Recently I ordered a Dragao Arm Lock Series Gi from www.mmagearpimp.com. When it was all said and done I believe it cost about $188 USD. I heard really good things about Dragao and of course I checked out www.jokerjitsu.com for reviews before making my decision. This will be a two part review. The second part will be after a month or so of rolling in it, so you all can see how its held up. For background I have a Koral Lite, an Atama Mundial #7 and a Koral MKM. I also have owned a Keiko Raca at one point. All of these pictures were taken after the Gi had been soaked in vinegar and washed through the rinse cycle twice then hung to dry. Little to no shrinking occurred.

My first impressions of the Gi when I first opened the package were I was surprised how light the Gi top was. Also that both the top and the bottom were pretty stiff and it was going to take a while to break them in. After trying it on I was pleasantly surprised at how snug it fit for an A2. I am currently not training for any competitions so I weight about 165 and I’m around 5 8′. My Atama fits so baggy it feels like I’m wearing a trash bag while training. The Dragao fits more like my Koral Lite which is an A1. Again this was a good thing and it didn’t shrink any after I washed it twice in cold water and air dried.

After rolling in it for the first time last night, I can say that the top softened up pretty fast and was comfortable to wear over a rashguard. The pants on the other hand are a bit suspect. They are good in terms of length, but they are a bit baggy around the waist. When I tie them there is a bit of balloon action going on. They are still stiff and I think it will take many washings before they will relax a bit. I’m still not sure I like them yet or not. They may be good for training, but not for competition. I’ll make sure I touch more on this in part 2 of the review. Now on to some pictures!

I hope everyone enjoyed the first part of this review. If anyone has any questions or needs any measurements, I would be happy to answer or assist.

OK so I’m pretty sure most of us out there knew that Damian Maia was going to have a tough fight on his hands at UFC 112 against Anderson Silva. I knew in fact that Maia was going to get beat up on the feet and that taking Silva to the ground was going to be hard. What I was not expecting was to have Silva show such disrespect for his opponent and then refuse to engage for 3 rounds. I by no means thought Anderson was going to just flop into Maia’s guard, I knew he would play it safe and keep the fight standing. What really bothered me was the things he was screaming at Damian and the disrespect a Jiu Jitsu blackbelt would show the art. Here are a few links to different stories about some of the things that Silva was screaming during their fight. Here and here I know Anderson doesn’t really use his Jiu Jitsu much, but for someone to hold a black belt in the art and then trash talk someone saying things like “why don’t you use your Jiu Jitsu now?” makes me think he doesn’t take his BJJ Black Belt seriously. I lost a lot of respect for him this last fight, but this is what bothered me the most. What are your thoughts not only on the fight, but his disrespect towards Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?