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Rafael Ellwanger, black belt in jiu jitsu talks Louisiana MMA and BJJ
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Question: How did personally get involved in the sport?
I have been doing Judo since I was four years old. My family decided to move to the Capital of Brazil, Brasilia when I was young. I was taking a lot of martial arts, karate mostly striking. Then my mom ended up moving to Rio but I still liked punching and kicking. But every summer when I went back to Rio I would train a little bit.
When I was 18 a black belt named Jucao Ailson Brites moved to Brasilia and I started training with him. Because I had done some grappling before I had the basic stuff and I could tap most of the guy we were training with. I started thinking this is fun, I can beat everybody, even with the little training that I had.
I got to thinking that with less than six months of training that I was having quick results. After that it was all about jiu jitsu.
Question: How did you get to Mandeville, Louisiana?
I went to Maryland to apply for a Masters degree and then September 11th came. Because of the highjackers my student visa was denied. I got a Masters in Business in Brazil although I wanted to go to school in Maryland. I stayed in Maryland for only ten months, then (with Sept 11th) went to Brazil for two and half years. I was not thinking about Jiu Jitsu. I just saw it as a hobby.
Then I had a big car accident after I finished my Masters. I told my family that I needed a break. I had a nice job, I was working for Microsoft and I was making money but was not happy.
So in 2006 I went to the European Championship in Portugal and I won my division, super heavyweight (below 221 pounds).
I then spent two months in Spain replacing Fabricio Werdum, who was training for a big Pride fight and he was training Mirko Cro Cop on the ground.
In March of 2006 they had the Pan American BJJ tournament in Dominguez Hills at the University of California. I went there and won my division on Sunday night and on Monday I received my black belt from Carlos Gracie Jr.
Question: How did you build the Gracie Barra program in Louisiana?
After I got my black belt I went back to Maryland and all my friends were gone. I ended up going to Georgia and met a contractor who was doing stuff at the Superdome. This contractor and I opened a gym, The GT Extreme. The GT Extreme closed because Rich Clementi was teaching there at the time and it did not work out. I didn't want to compete with Rich so I moved to Hammond.
(MMA EXAMINER NOTE: Rafael did not mean to say that Rich Clementi caused the close of GT Extreme. The context here was that the partnership etc. did not work out. He went on to say in the interview that Rich Clementi and himself have since mended fences and that Rich has been a "stand-up guy" and came by to reconcile differences.)
How did you meet other BJJ competitors in Louisiana and convince them to become part of Gracie Barra?
I met Marco Macera there who was a purple belt at the time. He was training under Leo Xavier and Mattias Meister (both now black belts) and then Leo left. Mattias decided to stay and he was affilated under Leo. I just had one question for Marco, "are you going to be one my guys or not?"
Marco had to talk to his teammates. Marco talked to Mattias and then we ended up all being Gracie Barra together. In my opinion right now, I consider Marco the best BJJ guy in the state.
Marco is the most well-trained guy in the state of Louisiana, he has talent, conditioning, and he is quick. What he needs is experience at the black belt level. He needs to fight a bunch of tough guys and that is going to just build his confidence. The first year as a black belt is hard. Not a lot of black belts become a black belt and keep winning.
How do you find the MMA promotions in Louisiana? What about your promotion Xtreme Fight Championships?
My guys were fighting for different promoters. They were mismatching. Guys would not make the weight. There was no water in the lockers. I have a big fight team but my guys needed a their own promotion. My team is not exclusive. Most of the time my guys will fight for me. But I recommend shows for them.
Thats why I do the promotion to protect my students. I want my students to fight the first two or three fights with me.
I also do the BJJ federation which has no-gi, gi, and kids Xtreme Youth Martial Arts. Xtreme Youth Martial Arts is kickboxing with BJJ with body punches on the ground, when they go on the ground there is no striking to the face. They can not ground and pound. That gives the kids a safe environment so that when they become 18 they have experience.
How is POWER MMA doing?
I think that the school (POWER MMA) is great. All my schools are doing great. We now have twelve schools and nobody has closed down. They all succeeded by themselves. The BJJ is getting bigger.
Now you have a black belt at POWER MMA. Competition is a good way to figure out where you are. Its not for everybody. Its amazing how six months of Jiu Jitsu can change your life. People are changing the way that they are living. Its not like Karate, its worse that crack cocaine, once you start doing BJJ you are hooked.
In BJJ, it looks like you are crawling and then you start running. Besides that BJJ does not stop, its a chess game. That is why people don't get tired who train in BJJ. They have a lot crazy moves coming from wrestling, Sambo, and other sports so the sport is adapting itself.
One thing I am trying to figure out is an MMA curriculum and a set of belts.
What about Pat Barry's recent win?
I think its great. Man, he did a great job. Its funny, he is well known by kicks and then he went and threw punches. The guy (Hardonk) was surprised. They studied Pat Barry and they thought they had a game plan. Between the rounds he changed his game plan and won the fight.
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