Maurição Gomes with Roger-Gracie at their Jiu-Jitsu school.
Celebrating his birthday yesterday, the red-and-black belt Mauricio Gomes received a congratulations call from GRACIEMAG.com with satisfaction and sense of humor.
“When we reach a certain age, we just celebrate the fact of being alive”, smiled the professor, one of the pioneers in teaching Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in England and Japan.
Maurição is in Rio nowadays, and didn’t celebrate his birthday in the gym training. He was in a rush, he said, but did not lose the opportunity to comment on the victory of his son, Roger Gracie, in Strikeforce.
“I liked it. It was only the first step in the great learning Roger will have from now on. I mean, he had to lose so much weight to fight. But you can’t wait for the last day to lose almost 10 kilos. He had to take 20 sauna sessions to hit 84kg. He can’t do that to his body”, said the professor.
“This dehydrating thing is crazy. At lunch, on the day of the fight, he already was 91kg. Reaching the third round, the body felt it all. He was lucky Keith Jardine was tired too, otherwise the fight would be over for Roger”, analyzes honestly.
“Now, Keith Jardine proved to be a tough one also on the ground. He’s opening his own Jiu-Jitsu gym in the US, he is a good black belt. He was slipping, so much blood and sweat there at the time, but he has proved his worth. In the end, Jardine only survived on the ground, but proved he’s tough”, said Reila Gracie’s ex-husband.
Before concluding, Maurição has shown his sense of humor. Upon knowing that the reporter is going to take a vacation in London, he said:
“Really? Roger is staying in the US until Lyoto Machida’s fight in the UFC, but then he’ll go back to London. Pay a visit at his school and get him squashed!” Laughing, he hung up the phone.
