Robert Drysdale MMA amateur debut a success

by MMAmania.com on Oct 23, 2008 5:02 PM EDT

Robert Drysdale -- the 2007 Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) Open Weight tournament winner -- tasted mixed martial arts victory for the first time ever over the weekend, submitting Josh Musick with a sweet-looking first round armbar at TUFF-N-UFF.

The event took place at The Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 17, marking the amateur debut in the sport for perhaps the most dangerous 205-pound Brazilian jiu-jitsu player on the planet today.

For about a decade Drysdale terrorized the international jiu-jitsu circuit, winning medals and finishing some of the best in the business (see Garcia, Marcelo among others). The American-born world champion recently returned to the United States from Brazil and settled back in to "Sin City," however, to prepare for a successful transition to mixed martial arts.

He’s off to a good start.

Drysdale can often be seen Wednesday nights on Spike TV, serving as an assistant coach for Frank Mir on this season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF). He also serves as the head Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor at X-treme Couture in Las Vegas.

Of course, while there he doubles as a student and a teacher. It’s hard not to pick up a thing or two about mixed martial arts at X-treme Couture when Randy Couture, Shawn Tompkins, Wanderlei Silva, Forrest Griffin and the rest of the insanely talented crew there are all milling around.

In fact, Mir, Silva, his boxing coach Skipper Kelp and several others were in his corner on fight night to ensure that Drysdale was prepared and ready to go, showing that everyone likes to associate with a winner.

Drysdale -- who already boasts aggressive jiu-jitsu that is well suited for MMA -- has a natural overhand right that he has been training tirelessly in the gym at all times to integrate into a wicked all-around arsenal.

With a high-powered MMA marketing and management agency run by one of the most powerful agents in the business, Dean Albrecht -- who also represents many of the best fighters in the world and top jiu-jitsu fighters including Demian Maia, Mir and Nate Marquardt among others -- behind him, Drysdale has all the important pieces required to becoming a star … again.

Check out the video of Drysdale's win over Musick after the jump.

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Comments

well..his ground game is amongst the best on the planet…and he`s with Extreme Couture..looks like he might have a great future in mma

by tex mex on Oct 23, 2008 5:20 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah, I think he’s only 27 or 28 yrs old too, so he’s got plenty of time to round out his game!

by LJ on Oct 23, 2008 5:24 PM EDT up reply actions

He has a very bright future. He is a terror on the ground

by john on Oct 23, 2008 5:41 PM EDT up reply actions

Drysdale get an amazing ground and he is the best coach in the world. He is oppening his own gyn at Las Vegas.. good for people that want have the best BJJ.

by Michelle on Oct 24, 2008 2:28 PM EDT up reply actions

Sloppy take down, but obviously he has some great ground skills. I wonder how he will progress on his feet though. I am pretty excited to see this guy out there.

by mike on Oct 23, 2008 5:30 PM EDT reply actions

take down was nice from what i saw. he lit him up with that overhand.

by Nokimono on Oct 23, 2008 7:40 PM EDT up reply actions

I agree with Nokimono. It was a good use of a strike to set it up and he got the takedown easily. The part I thought was kinda sloppy was his first mount attempt when he got caught in half guard. Everything else was really well done.

by GregC on Oct 23, 2008 8:34 PM EDT up reply actions

I agree Noki, the takedown looked clean… i liked taht as soon as it hit the mat, all the fans were like “its over!” hahaha, and it was!! This guy is a freak and he will be a beast in MMA sooner than later!

by 1-0 via Arm Triangle on Oct 23, 2008 10:53 PM EDT up reply actions

its alomst and unfair advantage in corner men lol, i wonder if the guy he beat went over and got all the coaches autographes

by ruan-fiy on Oct 23, 2008 5:31 PM EDT reply actions

god that girl is annoying.

by Amos on Oct 23, 2008 5:40 PM EDT reply actions

yea she sounds like a freak

by RoB on Oct 23, 2008 5:51 PM EDT up reply actions

Thank you! I thought I was the only one who noticed. She could make my ears bleed.

by naturalshadow on Oct 24, 2008 5:05 AM EDT up reply actions

Was “Sugarpie Honeybunch” his intro music? And that guy he fought looked like crap.

by JB on Oct 23, 2008 6:30 PM EDT reply actions

It was an amateur bout.

by mike on Oct 23, 2008 6:36 PM EDT up reply actions

The guy even has a great variation of the Umaplata he calls the drysdale stretch

by Bucho on Oct 23, 2008 6:38 PM EDT reply actions

Xtreme Couture is locking up some guys with serious pedigrees in martial arts. Drysdale, Jake Rosholt, Johny Hendricks. Not bad.

by Bill on Oct 23, 2008 6:38 PM EDT reply actions

Damn, i didn’t know that jake and johnny were with couture. I always thought they were with team takedown.

by NameNotRequired on Oct 23, 2008 7:52 PM EDT reply actions

he just turned 27, and he has a great future and I look forward to more Vegas events

by drysdale fan on Oct 23, 2008 8:33 PM EDT reply actions

Team Takedown is just their management company. They train with Xtreme Couture & Marc Laimon.

by Brian on Oct 23, 2008 8:56 PM EDT reply actions

I wanna see this dude embarrass people on TUF – but i doubt he’ll need the show to get a contract with Dana

by jerrolds on Oct 23, 2008 9:18 PM EDT reply actions

I don’t usually comment but i have to after last nights episode of TUF. I gotta say that i hope this dude is a lot more classy than Mir. Mir is a gret jits guy but seems to lack the honour aspect of it compared to Nogueira. Nog is pure class as well as the Spider. The way they handle themselves shows what great champs they are while Mir and the boys ooooh and aaaaah over punches like teens in gym class. It shows in peoples attitudes why they got into fighting to start with. Nog got into it for the competition. To see who can beat who and whose style is best. Mir admits he got into it because he liked “kicking people’s asses.” Just an observation. Hope this Drysdale guy isn’t a douche also.

by SpiderStyle on Oct 23, 2008 9:53 PM EDT reply actions

Roberbt Drysdale, expert in brazilian jiu-jitsu defeated his competetor easily. There was not much competition. Infact he is one of the best BJJ trainers in the world. He is running a brazilian jiu-jitsu training school in Las Vegas. The url is robertdrysdale.com

by lasvegasbrazilianjiujitsu on Apr 18, 2009 6:13 AM EDT reply actions

This fight was ruled NC if i am right… Drysdale did roll the guy but the time keeper screwed up… I think the rounds where 3minuts.. Drysdale won at like 3:18…

by Chris WElls on May 14, 2009 4:55 AM EDT reply actions