Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Breaking News

The following was taken from the AFBJJ website...

PAN PACS 2008 NEWS

The weigh in routine at this year's Pan pacs will be different!

A well formated "Fight Schedule" will be online on Friday the 14th and on view at the championship.

Categories will be called at their scheduled time. All called category competitors will remain in the "Marshall Pen" where they shall be weighed in before their first fight, and directed to their mat. After each fight the winner must remain in the "Marshall Pen" until the category has ben completed.

No weigh in will take place other than in the "Marshall Pen" for each category when it is called.

There will be a warm up area in the "Marshall Pen".

This system follows the World Championships blueprint and will save us much valuable time. Competitors should note that their weight must be exact as they will not have time to rehydrate or eat after weigh in!

Thanks Jason


This clip is taken from the DVD 101 Submissions Vol 3. Jase was kind enough to burn me a copy of Vol 1-3 for my viewing pleasure.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Thales Leites UFC 90


Wasnt heaps of jits action on the weekends televised UFC fight card and I can understand why they put Werdum getting knocked out by Dos Santos on the PPV instead, but Thales displays some nice technical grappling here to get the finish. Watching this event was like watching a kickboxing event. The one guy who wrestled and controlled his way to a win over a dangerous opponent was Gray Maynard and he was booed from the Octagon, not fair me thinks, at no point in that fight did either guy stall IMO. Maynard felt obliged to apologize for the way the match panned out in the post fight interview with Rogan, which I didn't think he needed to do. If a boxer fights smart against a puncher he is applauded, like Bisping did against Leben, well the same smart tactics need to be appreciated on the mat. I hope the rules and refs still allow action on the ground. Now that MMA has gone even more mainstream again, don't change the rules or their interpretation to keep Joe Average happy. It will be the beginning of the end for MMA. Don't change the product. Educate the fans. Please.

Modified Anaconda Choke Kyra Gracie

Recent Randy Couture Interview and Technique


Friday, October 24, 2008

More Seated Guard with Robson Moura


Switching between gi and no gi here but this stuff fits nicely with what we were working last nite.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Seated Guard sweep with overhook

I am breaking my own Eddie Bravo rule here but there is some good detail and ideas here. Flame away.

Brock Lesnar Interview







I hope Randy is drilling heel hooks! Dont know how else your supposed to finish this monster. He is a nightmare to fight. I guess no-one has really tested his chin yet but Randy has never been known for his knock out power unlike Fedor. The clinch and ground and pound are what Randy does best, how he employs this game plan against this guy is intriguing. I will never right off Randy against any heavyweight but this is not an easy one. Brock is new to MMA but not averse to dealing with pressure on a big stage. This battle could be one for the ages...cant wait.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Gordo: Half Guard Sweep

Its in Portugese, but Roberto Gordo is the guy who pioneered the half guard game in Brasil. Its good to get some pointers on half guard sweeps even if you cant understand the language, you can still get the drift of where he is going. Apparently he adapted half guard to accomodate a dodgy knee...

GSP Attacking the Back

Monday, October 20, 2008

BJJ Takedowns


Am having trouble watching this because my connection keeps timing out. Can someone download this vid and bring it to training please. I really like how it covers the fundamentals of the stand up part of BJJ. Not sure how long it will be up for so watch it while you can.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Robson Moura Cross Guard


Here Nova Uniao black belt, Robson Moura, discuses the use of cross guard. Jase and I were talking about it the other day because its the one Cobrinha uses in the clip I posted earlier this week. Here is Robson's homepage. Check it out.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Pan Pacs 2008


Information for this years Pan Pacs is up at the AFBJJ website. The event will be held over two days with the eliminations on Saturday and finals on Sunday. It is expected to start at 9am on Saturday and finish by 8pm, with finals between 9am-12pm on Sunday. All of which is a royal pain in the arse. Trying to come up for finals after a hard and long days competition is ridiculous. Two reasonable days competition instead of one long day and one short makes more sense with gi on one day and no-gi on the next. So its in and out of gi's again all day running from one mat to the next with 10 sec notice. Its great that the sport has grown to this point but now is the time for well run tournaments with paid refs, visible scorecards and timers, draws and accurate start times, multiple scales and unified rules. No more excuses, amateur hour is over. The money is there, now give me a well run tournament . Other sports do it so can BJJ. If you want the responsibility of placing yourself at the head of the AFBJJ and the money that goes with it, then get professional, please. Now enough whinging. We will take our team and do our best. Nothing will change the way its run this year so we will get on with it and have a crack.

Seen this guy somewhere before....

Monday, October 13, 2008

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Half Butterfly Guard

Since we spent some time on this position last Thursday I'd thought I'd post Aesopian latest video on preventing the pass from this position. Pay attention Smithy.

6 weeks until Pan Pacs

Its just under 6 weeks until this years Pan Pacs to held at MSAC in Albert Park. This year the event will be held over two days Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th of November. It is likely that Gi divisions will be on one day and No-gi divisions on the other. For those interested in competing now is the time to ramp up your training and do some extra cardio work. I have taken a copy of some guidelines that Cris Brown has created at Chadstone and will post them at the gym as well as a copy of the rules of competition. Please make yourself familiar with the points system and develop a game plan for your style of grappling and which weight division suits you best. If your not sure ask me. Also there is competition training at Chadstone every Mon/Wed/Fri nite at 6pm. Please make an effort to get to some of these sessions before the competition. This is a great opportunity to meet some of the crew at Chadstone and wrestle with some different guys. There is talk of a Wednesday nite carpool from Mornington so ask some of the more senior guys if your interested. Otherwise get on the mat at Mornington at least three times a week leading up to the competition. I will commit to helping you get ready for the comp but you need to commit and make some sacrifices as well. The Pan Pacs are a great chance to get the ball rolling in your first comp and there will be no other major comps until early next year. For the boyz who went to Hobart there is a weeks grace to rest the body and mind but then its time to refocus and get back on task.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Champions Cup Report

Well, we came, we rolled and then got drunk. The trip got off to a slow start with flight delays causing us to arrive later than expected on Friday evening. The day itself was long as always with a solid performances all around. No easy fights this time. The hardcore competitors who were willing to make the trip over Bass Strait meant that there may not have been big divisions but the talent that was present was high. Here is my summary from what I can remember...Marco had a huge white belt division as always and worked himself to the top four in both gi and no gi but failed to medal. Gutsy performances. Marco loves to scrap. He will be in with a shot for the Pan Pacs. Paul took a bronze in the white belt no-gi at his weight and is developing his guard game nicely. Smithy always looks calm under pressure and will be up for a big Pan Pacs. He is going in every comp he can and is getting lots of matches under his belt. Dave had two tough fights losing to the eventual winner in both gi and no-gi and getting a bronze medal. Dave is yet to perform at his potential and can go again at the Pan Pacs if he chooses. Tambo was the pick of the bunch winning his weight at blue in both gi and no-gi having to wrassle some bigger guys he held them off and stayed active to get the "W". Two gold for Extreme Ringwood. Rick also had some tough matches to win his weight at white no-gi. There were some good big guys on show and Ricks powerful top game won the day. In the gi Rick lost his first match after dropping the initiative, but his opponent knew he was in a fight. Jason took the points in his first match in Purple gi, sweeping to control the top position, and lost to the young Brasilian boy from Nova Uniao in Perth in the second match, this kid tore through all of us that day. Two tough matches. Hope Jase has a crack at the Pan Pacs. Chris re-aggravated a neck injury early in his first no-gi bout but took the win. His second fight was a slow start to someone who kept backing away, ultimately frustrating Chris, dropping the match on a narrow points margin. The gi division was similar as Chris almost locked in a triangle in time but lost on points. I lost the final of my weight at Purple to get a silver after getting thrown on multiple occasions and eventually arm barred after escaping a few times. I love good judo and so was impressed and pissed off all at the same time whilst being air borne because I had no idea what he caught me with.... I went on to win the first match of the Open Purple on points but lost the second on points to the eventual winner of division to take bronze. A smallish comp but the standard was high, all the guys had some great matches on the mat and it was good to catch up with some old friends and make some new friends over some drinks at the Irish Pub in Hobart afterward. The front door security guard at the pub had his medal in his pocket after taking a third in the comp that day at white belt. Hilarious. I hope he knew Big Mick Wilson was in the house that nite! For those interested in another team trip the comp will be held Adelaide next year.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Here we go....

Ready to go for Champions Cup trip today. All eight guys are keen to perform well and have put in a good preparation. We are all hoping for a big competition tomorrow. Its hard to know how many entrants will be there on the day. But all you can do is beat the guy in front of you I guess. My only concern with the Tasmanians is how to choke someone with two heads! Just kidding. We fly out tonite and return on Sunday so no blog updates until then because I'm leaving my laptop at home. Good luck to Team Extreme.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Jeff Rockwell Interview

A regular contributer of high quality instructional material on the net. Please take the time to read this interview. Jeff is a brown belt under Ricardo De La Riva. Lots of good insights into training here. Intelligent and insightful, there is a link to his video clips at the end of the interview. I have posted the no-gi choke series before and its worth reviewing again now as we ramp up our no-gi training again.