In 2003, Eddie Bravo pulled the biggest upset in submission grappling history at the time. Then a brown belt, Bravo tapped out the legendary Royler Gracie in the ADCC match in Brazil, the latter’s home country.
19 years later, the emotions from that match remain fresh, at least for Joe Rogan. The long-time UFC analyst looked back on that moment during a recent episode of his Joe Rogan Experience podcast with fellow comic Brian Simpson, and he wasn’t able to hold back emotions.
“We were talking about legs that could move like hands, that’s Eddie’s legs. He has crazy leg dexterity. He could put himself in a lotus position, (easy),” Rogan said.
“If you’re in his guard, you’re f—ked. And Royler didn’t know it. And he was in Eddie’s guard and Eddie just slapped that triangle on him and started pulling the head, and Royler tapped. And it was insane. I was crying. I’ll cry right now.”
Rogan, who got his submission grappling black belt under 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu in 2012, continues to celebrate that life-changing moment for his long-time friend.
“It changed his life. He was always this super talented guy,” Rogan said of Bravo. “He and I would talk about it. He would talk about all these jiu-jitsu wizards and all these people that were super talented. I go, ‘dude, you’re a f—ng wizard. You’re really f—ng good.’
“It was one of the best days of my life. It was amazing.”
Royler and Eddie went at it again at Metamoris 3 in 2014. Bravo had deep submission attempts, but with the submission only format, the match officiallyended in a draw after it went the full 20 minutes.
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