the day The early BJJ competition scene, and how BJJ has changed over the last 3 decades How the spider guard evolved, and the criticism he received for pioneering this position Why he gets more nervous for BJJ competition than for MMA fights. Why many matches at the 2012 Mundials reminded him of two spiders trying to mate The rule changes, he’d like to see to make jiu-jitsu competition more exciting, And why he makes even his BJJ world champions do self defense twice a week All in all, it’s a merry romp down many BJJ topics, past and present You can listen to the 24 minute long interview, download the audio, and/or watch it on video at this link here: ==> www.grapplearts.com/Blog/2012/07/draculino-talks-about-the-evolution-of-bjj-interview/ Enjoy! Stephan Kesting

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