-Yes!
MURILO SANTANA: If you push me
away, then you're going to
lose the hips and you're
going to have to come
up on the leg grip.
OTTAVIA BOURDAIN: OK.
MURILO SANTANA: But it's better
to stay close and come
up on the back.
ANTHONY BOURDAIN: The joke
around the house is my
daughter will come charging at
me and suddenly punch me in
the stomach.
And I'll remind her that
rule is not daddy--
go hit momma, she has abs.
IGOR GRACIE: She trains
as hard as a
professional fighter.
She spends three, four
hours a day in here.
And then as she goes somewhere
else, she does conditioning,
she does yoga.
She does everything that a
professional fighter would do
for a professional fight.
OTTAVIA BOURDAIN: I want this
to be my livelihood.
It's what I want to do for
the rest of my life.
I wish there were more women
in Jiu-Jitsu with the fact
that women are now fighting
in the UFC.
More women are going to come
to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
And it's great, because it's
never really stick when you
fight with a man and then you
go compete with women.
Sometimes they try not to put
too much strength on you, but
they don't realize how women
actually, how tough they are.
I just love doing it.
I love the feeling of punching
and kicking.
And I was pretty good at it.
ANTHONY BOURDAIN: I think this
arrived first, then the mats.
Then our little friend
over here, the
moldering gis around.
She somewhere, somehow found
time to go to the gym and stay
in remarkable shape.
But I started to notice that
she was enjoying the gym.
She was enjoying kicking the
shit out of guys at the gym
particularly.
And it just started an
escalation into full MMA
training with an accent on
Jiu-Jitsu, at which point it
was pretty much becoming
a full-time job.
IGOR GRACIE: She's on the same
level as any other blue belt
in the United States
and the planet.
She went to Brazil as a white
belt and she beat a pretty
seasoned competitor
as a blue belt.
She at the time was a white
belt, she beat a blue belt.
And then on her last open she
won one and she lost one.
So she's getting up there.
OTTAVIA BOURDAIN: It's a
never-ending learning.
When you do kickboxing, you
learn how to punch, you learn
how to kick, throw knees and
elbows, and then you
perfection that.
But with Jiu-Jitsu, there
are new techniques
to learn every day.
You can make your
own techniques.
It's really mental, it's
what they say.
It's like chess for your body,
you really have to think.
It's really intellect.
It's not just physical.
ANTHONY BOURDAIN: I wrestled
a little in high school.
I did Judo.
I took Judo classes for a couple
of years when I was
like 13-14.
I get it.
I like watching it.
I understand why Ottavia
does it.
But at this point in my life,
I'm more about a life of
leisure during those moments
when I'm not working.
OTTAVIA BOURDAIN: I could have
been just taking my husband's
credit card and spend my days
at Barney's and do my nails
and do my hair.
But no, I need to be busy.
If I'm not busy, I'm
going insane.
ANTHONY BOURDAIN: I very much
like the idea that she can
pretty much beat the crap
out of anybody in
any bar I walk into.
Or certainly submit them if
they don't see it coming.
OTTAVIA BOURDAIN: I grew up in
Italy, in a small town of
2,000 people--
Manerva del Garda.
When I was a kid, I played
sports in school.
But I never done any kind
of martial arts.
I fell in love with
a Irish musician.
He got a contract in the US.
I decided to follow him here.
And my parents were like OK,
you're not going to get any
more money from us and so
you're on your own.
Do whatever you want, but
you're on your own.
Some friends of my ex-boyfriend
found me a job in
the restaurant business.
A couple of days after I got
here, I was already working.
So I started out as a hostess,
and I ended up
as a general manager.
The moment I started working
as a general manager, it
became 13-16 hours a day.
I started working at La Bernard
Inn, where I met Eric
Ripert who's the one who
eventually, years later,
introduced me to my husband.
So basically he knew how
much I was working.
He knew how much my husband
was traveling.
And he thought we would be like
the perfect match for a
one-night stand or here
and there because we
were both so busy.
And he had no idea we were
going to end up becoming
serious, getting married
and having a child.
He actually warned him.
He was like, she's crazy.
And he's like hello,
look at me.
But when Anthony went to Beirut
to shoot a show when
the war started, and they bombed
the airport and he was
stuck there and it was
really dramatic.
And when he finally came back,
that very same day that's when
we conceived our child.
Because we were like you know
what, life is so short.
I worked until my contractions
started, pretty much.
I was going around in
my high heels, up
and down greasy stairs.
Giving heart attacks to
everybody because I would fall
every five minutes.
I just couldn't stop.
So I had my baby shower at the
restaurant, and a few days
after I was in labor.
ANTHONY BOURDAIN: My daughter's
already into this.
She loves going to Gracie
Academy with her mom.
My daughter's six.
The day will come when little
Timmy in the next desk is
going to pull her hair.
And I like the idea that she'll
be able to fuck little
Timmy up pretty bad.
Jiu-Jitsu-wise, she's pretty
familiar with a lot of
principles.
I mean, they work on
arm bars together.
I'm very happy that my daughter
will be able to
defend herself and not
be inclined to take
any shit from boys.
And later, with that kind of
background, not be inclined to
take any shit from men
later in life.
So yeah, I'm very happy
about that.
IGOR GRACIE: Being a Jiu-Jitsu
instructor is the most
gratifying profession you can
have because you change
people's lives.
You see a guy walk in here with
no training and he's like
shy and no self-esteem.
And then after a few months of
training the guy, just by the
way he walks into
the door, he's a
totally different person.
NICK DIAZ: Do you live
out here now?
OTTAVIA BOURDAIN: No,
I live in New York.
NICK DIAZ: OK, great.
OTTAVIA BOURDAIN: I actually
did a seminar with your
brother a couple of weeks ago.
I started watching MMA fights,
especially UFC fights on TV.
But I never thought about
doing any wrestling or
Jiu-Jitsu, I just loved
watching it.
And then I remember going to the
Prudential Center for Gina
Carano's fight.
It was 2008.
And I was like whoa,
girls can do that.
It's great, it was really
inspiring, but I still was not
convinced about trying
groundwork myself.
And I tried and I loved it.
Even for the Muay Thai, this
is like my second house.
Although sometimes it feels
like it's my first house,
because I spend more time
here than my real house.
ANTHONY BOURDAIN: I'm
not afraid she's
going to get hurt.
A, because I'm confident
that she won't.
B, she doesn't really care.
She kind of likes it.
If she came home with a big
black eye I think she'd
complain, but she'd be walking
around feeling pretty cool.
IGOR GRACIE: Her strength is
definitely her athleticism.
She's very athletic, she's
strong, her cardio's good, she
can roll for over an
hour non-stop.
She's smart.
She picks up stuff
really well.
OTTAVIA BOURDAIN: I like
to be muscular.
My husband hates it.
But for me, a woman with a lot
of muscle is beautiful.
I like to have definition.
I like to have a six pack.
I like to have big
thunder thighs.
And I like to have a big neck,
and my husband hates it.
Because for some reason,
the first thing that
gets big is my neck.
And it's like, uh.
ANTHONY BOURDAIN: If I get in
a tussle with somebody, it
better be over in three or four
seconds or my prospects
are not good.
OTTAVIA BOURDAIN: Definitely
[INAUDIBLE]
my final goal will be opening
an academy affiliated,
obviously, with [INAUDIBLE]
Gracie, who is my inspiration
and role model.
I wake up and I'm restless.
When I come here, I'm
like bah, bah, bah!
And everybody's like OK, let's
get ready for Ottavia.
And I roll, roll, roll until
I can't take it anymore.
