Way back before Scramble was even a thing, before we would make it our mission to make the best jiu jitsu clothing and equipment in the world, we simply had a passion for jiu jitsu and grappling. When I was living in Japan, I knew that I wanted to show the world of Japanese fighters and Japanese MMA to my friends and contacts back home. To that end, I organised a whirlwind week in Tokyo where we visited some of the most famous fighters of the time and interviewed them and released them under the banner “The Grappling Dummy”, which was the name of my blog at the time.

Scramble was in such an early stage at that time that we had no money, and I am grateful to Manto for the help in getting this project off the ground.

For this week’s “From the Archives” video, check out our interview and short feature about Yuki Nakai. Nakai-sensei is perhaps most famous for his gutsy appearance in Choke, where he battled his way to the finals with Rickson Gracie. I did most of my training under the Paraestra banner, his organisation, and received my black belt from him earlier this year.

Enjoy!