The recent Joe Rogan Experience podcast featured MMA icon Mark Kerr. During the conversation, Kerr talked about his brief encounter with gi Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu that left him swearing off the traditional uniform forever.
During his training at the Beverly Hills Jiu-Jitsu Club in California, Mark Kerr had what can only be described as a humbling and eye-opening experience with Rigan Machado while wearing the gi. As Kerr recounted on the podcast, the experience was so overwhelming that it lasted mere minutes before he decided he was done with gi training permanently.
“So in Torrance when I trained with him there was like… there was one room, and then another room, and there was a door between them. And so he had half of his class kind of all stacked up in the door watching us train. And it was like five minutes with a gi and I look at Rigan and I just go, I ain’t never f**king wearing this thing again.”
The wrestling champion, who was used to dominating opponents through his elite grappling skills and physical superiority, found himself completely outmatched when Machado was able to utilize the gi as what Kerr described as “an extra set of hands.” The fabric provided grips and control options that Kerr had never encountered in his wrestling background.
“Rigan Machado, I’ve rolled with him, right? It was like giving him an extra set of hands,” Kerr explained. “It was like he was getting me in position. He would tie up an arm like with a gi and I’d be like, ‘Fuck.’ Now, now he’s got like… I’m like what the f**k, dude.”
The experience was so jarring for someone of Kerr’s caliber that he immediately removed the gi and handed it back, declaring he would never wear one again.
For a fighter who had built his reputation on being able to impose his will on opponents through superior wrestling and physical dominance, this was a new feeling.
