Brought back so many memories. I started BJJ around UFC 3. It was an amazing time. Everyone in martial arts wanted to learn this new art. Only three BJJ schools in the entire country. The States were California, NJ and NY. Renzo was involved in both the NY school and the NJ one in Red Bank, NJ. I remember black belts in other arts would come in with their black belts. Many owned their own schools. After the first day of being tapped by white belts they returned the next time with a white belt on.
Some guys were like a sponge and soaked it up like they were born for it. I wasn't one of them. I almost felt like I had BJJ dyslexia. I remember every class would started with a basic move like an arm bar. five variations of increasing complexity was taught. By the fifth I was completely loss. After class I would keep a note book to try to remember what was taught. I learned quick most average dojo rats knew a few pet moves but were good at them. The naturals knew many chokes, arm locks, wrist locks, escapes, reversals, leg locks and all the rest. Regarding leg locks they were seldom taught because of the crippling nature if a jerk off used too much force a guy could be crippled.
On those early days you could see the rising stars. The school at the time only had two belts. White and blue. There was only one American black belt and that was Craig Kukuk who taught at the Red Bank, NJ school. Then getting a Blue belt from Kukuk took a lot of taps from your opponents. We had white belts for six months that had crazy skills. Now so many schools now have so many black belts, brown and purple I wonder if their skill level is really that great?
