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As far as competition is concerned right now, I think the best guy is probably Rafa Mendes, closely followed by Marcelo. As for the GOAT, Roger Gracie takes it in my book. There are too many great competitors and practitioners for it to be a lock for any one guy though, especially with some of the up and comers. I believe Leandro Lo and Buchecha will be up in that legendary group one day as well.
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all of you guys posts are great, but i feel the question i was presenting was a bit misconstrued. im not really talking about accomplishments in competition. im more talking about these people jiu jitsu. what about their jiu jitsu puts them on that level. when you watch these people, what makes you just say wow.
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Well if you put it like that, hmmm....
Jiu jitsu is an art. You take a group of people and show them the basics of any art, and you'll see each student go off on their own tangent and run with what they've learned, what they know, and what they are capable of doing. This can't be taught, but is within us. People can mimick it, but even still they make it their own and add more to it.
So as an artist, when I see someone pull off a jiu jitsu technique based on timing, flexibility, balance, or by force(completely rendering an opponent helpless), I say, "WHOA!!!! Did you see that?"
It's like they pulled it out of their asses, but they know what the pattern looks like and they know what they're capable of.
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