So… I woke up on Thursday morning and saw my facebook newsfeed alight with the amazing antics of Erie Pennsylvania based Dan Swift. For anyone who doesn’t know, Dan is a legit BJJ black belt under Jonathan Stutzman (a black belt under Jorge Gurgel), and an actual former MMA fighter. This guy has participated in 56 professional fight (winning precisely 28 of them.) He was an active MMA fighter between 2000 and 2009, including bouts against Eddie Wineland, Heath Pedigo, Miguel Torres and Jeff Curran, and Roger Huerta. The guy has been around.
Dan decided to make a video the other day explaining why he believes that Chris Weidman shouldn’t be fighting and has less than a blue belt level in jiu jitsu given his inability to shake Luke Rockhold from mount. That’s right, you read that correctly.
What’s more, Dan’s main credential that he cites in his video is that he has “fought in over 200 street fights.” Knowing Dan, that number is as accurate as it is alarming. The guy has that affect on people. Ask anyone who knows him, including Dan, he’s a bit of a character.
What The Pennsylvania Hitman (his actual nickname) doesn’t take into account in his video is the level of grappling that both Weidman and Rockhold possess. If Luke Rockhold mounts you and is allowed to throw blows to your head, chances are you’re not getting out of there regardless of your level in BJJ. There are ways to escape mount, and mount is escapable, but the reality is Chris Weidman had already taken a substantial amount of punishment before it even got to that point.
Simply put, you can drill solutions to problems, but until you are faced with a specific problem you never really know how you’re going to handle it. Chris Weidman will likely come back with a better game plan and defenses in place to deal with the situation he faced should it arise again, but going the rout of an “ape on PCP” to quote Mr. Daniel Swift is probably not going to work against an opponent like Luke Rockhold.
Dan has already drawn the ire of some of the elite in the BJJ community including Tom Deblass who had this to say:
“What a joke. It’s funny I expected people that never been in a fight or no previous professional fighting or Grappling experience to bad mouth Weidman after the fight, there will always be people who run their mouth. What I didn’t expect was Jiu-Jitsu “black belts” with mma experience to be bad mouthing. Surely could Chris have done things differently? Absolutely. Is it wrong to give your opinion on how to make things better? Absolutely not. But do so with respect. This dude is implying weidman should have “quit fighting” because he didn’t escape Rockholds mount. Perhaps you forget Chris got hit a ton before that, he was exhausted, and Rockhold is a monster. Dan swift you wouldn’t last 2 minutes with Weidman or Rockhold.”
And recent EBI competitor, Ruben Alvarez who had this to say:
“I find it funny when people dudes keep record of how many street fights they been in? Like homie kill yourself for saying shit like that. I don’t even know how many fights in the street I’ve been in but I wouldn’t be proud of it or keep a record.”
We’ll see where this absolute delight goes over the course of the 2015 holiday season. From your favorite Jiu Jitsu Jew, Merry Christmas everyone!