Living in Santa Cruz, Calif., Chris Smith initially met a friend’s suggestion more than a decade ago that he come to Hilo with a shrug of his well-trained shoulders. ADVERTISING Living in Santa Cruz, Calif., Chris Smith initially met a
Living in Santa Cruz, Calif., Chris Smith initially met a friend’s suggestion more than a decade ago that he come to Hilo with a shrug of his well-trained shoulders.
But his “eh” eventually would turn to a “wow.”
He found a calling.
The Brazilian jiu jitsu professor’s friend was not only a student of Rudy Valentino, best known as BJ Penn’s trainer, but he also was persistent in talking up the evolution of martial arts on the Big Island.
“Once BJ came on to the scene, I said I’m going there,” Smith recalled. “I came and had no intention of starting a school here, it was just a vacation.
“When I got back to the mainland, I told my wife that something is happening there. There is a void that needs to be filled.”
He’s done that the past seven years by organizing the Battle of the Bay Jiu Jitsu Tournament, which gave Smith an opportunity to work up a good, healthy sweat Saturday at steamy Hilo Armory.
He would have preferred air conditioning, basketball and volleyball players would agree, and everyone could use more sponsors, but he cherishes his role as a Brazilian jiu jitsu ambassador on an island he says is enriched by the “Warrior spirit.”
“There being no (BJJ) tournaments when I first came here really surprised me since BJ is so famous and put the town on the map,” Smith said. “The start was a little rough, but now there are at least three or four legit competitions on the island.”
Smith is quick to point out that long before Penn was winning mixed martial arts titles in the UFC, one of his proudest accomplishments remains becoming the first non-Brazilian to win the black-belt division of the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship in 2000.
Smith already had a kitchen sink full of black belts – judo, Taekwondo, hapkido, kuk sool won – when he first got turned on to the discipline of Brazilian jiu jitsu, which centers on grappling and ground fighting.
He wasn’t alone back in 1993.
Royce Gracie didn’t just blow away the competition at UFC 1 when he used BJJ to submit brawlers and kickboxers, but he blew away many onlookers, effectively revolutionizing mixed martial arts.
“As soon as I saw (Royce) win with BJJ, I thought I had to do this,” Smith said. “I owned a martial arts school and I dived right in and started all over as a white belt.”
Originally training under the Gracie Family, Smith appreciates MMA for promoting BJJ as one of its key aspects, and he doesn’t doubt that many Big Island keiki take up the discipline with UFC aspirations.
But he emphasizes BJJ is the “gentle art.”
“Martial arts, fighting in general, is striking, when do I get to punch?” Smith said. “One of the best things about BJJ is we don’t need that.”
He said BJJ differentiates itself from other forms of jiu jitsu because it is ever-evolving.
The discipline also downplays the need for size and strength and favors attributes such as technique and gaining a mental edge as part of a “human chess game.”
Using “willpower” and “heart,” Ioane Palakiko of Kailua-Kona learned that lesson Saturday.
As one of the 80 participants at Battle of the Bay, Palakiko said he almost beat a competitor that outweighed him by 50 pounds before finishing second in the white belt open division.
A four-month practitioner of BJJ, Palakiko’s highlight was submitting an opponent with an americana (shoulder lock.)
“I’ve always wanted to try (BJJ), but I just didn’t have the guts to beat the barrier,” the 2006 Kealakehe High graduate said. “This is something that helps me stay in shape, keeps me disciplined and it humbles me more.”
Hilo’s James Chong wasn’t caught off-guard by the competition, he took second in the white belt II super heavyweight division, but he was surprised by the camaraderie at the tournament.
“I thought it would be more brutal and that nobody would care about the opponent,” Chong said. “It seemed like everybody was really humble and there was respect for everybody.”
Chong, a 2001 Hilo High graduate, has been training in Honomu for more than six months.
“It really strengthens my core,” he said. “I lift weights, but this is more of a workout.”
Smith trumpeted the level of competition at the seventh annual tournament as extremely high.
For six years he taught at a jiu jitsu school in Hilo, but ultimately he had to move back to Santa Cruz full-time because of family obligations.
The ohana spirit of the Big Island, however, will keep him coming back.
“I’m always blown away by the heart and determination of the people in Hawaii,” he said.
