Renzo Reflects on Pitbull's Success

Team Mixed Martial Arts is here to stay. That’s the message from New York Pitbull’s coach Renzo Gracie. Gracie’s Pitbulls all come from the his academy and are predominantly jiu-jitsu fighters. They defeated the Tokyo Sabres in the semi final. The Sabres have assembled a roster of stars from a variety of backgrounds. Speaking after his team won through to the International Fight League season final; Gracie emphasised the importance of building a team ethic.

“I do believe its important to train together. This is a team sport. Now I realize that. Even though we had to replace three guys most of the guys actually came in to train with us and spar with us with the exception of Tim Boetsch. He fought last Saturday and I called him Sunday”.

Gracie also told the post match press conference that fighting in New Jersey, close to the Pitbull's base, was important to them.

”Fighting at home is a different ballgame. That was my dream. Since I lived in Rio my dream was to walk into my hometown stadium and fight for my crowd at home. It never happened down there. It happened once in a small arena and we ended up in a riot… Finally, I've been living here for 11 years and I feel like this place is my home. To fight in front of my home crowd and see familiar faces and friends sitting around was unbelievable. I was in a state of ecstasy. I was really loving and enjoying this special moment”.

Team spirit and home advantage may be important, but the coach still sees jiu-jitsu skill as the key to success in MMA.

”I really believe jiu-jitsu is the main art for this sport. If you don't have good quality jiu-jitsu you can win a couple and you're going to lose a couple. One of the main examples of that was the first guy that actually fought for us Joe Sampieri. He's a Muay-Thai teacher.

Everytime we have a chance and we have a spot we bring him in. His jiu-jitsu is getting better but the moment he fought a good jiu-jitsu guy (Jason Palacios) he was choked right away. I really believe the base of MMA is jiu-jitsu…Jiu-jitsu is the spine of this sport. To us it's just another day in our business. To believe what we do is not MMA is not to believe in the sport at all. Now everyone is training jiu-jitsu. So you need to compliment the stuff. You need to increase your hands. You need to improve your takedowns. But I think jiu-jitsu is the most important. If you don't have that then don't step in there. You're going to get tapped right away”.

The New York Pitbulls will face the Quad City Silverbacks in the International Fight League: 2007 Team Championship on 20 September 2007.