2010 July | Draculino Blog

Draculino – Interview with TATAME

Friday, July 30th, 2010

Original Source: http://www.tatame.com/2010/07/27/Vinicius-Draculino
Vinícius Draculino Tuesday 27th of July 2010 03:44 PM By Eduardo Ferreira

Being almost five years away from the rings, Vinícius Draculino is now back. At the age of 39, the leader of Gracie Barra BH, who graduated champions like Rômulo Barral, Rafael Sapo, Joaquim Mamute, Cristiano Titi, among many others, was chosen to fight on Strikefore on August 21. “There’s been a while since I last fought… I went to watch a show in Houston, they asked me if I was interested, and I thought: “it’s like if there was going to be the biggest party of the year and I was invited but choose not to go”, told Draculino. On a quick trip to Brazil, the black belt, who currently lives on the United States, gave an exclusive interview to TATAME’s website, on which he talked about his comeback to the rings, analyzed his opponent, Rocky Long, and commented the expectations for the debut of his pupil, Rafael Sapo, on UFC. Check the interview here below.

For everybody’s surprise, you were announced by Strikeforce. How did this opportunity come?

I went to watch a show in Houston, they asked me if I was interested, and I thought: “it’s like if there was going to be the biggest party of the year and I was invited but choose not to go”. I want to join this big party and let’s see what will come. I’m training, I believe I can get there in a good shape in order to do a good presentation.

When did you last fight?

It’s been a long time, five years.

And all of that due to injuries?

My knee. I was ready to fight in many occasions, but unfortunately I got hurt in two of them, but now I’m feeling a lot better, thanks God, doing what I can, but let’s go. I’m training, I’ve lost some weight, but I still have some extra pounds, and I’m feeling heavy.

On which division do you intend to fight?

On the until 65kg.

You were away of the competitions for so long that some thought you have retired…

I haven’t fought for a while, but I’m not retired. I competed without kimono in 2008, there were two events: one of them was the Mundial without kimono, but I was structuring my gym, so I wasn’t much focused. Now I’m training hard, I was working on my conditioning without even knowing anything, just because I was feeling like doing it and when I had the opportunity, since I was feeling fine, I thought: “Why not?” Let’s bang a while over there.

After that you intend to do other fights?

Man, I’ve learned I should never say ‘never’. I don’t know, we’ll see. I’m feeling fine. In fact, I’m feeling great. My conditioning is better than these kids’, but it’s that same old thing… I’m not doing it for the money, I’m not doing it for the fame, that’s not it. I’m doing it because I feel like doing it. It’s complicated, it’s like an addiction, get it? I feel like doing it again, i started to feel it on my nerves again and my wife said: “Do your last one, just to say goodbye”. I say I din’t know, so let’s see (laughs).

How old are you now?

I’ll be 39 next Saturday. It’s not 39, it’s more like 3.9 (laughs).

Do you know your opponent? What do you know of his game?

I know him. He’s one of the most MMA famous athletes, he fought like 40 times. The guy is really experienced, but he hold more loses than wins, he comes from boxing and his Hispanic- American. Because he comes from boxing, it’ll be hard to knock him out. His fights usually goes to the judges round card decision, he’s hard to be taken down, but his ground game doesn’t seem to be very good.

What strategy will you use?

The tactic is that he’ll thing I’ll grab him, but I’ll punch him right on his face (laughs). When he thinks we’ll bang, I’ll bring him to my area, if God helps me.

Your pupil, Rafael Sapo, signed a contract with UFC. What is your expectation for his debut?

I told you, man. Sapo is very dedicated, he’s currently living in NY, and I go there when he has a fight to adjust few details. He’s well accessorized over there with Renzo Gracie, (Ricardo) Cachorrão, so he’s always ready. He’s very dedicated and focused. UFC is a complicated event because you can never know the level of your opponent. But I believe he has plenty conditions to make a good fight, he’s on his best phase ever. On his last fight, he made a great show and almost killed Travis (Lutter), he dominated and got a knockout on the first round. I have other pupils who are about to fight too… There’ll be Brazil Fight now in Belo Horizonte and six of my pupils will fight on it: there’s (Cristiano) Titi, Coelho, (Marcelo) Uirapuru, Thiago… We’ve set a great team, there’re some great foreigners there too, there’s a lightweight who has been unbeaten for four fights and maybe we’ll put him on WEC, so everything’s going just fine, thanks God. It’s their fault I’m in a good shape.

You have some MMA athletes and others who are focused on Jiu-Jitsu. How do you deal with these different trainings?

Man, my team has always been well structured, thanks God. I was never the guy who puts obstacles on people’s work. My main worry is about making a very structured team. I leave it in the hands of Marcelo, who is the General Coordinator, but there’s also Sérgio, Coelho, Caloquinha, Mauro… The guys make the trains perfect for the students. I come here about three times a year, so that’s great. It’s their merit too because they’re very dedicated, so it’s cool.

Now will you go to the United Stated or will you stay in Belo Horizonte training?

I came here a week ago and I’m feeling fine. The boys were impressed with my conditioning, and I’m feeling great. I’ll go to the United Stated because I have some exams to do for the Athletic Commission. On Texas, if you’re old, they tell you to do so many exams that it takes you like three days just getting examined (laughs). If God helps me, I’ll do it good. There this thing now, right? I have to pass this test, but I believe I can.

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Draculino – Back In Texas

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

Our trip to Brazil was a great experience, especially for my students making their first trip to the mother land! We got to do a lot of tough training with awesome fighters. All our guys had been exposed to the Brazilian culture, food, nature and way of life. Our very own Tomas Deschenes ( Tommy Gun) and Tyler Bossard got silver and bronze medals at the Rio Open and International of Masters at their divisons ( Blue Belt ultra Heavy and Black belt Heavy weight) and also our brothers from GBBH got several medals as well.
Last day was a perfect sunny day at world famous Barra Beach followed by Acai, what more could you ask for. I already can’t wait for the trip next year, you guys better start saving now, it was a trip you didn’t want to miss.

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Draculino – Interview with Connection Rio Podcast

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

Here is a really good interview with Connection Rio Podcast during our trip to Brazil.

Connection Rio Podcast #8

Vinicius Draculino talks debut in Strikeforce, Eddie Bravo and his academies in Brazil and more.

http://connectionrio.com/Connection_Rio_Podcast_D5O7.html

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Draculino – Training for Strikeforce in Brazil

Sunday, July 25th, 2010

Here is a video of Draculino training for Strikeforce while in Brazil. They are putting him through hell!

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Draculino – Thoughts on up coming Strikeforce MMA fight

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

It is good to feel the itch again to test myself on the ring. That was something dormant there, a sleeping dragon, that is alive again. I feel the hunger and I am training hard here in Brazil, in all elements and trying to stay healthy and injury free (it is not as easy as before). Trying to train while being a full time instructor is tuff, it is good technically because you are always experimenting and evolving. But to get in physical shape, you need to push yourself and train constantly. Although it is harder to find time to train, It is very rare that I don’t train or exercise myself every day of my life. I have good expectations for this fight and I’m in it to test myself and have fun, win or lose.

Tags: Draculino, Gracie Barra, MMA, Strikeforce
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Draculino – Train in Rio Trip

Monday, July 19th, 2010

1st two days in Belo Horizonte have been awesome. We went to the Mano a Mano MMA figghts last night with ringside seats. Today we did some sightseeing in Belo and went to a great churrascaria (all you can eat meat) place. Tomorrow we start hitting training hard. Standy by for pics and videos to be uploaded. This trip is A MUST for any serious jiu-jitsu practitioner who wants to visit the motherland. Randy Seawright (Owner of “Train in Rio”) has done an awesome job. You guys better start saving for the next trip and check out his site for news and info on the next trip.

http://www.traininrio.com/

Tags: Train in Rio
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Draculino – Draculino’s Seminar at Alberto Crane’s School

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

We had a wonderful turn out and the seminar was full of talented students who picked up the techniques quickly. It was my pleasure getting to meet so many people with the fire in their hearts for Jiu-Jitsu. 1st Alberto was a wonderful student, then he was a talented competitor and now, he is an incredible instructor!

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Spreading the Jiu Jitsu Gospel

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

Interview with “InsideBJJ”

Draculino – “My main goal is to spread the gospel of jiu-jitsu. I want to touch people’s lives in a way that jiu-jitsu touched mine. It changed my life for the best.”

InsideBJJ
You have a really accomplished career. You are a recognized competitor, coach to world champions, head instructor at Gracie Barra Houston, Texas, and you have very good instructional DVD’s. On top of that, you run a state of art website for online BJJ training. I also read you have a law degree and were a lawyer for a time. How did you get your start in jiu-jitsu? How did you end up where you are today?

Draculino
I began to train jiu-jitsu mainly because of surfing. It’s a funny thing, but many times in Brazil this happens. I used to surf a spot called Quebra-Mar and some of the Gracies were also surfing there. I was a neighbor and friend with Ryan, Ralph and Renzo. This is how I got hooked up with jiujitsu. I trained because of surfing. I never stopped studying in high school and the University. I graduated in Law, and I have a Lawyers License. The three things for me were surfing, training, and studying. After I got more serious with jiu-jitsu, the surfing was left behind and became a hobby and jiu-jitsu was full-time. I decided to live by teaching classes in jiu-jitsu but only after I got my diploma in law. After I got my lawyers license, I said, “I have my lawyers license, and now I’m going to do what I love, teaching, competing and fighting.” I moved to Belo Horizonte and the rest is history.

InsideBJJ
One of the things you bring to BJJ with your DVD’s and website is a unique methodology to how you teach techniques and chain them together in a particular progression. This is evident in your DVD’s and online training site. Do you feel this is lacking in traditional BJJ schools? What prompted you to pursue this approach to teaching BJJ?

Draculino
Many jiu-jitsu schools teach in a random way. They don’t have a structured curriculum; something that makes sense for the students to absorb the knowledge. At many schools, people are going to be good anyway. There are people who can train with the wall and get good. If you want to have a strong and accomplished team and your students to have good jiu-jitsu, as important as the technique is, you have to teach the techniques in a certain way. The progressive way is the way to do it. You disect the most important aspects of jiu-jitsu. For example, in a month, you’re going to have a main topic. Let’s say it’s the closed guard. For the closed guard, you’re going to have the basic approaches and techniques. From there, you’re going to evolve into more scenarios and situations and the student gets a deeper knowledge of all the areas of the guard. With every aspect of jiu-jitsu you can use this approach.

InsideBJJ
Do you have specific advice to people signed up to your website who do not have access to a local academy or may be at an academy but want supplemental training.

Draculino
They have to sign up for the daily curriculum on the website. The curriculum is as important as the technique. If they have the daily curriculum, they can print it out, review the strong points, and take it to the mats. It will help them tremendously.This allows them to train under a technical guide. I won’t say guidance because there’s nobody there as an instructor, but it’s a guide. If they drill and practice the techniques in the curriculum and train with each other, they will learn. Nothing replaces a really good live instructor, but if they can’t have one, the website is going to be the next best tool.

InsideBJJ
What is your approach to coaching elite level competitors like Romulo Barral and Samuel Braga? What do you try to provide to the athletes as a coach? How is it different from being an instructor if at all?

Draculino
The first thing is that all of students were taught by me from the time they didn’t know anything. They couldn’t even escape a headlock. The most important thing to build a champion is to give the student a really solid foundation. I always say the basics are the most important aspects of your training. Some people say you have to know the basics but I don’t agree with that. You have to master the basics. After you master the basics, everything gets easier. All of my students have a really strong foundation. We work in a progressive way that makes it really easy for you to produce great technicians. To be a strong high-level competitor, it depends more on the you [the athlete] than anybody else. You have to have a really good mindset for competition. You have to work hard on the physical conditioning. You have to train more than the average guy. You have to have determination. You have to learn defeat is going to be a learning process for you to get to the top one day. Having good instruction with a solid foundation is important, but it’s not going to work if the athlete doesn’t want it. The desire is the most important thing. Besides teaching the techniques and curriculum, I’m really good at putting a champion’s mindset in the athlete. I was a really successful athlete in my days. I competed at the highest level, so I have experience on the mat to tell them exactly what’s going to happen. It’s not going to be something where I say, “Hey, people say this is going to happen.” No, I was there. Anything that could possibly happen in a jiu-jitsu match has happened to me before. I think that experience is going to make them better than me. I always say my goal is to have my students better than me. With my experience and the technical knowledge, I think I’m achieving that because I have many of students who are better than me already.

InsideBJJ
One of the things I have noticed with some elite competitors such as Romulo Barral is the addition of a strength & conditioning coach. One of the axioms of jiu-jitsu is that strength is not as important as technique. Does this axiom hold true to competitors at the highest level or does strength & conditioning become a bigger factor?

Draculino
I agree completely. Yes, the technique is the most important thing. Without technique, you have nothing. Today, the techniques spread. Everybody has access to great techniques. The techniques are not like they used to be in the past when a couple of instructors or academies would have a technical level way above the others. You see great academies and athletes everywhere. It’s going to be other aspects that make the difference. One of them is the physical condition of the athletes. When you see two great technicians, there will be other aspects that will sway the balance of who will win. Sometimes, one guy has more stamina, is more flexible or has more strength. This will be a decisive factor in a tournament. Day by day, I think it’s true the mental aspect is the most important of all. I’m seeing great, great, great athletes that don’t have a good mindset to be a champion. Even though they do great at the school and are great athletes, they’re never going to get to the top. They don’t have the mindset of a champion. It’s going to be a mix between the technique, physical condition, and mental aspect. These are the three main things in a great competitor.

InsideBJJ
Speaking of Romulo who was injured in his match against Tarsis Humphreys at the 2010 World’s tournament this year. He was on pace to face Roger in the absolutes. Romulo stated that he believes he can beat anybody in any match. How do you think that match would’ve played out?

Draculino
Romulo is a great competitor. He has the mindset of a competitor. He believes in himself not in an arrogant way but in a good way. That mindset is needed for a competitor at a high level. I don’t know what would have happened with Roger and Romulo because the fight didn’t happen. Roger, no doubt, is the number one jiu-jitsu guy in the world right now. He has the best mindset and incredible physical conditioning. He’s big, tall and strong and he has great technique. It’s hard to beat all these aspects together. Romulo is also a beast. It’s hard for me to say what would happen. I really believe it would be an incredible match. I’m sure it’s going to happen again. My opinion is these two are the best jiu-jitsu guys in the world. Roger is number one and Romulo number two.

InsideBJJ
Xande Ribeiro criticized the style of BJJ at the 2010 World’s tournament this year. He specifically mentioned guys jumping to half-guard, playing the 50/50 and looking to win by advantage or sweep points at the end. What is your opinion of this style of jiujitsu?

Draculino
In a competition at a high level, everybody wants to get the medal. Everybody wants to win. There’s much strategy involved with that. Of course, everybody wants to see an open game and submissions. The reality is, if you need to stall a little bit because you’re ahead on points to be a world champion, you will do it. I don’t believe anyone who has a chance to be a world champion will say, “Oh no! My philosophy is that I never stall. I prefer to lose the World championship medal to play an open game and finish people.” I don’t believe that. That’s a bunch of crap. In what Xande said, I agree with him to a point. I also think the strategy is a really big part of winning the tournament. It’s not always the most technical who will win. Sometimes, the guy who competes better will win. I think stalling is always bad but you have to be ready to fight against stalling as well. You have to fight against adversity. If you lost because a guy played safe and strategic, I don’t think you should complain. You have to train a little harder and try to overcome the next time. That’s my opinion. The reality is different from what people say, “I never stall. I just go for broke. I just go for submissions.” Of course every one wants to see that, but that’s not what happens.

InsideBJJ
You’ve accomplished so much in the world of jiujitsu. What is next for you and what is the next evolution for BJJ?

Draculino
First, thank you for the kind words, but in life you always have to try to accomplish more. My main goal is to spread the gospel of jiu-jitsu. I want to touch people’s lives in a way that jiu-jitsu touched mine. It changed my life for the best. I strongly believe jiu-jitsu changes everybody’s life for the best. I’m not saying it’s going to create thousands of great competitors, World champions or UFC champions. I just want to help build a community with healthy people who have a good mindset. They know how to defend themselves and their loved ones. I want to expand and show as many people as I can how jiu-jitsu can change your life for the best. I really believe this. If in this process, I make World champions and have a fight here or there for myself because I’m not retired yet, it’s going to be a bonus. My main concern right now is to stay with the work I’m doing in America and Brazil with Gracie Barra and Master Carlos Gracie, Jr. He’s the revolutionary in jiu-jitsu – not just in competition but in putting jiu-jitsu on the next step. He was the guy. If I can grow my school and expose jiu-jitsu all over the world and change lives for the best, I’ll die happy. That’s the biggest goal I have now.

Original Link: (Check out their website, they have some really cool stuff)
http://insidebjj.com/2010/07/13/draculino/

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Draculino – Thoughts on Brock Lesnar

Saturday, July 10th, 2010

I would have loved to of seen Carwin win, he is a great fighter and very humble. In the beginning, I myself had my doubts about Lesnar, but this was a fight that showed that showed me Lesnar IS the real deal. You can’t argue it anymore. Like him or not, he showed the world technique, a lot of heart and a big amount of physical strength. The giant is learning BJJ…..it will be really hard to stop him now.

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Draculino – Motivation after 25 Years of Jiu-Jitsu

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

Its hard not to be motivated? I have the best life in the world! My entire life revolves around the loves of my life. God, my family and Jiu-Jitsu. I work hard every day and night, but I work hard doing what I love. I have my bare feet on the mat, I’m surrounded by friends and get to help people change their lives for the best. And if that’s not enough everyday I can train and exercise my body and mind in the process. When I come home, I try to look for fights pn TV to watch and go to the internet to search for BJJ news. BJJ is a big part of my life and it will always be, so thank God it is my job!