Founding Father

I've never met Ido Pariente, but he is essentially the founding father of our Jiu-Jitsu class.  Before I started training at the dojo, Ido came to Lincoln from Israel to learn from Shihan.  He trained Karate and Judo while he was here, and he asked Shihan to focus on some groundwork with him.  Ido already had some BJJ training when he came here, and he combined all of that knowledge when he started teaching the very first Jiu-Jitsu class at our school, which has progressed into the one I now attend.

Ido was in Lincoln during the early days of the MMA scene, and a local bar used to hold amateur fights in which there were no weight classes and very few rules.  I've heard stories about how Ido would always win his fights, and how that would sometimes anger his larger opponents!  He's gone on to have a successful MMA career, and he was even a participant on The Ultimate Fighter Season 8, but he lost his first match: against the person who went on to win the whole thing.

Ido recently posted a picture on Facebook with a simple statement that I found to be uplifting.  I wanted to share those words from one of my Jiu-Jitsu founding fathers.

"Jiu Jitsu is a life style. Doesn't matter if you train twice a day or twice a week.  If you want to be a champion or just train for fun.  You decide what path to take in this life style.  And no matter what path you take, make sure it makes you happy. Train and smile. :-)"