• Title: Kukuk 2 - BJJ A-Z
• Number of moves: 650
• Number of Tapes: 13 DVD
• Cost: $99 (I paid $285 back in the day)
• Level: Intermediate
• Moves per Dollar: $.15
• Rating: 3.5 Stars
• Year tape set was released: 1998
• Ordering Information: Call 1-800-458-5878 or or go to ultimateimports.com.

Technically, Craig and Renzo's tapes were far superior then their only competitor, Rorion Gracie. The Kukuk 1 tapes had a hell of a lot more moves and Kukuk himself had the "average Joe" appeal. Kukuk made you think, "hey if this guy can do it, so can I." For some time, Craig was at the top of the world. He had a monopoly on the market. Then a year or so later came the Pedro Carvalho tapes. This set crushed Kukuk in every area. Pedro showed unwatered down BJJ. It also made many wonder what kind of crap Kukuk was teaching on his tape set. It became apparent that something was not quite right. Either Kukuk did not know jack about BJJ or he were treating us like Mushrooms (you have heard it before, "Keep us in the dark and feed us on crap.") Either answer is not pleasant. I am now reasonably convinced that it was a combination of the two. Black belt in BJJ or not. Any way you look at it the Pedro tapes spelled the end of the early "Mushroomzoic Period" of BJJ tapes. The bar had been raised.

Then came rumors of money disputes. Next, Renzo did a very good set of videos without Craig. This of course was an indication that things may not be going so well between them. Finally, Renzo and Craig would split and sever affiliation with each other and Craig's original series disappeared from the market.

Now back to the present. The modern day can be termed the "A.S. Era." A.S. stands for "After Sperry." That would mean the previous era was the B.S. (Before Sperry) Era where all sorts of unrealistic moves roamed the earth and tape world. Here we are in 1999 and Kukuk has a new tape set and a new replacement for Renzo -Lowell Anderson. Other things have changed. Think about how many tape sets and moves have flooded the market. I think the only person who has not done a tape set is my mother and her tapes are set to be released early next year. J In short, Kukuk could not release his first tape set in this market. He would look like an idiot. I would be like showing up on the battlefield with a pointy stick to engage mechanized infantry. Too many wrong moves and too many moves that assume that your opponent is an idiot. So here we are, Kukuk has a new look and a new set of tapes. Kukuk has shed the kimono (and his hair) and seems to be on a new mission to be on top again of the tape market.

At 13 tapes this is the largest tape sets on the market. Also, 650 moves! It is very, very apparent that Kukuk was trying to conquer the video tape market. Kukuk was trying to create the tape set to end all tape sets. He went out to make the biggest tape set he could. The Godzilla of BJJ videos. He even adopted my moves per dollar system for his ads!!! Thanks for the compliment. I will take that as a tacit endorsement of my www site. The only problem is that while Kukuk spent so much time worrying about killing the competition, he kind of killed his tapes. In the end, the whole set has sort of a "rushed" feeling to it. It was like Craig was trying to beat the clock. Get it done, fast, fast, fast. It would be safe to say he was probably trying to save a few bucks on production and do as many moves as he could in as short a time frame as he could. Rewind button or not, this was a bad move. This is almost as bad a Panther doing exact opposite and dragging a single move out for five minutes. The details get left behind and the tapes suffer for it.

Kukuk is trying to accomplish too much too fast. Another big problem I see with this set is its overall lack of direction. It is just an overwhelming barrage of moves. Yes, Craig does do the moves by position, but that's about all you'll get. You will not learn how to fight using the "Kukuk System." You just get all of his moves smashed and mashed into 13 tapes. There are what I would call "pockets of clarity" where he does string some moves together nicely. These areas are the tape set at its best. He does for the most part give a brief explanation of why you might be doing a given move. Starting with tape one, The Guard, he just drops you in the guard and starts teaching armbars. That is it, no explanation of the position or anything. This will leave the beginner with no sense of direction or understanding of the position. Unlike Kukuk's first tape set, which is no longer for sale, this tape set is not for beginners. As far as I can tell, Kukuk 2 is not meant to build on or relate to the material in Kukuk 1.

However, my absolute biggest gripe with this tape set is his title "Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, A-Z." The ad just lists the title of the tapes (i.e. Takedowns). This being said, the takedown tape have not one BJJ move on them. Doh!! One would think that these tapes would cover BJJ. I don't know, call me silly. I put this tape in and Kukuk was no where to be found. In his place is Tetmoc Jonston "Yoko" Onn. This guy made one of the worst tape sets of all time called Advanced Techniques In Modern Combat Judo/Jujitsu and Sambo. Honestly! I shutter to think. Oh! The Humanity!!! For anyone who did not see his tape set, it had the third grade dance recital going on in the background. I laugh even thinking about it. He also referred to the North and South Position as the "69"postion. While accurate, this not a thought I want in my head when someone's pelvis is on my face. Hell you might as well have called the guard the "Missionary Position" and the Back Mount something like "The lonely night at the Turkish Prison Position." But I digress, this is a family oriented www page you know.

I am always willing to give a guy a second chance. In fact, Onn does a capable job teaching. Things are again very rushed and very Spartan in detail though. This tape and Onn's first tape set are not the place to learn Judo. There is one larger problem I need to mention. He is teaching JUDO! Hello, anyone home! If I wanted a Judo set of tapes I would go and get those. I am willing to guess that Onn was brought in to do these throws because Kukuk either does not know them or could not execute them with any credibility (a third possibility is a back injury awhile back). This is not a knock on Kukuk, he is a BJJ black belt and this is not BJJ. Why not teach Aikido and Monkey Kung-fu (and some Tae-Bo® while we are at it) on the tape set too. Both are fine arts, but neither art is BJJ. Let's play that Sesame Street game, "One of these things is not like the others." Then I get to the second takedown tape and Kukuk is gone again (he does make a brief appearance at the end). This time there is wrestler teaching wrestling takedowns. Again, BJJ is no where to be found. I am all for learning Judo throws and wrestling takedown. But to advertise, "BJJ from A to Z" and then give us wrestling and Judo with no BJJ takedown is a joke. At the very least tell us in the ad. If the ad for the tapes had given a description saying that Tetmoc will teach you his favorite Judo throws and John Giura will teach wrestling takedowns, I probably would not have a problem. People can then say "hey this is what I want" or they can say "what the hell is this doing on a BJJ tape set." Either way, both of the takedown tapes rip through the moves and give very little detail. This might be a good tape to refresh your recollection on move that you already know, but it definitely not the place to learn them for the first time.

On top of all of the problems here, there are more. Remember that this set is BJJ from A-Z. But, Kukuk really addresses sport BJJ as an after thought. Nearly everything here is without the Gi. You might be thinking that is just fine, "I really want Vale Tudo moves anyway." Wrong again! I could count on one hand how many times Kukuk addresses strikes and the realities of Vale Tudo fighting. There seems to be an unrealistic approach to all his groundwork. Most of his moves will leave you open to a barrage of punches, and anything else your opponent wants to dish out. Well then the question becomes, if this is not sport and its not Vale Tudo, then what the hell is this tape set. It falls into the nebulous world of "submission grappling." As far as I can figure, submission grappling is fighting with out a GI where your opponent does not strike you in any way. However, I don't think Kukuk meant to do a submission grappling tape set. I think he mean to do mainly a Vale Tudo tape set. The Sperry tapes have killed the Vale Tudo market in many ways. You can't go out there and do sport BJJ tapes without a Gi and call it Vale Tudo anymore. The B.S. Era has passed. Sperry kicked the crap out this whole idea. How many times does Sperry say "yea, I will get hit, but they won't be 100% punches." Everything is centered on minimizing the damage you take from punches, etc, and handing out as much damage as you can to your opponent.

I hate to say this, but Kukuk must not have known crap about BJJ when he made his first tape set. BJJ black belt or not. It appears Kukuk has learned just as much from Moreira, Pedro, Sperry, Ralph, and Carlson Jr's tapes as you and I have. This may sound funny, but the sad truth is on the new tape set. Kukuk teaches moves on the new set that he taught on the first tape set. Nothing wrong with this. However, he now teaches the move as it is taught on another tape set. This means he learned the move from the tape sets!!! Moreover, Kukuk in his shotgun approach to cranking the moves out, with little context, doesn't do the move justice. Thankfully, I can get the same BJJ training as Kukuk got by watching some of the better sets on the market. At times watching the Kukuk set was like watching the re-release of Star Wars. I sat through a movie I had seen at least a dozen time for about 6 minutes of new footage. It did not seem worth the effort.

Bottom line:
You have 650 moves on this tape set. That's a lot, no doubt about it. About 20% are new moves or small variations. That still is quite a few new moves. And in this 20% there are some nice moves. This set is not for beginners. More advanced practitioners can make some use out of this set by picking and choosing a move here and a variation there. For health reasons don't buy this tape set to learn Vale Tudo. Don't buy this set for BJJ takedowns. There are none on the set. Wrestling and Judo are great arts. When I want a tape on those arts I will by them. Overall you could do worse than this tape set. This tape set does win the category of being the biggest yet to date. Then again so did the "Titanic."

Tapes 1-4 - The Guard.
These tapes are a prime example of the overall lack of direction in this tape set. You would think that the first tape would be on takedowns. It never made sense to me that Kukuk 1 had its last tape cover takedowns. I would have thought they would have changed it for this tape set. However, what would a buyer think if Kukuk did not make his first full appearance until tape 3! Kukuk thrusts us right into the mix with Craig showing us an armbar from the guard. Although 99% of the moves are done without the Gi, none of these are street effective.

Tapes 5 and 6 - Across the Side.
Craig starts off with explaining the side control position and then goes into a barrage of moves. It's interesting to note that some of the techniques do look new. Many are old and have been seen before. But, some of the side control stuff looks suspiciously like Sperry's side control tape. It is funny to watch Craig and especially his partner try to pull off these same moves. They do not have anywhere near the smoothness or accuracy that Sperry displays when performing the same techniques. Also, Craig performs Sperry's Vale-Tudo techniques without the striking element!! Never bring a banana to a gunfight. Once again I was left to ask what this tape set was all about? Its 99% without the Kimono, but does not address strikes or defenses of strikes. You figure it out.

Tapes 7 and 8 - Back Position.
These tapes have some new and interesting moves. These two are the best tapes of the set. If you are thinking of getting one or two tapes to see if you would like them, get one of these two. Just a small point about how these tape blend reality and fantasy fighting, Kukuk is not wearing a Gi and his opponent is!! I guess if you go to tournaments and pick fights or if you can turn back the clock and enter UFC 1, this is the tape for you. This leaves Kukuk doing fancy escapes using his partners Gi for grip and his partner left without the same advantage. Overall, these tapes have a lot of counters and turnovers. They all could possibly be adapted to a sport situation.

Tapes 9 and 10 - Mounted Position.
These tapes are fairly solid. Most of the moves have all been seen on other tape sets before. Everything here is non-street type stuff. Strikes are not addressed.

Tapes 11 and 12 - Takedowns.
Hello! Is this a BJJ tape set? What was Kukuk thinking? He brings in a judo guy for the takedowns with the Gi. This was quite surprising. This obviously brings us back to his experience, or rather lack of it in sport competitions. He must have felt uncomfortable with takedowns so he handed this area over to a judo player. I hate to burst his bubble but Judo takedowns are not BJJ takedowns. Sure, some of them are similar. But, when you reach the black belt level of BJJ, you will see the vast majority of them are thrown out the window. Most Brazilians will not attempt throws. Judo players have tons of sacrifice throws they perform because they are not overly worried about where they or their opponent lands on the ground. This is because within a matter of moments, the ref will stand them back up again. In BJJ, the stand up game is highly intricate but in different ways. Where you end up on the ground is everything. Just look at a tournament from Brazil and then watch a Judo tournament.

Just when you think things can't get any worse, Craig brings in a wrestler for his without a Gi takedown tape. This is just plain stupid. What does without a Gi mean? It should mean "for the street," or "Vale-Tudo". This guy stands around and teaches the basics of wrestling. No BJJ. Never does this guy address punches or kicks. Moreover, the material is rushed through in a big way. I do recommend getting some wrestling tape. Just not this one. There is little detail and no context.

Tape 13 - Knee and Footlocks.
Besides the takedown tapes, which are an absolute joke, this is the worst tape of the bunch. Once again, just like Rorion Gracie in the advanced series, you can see that this is an area that Kukuk is not familiar with. All of these have been shown before. Kukuk adds nothing new.