Dave "Pee Wee" Herman: No Jiu-Jitsu For You!

Thursday, 16 June 2011 11:57

by Vic Torres Jr.

Note: Vic Torres Jr. is a new contributor to TheGARV.com and is an amateur MMA fighter and kickboxer. He and I train together at Team Renegade. Vic will be giving us his insights and unique perspective on all things MMA. Welcome aboard, Vic!

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Dave "Pee Wee" Herman, a 21-2 heavyweight fighter, made his UFC debut this past weekend in Vancouver at UFC 131. Herman was on the winning side of his fight, earning a TKO victory in the 2nd round. That impressive win was overshadowed by comments made by the man they call "Pee Wee".

"I honestly really don't think it does [work]," he told Ariel Helwani on the MMA News Hour. "If you have any knowledge at all of jiu-jitsu, it's just not going to work. If you literally have never heard of anything and have no idea what they're doing, OK, kind of like the first UFC, yeah jiu-jitsu works. It's kind of like trickery, basically. If you have any idea about any of the tricks, it's just not going to work, unless you're a complete idiot and fall for it."

Obviously, these comments didn't sit well with fans of BJJ and or MMA. Renzo Gracie, world class jiu-jitsu practitioner and MMA legend took some offense to Herman's comment. Saying on Twitter, "Who's Dave Herman ?".

Herman did try to back track a little on his comments a couple of days later. Saying, "Maybe I should re-phrase it and just say, jiu-jitsu doesn't work on me," he said.

He went on to say that he trains wrestling and grappling for fights but rarely jiu-jitsu. Herman said he is ready to face anyone the UFC puts in front of him. So does the UFC put him with a ground guy now?

What do you think GARVnation, is BJJ dead in MMA ?

Do you hope Herman gets tapped out in his next UFC fight ?

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Comments

#1 Guest 2011-06-16 12:13

Pee Wee tries too hard to be funny but he has skills.

#2 Guest 2011-06-16 12:13

Oh and BJJ is definitely not dead in MMA.

#3 Guest 2011-06-16 13:07

First off, i just dont like him because of his nickname "Pee Wee". In regards to jiu-jitsu 'not working" on him is false. I think jiu jitsu is tough to display in mma due to the rules and the way judges score. I dont necessarily think bjj is dead but i think it is confined and not respected the way wrestling is when u see someone on top laying n praying compared to someone who is very active off their back. I dont think it is understood how much offense can really be generated from a great jiu jitsu player working from their back. Pee Wee Herman loses by armbar in his next fight. Bert out

#4 Guest 2011-06-16 13:24

He is right in a sense. Obviously it does work. Once you practice submission defense the effectiveness of BJJ goes down significantly and clearly wrestling is the most helpful tool to win fights in MMA nowadays... However if you could only use one. Its prob BJJ. But if you are going to learn all areas and excel at only one... you pick wrestling. And thats how MMA is nowadays.

#5 Guest 2011-06-16 21:29

Do not feel obligated to choose. If the brief history of MMA has shown us anything, it is that the fighter who has the widest arsenal of disciplines and techniques will dominate the most. I don't want to be an excellent BJJ practioner. I want to be amazing at BJJ, American Boxing, Karate, Wrestling,Tae Kwondo, Krav Maga, Kung Fu, etc. The most important thing in MMA is to remember to respect all styles because each one has attributes that can imrove your game. By the way Dave Herman is full of it because I watched his fight against Michael Kita and he submitted Michael with an Oma Plata which was executed with near perfect BJJ technique.

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