Aggressive Turtle/Belly Down Attacks - Mongolian Judo Matwork/Grappling Transitions: Uransetseg Munkhbat

Her use of the typically Sambo related omoplata/inverted roll is particularly sharp. She has combined the front triangle turnover with the 1/2 crucifix foot in at the elbow to create both a turnover into a pin and a powerful submission. She's combining the turnover with the crucifix style entry to either isolate the arm for breaking or create a turnover for a pin. Along the way the triangle can present itself as well. The side on triangle in Judo is also a pin.

 The lack of pinning in JiuJitsu and favoring of getting to guard (along with the underlying willingness to jump guard/sit to guard) in one capacity or another leads to different transitional considerations, but the emphasis here on the knockdown/stumble effect of a solid takedown attempt and looking for immediate attacking/offensive entries be is belly down, turtle, them turning away or trying to regain base is all worthwhile examination. If JiuJitsu players would look to break open the turtle defensive shell rather than futilely try to dig in hooks, they would find more success. Combined with efforts to get back up (wrestling/MMA/Judo) and entries for kneebars et cetera, the turtle is an effective position (see also Sakuraba fishing out the Kimura) and doesn't have to be a static or stalling position. Competitors get comfortable here in JiuJitsu because of a lack of attacking tools by many JiuJitsu centric training partners.

Another fine exponent of the inverted omoplata roll is Igor Kurrinoy.

Filthy Casual's Guide to Kazushi Sakuraba: The Kimura

I'm on a deep dive of Shooto and early MMA bare knuckle events hunting for leg lock transitions and finishes. Nothing new under the sun found so far, to be honest. Sure, some refined handfighting sequences and transitions between primary leg locking positions are now much more clearly understood (though as evidenced by Lachlan Giles' ADCC performance not by that many) has been done in the past 5 years or so, but overall, there's only so many ways the legs can be entangled and thus there is a knowable Matrix of possibilities overall.

1994 Lumax Japanese Tournament: Judo, BJJ, Sambo, and Karate Mixed Rules Tournament

It's always interesting when a novel ruleset occurs for the first time. You get to see some actual cross style hijinx and surprises more entertaining than same style match-ups where the known transitions are known and often repeated. The mix of striking, pins, throws, and kicks creates cause for transitions and openings for attacks that you don't see in 10 minute grappling only matches.

Eddie Cummings vs Josh Hayden Throwback

For those looking for some legitiamte counter leg locking tools, Hayden offers some in the way of successfully escaping Eddie's entanglements until the last one. Josh has a nice counter footlock (palm to palm) at 1:31 which I'm told actually popped Eddie's foot a good bit. Josh manages to counter much of Eddie's earlier leg entanglements before Eddie can collect the top/second leg and delay him fully escaping/clearing his knee past Eddie's groin/bite ont he leg.
A similar fashion of escapes chained together can be seen in the Canuto/Eddie match: Canuto isn't always doing the "right" escape per se, but he's always chaining escapes together, fighting for his balance while using his hands to pressure the bite/control on his leg and thus managed to avoid getting popped by Eddie in their match.

The last entanglement Eddie sets up from a small half-butterfly off balance to set the bottom leg behind the knee and from there, so close to the hip, Josh doesn't have the space/distance to the knee necessary to avoid his second leg being collected. I haven't trained with Eddie since he made the move to Unity (and TBH don't know how much he's still training there) but I'd be curious to see how his game has/would evolve to take into account all the known coutners for the sankaku leg control. Guys who harass the top leg of your triangle and know enough to lift the heel are part of what early on I strayed away from the standard inside sankaku control to collect second leg to handfight/separate the feet and break. The sport is always evolving and a lot of guys still don't even peel the foot off the hip to avoid the outside heel hook reap, nor will they thumb post at the knee joint and opt instead to point toes/straighten leg and hope for the best.

BJJ Scout's BJJ Digest: Submission Underground Craig Jones Confirms Leg Locks on Magalhaes, Tonon & OneFC Call Out...

Every Kimura finish in the UFC

Just finished watching Craig Jones break the F*** out of Vinny's foot, my god. Leg locks don't work but sometimes your ankle/foot completely gets snapped. At any rate, here's every Kimura finish in the UFC. Enjoy. You've got some Khabib, some Frank Mir, some Nate Diaz, some Matt Hughes, Jacare, Stephan Bonner, Carlos Newton, and Joe Lauzon amongst others.

 

Mikhail Ilyukhin 4 Ankle Locks in 1 MMA event

The man hits 4 ankle locks and then an RNC to win 5 MMA bare knuckle fights in one night.
And you're over here watching guys with no wins in the advanced division that are making up fluffy content silly drilling sequences on Instagram.

Beyond that, this event is UFC 1 level style vs style utter mismatch chaos. There's what looks like Bruce Lee socks & shoes getting ankle locked, there's ninjitsu guys, there's everything. Do yourself a favor and transport yourself back to the early days of headbutts, style vs style, and chaos.

Reality > Theory.

ADCC 2019 - Giles vs Gaudio: Analyzing Defensive Reactions

Calf Slicer: The White Whale

I've all of the major leg locks in competition: plenty of inside/outside heel hooks, toe hold, a bunch of kneebars, & ankle lock. Full disclosure, in competition I haven't hit the aoki lock variation of the ankle lock, the Estima, & the calf slicer. I've been working more passing, takedowns, and back takes in the past year to counter the disengage/stallfest type grapplers which are now making for boring matches.

Of the more obscure leg/foot locks, the calf slicer I think is actually the hardest to hit because they have to really kinda stick around and either not flee the backtake, but also not immediately flee the leg entanglement. I hit the one shown below by Sean Roberts in training, I don't find a lot of other entries super feasible against better grappler to be honest, but it's one of those side projects I'm thinking about more often in training in looking for it from a few other positions. The primary issue with the calf slicer position below is that heel hook counter/exposure if they separate your feet/triangle.

What I'm Watching: Bare Knuckle Boxing, BJJ Scout, Shinya Aoki, More Sambo, Copa Podio Throwback Matches

My sole regret in combat sports is that I didn't get in a couple bare knuckle bouts. I was a bouncer for several years and got to do a fair bit of Judo/JiuJitsu and fighting  "in the streets" as they say. I've had a knife pulled on me twice. I fought in 5 oz gloves 5 times in MMA. But something about the bare knuckle rules that always makes me sad I missed out on it a bit. I stopped fighting MMA because I would leave work in the afternoon and be unable to remember where my car was in the parking lot. The mild concussions and mood swings that accompanied took a toll on my personal life and those around me. I'd be lying if I didn't say I was tempted to do it anyway, but the time it would take away from grappling which is my sole focus with the every shortening bit of solid years left I have with which to compete makes it a cost benefit ratio I can't justify. I'm coming up on 40, fun fact, and I just have to heavily prioritize my time left with which to compete. Sigh, father time comes for us all.

It takes almost 12 minutes for this to get to the mat. Kill me. Anyway, a bunch of negated wall/cage wrestling by both guys and neither willing to concede top position to actually, y'know, attempt submissions. Skip to 12:30 and do yourself a favor. Aoki uses a Dagestani handcuff attempt to get to the back and from there almost immediately ends the match with an RNC.





Espen had a much less developed set of skills to establish contact at brown belt. This match (and the match with Canuto at Copa Podio) show this as both he and his opponents draw stalling calls for basically refusing to engage. Pe De Chumbo is clearly perplexed by the contemporary guard style of Espen (despite that he's a brown belt here) and utilizes the kneebar transition/attack from a modified 50/50 or shallow hook to win the match. Pe De Chumbo was content to stay on both knees in half-guard for much of the match, so you can't feel too bad for him losing in the waning seconds of the match.

Making the Band Catch Wrestling Breakdown

If it don't work in the streets, I don't want it.

Sergio Hernandez Guard - breakdown, comp/training footage

On a visit out to SoCal I dropped in to train at Arena and was fortunate enough to roll with Baret and Sergio. Each of them has their own unique positions and vibe to their game and I've done a lot of watching, drilling, and dissecting parts of their game. At any rate, I've had utilized the crucifix entries Baret uses for his Crucifix as part my game for attacking the turtle and transitions from leg entanglements and I've used Sergio's inverted guard entry as a counter to guys who keep their knees pressed tightly together to shut down leg entanglement/heel hook entries from half butterfly and inverting from underneath.

What I'm Reading/Watching/Studying: Sambo, Catch Wrestling vs BJJ, Taza vs Giles (Pre ADCC hype)

A little throwback Taza vs Giles (pre ADCC Giles hype) with some solid takedowns and near passes from Taza (along with some leg entanglements and attacks) and Giles having to contend with a competent leg locker countering his entries (unlike ADCC).

Having competed in Judo, MMA, submission grappling, and BJJ, I don't actually ascribe to the "which is better" mindset for grappling. I love different scoring formats for making it possible to see different elements of grappling. I hope to compete more in the Gi and possibly some Sambo this year once regular life resumes. Good ole grappling style showdowns are always a blast to watch as you always get some surprise transitions and results. Barnett utilized minimal energy to pass once Lister over-extended, then utilized minimal energy to pin Lister and wear on him. From a fighting standpoint he spent time in half-guard capable of punching, from side mount would be able to land knees et cetera, and shut down most of Lister's attempts to reguard or threaten submissions. While not overly complicated, the effectiveness is hard to deny. Barentt's fight-centric style was obvious in his waiting for Lister to extend his legs again, pin one ankle, throwby/leg drag style pass to stack to attack the turtle and trap Lister there, making Lister carry his weight/ride, pinning the shin with his knee. Lister eventually collpases to his side in a half-hearted attemp to sit thru to guard or just simply relieve the weight leaned on him and Barnett cradles him to further sap his energy. Barnett rotates to north/south another position from which he can easily maintain top position and shut down reguard/submission attempts and forcing Lister to fight his way out/extend and arm and Barnett locks up a kimura. Lister spends his last bits of energy looking for some submissions/guard retention but Barnett sits through to a diaphragm choke and gets the tap.

Barnett vs Dean Lister for TBT Catch Wrestling vs JiuJitsu showdown:

 

Flashback: Travis Stevens vs Paulo Miyao - Copa Podio Season 2

It's interesting for a couple reasons: Judo Olympian with limited BJJ Gi Competition experience faces BJJ sport-centric competitor. Conventional wisdom would suggest that Miyao would utilize his Berimbolo and other sport specific positions to give Stevens trouble, but a few very sport specific scoring criteria were really Stevens' only downfall.

Despite limited BJJ competition experience, Stevens shuts down much of the Berimbolo/crab ride style back takes you would expect would give a non BJJ Sport specific competitor trouble, hearkening to a Keenan "Berimbolo doesn't work" type of belief.

Stevens goes "old school" and forces his way to half-guard to pass for the most part. Miyao gets points for rolling out of bounds while attacking a toe hold. After a reset and the points are awarded, Stevens again goes for half-guard and an over/under style pass, utilizing a belt grip before falling back on a toe hold. Miyao comes up on a leg drag, but because Stevens doesn't escape bottom position and try to out Jiu-Jitsu the other Jiu-Jitsu guy and simply gets up, he negates the position. It's a lot like the Ryan Hall quote recently, "just come up on a single leg."

Anyone who's wrestled, played Judo, or competed in Sambo, or fought MMA knows that a lot of the silly ankle grabbing JiuJitsu positions ONLY work if both guys try to out do one another in these positions and refuse to just come up to top/stand up. If Stevens had some more competitive BJJ experience, I expect he would've given Miyao just enough time to come up to top, maintained contact and then reversed him for points, potentially transitioning the takedown into a heavy pass position. With short time and down on points, Stevens steps into guard, and Miyao locks his hands and digs out the leg to then get to the omoplata which he then spins the legs and gets to 50/50. The scores end 2-2, tied advantages apiece, and Miyao wins a decision (I think).

All of my Back takes & Back finishes from the past 2 years or so

Some trends that come and go in my NoGi matches. I used to spend a lot of time forcing the back triangle from attacking the back but now opt to stay on the strangle. Long term I've had far more success staying on the back and looking for the choke than opting for the triangle or even worse, the armbar. Anyone good should take a few cracks and get out of the armbar and force the stack then even possibly pass if you stay on the arm too long.

I actually prefer the reverse triangle to force the sweep from a traditional bottom triangle attempt, and will use it to then drag the elbow across to attack the key lock. Most of my triangle work nowadays is actually a follow-up attack to them leaving their head in the hole as I dig out the leg. Or vice versa.

Rolling Backtake Counter: Beat them to the Next Phase

There's a number of times that rather than fight the position, the smartest thing to do is beat your opponent to the next junction/control point. Rather than resist the rolling backtake/ninja roll, whatever you call it where you train, when your opponent laces the leg (be it twister hook, triangles the legs, top side hook, or pinches the knees with a shallow hook) rather than resist and fight to then engage in a mutual crab ride type battle of who can stomp down/extend their leg away, simply beat them to the transition. I find walking on my hands and firing my hips allows me to get my hips topside.

The issue I've always felt was the biggest downside to the rolling backtake is the big wind-up. Sure, if your opponent resists the position you can dive and shoulder roll to force the position, but I've never been a fan of forcing positions that are essentially neutral shootouts. The comp footage is from the Grappling Idiots Pro -150 Qualifier final I won before quarantine shut everything down and the Gi footage was from me breaking it down for drilling a couple weeks prior.

Gordon Ryan vs Ralek Gracie - Full Match & Concise Breakdown

Gordon uses a half butterfly to pommel legs into position, thinks about an outside reap then settles for an ankle lock grip, using it to sweep as Ralek concedes top position to defend the foot lock position. Gordon effortlessly C grips the knees and throws by and settles into a pass. Ralek turtles to defend but Gordon uses single wrist ride to mat return/take the back as Ralek tries to get back to his feet.

Ralek forces his escape by getting to being mounted, then to open guard then Ryan hip switches to pass quickly again. At 6 mins Ryan utilizes more leg drag and switching sides to again pass the briefly recomposed guard. Gordon passes the same way again at 7 mins. At 8:25 Ralek gets to his feet and semi tries to Granby but Gordon tight waists him into a stack and nullifies it. From side mount prior to getting to mount, Gordon is shin pinning Ralek's near side arm, allowing him to have it trapped and advance to mount with the triangle threat ready. The inverted triangle is locked prior to giving up top position which shuts down most of the competent defense options.

BJJ Scout's BJJ Digest: Anthony Smith Home Invasion, Mickey Mouse Cancels UFC, Keenan Disparages Rickson Knife Defense...

SubStars: Gordon Ryan vs Tex Johnson Match Concise Breakdown

I ordered the event and bought Josh Leduc's coffee for the fundraiser to pay athletes, so I don't mind posting the footage, enjoy.

Gordon forcing leg drags and foot pommeling to overwhelm Tex's guard. Tex has some leg lock wins but if you know what you're watching, it's primarily non leg lockers or IBJJF competitors, and his set-ups (check the Demente match for example) don't have enough variety against someone that once they've escaped his first couple entries and that forearm grip big man ankle lock attack, he tends to give up passes and position when his back is flat on the mat.

By about 3 1/2 minutes Gordon forces his way into half-guard and flattens Tex out, leading to the shoelaces foot prying the foot stuck in half-guard and advancing to mount. From here it's a waiting game of Tex defending mount/not giving up his back and some deep head/arm triangle attempts by Gordon. Tex recomposes guard at 5 minutes but Gordon passes after an outside heel hook attempt, splits the legs by not completely fleeing the leg entanglement and uses it to pass. At close to 8 minutes after a reset near the edge, Tex gets an outside heel hook he switches to an ankle lock but as his legs are to the outside/ashi/whatever you call it, there's no breaking power, and when Tex goes to adjust Gordon splits the feet and uses it to pass again without much resistance. Pretty textbook pressure in the passing to use the leg entry attempts to frustrate then pass the opponent. If you've got to completely flee/disengage at the first sign of leg entanglement you'll have trouble getting any real passing attempts/chains going in your favor.

Nastiest Wristlock Compilation on the Internet + Student Compilation/Myself Hitting them in Competition

Training partners despise it. Competitors curse your name. It is the one and only wrist lock.

I've been working on wrist locks since I was early in purple belt. A black belt showed me one from side control that I had immediate success with, I added the standing wrist lock and standing omoplata lapel wrap wrist lock to my arsenal and later added the wrist lock from the triangle and other various wrist lock attacks from closed guard and even pinning their arm with my shin then attacking the wrist.

Illiadis Ippon Seionage/Cross Step entry (& BJJ Specific Variations)

Illiadis shows his cross step set-up for a deep entry Seionage. This cross step is something I used to drill a lot to help improve my standing version of Seoinage, and actually helped me improve my shoulder throw as a whole, instead of relying on dropping to both knees.

Seionage was the first throw I studied in depth in Judo and I had a lot of success with it early on. Down the road I did a lot of drilling and training trying to emulate Koga's style of a standing entry but never had ton of success, due in part to the nature of the training is tough on training partners and requires a lot of landing on opponents (a liablity if you don't have a crash pad or endless lower belts to train with like they do in Japan). As a result, I was always looking for a standing entry that I felt was a compromise between Koga's entry and stronger than the drop knee version most commonly utilized. As I had knee surgery, felt the strain of deep squat or single knee down entries no longer tenable, I found myself drilling this Iliadis entry (at it less deep, but relying on a standing/cross step entry).

The emphasis on stepping to set-up the throw/entry requires a bit more deftness than jumping and turning and relying on the dropping bodyweight to do the bulk of the throw. I can do the dropping/kneeling seionage from almost every grip combination there is, but after a lot of training and live rounds, I actually prefer the posture and follow-up throwing options the standing version creates rather than the "one shot, one kill" options of the dropping to the knees version of seionage.

Here I break down the cross colloar/defensive gripping version that leads to a backtake in JiuJitsu competition and is by far the most common version you see at high level JiuJitsu against defensive posture/square stance opponents:



Here it is with a combination of Koga/Illiadis standing version that is both a bit entry step into a standing finish that takes much longer to feel strong and load them up, but I think ultimately produces stronger fundamentals of timing/entry and gripping/loading positioning & posture:

What I'm Watching/Reading/Consuming: Stack Passes, Cartel Survivor Larry Pollock, Chris Benoit

Currently reading: Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley

Andris Brunovskis Breaks down Super Stack Pass:

 Chris Benoit Dark Side of the Ring:



 Larry Pollock: Federal Time, Tortured by the Cartel, & Steroids/Bodybuilding:

3 Sambo Straight Ankle Lock Principles: Vasylchuk

I've been watching a lot of footage about standing and turtle leg lock entries in the Gi and otherwise, and no one does it better than Sambo. Judo doesn't allow leg locks or leg grab takedowns, JiuJitsu guys sit to guard or run away for 5 minutes on the feet at a time, so Sambo is the place to look by process of elimination. You can't go to a foot doctor if your hand hurts and expect precise care.

I learned a lot about research & development when I transitioned to MMA from a Judo background. I had to do a lot of frustrating days in the gym in MMA sparring and NoGi to pick up the things which I can translate and the grips and throws which don't or are too high risk et cetera. As the sport progresses, or if you're competing ADCC et cetera, or if you just don't want to lose matches to guys who disengage perceived danger in guard passing and stall on the feet, it will require you to have more entries than just hope the guys presses you in guard passing enough that you can grab a leg.

GUYS WILLING TO FIGHT UGLY/STALLING/DISENGAGING MATCHES WILL DEFEAT SUPERIOR SUBMISSION GRAPPLERS. 

At any rate some common principles in the video below you'll see from prolific ankle lockers in JiuJitsu:
Musumeci and Doederlein both overwhelmingly prefer a lapel grip/Fist grip for breaking mechanics. I attended a Doederlein seminar in Brooklyn and he confirmed to me that working with Musumeci is where his ankle lock really began to take shape and got him on the path to where it is now.They both also do not fall back on the ankle/go to their back unless their inside foot is stomping into the hip/joint and they have isolated the foot in the armpit after some initial finagling position to get the foot week(unable to boot/defense). Doederlein has more vertical/facing the ceiling ankle lock finishes and Musumeci if I recall has more belly down/turning away finishes. I've watched every ankle lock finish between the two of them, and this is roughly the major discernible difference other than entry. Musumeci transitions off of the berimbolo and their defense, Doederlein gets there from feeding a lapel from closed guard to maintain control while getting to the shallow/shadow hook and modified 50/50 type position. Doederlein also does better attacking the kneebar from the modified 50/50 than Musumeci does. Musumeci prefers to stay on the ankle or opt for a toe hold.

The other key to Doederlein and Musumeci is that Doederlein uses the threat of the backtake or sweep to continually isolate the foot/ankle for maximal breaking position/isolation, and Musumeci has such a dangerous berimbolo that he's able to pounce on the foot as they have to primarily defend the berimbolo. In Sambo, the foot presents itself off of transitions from the throw/takedown, and guys turning to avoid the pin/turtle. So, the use of transition or multiple dilemmas within the points hierarchy/match ending scenarios is also what can get the foot exposed in a way that a competent competitor normally would not choose. 

Copa Podio Flashback 2013: Brown Belt Keenan vs Xande

Keenan loses by 2, which, for an American brown belt, facing a legend like Xande, acquitted himself well. This was before the exodus from the team whose name shall be forgotten, and before the segue to Atos, and before Keenan set up his own gym in San Diego.....all in the past 7 years. Quite a journey.

Gordon Ryan Response to Keenan/Gym Closure/Eye-pocalypse/Team Hopping Drama

I've posted the BJJ Scout piece, so the flipside of the argument/tea is as follows:

Copa Podio Releasing Old Matches on YouTube: Lo, Durinho, Alves, Ramos, Meregali, et al

A lot of throwbacks I saw on old events, some I'd forgotten had happened, and some others I'd missed:

BJJ Scout's BJJ Digest: Claudio Doval Accusations, Keenan vs Gordon Ryan Accusations Fly, Judoka Banned for Sambo?

A lot to unpack in this one.

The Judoka getting banned sounds bad until you find out the guy was utilizing the Judo facilities and support up until the last day of the deadline to represent his home country :/ At any rate, it's a hot day of tea for us grapplers bored AF.

World Sambo Championships 2019: Sambo = Better Viewing than Most IBJJF Black Belt Matches

Hot take: I'd rather watch Sambo World Championships than any other grappling Xships.
Between the allowance of leg locks, the combat version, and the women kick ass. I'd take women sambo matches over most black belt male IBJJF matches any day of the week tbh. Stalling calls and DQ's for disengaging produce a fan friendly viewing that's a nice mix of wrestling, submissions, takedowns in the Gi, et al.

BJJ Scout's BJJ Digest: ADCC Eye Plague Shade Room, Wrestler Roasts Outbreak Grappler

This is what we've got for news in grappling ATM, folks.
I always found it interesting the eye infection thing didn't get more heat in the grappling news, especially w the accusations about who was training where/when/who had it begun flying...

There won't be but there should come a frank discussion about training while sick in JiuJitsu whether it's staph, MRSA....but, just like steroids, it won't get discussed with any veracity.