Ryan Hall on EBI

[Jason Mallory]

https://youtu.be/dfb6gguGgMc?t=2h22m49s

[Jason Mallory]

Earlier in the show Dillon Danis shared similar sentiments about EBI.

[Craig Murray]

Yeah he's one of the guys in the "you didn't earn the back" camp.

[Jason Mallory]

Yeah he's one of the guys in the "you didn't earn the back" camp.

Not earning the back is a legit point in the purest sense but as a competition format EBI Rules > IBJJF on many levels. I don't agree with the sentiment that EBI is not an elite competition. A number of IBJJF champions have competed at EBI including one of the Miyao twins and they have all lost.

[Justin A.]

Ryan Hall is not an artist so as expected he is biased against them. All of his arguments are hypocritical to things he has said in the past. How can you rail on about how great gary tonin and Jeff Glover are and then say EBI is not elite level competition?

[Aaron Gustaveson]

You dont earn the back, but both guys get a shot at it. How is that not fair?

[brianspinaltap]

Two wrongs don't make a right!

[Mike Nall]

Ryan Hall is not an artist so as expected he is biased against them. All of his arguments are hypocritical to things he has said in the past. How can you rail on about how great gary tonin and Jeff Glover are and then say EBI is not elite level competition?

He said there are elite competitors in it, he just said that in general the brackets are not as elite as ADCC for example. He's not wrong. That doesn't make it not high level. A Green Beret is not as elite as a Delta Force guy but that doesn't make it not impressive to be a Green Beret. EBI is a newer organization and is blowing up and getting better and better. It will become elite.

Also, it's important to know that Ryan Hall for years has been in the "I don't give a shit about entertainment" camp. EBI was made by Eddie Bravo to be entertaining for VIEWERS. For people to watch. Ryan Hall on record since at least 2011 has always talked about how he doesn't care if Jiu-Jitsu is exciting or not, and how he doesn't care if it's fun to watch or not. He does appreciate Eddie Bravo a lot and shouted him out recently.

He also went on to say that it's just his opinion and doesn't count for much. He's not in the grappling world anymore. He made his contributions both as a competitor and with 27 discs of DVDs that have helped a lot of people. He doesn't want us to care that much what he thinks about sub only or EBI. He's just a very blunt person and f he's asked a question he just gives his honest answer at the time. He's never painted himself to be some guru and it's hard to get him to do interviews at all.

As for some of his views being hypocritical. Sure. He changes his mind frequently and it's a common topic of his that he talks about. For example, for mounted triangles we was in favor of rolling to the back to finish them, then changed to saying you should always stay on top, then changed to saying it's fine to roll to your back again. He's open about these things and is always exploring what Jiu-Jitsu means to him. As such, he has a lot of fluid ideas that change frequently.

[Aaron Gustaveson]

Two wrongs don't make a right!

Seems you dont understand that expression. It refers to moral wrong doing. In this case, since the goal is fairness, in the context of an athletic contest, equal rules for the competitors do make "a right".

[Princess Guillotine]

I think he means that it rewards the guy who might otherwise be unable to get the back, or that the process of getting to the back takes primacy over just being there. I think that's a valid point, but it's also worth noting that Ryan's long been against 10th Planet style. I recall on his triangles DVD where he made a long digression to call rubber guard "garbage" because it didn't pin the near shoulder or something like that. But then in one of his TUF fights he was playing Williams Guard, so it's hard to know what he really thinks.