MMA Stuff » Grappling

3 Sweeps from Guard

Jimmy — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 06:21:45 +0000

Sweeping is an easy way to score points in a MMA fight or in a grappling match. A personal preference for myself is sweeps starting from the closed guard. Believe it or not, a high percentage sweep for me is the basic scissor sweep. If done at the correct time and speed, it is devastating.

Here are 3 sweeps from guard. I’ve actually tried the elevator sweep the first time earlier tonight rolling, it’s a great sweep. Still getting the details down, but I suggest you try these out. Incorporate these sweeps in your game.

Scissor Sweep

Elevator Sweep

Mayflower Sweep

Outside Leg Trip (Osoto Gari)

Jimmy — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:56:14 +0000

One of the simplest ways to get someone to fall is tripping them. If you want to be a jerk and trip your friend while they’re carrying a bunch of stuff or you need to take the fight to the ground, you can do it by tripping. I find when sparring, trip opportunities come up often in clinch situations.

I found in my experience that successful trips can only be executed if you have your opponent focusing on something else. For instance, when clinching, throw some knees or do some dirty boxing and feel for the shift in balance. Once they’re off balance, you can really get in and trip them. Judo is the gentle art of knocking your opponent off balance and requires perfect timing and technique.

I particularly like the end of the video where they show a drill you can do if you have a wall or a ring. Try it out and let me know what you think.

Key points

Head control is important
Set up the trip, jerk them around fake a throw and chain it to a leg trip.
Remember: Break balance, then trip. Timing is everything.

Butterfly Guard Sweep

Jimmy — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:01:40 +0000

Recently I’ve been trying to develop a butterfly guard to utilize sweeps. In my gym I don’t really see people using it. So I figured, if they don’t use it they probably don’t know how to defend it. My personal philosophy on mixed martial arts is to never stop developing yourself and do what no one else is doing. The great thing about the butterfly guard is, if done correctly you’ll have control of the opponents hands. So if you’re fighting MMA, this will be able to minimize damage plus you can take a quick second for rest. There are butterfly guard submissions but I’m going to just focus on the sweep.

The Butterfly Guard Sweep Rules
If done right you have the ability to sweep your opponent at any direction, forward, backwards, left or right. This allows you to adapt better to the situation you may fall in. If you successfully pull off the sweep you can land in full mount, knee in belly, or side mount.

Details..Details..Details

Head Position: On the opponents shoulder (their chin should be on your shoulder) or your head under their chin
Arm you’re trapping: Make sure you don’t grab too high on the tricep because it will allow the person to post up. Grab at the elbow and trap with your elbow.
Posture: Make sure you’re sitting up. Butterfly sweeps on the back require too much strength.
Like the video said, make sure to use both legs.

MMA Training Mistake #1 – Balance

Jimmy — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 17:00:43 +0000

I’m going to write a series of mistakes that I feel that you guys should know about. They say the only way you learn is by making mistakes. I’ve been training for 2 years now and one thing I’ve found out is, I’m not a balanced fighter. To me a lot of fighters aren’t balanced with their MMA arsenal, but to me their balance isn’t that off.

I would always find myself attending Muay Thai and then leaving for Jiu Jitsu. At my school, they are back to back classes. I left because I didn’t feel like staying. I did this often which threw off my learning and my balance as a fighter. I guesstimate that my skill out of 100% is 70% stand up and 30% ground.

I personally want to be a balanced fighter, if they want to stand up and throw punches, I’m down for boxing. If I get taken to the ground, I want to be able to hold my ground. Now I’m not saying being balanced is the best, because there are many guys in the sport who are amazing on the ground and do really well. But me, I’d rather be prepared for anything.

Challenge Yourself

Jimmy — Sun, 04 May 2008 02:23:50 +0000

I’m very guilty of sparring and rolling with the same person over and over again. After rolling with the same person for a while will cause your technique to suffer. Though you are getting a cardio workout you can’t forget about learning new things. Just like fingerprints everyone has their own unique fighting style, so to dramatically improve your game find yourself a new partner. Switching partners is a great way to improve your ability to adapt to different many fighting styles.

Roll Against A Black Belt? Are You Crazy?

Rolling against the better belts in Jiu Jitsu is a great way to learn new things. This gives you a chance to really get your technique down and defense down. It’s also a huge mental chess game which tests your mind and technique. Even though you may find yourself getting tapped out a lot, it will make you better. 100% Money Back Guarantee.

Turn Your Disadvantages Into Advantages

I only weigh 135lbs, so I test myself by rolling with the biggest guy I can. It pushes me to focus on my technique because there’s no way I can overpower a 200 lb guy. Forget trying to match up with the same weight and skill, go for the best and biggest.

Go spar with the guy with the best hands in your gym, sure you will probably get beat pretty bad but you’ll learn. The more you challenge yourself the better you are. What you put in, is what you get out.

Demian Maia on Counter Attacks

Jimmy — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 22:07:57 +0000

My twitter buddy @eraad showed me this guy. If you look at the related videos, he has a series of videos. I really like how he teaches and the counters shows. He has a series of DVDs called Science of Jiu Jitsu, which is a 6 DVD set for 150 bucks. Quite pricey, don’t know if I see myself picking it up but if you’re interested get it here.

Background on Demian Maia

Demian Maia is well known and respected in the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Submission Grappling world and is now quickly rising the ranks of mixed martial arts due to his incredible skill set and technique. A 2007 ADDC 77 – 87KG weight division Champion as well as holding numerous world and grappling titles, Demian Maia is now one of the UFC’s hottest new stars. Demian teaches an incredibly evolving Jiu-Jitsu that’s beyond anything you’ve ever seen.

NAGA World Championship Adventure

Jimmy — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 04:35:48 +0000

A few months ago I decided I needed some grappling experience, so I signed up with the rest of my gym to compete at NAGA. I didn’t know what to expect. I just stuck to going to jiu jitsu class as much as I could, and rolling as frequently as possible.

The event was in Newark, NJ at Essex Community College in their sports gymnasium. It was a decent size gym, but for event like this they definitely needed a bigger venue. There had to be a thousand or so people, mostly being competitors. There were people from all around the world, from Venezuela to Toronto.

The way things were run went real smooth, but the volume of competitors made you wait for a long time. Basically, your division was called to a designated Mat (they were numbered). Then you give the ref a card that had your weight and division, then they create the brackets. Once your called up, and you get to work. You have to win by submission or points. Points are awarded for better positioning (mounting), take downs, and submission attempts. If you win, you go onto the bracket, but losers go home, unless you’re competing for 3rd place.

I ended up losing my first match, 2-8 which kind of sucks. I realized that I have to train harder because my competition is probably training harder. Competing is a real eye opener and not only that it tells you where you are training wise.

9 Lessons I’ve Learned From Jiu Jitsu So Far

Jimmy — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 21:09:13 +0000

Lesson 1: Jiu Jitsu can be overwhelming at first. Things didn’t start to come together until 6 months in. One day all the moves I’ve learned started to click together in my head.

Lesson 2: You can learn from everybody, whether it be a white belt, blue belt, or black belt. Every little piece of advice given to me is valuable. I’ll appreciate any advice from anyone.

Lesson 3: The aggressor and stronger guy doesn’t always win. I’ll be rolling with new guys that have a huge weight and power advantage and beat them with pure technique. My instructor said it the best, “Use Jiu Jitsu, not strength”

Lesson 4: One of the best advice I’ve received. “Breathe and flow like water.” Simple as that, I’ve learned that remaining calm and breathing can really help me. The more tense you are, the more tired you’ll get. Flow between Jiu Jitsu combinations, can’t get the triangle? Turn it into an arm bar.

Lesson 5: BJJ is nothing more than a game of chess. Sometimes I’ll give my opponent my arm because I know the armbar is coming and I can escape. I try my best to think one if not two steps ahead.

Lesson 6: Repetition, repetition, repetition. I’ve learned that doing a move twice will not allow me to master the technique. Arm bar and triangle drills helped me “flow like water.” Rolling often improved my Jiu Jitsu ten fold.

Lesson 7: There is no shame in tapping out. It’s better than being injured. I’ve seen guys not tap because of their ego and get hurt. Even when I get tapped out, I’ve learned something.

Lesson 8: One small mistake can turn a good position into a really bad one.

Lesson 9: Seeing a move on youtube and then trying it will most likely not work.

Judo vs BJJ – The Answer is Judo AND BJJ

Jimmy — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 03:03:45 +0000

Whether viewing websites or MMA, Judo, and BJJ forums, the subject of Judo vs. BJJ has become yet another classic debate, akin to that of the old “Gi vs. No Gi” debate. However, the question of Judo vs. BJJ is much simpler to answer because it is simply the wrong question in almost every applicable context. In short, an Olympic level Judoka would benefit from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as much as a world-class BJJ player would benefit from Judo. And at the top level, there are multiple examples of this beginning to happen. GB’s Winston Gordon trains with Gracie Barra and holds a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Ray Stevens, former Olympic silver medallist, has been known to train with Roger Gracie. Dave Camarillo, Rhadi Ferguson, and Lloyd Irvin have become vocal advocates of cross-training these arts and have all enjoyed considerable success in both sports. Therefore the answer is Judo AND BJJ. Most top level players are starting to know this fact and rarely ever involve themselves in the nonsense of the forums.

However, trawl the forums and you will frequently see this very discussion taking place. Comments range from the petty such as a “judoka” commenting about BJJ players wearing too many patches on their Gi’s to the erroneous “BJJ player” commenting that “judoka’s are easy to double leg”. I also recently read from one judoka that “either never seen anyone in BJJ show me a move that didn’t exist in Judo”.

Such comments are harmful because they slow our progression to be the best that we can be. It is a fact that within the “Gi sports” that the average Judo club will have a far higher degree of stand-up skill per person, and the average BJJ club (who out there thinks they are in an average club – Ha, that’s another story and I’ll be shot if I go there!!) will have a far higher degree of skill on the ground. Assuming that the respective coaching levels are held constant then anyone wishing to balance their skills would surely want to practise stand-up at the Judo club and BJJ at the BJJ club. And this is why comments such as “I’ve never seen anyone in BJJ show me a move that didn’t exist in Judo” are so unhelpful and completely miss the point. Neither art is really about knowing the greatest number of “moves” and anyone who has trained in the competitive environment knows this is the case. However, such comments promote ignorance and division rather than learning and integration.

There are a multitude of benefits to training both Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Judo, from greater all-round skills, to the cross-over benefits of learning different approaches to training (e.g. speed and power to slow and technical). There are simply too many to list here. However, anyone in doubt or uncertain should consider this: the learning curve in both arts is greatest at the beginning and therefore you stand the most to gain from the early days. When I first began Judo, I found that it was much easier to throw non-Judo players at BJJ. However, some months after, my BJJ friends began training Judo and learned to stiff-arm. All of sudden, I couldn’t throw them as often (until I overcame the stiff-arm).

Therefore, forget the ancient texts, the “who tapped who” in the 1920s, the lineage charts, and the other nonsense. To compete optimally in either sport, you need BOTH Judo and BJJ and some wrestling as well won’t harm. My website “JudoBJJ” is seeking to promote the integration of these sports for the benefit of Judo AND BJJ alike.

Glyn Powditch BJJ Brown Belt Judoka MMA Instructor

http://www.judobjj.com http://bjjblog.judobjj.com/blog

About the Author

Glyn Powditch is a BJJ Brown Belt under Karl Tanswell, an SBG MMA Instructor and an active Judoka. He runs the website JudoBJJ to promote the fusion of BJJ and Judo.

The 20 commandments of BJJ

Jimmy — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:56:00 +0000

1. Thou shalt not stalemate.

2. Thou shalt not pussy out.

3. Thou shalt not skip practice for foolish reasons.

4. Thou shalt not imbibe alcohol in excess.

5. Thou shalt not slam in excess.

6. Thou shalt not wear unhygienic gis.

7. Thou shalt not complain of the refereeing – focus on submitting.

8. Thou shalt not “creonte” – respect your master and gym.

9. Thou shalt not take orders that go against your moral principles.

10. Thou shalt not be rude during practice.

11. Thou shalt not make a trophy out of thy cauliflower ear.

12. Thou shalt not succumb to sweets, cookies, and such.

13. Thou shalt not show off- the more exposed a target is, the weaker it is.

14. Thou shalt not talk too much during training or cause intrigue amongst your training partners.

15. Thou shalt not resort to cowardice.

16. Thou shalt not take any Steven Seagal movie seriously.

17. Thou shalt not brag.

18. Thou shalt not delay a submission once thy partner has tapped.

19. Thou shalt not put out thy stress on your training partners.

20. Thou shalt not steal thy colleagues’ flip-flops. ( This happens a lot)

*Compiled by: Alexandre Paiva, Alexandre Ribeiro, Amaury Bitetti, André Galvão, Fabio Gurgel, Helio Gracie, Hermes França, João Alberto Barreto, José Mario Sperry, Leonardo Santos, Leonardo Vieira, Marcelo Garcia, Martin Rooney, Raphael Abi-Rihan, Relson Gracie, Renzo Gracie, Ricardo Libório, Rickson Gracie, Robert Drysdale, Roberto Gordo, Rodrigo Comprido, Rodrigo Medeiros, Roger Gracie, Ronaldo Jacaré, Royler Gracie, Saulo Ribeiro, Sylvio
Behring, Thales Leites, Vinicius Draculino, Vítor Shaolin, Wallid Ismail.

Found this on a FightHQ thread.