Gianni Grippo’s Frustrations With UFC BJJ Series
Jiu-Jitsu athlete Gianni Grippo recently made an appearance on the Grappler’s Perspective Podcast to talk about his time on the UFC BJJ series and his future plans.
When Grippo was asked about his experience on the show, he aired some frustrations he had with the show. His primary complaint was the language barrier with the coach of his team, Rerisson Gabriel.
Gianni expressed that he likes Gabriel as a person and he’s a talented grappler, but he couldn’t speak much language, which didn’t help with the cohesion of the team.
“I was definitely jealous after the show, watching Mikey, you know, be able to coach everyone. I think Gabriel was put in a pretty tough spot because, like, he could barely speak the language.”
“We didn’t really have the ability to be guided by anyone… just because there was the language barrier, which made it super difficult,”– Gianni Grippo.
Gianni also recalled what his teammate Kyvann told him after being picked by Gabriel.
“The look on your face when you got picked, it looked like you were being held hostage.”
Gabriel’s Difficult Position
As Gianni Grippo stated, none of this was Gabriel’s fault. The Brazilian champion was put in a tough situation as he was a last-minute replacement as a coach.
Originally, Gordon Ryan was supposed to be the coach opposite Mikey Musumeci, but he backed out due to his ongoing illness. Then Craig Jones was offered the spot, but Jones declined due to issues with the contract.
That left the UFC BJJ execs scrambling to find another coach, and they chose Rerisson. There were some fun matches during the series and during the first and second events, but not a game-changer like the execs claimed it would be.
Hopefully, they’ll continue learning and help get more eyes on the sport.
Watch the full podcast with Grippo below.
Bobby is martial artist for almost 20 years with a BJJ black belt under Professor Sergio Miranda. He is also a karate black and former combat sports athlete, who loves all things grappling.