Rickson Gracie: Choke [DVD]

Rickson Gracie "Choke" is more than just a fight video - it captures the anxiety, preparation, and visceral intensity behind the competitors as they prepare for competition. View at the Ultimate Fighting Championship with a much deeper background.The video captures the preparation for, and competition in Vale Tudo Japan 1995, a mixed martial arts competition where almost anything goes. ("Vale Tudo" is Portuguese for "Anything Goes", but the rules are not quite that extreme.)The video takes an in depth look at 3 of the participants.1 - Todd Hays is an all around gifted athlete, with a background in kickboxing. His mixture and fear are apparent as he attempts to use this event to pay for his Olympic bobsleading dreams.2 - Koichiro Kimura is a Japanese amateur shootfighting champion, who wants nothing more than to test himself against the best. You get to meet his parents, who are affraid he'll die in the ring.3 - Rickson Gracie is the defending champion, as well as the best of the famous Gracie family. It's no suprise that he gets the lion's share of the publicity.In addition to the gritty reality of the fighting, you're introduced to some humorous back scene footage: Rickson's desire for a belt in addition to a trophy brings some chuckles, as does his last minute desire to hit the restroom. A near blind Yuki Nakai is both valiant and funny when he screams, "Rickson, I'm coming for you!"If you're looking for a technique video, this is not it. If you're looking for 2 hours of fighting from the best guys out there today, again this is not the video. If you're looking to understand the mind of the fighter, in the context of the ring, this is the only DVD out there. I was rivited from start to finish.

This is an excellent DVD! Much better than I expected it to be. The production quality is excellent. The story gives a lot of insight into Rickson Gracie's approach to training; some insights that I didn't have before depsite the fact that I am familiar with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. There were also insights into the backgrounds, motivations, and training approaches of the other fighters as well. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the DVD and will likely watch it several times over.

CHOKE is a great introduction to Rickson Gracie & the Gracie Family along with the early history of Japanese MMA via the Japan Vale Tudo 1994 Tournament which was a forerunner of Bellator, K-1, King Of The Cage, Pride, and of course the UFC. You want to see how Brazilian Jiujitsu at its finest by one of its greatest practitioners RICKSON GRACIE then get this documentary!!

The film centers on the 1995 Vale Tudo World Fighting Championships in Tokyo. We see snapshots of the lives of three of the competitors -- Rickson Gracie (the defending champion), Todd Hays (an American kickboxer) and Koichiro Kimura. Although for fans of NHB (no hold barred) fighting the tournament itself is fun to watch, I think many viewers will appreciate this background. If you're a fan of MMA (mixed martial arts), you've probably seen lots of the action. But knowing a bit about what these competitors are like as himan beings, why they are there (there are some surprises on both points), gives context to the whole event and makes it much more engaging.The tournament itself features eight (8) fighters in a single elimination tournament. In addition to seeing the fights, we also see competitors back in the locker room, where the tension is palpable. The fights themselves are engaging. Fans of MMA will see that the sport has evolved, and these fighters show they have been students of the very early contests, but they are not as well-rounded as the fighters of today.If you have more than a casual interest in MMA, you will enjoy this film. If you are just looking for bloody brawls, get a tape of knockouts.

This video is very good from a couple of different view points. It shows the human side of the fighters and the reasons why they have chosen to fight. It shows the families and the concerns and support they have for the fighters. This video also shows how different styles of martial arts stack up to each other. In particular you can see how Rickson Gracie and Brazilian Jujitsu completely dominate the tournament. This is a very good video and I would recomend it to all martial artist.

RG is a bit of a mystery, and some asked why he didn't compete in the first UFC instead of Royce, could have been many reasons. My guess is that RG was sent to conquer Japan and Royce to USA. Great video, it really takes you inside the mind of a legend.MOPOP

I just started learning Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and think its a great and amazing fighting style, but this movie didn't really capture my interest at all. It could be that I just don't watch BJJ or MMA or whatever at all, but the fights were pretty short and mostly disappointing. I did see the general idea behind Gracie fighting style in action, which was good. However, to me (someone just starting to learn BJJ), this wasn't all that exciting. I didn't get to see a lot of moves, and many counters happening. Similarly, to someone who only likes martial arts enough to watch the occasional Jet Li movie...well, there's a reason that movies show striking martial artists rather than grapplers, its just more exciting, so this documentary wouldn't really appeal to those guys. And to people who do watch a lot of MMA and real fighting, I'd guess that watching UFC would be a lot more entertaining.However, I do think that this must be a more significant video for its "historical" value. My understanding is that BJJ wasn't well known back in 95 when this vale tude (or whatever its called -- no rules fighting) tournament happened. So for that reason Rickson must have been a big deal and something exciting at that point.Don't get me wrong, I think that guy is awesome, but the movie was no good. Good fighter does not equal good movie producer.