“I got let go. I was fired.”
Those were the words of Kurt Osiander yesterday on the Grappling Central podcast when asked to clarify if he would be teaching at Ralph Gracie’s academy in San Francisco, an academy he had been teaching at for over twenty years.
Osiander wasn’t exactly clear as to why:
When I was in Asia, they kind of like threw somebody out who I f**king held for value, and a lot of people like…well, you can’t throw him with him, you know…
Later the interviewer, who knew Osiander and had been to his academy, talked about how Ralph wanted to clean up the school, which meant no shirtlessness or heavy metal. These two rules obviously didn’t jibe well with Kurt, who earlier joked about how he loved running around “partially-clad.”
Kurt described his falling out as a “bummer” and a “not a good falling out,” but one that could “be cool after a while.”
Fans of Kurt Osiander have no reason to despair, though, because the brash BJJ instructor is about to open his own academy in San Francisco’s Mission District, close to the Ralph Gracie academy where he used to teach. Kurt joked that you may be able to watch the Disney Channel on the ceiling.
You can listen to Kurt Osiander’s full interview with the Grappling Central podcast below. He starts talking about getting fired from Ralph Gracie’s gym around the 24:30 mark.
I feel bad for Kurt but this maybe something that he needed. He can make more money or as little as he wants. Politics exist in all martial arts and not just BJJ.
I competed against Kurt in the 2012 pan ams and found him to be a honorable man and unfortunately it sucks that he got shafted over politics. The politics of BJJ schools kill the art. I wish him well in his new school.