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many jiu jitsu fighters being avid surfers and big name surfers such as Joel Tudor, Frederick Patacchia (Freddy P.) and Kelly Slater training BJJ. This tight bond goes as far as fashion, with major surfing brands having supported jiu jitsu since the 1980s (the famous Lightning Bolt BJJ tournament in the 1980s comes to mind) and more recently the powerful RVCA sponsoring fighters such as the Mendes brothers, Rickson Gracie, Lucas Leite, BJ Penn and a few other grapplers.
By fate, on the following day after this brawl, Daniel Sabb went to do his usual 5am surfing routine at the Ipanema Pier. He was the only person surfing until minutes after he entered the water, another surfer showed up to keep him company, that man was Rolls Gracie. This random meeting turned both men into friends, as they made piece with one another in the water and Rolls invited Daniel to come and train at his academy. This altercation between the two sports, strangely as it may seem, was a major instigator in the cross over between surfers and grapplers who started cross training in both sports more and more after this event. Sabb trained with Rolls for a long time, and later at Gracie Barra with Carlinhos Gracie, reaching the degree of purple belt.
Byron (Brian) Amona in 2011 Another famous confrontation between a famous surfer and a jiu jitsu practitioner happened in 1977. The two involved in the altercation were none other then an 18 year old Rickson Gracie and Byron Amona (today called Brian Amona) who belonged to the famous Hawaiian surfing gang, Da Hui. Byron Amona came to Rio de Janeiro to compete at the Pro Surf Tour, bringing great attention to himself and fellow surfing stars Michael Ho and Mike Purpus who were curious to see these men who they only had seen in the magazines. Cherishing the opportunity to surf alongside these stars, a local Arpoador beach surfer nicknamed Foca (Seal) borrowed his friend Srgio Malibus surfing board. While surfing, as he fell from his board (which he was riding without the use of the leash), the board hit Byrons forehead. The Hawaiian surfer was furious and broke the boards fins. When Malibu heard what Byron had done, and persuaded by his own friends, he felt he needed to challenge the giant American, but failed to do so fearing his size. The following day, Rickson and Relson Gracie were at the beach surfing. They heard what had happened and didnt agree with a foreigner coming to their beach causing havoc and leaving unharmed. They demanded that Sergio Malibu challenged Byron and told their friend they would stick up for him if he did. A trembling Malibu agreed to go to where the Americans were to challenge Amona, 5 cars with 17 Brazilian surfers (including Relson and Rickson) drove down to a surf shop, where they were. As soon as they arrived, Malibu broke Byron Amonas brand new surf board which was lying on the outside of the shop. Amona came out fuming and demanded to fight the man who had broken his board, so Rickson jumped in, a circle was made around the two men and Rickson choked the surfing legend out of consciousness with a mata leo reviving him with punches, only to choke him out again. This wasnt the only encounter between a Da Hui and a jiu jitsu practitioner, the alleged Black Shorts front man, Fast Eddie Rothman and his son, professional surfer, Makuka Rothman are jiu jitsu enthusiasts who have trained with Kid Peligro in Hawaii. BJJ black belt Kid Peligro on the other hand, is a massive surfing enthusiast who started coming to the North Shore in Hawaii to surf back in 1975, there meeting the Rothman family.
Joel Tudor Surfing and jiu jitsu seem to have developed a harmonious relationship since this tumultuous start, and today a mirage of fighters cross train in this amazing sport. In the 1980s this bond started picking up and more big names became avid surfers, names such as Marcelo Behring who was very well known amongst surfers and a common face in renowned surfing magazines. In fact, some academies have benefited from being in good surfing locations, which brought to these gyms athletic and avid young surfers which the respective coaches have shaped into formidable jiu jitsu athletes. That was the case of the Carlson Gracie academy developing a former wannabe professional surfer, Murilo Bustamante, in one of the greatest grapplers of all time. Also the Gracie Barra team, when it opened in the Barra da Tijuca surfing burg which turned many of those youngsters into grapplers, including Ricardo Cachorro, Alexandre Soca or Mauricio Tinguinha, three legends of the sport; more recently the same happed with the Checkmat headquarters in Santos, Sao Paulo, that turned a young surfing teenager into the best jiu jitsu fighter of 2012, Marcus Buchecha. Some combined efforts have been made to join jiu jitsu and surfing in the same spot. An interesting event occurred in 2011 when the famous BJJ and MMA fighter Gunnar Nelson, accompanied by one of his mentors, John Kavanagh, made a Surf & Jiu Jitsu workshop. This event took place in a beach in the Portuguese region of Algarve (Lagos). Gracie Barra has also pushed for this sort of workshop, namely through their academy in San Clemente. On the surfing side of grappling, the most accomplished high level surfer to make it also in jiu jitsus competition world is Joel Tudor, a former world surfing champion who has conquered several important medals in tournaments such as the US Nationals and the Pan American Championships. Tudor is also a black belt under Rodrigo Medeiros and an ADCC veteran. The famous Z Radiola (Braulio & Victor Estimas coach) was also a professional surfer before he converted to jiu jitsu.
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