Have Gi, will travel...

Rayron Gracie putting in the work.

The weekend started with me struggling with what gear to pack out as I always do when I am traveling. I honestly think it’s how my anxiety manifests itself. I don’t want to make this about me, as always, the story is what matters. I pack my gear and clothing and toss and turn all night finally managing a few hours sleep. I awaken at 6:15am and race into the shower, drink my coffee and charge out the door to my jeep, shoving my bags in the backseat and race off to Renzo Gracie Academy on 30th and the westside. I am meeting Rayron Gracie, the 17 year old son of legendary Ryan Gracie and nephew to Renzo Gracie, Renan Cruz, the 21 year old son of another legend, Marcio “Pa De Pano” Cruz and Eduardo Roque, who’s amazing and I really don’t know much about him other than him and his sister crushed the lightweight purple belt division in 2018. He doesn’t speak much, so I nicknamed him “Iceman”, cause he’s focused and doesn’t waste his energy on anything but training and competing. We all cram into my 99 Wrangler Sport, and I am saying this, because if you look it up or know anything about Jeeps, a TJ, though as big as one might think they are, is tight for two six foot plus guys, a lightweight and myself, let alone our bags, but we managed to squeeze in. We get through the Lincoln tunnel and into Jersey, I fill up my tank and set out on the three and half hour drive to Prince George’s County, Maryland, outside of Washington DC. I was tired and the boys slept most of the way, though I spooked them when I’d get lazy and hit the rumble strips on the right side, but we made it all in one piece. 

relaxing in our room

We check in to our hotel and meet up with Nica and Fernando, whom driven down the night before and are organizing and setting up the tournament. Once in our room, we relax for an hour or so then it’s back to Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex and we start the arduous task of setting up for the tournament. Mats have to be set out in a very specific order and pattern, tables, screens and computers set up, weight-in station, registration area podium and medal station built, and finally, the fence around it all to keep the contestants and onlookers apart. It took a good four to five hours to set it all up and when we were done, we realized we hadn’t eaten, so off to Chipotle it was, were we devour our meals and head back to the hotel to shower and unwind. Everyone settled in and the boys were all asleep by 7pm. I stayed up for a bit watching UFC and finally passing out around 11pm or so on the floor as not to disturb anyone. The boys have been traveling, training and competing for awhile now and their routine was pretty much pull into town, work, if they could, setting up the tournaments, eat, sleep and compete. They weren’t hung up on where they slept and sharing a bed wasn’t something that they had issues with. They were teammates and brothers and this was their life, the true jiu jitsu life, everything else was secondary and not important.

Rayron and Renan patiently waiting for their matches

I was woken up around 6am or so, got dressed, grabbed my gear and headed to the breakfast area in the hotel, shoved the scrambled eggs, potatoes and self-made waffles down our throats, then made our way to the tournament. The tournament is a lot to take in for the uninitiated. It’s a frenzy of men and women or various ages gathering, each embellishing some form of team/dojo pride and going through the motions of registering and weighing in. Rayron, Renan and Eduardo were working the event and only Rayron and Renan were competing as Eduardo wanted to take this event off. They literally travel with the barest of essentials, one Gi, underwear, toothpaste and a change of clothes. Anyhow, the tournament gets pack pretty quick and it’s quite the spectacle, coaches and teammates watching from the other side of the fence, yelling to their teammates “posture up”, “hip out”, “knee slice”, etc… All terms unknown to anyone that doesn’t practice or know Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, on top of the abundance of Brazilians shouting out to their teammates and relatives in Portuguese. Both Rayron and Renan matches aren’t till later in the morning and I bide my time shooting some of the matches to figure out my distance and framing.

So it begins…

Rayron takes Gold in his division

Renan took Gold in his division

Finally it’s Rayron and Renan’s matches and we make our way to the mats. They’re both fighting at the same time and I set up between the two rings and start shooting Rayron’s first match. The match went the distance, with Rayron dominating the match in its entirety and winning it, though, he was struck in the face and had a black eye afterwards. He comes over to me and I congratulate him and we look over to Renan, who has won his match by disqualification, apparently, the guy was “reaping” and his foot pass the hip line with his foot turned inward - bear with me, as I’m learning as well,  but is holding his nose and tells us it was broken and shows us it. Yup, broken, not sure how it happen, but clear as day, his nose was off to one side and swelling with each passing moment. They each assess one another’s injuries and continue to muscle through their divisions, submitting all their opponents and both winning gold in their divisions. They’re sitting trying to figure out what to do next, their Open Class (Absolute) matches aren’t for a few hours. Absolute are in essence, the best of that belt rank, regardless of weight, that’s podiumed - placed first, second or third in their weight class and fighting it out to see who is the best out of that rank. The decision is made to take Renan to an Urgent Care Center ten minutes away. Renan and Rayron race off and I stay behind watching and shooting.

Fernando took Bronze in his division

Arm bar…

A few hours go by and I’ve been watching some of the other matches and the ongoing of the tournaments when I overhear “Will all men and women blue and purple belts competing in the open class please sign in…” I text Rayron to see what’s up, they’ve been waiting to be seen and just had Renan’s nose x-rayed, I tell him that the open class is signing in and what is he gonna do, his response, “we’re on our way back” - on your way back?! They literally skip out on waiting for the results and race back just in time to change into their Gis and make their matches - yes, that’s right, Renan, broken nose and all, is competing in the purple belt open class and Rayron in the blue belt open class as well. You see, they’ve been systematically closing out all the Open Class tournaments they’re competing in and weren’t going to stop over a black eye or a broken nose. Once again, the two of them would be fighting next to one another’s ring, and if like a movie, they one by one submitted each opponent. Renan’s first match was the very guy that had broke his nose and Renan just plowed through him and submitted him. His second opponent was a tall lanky guy from Miami, who tried to speed around Renan, who grabbed him and within moments, was on top and had him on his back initiating a kimura (arm locking technique) and the guy, in an effort to escape, flailed his legs, kneeing Renan in his nose, which stunned him for a moment, he grimaced in pain, but continues to control his opponent, stopping every so often to feel his nose then applies an arm bar and submits his opponent. He walks off the mat and is asked, “can you continue?”, he nods and says “yes, but it has to be now” they set his next match up and he plows through that opponent as well. The both of them, completely plowed through the Open Class and took home double golds - as they did the weekend before in the NY Open as well and have been doing for awhile. 

Double Gold…

Eduardo and Renan blowing off stream

In the moment, it didn’t seem like much, I guess I was also in the heat of it all. The tournament wrapped up late and the boys changed out of their Gis and Eduardo and Renan “played” around for a little bit and saw how good Eduardo was and how fast he is. I sat off on the side and waited as they started packing the monitors and tables, yes, that’s right, after winning their divisions and Open Class matches, the boys started the process of packing and stacking the mats up and packing the van to take it all back to New York and then off to the next tournament in Florida. We all went back to the hotel and showered in Nica’s room and he asked if I was ok to drive back, at first I said yes, but immediately changed my mind and we agreed to leave the next day. One by one they all shower and I pull out my laptop and start downing the images. I showered and we all agree to head to a nearby Applebee’s and eat. Being the only non-Brazilian, it didn’t bother me that they all spoke Portuguese to one another, I guess in a way, it made sense, this is what they do and who they are, it wasn’t to exclude me, cause I felt welcomed and they were comfortable enough around me to be themselves and felt, well, “he’s close enough” - I ate my meal and spoke with Fernando, who took bronze in his division and we talked about being Brazilian and how the academy is like a meeting place for all of them to meet and feel at home. We go back to hotel, joke around for a bit and one by one fall asleep.

Next morning, Nica and Fernando hit the road at 5am, we stay in bed till 10am or so, look at the photos and joke around, then pack up, head to IHOP and start the drive back. I wasn’t as tired on the drive back and the boys slept most of the way and we made our way into NYC at 5:30pm or so. I drop them off and stop by Renzo’s to stretch my legs and avoid the downpour that started as soon as I dropped them off. I start my drive back to Brooklyn and it wasn’t till I was explaining it to Igor Gracie, it dawned on me on how crazy it all was, and his response “Yeah they eat and breath Jiu-Jitsu now. That’s the true BJJ lifestyle” - and it’s when I decided I had to write it all down. I’m sure I could include a lot more, but I don’t think I have to explain each match or what was done, just that it was inspiring to see these guys so driven and not letting anything stop them. As they would say “Porrada”.

Joell Ortiz 2014

Jeremy Jones

Wyatt Neumann