What do you think of Travis Stevens? (USA JUDO)

I can't talk to the internal politics because I'm not based there or particularly clued up on it - but Judo in the US seems very fractured, and I've never heard anyone from the US say anything positive about any of their (is it three?) national governing bodies.

It seems there is a lot of anti-IJF sentiment in the US - but its interesting that sentiment doesn't seem to exist in other countries, even in places like the UK where Judo also seems to be dying a death, and unable to adapt to BJJs popularity or provide adequate support to its national level athletes - people in the UK don't blame the IJF for issues that are within the British Judo Associations remit - but it seems common to do so in the US.

In terms of the leg grab ban - I liked Judo better when leg grabs were there, but it is what it is. And if you put aside notions of what Judo is or should be, I think the current rules actually make for some interesting contests.
What a shame they didn't just create a freestyle and Greco-Roman division rather than Banning the grabbing of legs entirely

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is still riding the slingshot popularity off the first few UFC's and even though the sport hasn't produced much ever since it's more attractive to the public because it has a much lower impact especially as compared to extreme Impact Sports like Judo and wrestling.

I'm of the firm belief that if Judo was available alongside wrestling in the public school system it would have been popular in the United States especially as it has proven time and time again to draw more female competitors then either wrestling or any other combat sport in Scholastic history
 
What a shame they didn't just create a freestyle and Greco-Roman division rather than Banning the grabbing of legs entirely

They are never going to purposely divide Judo in two - nor would have have many any sense as the leg grab ban was specifically to help differentiate Judo from the Olympic wrestling styles.
 
You could say… judo chopped!

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If do right...no can defend.
 
so has this Deepfry guy but he’s still around
Maybe if he focused more on coaching rather than making obvious points about wrestling and bjj that anyone above blue belt equivalent knows… he’d have more of a angle to prove his expertise
 
Maybe if he focused more on coaching rather than making obvious points about wrestling and bjj that anyone above blue belt equivalent knows… he’d have more of a angle to prove his expertise

That’s a good point. A 90 degree point.
 
I think he was fortunate to get a weak draw at the Olympics. He isn't one of the best throwers - not even close, but succeeded where many judoka don't focus on: newaza.
 
I think he was fortunate to get a weak draw at the Olympics. He isn't one of the best throwers - not even close, but succeeded where many judoka don't focus on: newaza.


Watching him crush world guys with his over under passing was a thing of beauty.
 
I got my first black belt in Judo and loved the sport but had a hard time finding gyms after a couple moves and finally gravitated towards different styles, here I am a few decades later and my new training partner absolutely loves Judo so I dusted off my old gi and got back to it. After doing a little bit of research I found this character Travis Stevens and found his videos interesting until I ran across this where frankly he ends up just coming across like a car salesman looking for a job. I didn't think the IJF let people compete in other grappling Sports?






Great competitor but his personal and social skills are terrible. Dude never smiles or seems happy. He appears to think he knows it all.
 
1 - Travis is a bad ass
2 - Gracie didn't "fool" anyone. They simply took what they thought gave them the best option for victory and ran with it. Throwing people, who don't want to be thrown, takes a lot of power and crap tons of drilling ( I know I trained Judo for a long time as well ). Kimura was built like a freight train and trained like a mad scientist Lol. Gracie family perfected the ground work of judo and no one denies that.
3 - Super foot Wallace is an old man now who is still trying to be relevant in a karate style that's not. He could have challenged any of the Gracies at anytime to prove its a fluke but he didn't . In fact, he had a chance with Relson Gracie but for whatever reason decided not to ( smart on his part ). I am a fan of Super foot for what he did ,in his rule bound sport, but he is clearly not telling the truth in this video and for that.. I feel sorry for him.
 
1 - Travis is a bad ass
2 - Gracie didn't "fool" anyone. They simply took what they thought gave them the best option for victory and ran with it. Throwing people, who don't want to be thrown, takes a lot of power and crap tons of drilling ( I know I trained Judo for a long time as well ). Kimura was built like a freight train and trained like a mad scientist Lol. Gracie family perfected the ground work of judo and no one denies that.
3 - Super foot Wallace is an old man now who is still trying to be relevant in a karate style that's not. He could have challenged any of the Gracies at anytime to prove its a fluke but he didn't . In fact, he had a chance with Relson Gracie but for whatever reason decided not to ( smart on his part ). I am a fan of Super foot for what he did ,in his rule bound sport, but he is clearly not telling the truth in this video and for that.. I feel sorry for him.


You wanna know what also takes a lot of power and crap tons of drilling? Grappling. Fighting. In general.
 
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What a shame they didn't just create a freestyle and Greco-Roman division rather than Banning the grabbing of legs entirely

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is still riding the slingshot popularity off the first few UFC's and even though the sport hasn't produced much ever since it's more attractive to the public because it has a much lower impact especially as compared to extreme Impact Sports like Judo and wrestling.

I'm of the firm belief that if Judo was available alongside wrestling in the public school system it would have been popular in the United States especially as it has proven time and time again to draw more female competitors then either wrestling or any other combat sport in Scholastic history
I agree that judo wouid be way more popular if that were the case but I think Bjj is so far removed nowadays from Royce Gracie and Gracie BJJ that it’s popularity now is more just cause of how fun it is to train and the fact you can still see occasional subs in mma and particularly the UFC which the general public is most aware of . And like you said it’s way easier on body and imo it’s more fun to train . It’s more like human chess imo especially with the gi . The number of transitions is near endless , but granted most don’t have self defense applications. I’m 48 now . Brown belt . Have shit wrestling and judo . But I don’t compete anymore and have used Bjj effectively in street and in mental hospital job I had . I ha e lot if injuries and wouIdnt be doing judo and wrestling at my age now most likely .
 
He did mention that MMA doesn't pay all that well. Not at first anyway. If he is intelligent, do the math.

Besides, when your elite level on something else, you're too old for another something else.

He's a great for his position as it stands.

No Achilles, tho. Too late regardless.
 
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