What video would you show to someone to explain bjj?

Go ahead and answer the question in the title for me.  Please.  I came across this thread online and usually I zip right past it as it has been done before.  I have never really looked into the answers or replies.  For whatever reason, today when I saw it, I thought about it.  What video would I show to someone to try and explain the sport of choking and breaking?  I had it narrowed down to a couple of choices but then I saw one inside the Sherdog thread that made me change that list-o-mine.

What video would YOU show someone so that they got bjj?

The beauty of it, the severity of it, the awesomeness.  You’d have so many aspects that you should show, I am not sure a single bjj video could convey all of them.  We have the submissions of course.  And then the grind and dedication training bjj takes.  The hours of drilling techniques in order to become a world champion.  The friendships and sacrifices.  Weightcutting, being broke.  Why do people train bjj again?  Jesus, sounds fun.

Video to demonstrate BJJ to regular person? – Sherdog Mixed …

http://forums.sherdog.comTue, 25 Jun 2013 08:46:26 GMT

Had a black eye today from training and explained to the few people who asked it was from bjj. Then had to try and explain what bjj is and a couple asked me to send a video to see for themselves. I was thinking of the old …

And here is the video from youtube that made me change my mind about which to show someone:

What do you think?  Does the video above do a good job explaining what bjj is all about?  I’d say yes and no.  For some of it, I can appreciate the still shots.  But to constantly show a brief action video and then go back to the stills is kind of annoying.  I really like the girl staredown at like 1:10, forehead to nose or whatever.  Intensity.

Can you guess which video I chose?  The one that I think exemplifies what bjj is all about?  The weaker, smaller, more frail, barely able to even beat their own heart wussy beating the big bad man.  Marcelo Garcia against former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez.  Probably a 175 lb man up against a 250 lb man.  And Ricco, a pretty badass American wrestler, was one of the first people to ever tap a Nogueria in a grappling competition (knee bar.)  For Marcelo to perform like he did, kind of exemplifies the purpose of bjj to me.  Size doesn’t matter.  Heart does.  Will does.  Garcia just waits for his moment.  It is a long video, maybe even 3 parts, but it is worth the watch.  here is the first part:

If you had to:

What video would you show someone to sell them on bjj?  Would the video you show them vary depending on the type of person they are?  Maybe you’ve got a friend who’s really into fighting, you’d show them a violent bjj match right?  Or maybe your friend is an artist, you’d show them a moving picture from the youtube that displayed the beauty of bjj right?

How about this?  What is it that you do?  Tell me in the comments below.  For example, do you dance?  What dance video would you show someone to try and demonstrate dance?  Perhaps you wrestle gators or hang out in saunas, what then?  So tell me what it is that you do, unless you want to use bjj, and what video would be your primary weapon of conversion?

Until next time my friends.

What video would you show to someone to explain bjj?

Latest News from the BJJ and MMA Fronts - TLI, Credeur, & More

Hello there. What is cooking? A bunch of stuff has been going on as far as news goes in the world of fighting this last week or so. In the bjj world, a member of Lloyd Irvin’s camp is inexplicably making noise and drawing attention to himself and therefore the rest of them. Why? Also, some sort of tax charge that has been pending against LI got changed or adjusted to something more serious. The bjj police are crusading away. I haven’t been paying much attention to the tax portion of the sitch.

Oh TLI – when will you learn to just stay quiet?

I can’t say it was blowing over but the whole Lloyd Irvin deal was definitely dying down.  His team still competes, his gym probably ain’t doing so hot any longer due to the lowered memberships.

The big investigative threads on the big bjj forums were falling back from the front pages.  News of a change to his tax lien charges kind of made the rounds I think last week and you can check that out here I hope:

Lloyd Irvin hit with $1,000,000+ tax lien on Monday – Bloody Elbow

http://www.bloodyelbow.comWed, 19 Jun 2013 13:00:05 GMT

Lloyd Irvin‘s rocky year of 2013 continues with a judgement for the United States of America in the amount of a $1021440.68 tax lien on June 17.

Like I wrote above, I have not been following the tax stuff closely.  He built a house of cards financially, it came crashing down.  It did sound like a pyramid/marketing/ponzi scheme.  My opinion of that stuff is this though – if you are gullible enough to fall for something like that, as in get into it thinking you will make money, with integrity, you deserve whatever you get when you don’t.

But that’s not all.  This wasn’t even the big news regarding TLI.  This week one of his henchmen, Marcos Avellan I believe, filed a defamation suit against multiple parties.

Avellan claims defamation

First off, let me say I have never liked this guy.  Ever.  Even before this whole crazy world of fighting and bjj descended upon us, I felt like Marcos rode the coattails of success from his brother David.  I think.

A while ago, maybe like 18-24 months ago, an Avellan came out with this revolutionary new defense system (I’m not giving it the glory of mention.)  A few of us pooped on it and the marketing tactics used to try and sell it online and well, we got pooped on for speaking our minds.

What up now?  Now look.  It was an awful system sold on the scarcity hype simply designed to get you to think you had to have it to get a step ahead.  Whatever was wrong with it, it all seemed slimy.  With no actual interaction, I got the impression Marcos Avellan was unsavory.

He is now suing a few of his former cohorts which you can read about using the link.  I don’t know how I feel about them.  Wait, I feel like the defamation lawsuit is redonkulous.  But I don’t know how I feel about the former partners.  They knowingly got into bed with Marcos and the whole pyramid.  They were hoping to get that dollar.  Only when it started to crumble did these dudes bail.  There were a couple of bjj guys that left way ahead of time, in a mini-protest against the wrongdoings.  But not any of these 3.  Anyways, here’s the scoop:

Lloyd Irvin associate Marcos Avellan sues multiple parties for …

http://www.bloodyelbow.comMon, 24 Jun 2013 13:00:09 GMT

Marcos Avellan, the man who runs the Platinum Level of Lloyd Irvin’s MMA Millionaires program, has filed a lawsuit against Justin Garcia, Nakapan Phungephorn, Brandon Nunley and their businesses.

Tim Credeur has gone all redneck, Duck Dynasty on us.

Oh Timmy. What have you been doing with yer life? First though, am I missing something with that show, Duck Dynasty? I have yet to see it, hell I don’t even know what channel it’s on. Is this just the newest fad to pacify Americans? Think Honey Boo Boo, Paris Hilton. It’s almost like they decide and tell us who to pay attention to and for how long. Creepy.

Back to Credeur. He was a contestant on TUF 7 and that was where I was first exposed to him. I liked him and the way he brought it to fights. I guess you could say he was primarily a grappler being the first bjj black belt in the state of Louisiana. But his mma game evolved slighyl and he was usually willing to slug it out for a bit. He definitely had heart as well. AND he is ex-Navy. Giddy up. Navy guys seem to make great fighters. Just sayin’.

And here is the latest skinny on Credeur – drug and gun charges. A man after my own heart. Always a pirate I guess.

UFC Vet Tim Credeur Turns Himself In on Warrant for Drug and …

http://www.mmaweekly.comMon, 24 Jun 2013 22:46:12 GMT

UFC veteran Tim Credeur was taken into custody on Monday in Lafayette, La. He turned himself in at the Louisiana County Correctional Center. Lafayette police on May 29 issued a warrant for Credeur’s arrest due to drug and …

Bjorn Rebney – Bellator CEO, where are you?

I have what I think is the best idea since I don’t know when, um probably fire? But I can’t share it with you. I have to use this idea to make myself rich after someone like Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney hears it and goes basically – “Damn. Here’s $500,000, let’s make it happen.”

They’re just ideas centered around the way the mma game is trained. That is all Ima gonna say. Mario voice.

Someone put him in touch with me please. One of you must rub elbows with him, knowwhatimsayin. No, seriously though, give him my number.

Questions for You

So what have you been up to?  Training and unable to keep up with this crazy news?  What do you think about TLI?  Make up an account and leave an anonymous comment.

Latest News from the BJJ and MMA Fronts - TLI, Credeur, & More

BJJ Lineage - who I got my belts from

How important is bjj lineage to you?  Is it at all?  I think maintaining a record of bjj lineage, like we already do, is crucial in order to maintain sport integrity.  One of the biggest fears in the bjj world is that our fighting sport will follow in the footsteps of karate and taekwondo and soon we will see 18th degree red belts opening schools in the mall.  After that, any belt you’ve earned will basically be meaningless.  Kind of like when you tell someone you have a blue belt in bjj and they respond by telling you their 8 year old niece has a black belt in karate.

14 out of 27 Pole Dancers Prefer Men That Know Their BJJ Lineage!

Believe it.  Both pole AND exotic dancers are all about men that know their bjj lineage.  The statistics do not lie.

Why do I think bjj lineage is important?

I think it is important because I know for a fact where my bjj roots come from.  If I asked you about your bjj lineage and you shared it with me, instantly, internally of course, I would process that information.  Yes – I would judge you.  But the cool thing about knowing the different trees of bjj is that the criteria or judging is all very similar and comparable.  If you are a blue belt under Roger Gracie, you probably have a very similar skill set to that of a Renzo Gracie blue belt.

Some of the baddest men on the planet.

If I walk into a gym that I don’t go to like on vacation, if I see a blue belt, I should roughly be able to judge his skill set.  That is just one cool thing about enforcing bjj lineage (and outing frauds.)  I know that if I ask someone who they got their ‘x’ belt from and they stutter or reply with “oh this guy got his in Brazil, can’t recall his name, but he went to a seminar…”  Yeah, your belt carries less weight until we roll, lol.

I don’t know why, I just love looking at the different paths that show all of the different branches of the bjj tree.  We basically all come from the same few people.  It is sort of like how blue eyed people are all related by a common ancestor.  When it comes to bjj lineage, it is almost exactly the same.

Here is a cool and very confusing bjj tree.  This one only includes Maeda but that covers most of us probably.  You can easily see if your instructor is on there by scrolling around.  Some sites, like OTM, even allow you to submit your own info so that regardless of your belt color you can get listed in the bjj lineage database.  That’s pretty cool.  I think I joined and sent them my stuff right after I got my blue belt.

My BJJ Lineage

First my training history.  I started bjj in February 2007 right after moving down to Memphis, TN in December of 2006.  At that time, Memphis Judo & Jiu-Jitsu was in a place called the dungeon.  Concrete basement, no windows, a big old padded pole right in the middle of the mat.

Adriano Nasal – BTT Black Belt

The gym was a Brazilian Top Team affiliate headed up by Adriano Nasal Pereira.  He had gotten his black belt from Murilo Bustamante, former UFC champion.  Then we had 2 assistant instructors who were both brown belts, one of them, Joel Gingery, got his black from Nasal.  In March of 2008 I received my blue belt from Nasal, along with a certification from BTT.  I’d say about a year later Nasal moved on to bigger and better things out in California.

My bjj lineage at this point – Carlos Gracie —> Carlson Gracie —> Murilo Bustamante —> Adriano Nasal —> me.

What does that make me, 5 degrees from Maeda?  Damn son.

Shortly after that Memphis Judo & Jiu-Jitsu became a Marcelo Garcia affiliate.  Pretty badass right?  This part gets kind of hazy, sort of.  I believe Joel received a stripe on his black belt from Marcelo, I do not know if that makes him you know, a part of that lineage or what.  I say it does because Marcelo has rolled with him and given him the stripe.  It may even be more stripes by now.  Plus that other brown belt instructor I mentioned above, Alexandre Meadows, was one of the 1st two people to ever get a black belt from Marcelo.  The other was his day-to-day training partner.  Now that is really bad ass.

Soon after that is when I got my purple belt.  June of 2011 I think.  At this point I imagine my bjj lineage would shift but I have no idea.  I really do enjoy claiming both.  The Carlson and BTT side because they were bad ass fighters but also the Marcelo Garcia side because he is probably the best grappler of the last 5-10 years aside from Roger Gracie.

My lineage now – Helio Gracie —> Rolls Gracie —> Romero Cavalcanti —> Fabio Gurgel —> Marcelo Garcia —> Gingery & Meadows —> me.

And if you’re late to the party and don’t know who Rolls Gracie is, allegedly he was actually the best of the Gracie family.  He dies in a hang gliding accident of all things so who knows what could’ve been.  Here is a video that recently surfaced of Rolls training with Rickson.  This hadn’t been seen by us until maybe 2 months ago.  Up until this point, Rickson had been almost of mythical status.  He was 400-0.  As you can see from the video, Rolls controls the pace.  I will say though that Rickson appears to be quite a young man in the video.  Look at all them little Gracie’s walking around.

 

So you should be able to tell why bjj lineage is so important to me.  I don’t want our martial art to follow in the same path as others and within 10-20 years be meaningless.  The mats don’t lie and when you tie that belt around your waist and step onto that mat, you had better be ready to demonstrate that you earned that mofo.  I know my purple belt means something.  If I visit Hawaii and go train with Limao, he know what my purple roughly means.  If I go drive to Alabama for whatever crazy reason and train somewhere, that purple means something.

What do you think?

BJJ Lineage - who I got my belts from

Jiu-Jitsu: Its Benefits As A Fighting Style and Way of Life

Jiu-Jitsu

Jiu-jitsu is a form of Japanese martial arts that originated in the 1500s . The fighting method is designed for close combat against an armed or armored opponent using only bare hands or a short weapon.

The name jiu-jitsu was derived from two Japanese words: ‘jiu’ and ‘jitsu’. The word ‘jiu’ means ‘gentle’ while ‘jitsu’ roughly means ‘art’ or ‘technique’. The name itself provides a general description of the method, which can be described as using the energy of the attacker to immobilize or neutralize him, instead of fighting directly against it.

Jiu-Jitsu and its History

A Japanese military tactician named Hisamori Takeuchi was credited as the founder of jiu-jitsu. This fighting style was invented out of necessity during feudal Japan. As the samurais at the time were wearing armor to protect themselves from strikes, Hisamori Takeuchi developed a method that focused more on body throws, joint locks and choking or strangling.

With its successes in the combat field the martial art gained popularity and spread throughout Japan. It became widely used in actual combat by samurais and was also used as a means for recreation during peace time.

In the early 1900s, its popularity spread to the west, and now its modern version is a popular Olympic event. It is also taught in military training school in different countries all over the world, a proof of its effectiveness in real combat situations. In many areas of the world, women also undergo jiu-jitsu training to protect themselves against rape and other forms of violence.

Jiu-jitsu is a fighting style that is continuing to evolve and and its popularity is rapidly expanding all over the world. It has also influenced the development of other forms of martial arts like judo, brazilian jiu-jitsu and aikido. Aside from its usefulness in combat, it also offers a lot of benefits as a sport.

Jiu-Jitsu – The Benefits of Learning

Self Defense – The system may be hundreds of years old, but the techniques will still be very applicable today in a wide range of situations when an individual has no other option but to fight.

Overall Fitness – Training in jiu-jitsu involves many fitness exercises that were designed to minimize the possibility of injuries during friendly matches or competitions. Doing the exercises will have the overall effect of improved fitness to practitioners.

Confidence – This martial art develops confidence in the body and mind of practitioners. Since they are subjected to the physical and mental rigors of training on a regular basis, practitioners become more confident that they can handle other challenges in life.

Mental Strength – Japanese philosophy co-exists with its martial arts. As such, relaxation and concentration techniques are integrated in training programs. This is an opportunity for students, not only to improve their physical prowess, but also their mental strength. Training in jiu-jitsu can lead to improved concentration, decision-making and stress management skills.

Enrolling in A Jiu-jitsu Training Program

A number of jiu-jitsu training schools are spread in major towns and cities. Club membership and training fees are usually available at reasonable prices. Training programs may also be designed for various age groups and various fitness levels.

When choosing where to enroll or attend a training program, the main thing to look for is compliance to government standards of safety, and an affiliation to international governing bodies. When these are verified, a student is on their way to reaping the benefits that jiu-jitsu has to offer.

Jiu-Jitsu: Its Benefits As A Fighting Style and Way of Life

Here is the much awaited TUF 16 episode 4 recap.  Last night not only did we get a new episode to watch but we also got treated to a night of free fights courtesy of Dana and Lorenzo.  No, they’re not mob boss extras from The Sopranos, they’re just mob bosses in Vegas.

Roy Nelson Makes His Fight Pick

I used to really like Roy Nelson.  I used to watch him way back when he was in the IFL.  I was shocked to see him become a contestant on an earlier TUF.  Now, not so much.

Dana White near the end of the episode said “you can’t fix stupid.”  I agree with him on that count but I’m not quite sure Nelson is that stupid.  He simply doesn’t make wise choices.

Rather than using judgment or fight analysis to choose who would best represent his team and have the best shot at winning, Nelson opted to cut straws and have the guy who got the shortest one simply pick who he wanted.  Brilliant.  This way whoever got lucky enough to draw the shortest straw could choose whoever he thought would offer his best odds of success.

This is great if you’re a fighter on the show because you can call out who you think you can for sure beat.  It’s not a great method to use if you’re a coach though.  If they keep using this method, whoever was unlucky enough to pick the longest straw will have to settle for whoever is left.  And if the fighters before him are smart or want to assure themselves a victory, they are going to choose the easiest fighters left, leaving the perceived toughest fighters until last.  Nelson should be making the best match-ups he can so his team can send the most fighters on to the next round.

Horrible tattoo guy Julian Lane picked the shortest straw.  Nelson also gave his fighters the choice of giving the straw to someone else or hand selecting your own opponent.  Lane chose his own opponent, another snafu by Nelson.

By letting Julian choose his own opponent, he was basically giving up control of the next fight pick to Julian.  Nelson was pinning the future of his team on whether or not Julian won.  And since Julian called out one of the top picks from the other team, probably to show how tough he was, and lost, Nelson just gave up fight pick control to Carwin.

I suspect that Lane is simply a very strong, musclebound dude that figures to win his fights based on strength rather than polished techniques.

Fighters Leave the House

The UFC allowed the fighters to leave the house to go to a private movie screening of the new Kevin James movie.  So they let the mma fighters leave the house to go watch an mma movie.  It’d be like letting the prisoners out to go watch Shawshank Redemption.

TUF 16 Episode 4 Recap - Fight Announcement

Julian Lane ended up picking I guess the #2 pick of Carwin’s team, Bristol Marunde.  Cool tidbit – if you have ever watched the World’s Strongest Man competitions, you may have seen a guy named Jesse Marunde.  Yep, brothers.

Later it was revealed to us that Marunde weighs more than a middleweight, 186, and has to cut 15 lbs in 24 hours.  Wise.  I think Marunde may think too highly of his own desire.  Simply wanting it so badly can’t compensate for a lack of fighting skills.  Now I’m not saying he doesn’t have the skillz to pay the billz, but right now he isn’t a world beater and I believe there are others in the house who will manhandle him.

TUF 16 Episode 4 Recap - Training Sessions

Team Nelson – Julian’s cardio was called into question.  Said he came in shape to fight two 5 minutes rounds.  When he was pressed to do more cardio with the rest of his team, Lane replied with “I can’t.”  What was that cute saying I used to have in the upper left corner of this site?  If you think you can’t you’re right.  He did do the extra cardio though on the aerodyne.

The sparring they did show did not look so hot.  Lane kept making the mistake of being content with being pressed up against the fence and would move in such a way that he kept staying right there.  Nelson tried to correct it.

Team Carwin – Marunde’s sparring looked good, very crisp.  This training looked a lot more mma focused than Nelson’s but I’m sure that was just editing.

Weigh-Ins

The only issue here was that 2 guys from Roy’s team both mentioned, not to us, that they didn’t think Marunde made weight.  They said that there was no deflection on the needle of the scale.  Of course Roy did not mention this to anyone until after the fight.  Ummm, what did you think was going to happen after the fight?  A no contest?  A redo?  Watch the footage and see if the needle moved?  You gotta bring that crap up right then and there as Dana pointed out.

TUF 16 Episode 4 Recap - Fight Day

Julian Lane
5’9″, 4-0, Mansfield , OH

Bristol Marunde
6’1″, 15-7, Las Vegas, NV

 

 

 

 

 

 

Round 1

No touch of gloves.  These two had a pretty intense staredown at the weigh-ins so there was not going to be any gentlemanly handshake at the start.

Marunde almost immediately had Lane up against the cage, his kryptonite in the training session.  For a big, beefy dude like Lane the grappling in this position really tires out your arms which makes throwing punches later much, much harder.

There was almost zero pummeling from the clinch against the cage.  Super frustrating to watch as a wrestler.  Marunde did land some nice knees from here.

Marunde closing out the round

Lane was putting everything into every punch he threw.  He looked tired by about halfway thorugh the round, and was unable to get off the cage very easily.

Lane finally did connect with some decent strikes and it looked like he hurt Marunde a little.  Marunde came out of these exchanges with a cut on the bridge of his nose.  Afterwards, Marunde looked a whole lot more tentative with his striking.

As the round closed, Julian was for sure tired and showed no octagon control.

I guess you’d have to give this round to Marunde.

Round 2

More heater fastballs with every punch from Lane.  So much so that he lost his own balance when whiffing one time and went down to a knee.  Then Lane didn’t throw any sort of strike for at least 30 seconds, probably more like a minute.

Observation – I feel like Marunde really, really, wanted this fight.  Until he got hit.  After that, neither one of them really wanted it.

Nelson’s voice is still hoarse and yet he was shouting explicit instructions to Lane who wouldn’t or couldn’t follow them.  That has got to be frustrating as crap for Nelson.

Conclusion

That was it.  Kind of a boring fight.  Not very good technique on display from either fighter.  Marunde won by decision 20-18.  After, Carwin said he would’ve liked to have seen more clinching.  Of course you would Shane.

Of course we got to see inside the locker rooms post fight.  In Nelson’s, Lane was in tears telling everyone about how he had nothing back home to go to.  That this was it.  Why the hell didn’t you fight like it then?

An old military saying, repeated often by my Dad while I was growing up, had to do with taking food and being wasteful.  You can take what you want but you had better want what you take.  For my Dad this meant taking only the food you wanted and that you could eat all of.  Once it was on your plate, it was yours.  If you didn’t eat it all that night for dinner, that was your breakfast, and lunch, and dinner again if need be.  Seriously.

Where was I?  Oh yeah.  I feel like Lane kind of wanted it (not badly enough) and sure as hell didn’t take it.

Until next week mis amigos.

To read the previous post, TUF 16 episode 3 recap, click here.

To read the next post in the series, TUF 16 episode 6, click here.  I skipped 5.

To go watch the episode at fights4all.com, click here.

TUF 16 Episode 4 Recap - pink mohawk have any bite?

Eddie Bravo - Gi vs. No Gi Lightning Rod, Musician, & 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu Founder

He has written such bjj books as Mastering the Twister, Jiu-Jitsu Unleashed, & Mastering the Rubber Guard.  He also is the man behind 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu, aspects of combat jiu-jitsu, and quite often finds himself as a main target in the gi vs. no gi debate.  Hopefully you'll learn a little bit more in this Eddie Bravo bio article.  And then you can take all that you learned to the bjj and mma forums and drop some knowledge bombs.

Bravo is an old man - lol

He's not much older than me but he is still my elder.  His real name is Edgar Cano and he was born in 1970.  Damn son, pushing 50, which is old by bjj standards.  I don't know about the other books but in Mastering the Twister, he inlcudes a really in depth personal biography about his life growing up.  If you want to find out how Bravo became the person he is, that is a great place to start.  Let me just say, his early life did not sound fun.

Got his BJJ Black Belt from...

Bravo received his black belt from well respected Jean-Jacques Machado, one of the old school pioneers that recently was a judge in Metamoris 2.  Eddie wrestled in high school for a little bit and this is where he first discovered the wrestling leg ride.  This leg ride is what he later used in coming up with the Twister.  In his own bio, he said that he was a big fan of martial arts growing up and then later after watching the early UFC's, he was blown away by the little skinny fellow, Royce Gracie, choking people out.  And so it began.

Not just a 1 trick pony

If you are basing your idea of Bravo only upon what you hear or read online, you might be shocked to learn how diverse he truly is.  And I don't mean just with bjj, but also with his entire life.  Many times people confuse his victory over Royler Gracie not only as a fluke but also as a part of his anti-bjj, no gi, rubber guard crusade.  This is so not true.  He caught Royler with a standard triangle at a time when Royler was seemingly unbeatable.  He was the Marcelo Garcia of the time.  Bravo is not anti-gi, he is pro-winning fights.

The Gi vs. No Gi Garbage

I conducted an interview with Bravo a few years ago and one of the questions, of course, I asked was the whole gi vs. no gi stuff you hear about him.  "So you hate the gi huh?"  "Umm, no."  Here is the scoop.  Again Bravo got his bjj black belt after training in the gi.  He was watching the UFC's and after a little while, the bjj guys weren't winning as much anymore.  He tried to figure out why and the only thing he could come up with was how the gi guys trained.  In mma, there are barely any clothes to grip onto.  In bjj, you have all of the collars, pant legs, sleeves, whatever.  He reasoned that the bjj guys were so used to grasping at those handles that when they weren't there, there were like fish out of water.  And this is what lead to the twister, rubber guard, and everything else he ridiculously named.  I dislike the technique names btw.  So Bravo is definitely not anti-gi. In fact, in most of the still shots from Mastering the Twister, he is wearing gi pants.  He says he does that for added friction though.

I kinda like his music...

More than bjj, I believe Bravo loves music.  It seems like since his teen years he has been surrounded by music and quite often, it seems like his focus on bjj is so focused so that he can be free with his music.  As though bjj can fund his passion for music.  He has had thousands of bands, maybe not thousands but several.  I have only really heard the some of the recent stuff and it kind of has a rap/rock/beat style to it.  His music does get a lot of flak online but I seriously do enjoy it.  Plus a lot of the chicks he gets to sing on there are hot, lol.  The dude who raps I think, Compella, is also the guy who competed in Bravo's first Combat Jiu-Jitsu event.

Combat Jiu-Jitsu

Combat jiu-jitsu is basically bjj with some limited striking while on the ground.  I think it's a great idea because if you're like me, you kind of want to test yourself in more of a fight than bjj provides but you don't want to get full force kicked in the grill.  Combat jiu-jitsu allows for this.  There is no striking on the feet, and I believe there are no elbows on the ground.  I think the first event was last year and I don't believe there has been another one which is too bad.  This old body at 40 was maybe considering it.

The Rubber Guard

You want to talk about a position that gets pooped on relentlessly?  Now me being a bjj practitioner and somewhat flexible, I can go for the rubber guard.  I don't hold it though, I use it to set up other positions.  Many fighters use it to hold on though which is where I think the frustration comes from.  Joe Rogan, one of his friends, used to mention it non-stop during UFC broadcasts.  The rubber guard, or more specifically, mission control, is used to keep the posture of your opponent down so that they can't posture up and drop bombs on your head with way more force.  Mission control is supposed to nullify those attacks in mma.  The bad thing is, we've never seen it work.  I know in bjj that if you go to mission control against a good opponent, your guard will get passed.  In mma, I think it can be more successful due to the punches but again, we haven't seen it yet.

Hopefully, you got a little more from this article than what you could get from the generic one over at wiki.  Eddie Bravo gets a ton of heat just because he didn't follow the conventional bjj path.  Well he did but then branched off only in the hopes of improving bjj for mma.  He wanted the bjj and grappling guys to be dominant again in mma.  First and foremost I think he is a musician at heart.  BJJ dude second.    However this musician tapped Royler Gracie.  Now - if any of this made you curious about Bravo, not in that way weirdo, or if you were on the fence about checking out his stuff, I do have a few articles up on my site.

One in particular that really helped out my game was Eddie Bravo's Mastering the Twister.  I've got a nice little review up for your enjoyment and then you can decide if you think it would help you.  Mastering the Twister has got a very simple flowchart so you can see what is available to you, it lays out options from mount which is awesome and my favorite part.  I used to not even go for mount anymore because I would lose position.  Like I wrote above it has an awesome biography that reveals some personal stuff.  Hope to see you over there.

Marcelo Garcia Guard Pass - Oldie but Goodie

Marcelo just giving me the single.

Check out this flashy Marcelo Garcia guard pass.

Actually when you break this Marcelo Garcia guard pass down into defined steps, and drill it, it’s really not that flashy.  It just looks like you are a jiu-jitsu master when you hit it.  You’ll get the ooh’s and aah’s but it really doesn’t require you to be acrobatic.  You just need the proper timing.

I will say that this pass can prove to be a bit difficult if your partner is able to just keep a little of a hook in.  It sure can be frustrating.  Don’t give up though.  You have to collapse those hooks and really commit to the movement.

Usually I post the video and then below I list the times in bold of key points that I want to make sure you guys pay attention to.  They are what I deem the most crucial parts of the move.

But for this Marcelo Garcia guard pass breakdown, I am just going to list the highlights.  I don’t know why but the format of this video is a little bit different.  He kind of talks us through it rather than taking us through fundamental steps.

Check out the 5:30 video.

Marcelo Garcia Guard Pass

6 key tips for you to nail this Marcelo Garcia guard pass

 

1) Stay Ahead of your Opponent

This is a fundamental concept that applies to all of bjj and grappling.  As soon as you are even or a step behind your partner, you are reacting rather than dictating.  You want to dictate and make them react to you.  It’s important for this  Marcelo Garcia guard pass because if you let them come all the way up and grab your leg, well now you have to react and deal with that before you try the guard pass.  This is the same with grips, underhooks, you name it.

2) Go for the Underhook

As soon as you can, or as soon as you notice your opponent coming in, get an underhook.  Now in this pass you are trying to hit it as a counter to his counter.  When your opponent feels that underhook coming, he may fall onto his back to keep you from getting it.  And now is when we start the pass.

3) Lock your Forearms Against his Body

Compress them against his ribs, nice and tight, with your elbows just at his hips.  Don’t let him have any space, that’s what he wants.  Forearms clamped against his sides, head down, and body tight.  You cannot let him come back up and start working his hooks.

4) Collapse the Hooks

Walk your knees towards his butt.  This collapses the hooks and makes them almost useless.  Why?  Physics, engineering, and structure!  His levers are all bent and weak.  The tighter your knees and elbows are the less he can do.

5) Hit It

When he tries to create space, that’s when you move.  It looks tricky but it’s not.  Your legs land on the opposite side of his body that your head is on.  Use his motion against him.

6) Block that Hip

Lift your hips high, and when you land, block his hips with your knee.  The higher you go, the worse it is for him getting his hooks back or using them against you.  If you don’t get your legs high enough, he can get his hooks back or recompose guard.

This Marcelo Garcia guard pass you have to do with speed and momentum.

Summary

Again, this pass looks like it requires athleticism.  It doesn’t.  It requires timing and proper fundamentals.  You have to remove space and completely clamp down on his hooks.  You have to explode and lift your hips high enough to prevent them from keeping a hook or recomposing guard.

Drill it.  Try it out in rolling.  Don’t waste too much energy though during rolling trying to hit this Marcelo Garcia guard pass.  Try it a few times and then move on to another pass attempt.  If you are struggling with it, try to collapse his hooks even more and don’t wait too long before exploding your hips when you feel them try to create space.

Let me know what you think.  Do you have success with this specific bjj guard pass?  Is it already in your arsenal?  What are your secrets?  Or frustrations?  Feel like checking out another guard pass?  Check out this next bjj technique, a guard pass from Saulo Ribeiro, I put up.

Marcelo Garcia Guard Pass - Oldie but Goodie

TUF 16 Episode 3 Recap - #1 pick against a #14, who wins?

I don’t know why it took me 3 weeks of a new season to realize that I could write a recap of each episode of TUF 16.  I have only found 1 place online, Yahoo!, that sometimes summarizes the show.  I haven’t seen any this year though.  This shall be the first – this is the TUF 16 episode 3 recap.

I watch me some reality television; Survivor, Top Shot, TUF.  I’ve watched every season of the show since it began and the first season is what got me back into mma.  That season is also what got me thinking about getting back into grappling and trying out mma.  I started off with bjj and Muay Thai but dropped the striking after about a year.  Adding the submissions from bjj to the control from wrestling was good enough for me.

I should’ve been writing TUF episode recaps all along.  Granted this site is pretty new but here I had all of this writing fodder sitting right in front of me.

TUF 16 Episode 3 Recap – 9/28/12

Hatfields Vs. McCoys

One of the reasons the UFC went away from the live format of last year was because the viewers liked getting to know the fighers better.  One way the UFC and TUF 16 accomplished this was by taking us back into the house for more than just a few minutes each episode.  And when we get more footage of the house, we get feuds, pranks, and challenges.

I guess that hand slap cheater doesn’t like Matt Secor.  And neither do I.  Not because he might not be a great fighter but because he is from an area of NY that is very close to where my ex-wife is from.  So yeah, he’s out.

And hand slap cheater is the guy from the 1st episode who faked like he was going to touch gloves and then shot for a takedown, check out the short video.  And then later talk about repping the military and the Army.  Please don’t.  Not with that kind of integrity.  His actual name is Colton Smith.

Personally, I would not be one of those guys who touches gloves before a fight.  But I would not fake it either.  At the start, when both fighters kind of look at each other, I would wave off a hand slap.  We can shake hands after.

So Smith and Secor don’t like each other.  And nobody seems to like Nic Herron-Webb.  Herron-Webb kept his maiden name after his 2nd divorce and just hyphenated it rather than change all of his bank accounts.  AGAIN.

Nic decided cracking ivory billiard balls at 2 am was considerate, along with whistling, banging, and skipping rope with the door open.  That is some courtesy.  In the military those kinds of antics earn you blanket parties.  Clark Kent, the accountant fighter with the tattoos that don’t fit, came out and said something.  Seems to me that he might be the only one with testicles.

TUF 16 Episode 3 Recap – Fight Announcement

Joey Rivera (7-1, 72″ reach) vs. Sam Alvey (18-4, 76″)

Joey Rivera

Sam Alvey

2nd to last pick against the 1st pick.  I like underdog fights and this is supposed to be one.

Alvey is from Wisconsin, has trained at Team Quest in the past, and has a girlfriend that was the winner of America’s Next Top Model.  Okay, win, win, & win.  But he’s a ginger so that negates all of that.  He does have a great grin though.  He also had the best reaction possible to a prank when some guys floated his mattress out on the pool.  He didn’t react at all and simply went to bed on the couch.  I think that Brazilian dude was way, way more worked up than Sam was.

When you react that way to a prank as Alvey did, it is much scarier for everyone else.  Most people, especially hot tempered fighters, would explode and want to fight then and there.  When you don’t, you leave everyone else wondering.  When is this dude going to explode?  Something’s coming but you don’t know what or when.

I can’t find much on Rivera.

Training Sessions

Rivera looked good in his sparring session with Roy.  He looked fluid, sharp, and more of a fighter than he did in his previous fight.

Alvey looked tentative during his training and it appeared as though he was resting, taking it easier during the sparring compared to Rivera.  I kind of thought it was telling.

TUF 16 Episode 3 Recap – Weigh In

We were treated to one guy in pink briefs and the other guy in an S&M wrap that he called his Spartan outfit.  It made him too heavy though so he had to take it off.

Rivera looked huge for a 170 and Alvey looked skinny.  Taller yeah but much less thick than Rivera.

Then we were regaled with a sexual energy story from Rivera that made very little sense and I have no idea why they even put it on the show.  I was kind of listening and heard some of the stuff and thought, wait… what?  He’s writing or reading a letter, mentions his wife, sexual energy, not always getting off, okay.  He also seems to think that holding off on satisfying yourself makes you a better fighter.  Not true.  It has been shown that engaging in sex not only does not harm your performance but it actually boosts your testosterone production.  This doesn’t mean moments before a fight but a few hours.

Don’t believe me?  Check out Sport Science and sex before.  Google it.

TUF 16 Episode 3 Recap – The Fight

Usually when a fight on the show starts that early into the episode it means that it will be going to a 3rd round.  Nope.  And thank god.  Because Rivera won that fight.  I would’ve been pissed if it had gone to a 3rd.

Round 1

Rivera opened up with some nice head kicks.  They were crisp, accurate, and got Sam wondering.  I thought this dude was a wrestler?

Rivera followed that up with a nice double leg takedown and ended up taking his back.

Alvey escaped, Rivera maybe got another takedown (I lost track,) and at one point had a standing arm triangle which can be finished or used to secure a takedown.  Sam escaped that too.

Rivera looked tired by 2:30 of the 1st round and I started to worry.

But then he threw on a nice guillotine attempt which brought the fight to the ground.  To escape this sub though Alvey basically had to flip over to relieve the choke and give up mount.  But somehow they ended up back in guard with another guillotine attempt from Joey.  It looked like by re-adjusting, Alvey made this choke even deeper on himself.  Good call.

He escaped this one too and Rivera quickly threw up a triangle attempt and had it locked in.  I was surprised by Rivera’s grappling offense.

Sam Alvey looked confused and tentative in the opening round.  Despite his late flurry with like 5 seconds to go in the round, I easily gave this round to Rivera.

Round 2

Again Rivera opens with a head kick.  Very nice, Borat style.  This round has a bit more clinching and inactivity against the fence.  Rivera seemed to always have an arm-in guillotine locked in but either wasn’t really listening to Roy or didn’t want to risk losing position and barely tried to switch to a no-arm choke which is much more devastating and easier to finish.  Nelson kept yelling and showing him how to do it during the fight but whenever Rivera went for it, Alvey blocked him with his shoulder.

Rivera loanded a head kick that obviously connected with Alvey’s skull.  His legs got wobbly and he stumbled a little bit like he was drunk or just learning to walk.  This lead to another Rivera takedown.

More cliching along the cage, Herb broke them up a couple of times, and that was it.

Rivera won this round.  Much closer than the 1st.

Dana read the decision and it was a majority decision for Rivera.  Should’ve been unanimous but it wasn’t.

We got the little post fight interviews and I don’t know if the kicks to the head dazed him but Alvey seemed to not recall the fight as accurately as it went.  He said something like “he got 2 takedowns, I got some, the head kicks didn’t land…”  Ummm, he got like 5 takedowns, 2-3 choke attempts, 2 or 3 kicks didn’t land, but 1 sure did and some others did some damage.

That’s about it for the TUF 16 episode 3 recap, Carwin vs. Nelson.  Did I miss anything?  Leave a comment, pass this on via the Twitter or Facebook buttons.  Ladies, pin this to Pinterest.  Ha ha.  Subscribe and enter to win.

Click here to read the next one, TUF 16 episode 4 recap.  Or click here to go to fights4all.com and watch the show after signing up.  See you fools next week.

TUF 16 Episode 3 Recap - #1 pick against a #14, who wins?