Last Sunday, June 5, at Kron Gracie’s Los Angeles academy had a training session of a special sort.
Focusing on in-depth study of the 50/50 guard, the session gathered the likes of red-and-black belt Rickson Gracie, Jean Jacques Machado, Thomas Magno, and a guest with an open mind and steel-cast body: a Bruce Lee student now studying under the Machado brothers.
Dan Inosanto, with his undying thirst for learning and training, watched on as Rickson delved into guard studies, learning a trick or two from the master.
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Among those at the festivities was our thick-skinned photographer John Lamonica. “It was a great day, lots of old stories remembered. A bunch of it went over my head; I regret not having learned Portuguese yet,” says Lamonica. “When Rickson demonstrated one of his techniques to Sensei Danny Inosanto, it was truly magical. Through Inosanto, it seemed like Rickson and Bruce Lee connected spiritually.”
At the end of the training session Rickson fastened a red-and-black belt around his cousin Jean-Jacques Machado’s waist.
