Takedowns for BJJ: Lucas Lepri Lapel + Single leg & Variations

I've included the best clip of the various responses and Lepri's responses to the responses from the lapel + single leg position in standing (his cartwheel counter and direction changes), then a breakdown of utilizing the cross collar or same side grip and their advantages/disadvantages, then a clip of a student of mine hitting it recently, and a NoGi variation from a collar tie

Takedowns for BJJ: Ouchigari Variations Explained with Competition & Training Footage

Got some questions about Ouchigari as it pertains to other throws and how it's used in competition.
Below are two examples of mine from purple belt.

First tournament example: I keep my opponent reaching with his left hand for a grip (having just stripped it). Also note his defensive posture and weight heavy on the left leg. I don't need to get him to step as his left leg nearest to me is a heavy/stationary target. I time the reaction as I attack that leg to then block his right foot at the ankle and drive him past it

Second tournament example: My opponent opts for a cross grip on my lapel but concedes a high shoulder/scruff grip. This grip (and him voluntarily circling the way I would've pulled him anyway, allow me to use a whizzer to consolidate control as I attack the Ouchigari on his left foot stepping toward me. I didn't need a kouchigari or follow-up technique as he was already adequately off balance.

The bonus of competing in BJJ is the poor posture and defensive stance that most players adopt allows for strong, controlling grips over the top, and stationary/slow moving feet which are honestly just sitting ducks for attacks designed to block/trip/knock down et cetera. The scoring criteria in BJJ for takedowns is nowhere near as strenuous at is in Judo. In BJJ, I just have to end up on top in a controlling position for 3 seconds (in most tournaments). Take advantage. With all the resets, and guys fleeing out of bounds, and lazy refs restarting on the feet, there are often multiple opportunities to score 2 points throughout the match. 

Footsweep Basics: Kouchigari vs Kouchigake + cross ankle pick

Watch tournaments and you'll see all manner of leg kicks, calf kicks, shin kicks et cetera. If only, y'know, they were effective. A combination of things afflict the application of foot sweeps: lack of information, poor teaching protocol, lack of movement created by the attacker beforehand, lack of footwork, posture, balance, et cetera.

Relentlessly attacking foot sweeps against a stationary, defensive opponent will yield few takedowns to be sure. For me to sweep an opponent, I must catch them moving, preferably as their foot just about hits the mat. In Jiu-Jitsu, due to defensive posture, a blocking style usage of the foot will yield far more prodigious results.

Resist the urge to simply pick up their leg with your leg. If they are heavy on the lead leg, or their head/weight is over their lead leg, it simply will not work. It's basic physics. Block the leg and drive them past it and the leg will become light as they move away, allowing you to pick up the foot/knee et cetera.

Gripfighting & Takedowns for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu - Newbreed Open - Charlotte 2015 - 2 of my Matches

 Woke up at 5am, drove to Charlotte and reffereed all day. Hadn't planned on competing but the opportunity arose so I grabbed my training gi and belt and had two matches.

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Gripfight. Takedown. Pass. Submit.

You'll notice I start out with a right handed over the top power grip as he allows me to control his left sleeve. I look for an outside foot sweep to get him moving. Unlike a lot of Judo players, I play ambidextrously, and feel about as comfortable on either side thanks to having to learn how to play left handed due to several elbow injuries and a knee injury over the years.
I end up with a left over the top power grip and again control his sleeve and look for an outside trip.
I briefly control what I call the inside elbow with  my left arm positioned inside of his arm but allow him to swim back inside because with my grip over his I have a deep entry shoulder throw I often hit regardless of their grip and he was flaring his elbows considerably so I knew he wouldn't be able to stop my entry if I went for it.
I look for an uchimata because I see him twisted out of position and his weight on his right foot is light but he steps off.
At 1 minute in I hit my sumi gaeshi because he lets me again grip over the top and cross grip his left arm.

His chief/primary mistakes were playing bent over, arms extended, not attacking with any real entries for throws or takedowns, and allowing me to grip him over the back due to his poor posture.

 

I could tell my opponent has probably wrestled due to his heavy lead leg stance early on.
Because of his posture + his feet positioning, I get my over the back grip and almost immediately look for an ouchigari, one of my primary set-up attacks on the feet, especially in Jiu-Jitsu. I like to follow up with a kouchigari but it's not appropriate due to how he steps off of it. I hit him with the footsweep I felt like would be there because of his narrow/extreme foot forward stance and there's not much he can do to stop it.

His primary mistake was posture. His secondary mistake was his extreme foot forward/narrow stance which made the foot sweep pretty much inevitable, honestly.

Travis Stevens Ankle Pick for BJJ

Not quite the way I do it, but then, I'm also not an Olympic level Judoka, so what do I know?

7 Throws/Takedowns for BJJ: Thoughts and Amendments

I got the video below over here and it got me thinking,
If someone came to me and asked me what I think they should know as far as the basic takedowns for BJJ, what would be my list?
Fortunately, I've pondered this question since I began competing in BJJ about 4 years ago.

My takedowns for BJJ are more what I call opportunistic.
They take advantage of the posture more common in BJJ: flat feet, and relatively stiff gripping (the white belt death squeeze stiff arm on your lapel) where they hold you at arms length as though their life literally depends on it, and bent over posture with the hips far away.

Rather than get into the semantics of the variations shown below (foot sweeps are shown all together), I'll amend the list afterward with what I show training partners who ask me about my high percentage takedowns in BJJ.

1. Double leg
2. Single leg
3.Uchimata
4. Body lock
5. Ouchigari
6. Foot sweep
7. Ankle pick

**
I've had enough emails, youtube messages, and friends ask me about this that I'm going to put together a video of the below. I got a lot of positive feedback from my cross grip seionage video, and though I loathe the sound of my voice recorded, my hair is now shorter and less ridiculous looking, so I'll put together a video to demonstrate the following salient points:
The reality is, that I'm lazy. And taking down BJJ players with even moderate levels of experience requires energy and in reality, he simply can pull guard at any time he feels uncomfortable in BJJ or submission grappling. There are also a fair number of BJJ competitors with wrestling experience to widely varying degrees.

However, should I find myself able to take advantage, or perhaps I meet a guy who simply does not want to be on bottom, he's down on points, scrambles to his feet and needs to get the takedown points, here we are: in a pitched battle for the takedown.

Let's breakdown the weaknesses in standard BJJ posture/stance:
no purpose of grip - just grabbing stiffly to keep out/the stiff arms of death - arms over extended. they do things like grip the inside of your elbow, grab your lapel and push indiscriminately, grab the sleeve and just try to defend whatever they think you are trying to do but basically it is all spaz and little purpose.
bent over posture - makes shooting a wrestling style single or double difficult if and/or when they get a lapel grip, but means his attacks are limited as well, his head well past his hips means he's MUCH easier to pull forward off his flat feet/get moving
hips far away - difficult to fit into big/major Judo style throws but again, this also limits his range of attacks and forces his feet flat and usually relatively square
feet flat -  it is tough for him to get moving/in motion in certain directions, but it also means his feet are stationary targets, he has to move each foot before he can adjust his stance/weight when you attack

- Thus, my approach is either jerk him around, get him moving (prefer to do this with a cross grip, open him up)
- break him down, snap down like in wrestling
- attack his stationary targets/feet

This video breaking down Rodolfo Vieira's takedowns (especially showing the cross grip seoinage builds on these principles and shows them in motion:



The FOLLOWING are MY higher percentage takedowns when working with BJJ players/wrestlers:
FOOT SWEEPS/movement/relaxing with the grip
Sumigaeshi
2 on 1 grip to ouchigari
outside foot sweep to ken ken uchimata
kouchigari/blocking to leg grab/ankle pick
over/under outside leg trip - show hook from inside/hook from outside - preference ?
ouchigari power grip against flat feet

- Again, video forthcoming.
 

Thoughts on the Elusive Jiu-Jitsu Takedown in Competition:The Takedown Blueprint: Jimmy Pedro and Travis Stevens

Anyone who trains with me that has asked me about Judo in Jiu-Jitsu knows I will say the following.
You have to do one of the following:

A) attack with a footsweep and not overextend/expose yourself to a counter
Jacare was doing this before it was cool and before the Rafa Mendes pump fake ankle pick that's en vogue these days:



B) get them moving





C) take advantage of their poor posture (Sumi Gaeshi)




That being said, Travis Stevens and Jimmy Pedro are the latest to offer their expertise in this area with what appears to be some MGInAction style online training.

Tournament Proof Tuesday: Cross Grip Seionage for BJJ

As promised, I've put together an introduction to a shoulder throw variation better suited for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competition. You may or may not recognize a man from over at BJJRefspot as my uke/partner in the video as well.
If you google the shoulder throw from Judo and its application in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, the inexperienced or misinformed forums are full of people claiming it leads to having your back taken or getting RNC'd. If your grip is good, the throw is not from a static position, and you get the guy moving, I've never had that happen personally. The key though is repetition and drilling, then drilling with movement. I'll be putting up some stepping drills and drills for practicing the throw while moving later this week as an add-on to this brief introduction. 



Remember:
1) advantageous grip
2) throw with movement
3) make space for your entry

The cross grip affords quite a bit of control and pull with which to get your opponent moving. It also affords a fair amount of control as you transition to the mat. Controlling one whole part of his body never hurts in a transition to mat work. The beauty of dropping to one knee is that in the event that I miss, I can get back to my feet and enter into the throw again in rapid succession.





I posted about the use of this variation HERE by Rodolfo Vieira among others. If it works at the highest levels of Jiu-Jitsu competition there's no reason why it won't work at the lower belts other than lack of proper preparation, drilling, and training.

And to make this post a bit retro, go after the jump for video of my first 2 Judo matches, back when I was a lowly white belt.