🥋 Paralyzed Student Awarded $46 Million

What up Flowrollers, it’s a great day to dojo storm the Aikido academy next door.

The majority of you thought that last week’s aggro kids coach did end up going too far:

I would be pretty surprised if anyone who voted otherwise is a parent. As a father, that video was tough to watch. Kids’ Jiu Jitsu should be a place of positivity. Completely agree with this Flowroller comment that it’s not just about winning, but how you do it:

Alright let’s get to it, slap-and-bump 👊🏻

THE MAIN EVENT 🚨

A San Diego court just awarded $46 million to a paralyzed Jiu Jitsu student from Del Mar Jiu-Jitsu club.

First things first, everyone feels horrible for the injured student. A catastrophic injury like this is scary and not something we would wish on our worst enemies. Let’s dig into what happened…

The initial “facts” of this story looked bad. The student was said to be a brand new white belt, and the black belt instructor he was rolling with “placed his entire bodyweight on Greener’s neck” resulting in complete paralysis of his extremities.

Rener Gracie even testified for the prosecution (reportedly earning over $100,000 for doing so) and the San Diego jury ruled in their favor with an absolutely massive $46 million judgment.

Eventually though, more facts started to come out including a video of the incident:

The professor tries a front roll back take, and the student turns his head at just the wrong moment resulting in a very awkward scorpion-esque movement with a ton of pressure on his neck. Horrifying.

The Jiu Jitsu community has been pretty split on this. I’ve seen plenty of high profile figures describe the injury as a freak accident, while others say that this move is just too risky to try under any circumstances.

Rener Gracie even posted a response to all the backlash he got for helping the prosecution with the case:

For what it’s worth, it sounds like the student was not “a total newbie in a beginner class.” He had wrestling experience and several years of Jiu Jitsu mat time (but was a white belt). Let’s hear what you all think…

Luckily the injured student does seem to be getting better (albeit after a long hard road of surgeries). Hopefully he makes a full recovery soon and the Jiu Jitsu community can put this terrible incident behind us.

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QUICK TAPS 📝

• How to lift weights for Jiu Jitsu longevity

• Chael Sonnen vs Craig Jones

• The B-Team’s new podcast “El Segundo” publishes its first episode

DEAL OF THE DAY 💰

Are you up to date on the latest buggy choke strategies? If not, you gotta pick up this daily deal from BJJ Fanatics. Learn buggy chokes from 10th Planet wizard Rene Sousa for just $38.50:

TECHNIQUE CORNER 🧠

ADDC breakout Giancarlo Bodoni has been on fire with his YouTube channel. He dropped a killer video yesterday with practical examples of how to chain attacks from the upper body ➡️ lower body ➡️ top position.

MEME SWEEP 🧹

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That’s a wrap. Go train!

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