Originally from Curitiba Brazil (hometown of MMA legend Wanderlei Silva), Gui Cury is a 28-year-old Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt and BJJ Instructor. Already an accomplished grappler, Gui told me recently that he’s working hard with his teammates at KnuckleUp to add a slick striking game to his arsenal.

“When I first started competing as an amateur mixed martial artist I was strictly a

grappler. So in my head when I was going into my fights, I always felt like I had to

get a takedown. If I wasn’t able to get the fight to the ground, I didn’t know what else

to do. In MMA if you’re a one-trick pony, eventually your opponent will start to

prepare for that.

“But because I had good background in grappling it allowed me to spend a good bit

of time at KnuckleUp focusing solely on my striking and I’ve been getting more and

more comfortable with it. It makes the fight easier for me because I still like to go to

the ground and get a takedown and take my opponent to where my strengths are, but

if I don’t get the takedown the first time, if the guy escapes or something, I don’t have

to panic and feel that I have to get a takedown at all costs. I’ll be ok. I have enough

stand up ability to where I’ll be fine until I get him where I want him.”

This strategy paid dividends in Gui’s last match when he defeated Rusty Crowder on a nationally televised card. Gui explained how his newfound comfort with striking, plus his opponent’s tendency to get drawn into brawls opened the door for the high profile win.

“ …going into the fight with him, we knew that he had a tendency to brawl. He’s

one of those guys that if you hit him, he wants to hit you back and then you end up

brawling with him. This makes him open for takedowns, so I knew that he was

going to be expecting me to try and take him down so I didn’t want to do it too soon.

The whole game plan was to stand with him long enough to get him thinking that

we were striking, then when he started getting into his head that we were going to

brawl, I would take him down. So in the fight I would strike with him long enough

to get him concentrated on his striking and not as aware of his takedown defense and

whenever I saw him squaring up, I’d take him down. That’s basically the story of

the fight. We were able to do that for all three rounds.”

In addition to fighting, Gui is an instructor and personal trainer at KnuckleUp Fitness. He is available for both group classes and individual sessions.