Joel Tudor wandered through his Del Mar home in search of a snack. After blending a big smoothie, he settled on a couch beneath gleaming surfboards resting on ceiling racks in the living room.

The former longboard world champion had just finished an intense morning jiu-jitsu practice, less than two weeks after placing second in his division at the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi World Championships in Carson near Los Angeles.

The inaugural martial arts Mundial tournament took place Dec. 15 at California State University Dominguez Hills for jiu-jitsu competitors who don't wear the traditional gi, a uniform consisting of pants, jacket and belt. No-gi students practice and compete wearing shorts and T-shirts.

Tudor, 31, celebrated in the surfing community for his graceful longboarding style, was nonchalant about his successful entry into a second competitive sport.

“It's nice to be able to jump into another sport and get into it,” Tudor said. “Although I guess most people tend to choose golf or something. People tend to look at you a little differently when you're involved in a martial art. It takes a different kind of commitment.”

Despite the difference in physical challenges involved in grappling compared with paddling into waves and maneuvering heavy surfboards, and Tudor's easygoing nature, friends say they're not surprised by his accomplishment in the highly competitive art.

“That lackadaisical, seemingly effortless style belies a really fierce competitive nature,” said Scott Hulet, editor of The Surfer's Journal magazine and a friend of Tudor's. “He's almost surreptitiously very competitive. And he's skinny, lightly built and lanky. That really helps with the angles and leverages of jiu-jitsu.”

The San Diego-born surfer began practicing jiu-jitsu five years ago, but said he's seen it throughout his life, especially when living on Oahu's North Shore and watching Hawaiian and Brazilian surfers there. Accustomed to the ocean's physical beatings that sometimes accompany serious surfing, the prospect of jiu-jitsu's bumps and bruises didn't faze him.

“I didn't mind the injury,” he said. “I've had a broken nose, torn both knees, tibia. But then I train more than the average person.”

 

 

Six days a week and sometimes daily, Tudor drives to the PB Fight Center in Pacific Beach to train with Rodrigo Medeiros, the Brazilian-born black-belt studio owner. Two-hour advanced classes include warm-up stretches, technique refinement drills and partner sparring for his BJJ Revolution team members, Medeiros said.

“Jiu-jitsu means 'gentle art,' so it's a martial art made so that a small person could defend against a big person,” Medeiros said. “Joel's not a big guy, not a muscle guy, he's actually very skinny. But he trains with guys double of his weight. He can train with anyone. With leverage and chokes, it doesn't matter how strong you are. Joel is a big example of that.”

Jiu-jitsu's roots extend to India, spreading along with Buddhism to Southeast Asia, China and Japan, according to the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation. Jiu-jitsu masters traveled the world teaching the art, which later took hold in Brazil. Much of the combat involves ground fighting, including holds, chokes and other techniques used to induce an opponent to “submit,” or surrender.

As with other martial arts, colored belts reflect jiu-jitsu mastery. Beginners wear white belts, swapping those out for blue, purple, brown and finally black. More than 100 black-belt jiu-jitsu masters live in California, Medeiros said. People often spend two to four years earning each promotion, but Tudor, a brown belt, advanced quickly, he said.

“He's a phenomenon for the time he's been training,” Medeiros said. “It was way easier because he was an athlete before. It's hard to coordinate the body and the waist and the hips, but he's a very talented learner.”

Tudor said he hasn't stepped away from surfing professionally but enjoys the different kinds of challenges jiu-jitsu presents.

“When you surf, there's no prediction because every wave is really different,” he said. “It's not a machine. You develop that mental capacity to adapt. Jiu-jitsu is like that because everything is constantly changing. But surfing is an escape, you get to go away and focus on stuff. You stare at the water. It's almost a meditation. In jiu-jitsu there's no meditation. If you stop for one second, you're caught.”

Although Denny Prokopos of the Los Angeles-based 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu team placed first in his division last month, Tudor said he'll continue to relish the prospect of facing down opponents in future competitions.

“It sure feels good to get them to give up,” he said. “But I just like doing this. I've tried yoga, Pilates, but this blows them all out.”