I was at my jiu jitsu class tonight at Gazze Academy (Huntington Beach, CA) when a bunch of Chute Boxe guys came in to help Shogun get prepared for his fight this weekend.

Rudimar Fedrigo, Rafael Cordeiro, Cristiano Marcello, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Fabricio Werdum, and a few others were there practicing some grappling techniques. Everything revolved around preparing Shogun for possible fight scenarios.

Afterward we took some pictures and I got the chance to meet all of the guys a few times throughout the night. I will add some pictures to this post when they are sent to me.

I was impressed by how many guys came from Brazil to help prepare and support Shogun for this fight. On the other hand, it would have been nice if they needed another guy to roll with him, since I would have been willing.

Group pic of the boys from Brazil with my coach Paulo Gazze "Junior" (in red).
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v155/tellmestoriesk/gazzeacademypics002.jpg
Group pic with some of us non-pros.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v155/tellmestoriesk/gazzeacademypics005.jpg
Me and Shogun.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v155/tellmestoriesk/gazzeacademypicsshogun.jpg
Here's me and Werdum.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v155/tellmestoriesk/gazzeacademypicswerdum.jpg

awesome dude

damnnnnnnnn....thats pretty fuckin cool.

werdum looks uglier on a real camera. he looks like a damn neanderthal and makes you look like an infant.

Cool bro..Lucky for you. How are they like?

yeah i noticed that , werdum is huge

damnnnnnnnn....thats pretty fuckin cool.

werdum looks uglier on a real camera. he looks like a damn neanderthal and makes you look like an infant.

lol agreed.

tibby looks normal, its werdum that looks strange...

wtf lol

i thought you were big, if you are werdum is fucking huge

wtf lol

i thought you were big, if you are werdum is fucking huge
I am small (about 5'7" 145 pounds) but these guys were all bigger than I pictured them to be.

Cool bro..Lucky for you. How are they like?
They were all real cool. They acted humble and like they were grateful guests at our gym. After we took a group picture of them Rudimar called all of us non-pros to join the picture. And some of the brazillians that I'm not sure what their names are were always bowing and shaking hands with us respectfully throughout the night.

It was funny because at my gym there's a rule that if a higher belt steps on the mat the lower belts bow and shake his hand. So in the middle of my practice when all of them came on the mat everybody was happy to line up to do this with these guys. An easy way to get to meet some guys we are fans of.

Holy fuck Werdum looks big!

Awesome shit though.

I just added some more pictures. Hopefully I got the names right. Is that Rafael Cordeiro or not? I thought so but in the picture he looks different so if I'm wrong I'll edit that.

The kid in the yellow belt is in 8th grade and taps me out fairly easily. He's around 6 feet, 200 pounds and is going to be a monster. Does jiu jitsu everyday.

That was bad ass.

how old is 8th grade?

Fucking sweet, bro.

That is like a dream I have had.

wow

lol. 8th grade is 13

and that's fuckin awesome tba.

shogun looks slim and in great shape, especially compared to some recent interviews i had seen.

how old is 8th grade?

14

that shits pretty crazy, not too many people can say, i helped out with a part of shoguns training for this fight.

lol awesome shit... holy crap @ werdum haha

werdum makes shogun look like hes 5'8

ahhh so its werdum thats cro cops jiu jitsu instructor.

Very cool. Must have been fun.

I just added some more pictures. Hopefully I got the names right. Is that Rafael Cordeiro or not? I thought so but in the picture he looks different so if I'm wrong I'll edit that.
That's him.

exactly how tall is werdum, tibby? according to various mma sites it lists his height at 6'4... he looks way taller than shogun & i think hes around 6'1 or thereabouts...

looks like great times, thanks for sharing...

ahhh so its werdum thats cro cops jiu jitsu instructor.

was, i dont think they train together anymore, though i could be wrong...

exactly how tall is werdum, tibby? according to various mma sites it lists his height at 6'4... he looks way taller than shogun & i think hes around 6'1 or thereabouts...

looks like great times, thanks for sharing...
6'4" might be right. I would have guessed somewhere around 6'5".

And he looks normal in person. Not all weird and big headed like these guys are saying about the pic.

was, i dont think they train together anymore, though i could be wrong...
Xhale is saying that because I called Xhale on the way home and neither of us could remember Werdum's name and that was my hint to Xhale about who he was. We were both stumped what his name was for some reason.

6'4" might be right. I would have guessed somewhere around 6'5".

And he looks normal in person. Not all weird and big headed like these guys are saying about the pic.
if fabricio stood next to semmy hed prolly look normal

Xhale is saying that because I called Xhale on the way home and neither of us could remember Werdum's name and that was my hint to Xhale about who he was. We were both stumped what his name was for some reason.
ah oki, that happens a lot to me too... its right on the tip of your tongue, but you cant seem to rememory it...

how could you forget werdum vs arlovski? oh thats right, it was an über snooze fest... hahahhaa :smile:

i have him in my top 10 too ;)

Coolio... I wish I could of been there... Ricco comes to my gym every once in awhile but I haven't ever seen him... for a fat fuck he's very hard to find.

lucky

i have him in my top 10 too ;)

doh :owned:

Coolio... I wish I could of been there... Ricco comes to my gym every once in awhile but I haven't ever seen him... for a fat fuck he's very hard to find.

havent you seen his recent pics? riccos lost a lot of weight for his upcoming bout, pretty impressive considering how huge he was the last time i saw him fight... he mustve been like 300+ easily

so thats why shogun lost thanks :)

so thats why shogun lost thanks :)

hahaha

hahaha

lol:owned:

Don't laugh. It still hurts a little bit.

*********/direction=right>:wah:

That's awesome