When Roy brought me to train with the Gracies, it was before the first Ultimate Fighting Championship. I had seen the "Gracie Jiu-jitsu in Action" videos and was very excited to to finally meet Royce and Rorion. I was really impressed on how nice their facility was and the two brothers always very friendly. There are a couple memories that stand out about training there.
The first was when Roy and I brought our friend Nick Baturin to train. Nick was a sambo player who first taught us leglocks. When we arrived with Nick, Royce was like a shark that smelled blood. He immediately asked Nick to roll. Nick said that he needed to warm up first, so we all went into a smaller training room and stretched out. After Nick warmed up, we all went into the main training room where the other students were waiting for class to start.
I don't remember the exact details of their match, but Royce always was in control. Royce had difficulty, at first, trying to armlock Nick since Nick was good at armlocks himself. However, Royce quickly realized that Nick was unfamiliar with collar chokes. Royce would attack Nick's neck and then when Nick defended against the choke, Royce would take the armlock.
At one point in their match, they were starting from standing and Royce dropped down right into a triangle choke on Nick. He held the choke with his legs for quite a while and then Nick tapped. Nick later told me that they choke was not on his neck, but instead is on his head. He said that Royce's legs were so strong that his face felt like a mashed potato and he had to tap because he skull was being crushed.
There was one time I almost thought Royce was going to have to tap. Nick went back for a footlock and I saw Royce's foot bend back. Royce scrambled, escaped, and eventually got a dominant position. Roy told me that he saw Royce later and the top of Royce's foot was bruised.
There were many instances where Nick was roll to his stomach, grab his own collars, dip his chin down, and be defensive. Nick had a very strong grip and it was difficult for Royce to get in the choke. So, Royce put his forearm under Nick's nose, used that to lift his chin, and got the choke. After they finished grappling, Nick asked Royce if using the forearm under the nose to lift the chin was legal in sport BJJ. I chuckled inside when I saw Royce evade the question since the answer was that it was not legal.
Another memory that stands out was when I first met Craig Kukuk at the Gracie Academy. I had never met him before, however, I was told that he was a long time student of Rorion's who went back to Brazil to train and get his black belt. Anyway, Craig taught class and then at the end of class he grappled with all the students.
Man, he gave some of the fastest ass kickings I had ever seen. Craig tapped out everyone in seconds. We had seen Royce tap out students, but I had never seen anyone kick ass like this. He handled the purple belts like white belts. He tapped people out so fast that I think he even felt bad about it at the end. I believe he even asked Roy is he should have taken it a little easier on the students.
