Shinya Aoki MMA Takedowns From Clinch

Here Aoki modifies his Judo takedowns for MMA and demonstrates a series of throws and takedowns. Nice stuff! I love good judo done well....there are some examples of these applied in competition late in the clip.

Anaconda Choke Escape/Gator Roll

Keep this one in mind next time Big Tom locks his arms and gets ready to roll!! Dont say I havent warned you.

Tips on Takedown Defence - Cael Sanderson

The D'arce

Head arm chokes seem to be very popular in no-gi grappling at the minute. The last ADCC tournament saw lots of matches finish with this submission. Here are two set ups for the d'arce choke from Marc Laimon and Jason Mayhem Miller.

Shinya Aoki HL Clips MMA and Judo

One of the up and coming Japanese fighters in Shooto and the now defunct Pride FC is Shinya Aoki. Known for his attacking guard game he is a submission specialist. Look out for standing neck arm chokes, gogoplata from mount, triangles and flying arm bars from everywhere!

Arm Drag from Seated Guard

After spending some time with seated guard last nite either pulling our opponent past with a cross lapel grip or attacking with a hooks in sweep here is an armdrag variation with the gi by the master of the arm drag, Marcelo Garcia. The mechanics are very similar to the pulling move we used last nite but now the grips have moved to the arm.

Grappling Principles To Remember Whilst Training

After reading a thread on the underground forum I stole some of these principles which you will hear time and time again whilst learning jiu-jitsu. Its worth reading the thread for some of the more humerous responses. But here are some of the best general principles that can apply to most situations to maybe keep in mind. Although they may appear self-evident common sense isnt always common practice.

move my hips
stay small
ball up when underneath and defending
protect my neck
stay calm and remember to breathe
break balance then attack
fight for inside control
control the sleeves
keep good posture
know the counters to your own moves
tap if it hurts
position before submission
never let someone control both legs or both arms , break the grip
when on bottom, don't be flat on my back
from guard, don't let him posture up --from top of guard, posture up
from top of sidemount, always pin one side of his hips
underhooks win fights (and jiu jitsu and wrestling matches - standing as well as on the ground)
create space when defending.
eliminate space when attacking
shut up and train
best way to escape a bad position is to not get in it.

Dan Hendersons Quest for The Belt Prt 3

Ezequiel choke in Action

Here is a clip of the ezequiel choke in action at a tournament.

Mundials Start Today

No Jacare, No Garcia, No Estima. But we do have Roger Gracie vying for the Absolute tilte as well as the current champ Xande Riberio. There are some Aussies over there as well, we wish them the best of luck on the world stage.

Armbar escape from guard

Dave Camarillo is a judo and jiu-jitsu blackbelt from the US and because of his background in both arts he brings some unique perspectives to grappling and bjj. This is a handy and fast escape when being armlocked inside the guard.

Da Boyz

Here is a group photo taken after training last tuesday nite.

Paul's quest has begun...

Paul has started a new training blog for which I have added a hyperlink. Nice to meet someone as obsessed with BJJ training as the rest of us! Good luck with your quest, lets see if we cant get some competitive juices flowing again! I have a great passion for teaching the martial arts and am inspired to meet someone who is ready to give 110% to training in a new discipline and is willing to share their experience with others. We are lucky to have a great bunch of guys training hard at the moment and pushing each other to improve. Lets keep up the good work and get some serious mat time in over the next few months....

Road to UFC 74

Mundial Preview Podcast

For those of you who have an MP3 player here is the link to a podcast that I listen to alot. This episode is a preview to this weekends Worlds in LA. Worth downloading from the website or from iTunes. Always lots of good interviews and mainly focused on BJJ and submission wrestling topics. Here is the link http://www.thefightworkspodcast.com/ I will add the hyperlink to the favourites. Worth a look.

Marcelo Garcia No-Gi Closed Guard Pass

Jiu Jitsu World Black Belts 2007

This is footage from a recent tournament held in Rio in Brasil. Am looking forward to the Mundials next week in LA, looks like most of the big guns will be there. Some cool transitions in this match. Hope you enjoy.

Dan Henderson TV Show 2 episodes

George "Rush" St Pierre HL Clip

Next week GSP will fight Josh Koscheck for a chance to regain his UFC Welterwieght title from Matt Serra after a shock loss earlier this year. This clip highlights some of his best moments in the octagon. Can he bring his A game against Koshcheck? I cant wait to find out.

Jean Jacque Machado Half Guard Sweep

David V Goliath

Whilst we are on the subject of big guys here is one of my favourite examples of technique conquering power. Bob Sapp is an ex NFL line-backer who moved to Japan to fight and is 6'5" and 159kg! The Japanese love a freak show and this monster of a man fits the bill and fills a stadium with punters. Here he fights Rodrigo "Minotauro" Noguera (6'3" 105kg) from the Brasilian Top Team in a Pride MMA fight back in August 2002. The fight is highlight clip but is a brilliant example of making the big guy gas and then taking your chance to submit him. Whilst Sapp never made major waves in MMA due to a lack of real skill he has still proven a handful just due to his sheer size and power. Must say though I thought he killed Minotauro with a pile driver early in the bout when I first saw this years ago.

You cant beat cubic inches!

Bloody hell, that's one big mo fo! Thanks for the picture Paul.

Wrestling Takedowns: 2 on 1 setups

Here is two clips of a Russian coach teaching techniques from a standing 2 on 1, a position where you control one of your opponents arms with two of your arms. He teaches how to achieve this position when you are collar tied and then precedes to perform a firemans carry, sacrifice throws, head lock throws, single legs, go-behinds etc. as follow-ups or recounters depending on your opponents reaction. I group emailed the links sometime ago but wanted to post them on the blog as the have recently popped up on the Underground Forum again. The translator is not the best but watching the coach you get a pretty good idea of what he means. As someone said on the forum take your pick and practice, practice, practice.

Fedor Emelianeko

On the other end of the scale to Gomi is the great Russian MMA heavyweight of the moment. He is a picture of calm in the ring and destroys opponents with his hard hitting, solid takedowns and ground game. He is current PRIDE heavyweight champ but now that this organisation has been purchased by the UFC he is currently looking for another home and hasnt fought for some time. I hope we see him in the ring sooner rather than later. He is a member of the Red Devil team and a practitioner of Sambo. Many consider Fedor one of the best MMA fighters of all time.

Takanori Gomi HL Clip

Gomi is one of my favourite Japanese fighters. His aggressive style and heavy hands are great to watch, he has had some epic battles in his career. Although MMA is huge in the states, Japan has had a long history of great fighters. So enjoy this clip of the pocket rocket, its definitely the size of the fight in the dog with this guy.......

2 Variations of cross lapel choke from closed guard...

Sometimes its very difficult to break your opponents posture and successfully apply a choke from closed guard. Here a two variations that will make it a higher percentage move for you to try in training. Both variations provide you with more control of your opponent.

Xande Ribiero

This is a hard fought match from last years Mundials and is an example of solid guard passing. The first pass he scores comes after some constant top pressure, after which there is a period where he pins his opponent in side hold. Estima eventually re-guards Xande and almost sweeps him for an advantage but Xande passes again and in the struggle afterward gets mount where he eventually catches his opponent with a Sleeve Choke (Ezequiel). Xande was in Australia last year for the Pan Pacs as a guest of the AFBJJ and won the absolute division last year at the Mundials.

UFC 74

Fight Card

>205 lbs Randy Couture (15-8) vs. Gabriel Gonzaga (8-1)
170 lbs.: Georges St. Pierre (13-2) vs. Josh Koscheck (9-1)
155 lbs.: Joe Stevenson (27-7) vs. Kurt Pellegrino (10-2)
205 lbs.: Renato “Babalu” Sobral (27-7) vs. David Heath (7-1)

155 lbs.: Marcus Aurelio (14-4) vs. Clay Guida (21-8)
155 lbs.: Roger Huerta (18-1-1) vs. Alberto Crane (8-0)
185 lbs.: Thales Leites (11-1) vs. Ryan Jensen (11-1)
185 lbs.: Kendall Grove (8-3) vs. Patrick Cote (10-4)

There will be a UFC Party on Sunday 26th August from 11.30am so that we can sit down and watch Randy defend his title against Gonzaga on Foxtel MainEvent Live. If you havent recieved your invite please let me know.

Fighting is different to Self Defence.

There has been a lot of talk about the superiority of BJJ/MMA when compared to other systems and when tested in challenge matches for the most part that seems to be the case. But challenge matches are not real life, regardless of whether its no rules fighting or not. For the record I love MMA and BJJ but its not real fighting nor self-defence. Does it provide you with real-life skills? Absolutely. Is it 100 times better than most other systems? For sure. But if your learning this stuff for street applications or to protect yourself or your family should the need arise then you must cast a wider net and explore some broader ideas than those presented in most BJJ/MMA classes. And its not about what type or how many techniques you know or how well you can apply them.

These four authors cover most of the ground that I feel is necessary knowledge in this area, I have read their books, watched and listened to their tapes, googled them and navigated through their websites. I have discussed their ideas and theories with my friends in law enforcement and the military who design and run defensive skills programs and I have tried and applied their work in training. I am the first to admit that I don’t have much “live” experience in these areas as many others do have. Street fighting has never been my thing but if you need to learn what works I’m sure getting amongst it is great. In some respects you can’t beat experiential learning.

Anyway here are the four authors…

Dave Grossman http://www.killology.com/
Marc Mac Young http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/
Tony Blauer http://tonyblauer.com/
Geoff Thompson http://www.geoffthompson.com

Much of their work is aimed at people who must deal with violence as part of their work including police, military and security applications but there is a strong cross over with civilian self-protection strategies. Concepts of awareness, avoidance, fear psychology, action triggers, criminal psychology, pre-fight and post fight management, legal issues, multiple and armed attackers, pre-emptive strikes and scenario based training are important areas that must be studied and practiced in depth. Each author has their own presentation style and come from various backgrounds but they all come to remarkably similar conclusions.

Here's a clip from a Tony Blauer Seminar

Jacare HL Clip

Jacare is also a brilliant competitor in both gi and no-gi tournaments. He is renowned for his athleticism and explosiveness like jumping straight into triangles from standing and great takedowns, including shoulder throws, inside leg trips and ankle picks. He has won the worlds via a 2 point takedown and so these form an important part of his game. Jacare often does the crocodile impersonations after a win. Hope you enjoy the clip. During the clip you even get a voice over quoting the Hagakure (Book of Hidden Leaves) an old samurai guide to life manuscript. In that match at the Mundials 2004 Jacare is ahead on points and stalls out the victory even after Roger breaks his arm with the arm bar from closed guard!!

Competition Training @ Chadstone HQ

From Friday 10th August there will be weekly competition training at our Chadstone HQ for those students wishing to compete in upcoming tournamants. Regular training will be at 6pm followed by Compettion training at 7pm. The next major tournament is the Champions Cup to be held at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre on Saturday 22nd September. That is 7 weeks away this Saturday. There will be Gi and No-Gi divisions this year for the first time. Six months training is probably the minimum time to consider entering. Qualification criteria do apply for the gi events but this years No-gi will be open to all competitiors. Visit afbjj.com for more information. Each Friday we carpool from my house and make the trip to HQ for training so if your interested in joining us please let me know.

Roger Gracie HL Clip's

Jacare, Marcelo Garcia and Roger Gracie are three of the biggest names in BJJ/Submission Grappling at the moment. I have posted a Marcelo Garcia HL Clip here previously and he plays a great agile small guy game focused on seated guard, taking the back, arm drags, omoplata and x-guard.

In contrast, Roger Gracie is a big guy and therefore plays a more top heavy game but is renowned for doing the basics well, he has defeated both Garcia and Jacare in competition. Roger had an amazing run at the 2005 Abu Dhabi submitting all of his opponents in his weight division and the Absolute. This is two HL Clips of some of his memorable Gi matches. His armbar attempt of Jacare is really cool, Jacare throws the kitchen sink at him to escape. There is some overlap between the footage but its worth watching both. Make sure you watch his no-gi finals match with Jacare at Abu Dhabi 2005 at some stage as well which ends with Roger on Jacare's back whilst standing and choking him to finish.