Monday, August 19, 2019

Techniques, HL's, and Video Content Re-Organization for the Blog


In an effort to better/more efficiently organize the blog, I've broken down the videos I have linked on YouTube over in the pages section to the right a bit more specifically:

Gripfighting for BJJ - Click HERE - standing gripfighting series dealing with a variety of common gripping situations/exchanges seen in matches: defensive grips, cross collar grip, gripping your way out of a deficit et cetera

Judo for BJJ - Click HERE - series of breakdowns of counters to common situations standing in JiuJitsu where the gripping rules and allowable takedowns is much more extensive than in Judo nowadays, as well as some highlight reels of myself and the students who attend my takedown class using them in competition

My Submission Grappling/NoGi Matches - Click HERE - clips from my NoGi matches and submission grappling matches 

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Counter to Standing Kimura/Sumi Gaeshi/Single Leg Counter

So, you thought you were Lucas Lepri and picked up a single leg, but you left your elbow exposed, well, all hope is not lost.

This was taught to me ages ago by a Judo coach of mine, and was recently seen used by Lucas Lepri vs Canuto at Worlds.


Kasai Atlantic City Bantamweight Grand Prix Reflections: Unity Closeout, Imanari, Geo, Calestine, Alarcon, Referees, et al

Missed most of the undercard, was coming from about 7 hours awake due to a family obligation, but made it for the duration of the main card and 3-4 undercard matches.

As has been my number one complaint with Kasai.......the inconsistent scoring of points reared it's ugly head yet again. Guys were able to score a near takedown point, but if for example you get a front headlock from seated, come up, hit a near takedown, there's no point awarded. I appreciate the awarding of points for near takedowns and submission attempts because some of the other Kasai brackets were not aesthetically pleasing to watch at all, and blah blah blah there is no points system that will ensure all matches are exciting blah blah blah. But, some of the calls reaked of the usual bias that has plagued and will continue to plague the sport for some time.

Guys were given points for toe holds with the leg fully extended, or a heel hook point attempt awarded to Murilo in a match who had locked his hands but no serious bite on the hip, but then when Ashley Williams faced Joao, there was the usual suspicious conference off of the mat by folks OTHER than the referees to determine the call....anytime the referees are starting at one another silently while debating making a call, the point of having 3 referees has gone out the window. Joao and Williams were down to the wire and Joao had a toe hold, and Williams had a heel hook. If you're gonna give the toe hold a point, why not the heel hook? Murilo had gotten a heel hook point attempt in an earlier match that was far less locked in that Williams and yet, no score for Williams. In the end, they declared the match a draw, essentially putting Joao thru to the finals as a result of calling it a draw/due to the point scoring for the bracket. It was great to see a semi diverse mix of styles represented with Sub Only (Geo and Calestine), IBJJF style points management (Ocasio, Miyao, Alarcon), Sub Only but points awareness (Ashley Williams), and the legend that is Imanari.

Murilo beat a brown belt on points in a 10 min affair.

Tom DeBlass won a match by kneebar that I honestly don't want to write anything about because I lack the ability to say anything other than it was a comical level mismatch if I've ever seen one. Go find the clips yourself and decide what you saw.

Diniz and Hinger handfought and circled to feel one another out early, then Diniz put on the heat with palm to palm/Peruvian necktie style grip, eventually getting the tap.
I didn't watch the Gaudio/Duarte match bc 1) I had been on a bus for 15 hrs at that point in two days and wanted to head home 2) the final match of the Grand Prix after it was going to be a fake match between Unity teammates anyway and 3) the only thing I'm interested in regarding Kaynan is the silence regarding his IBJJF test steroid email that's yet to be released. 

BJJ Scout's BJJ Digest: Keenan Talks Hero Worship, Kinectic Mismatch Fest, et al

I haven't bothered to watch Kinectic because anytime one guy can wax an entire 5 man squad, it was a non-competitive AF affair. Basically, as close to work as you can set up that isn't predetermined. I'm glad guys got paid, hopefully the event made money, whatevs.


Sunday, August 11, 2019

Kimura counter to Single Leg, Bicep Slicer + Kimura

Counter to a lazy single leg attempt/elbows flared, prior to them switching to a head outside single et cetera. Assuming the opponent stays flat to avoid conceding the back, an option to step over the head and attack a kimura + bicep slicer

Sunday, August 4, 2019

UFC MAGA Colby Edition? - Lawler Coasts, Miller Submits Guida & a look ahead to next week's MMA

I'm sitting there listening to Colby's post fight speech and he manages to make a Matt Hughes/Trump/train track reference all in one sentence. The appeal to a particular demographic feels so forced and over the top at this point I don't know where the sideshow ends and the satire even matters anymore. Despite detractors trying to portray MMA fans as ignorant and bloodthirsty, the truth is as far as most sports go, the UFC's champions both past and present represents a rather diverse set of nationalities and ethnic backgrounds as opposed to many other organized sports. I don't see anywhere near the level of diversity in hockey, Nascar, Football, Baseball, nor the broadcast time given to women athletes by other sports. The NBA doesn't bookend basketball games with WNBA games. The World Cup doesn't punctuate rounds of play with women's soccer games during the men's games. And yet, MMA is still stuck in this narrative of white trash, bud light crushing barbarians that is just not actually true. Cue the Trump family sitting cageside at this event and Colby in his MAGA hat. I'm all for trolling so hard folks can't tell if you're trolling, for isn't that really the point? I also am not a fan of folks being shamed and bullied into voicing opinions that violate the unspoken social contract of their fanbase who expect their idols to eschew certain topics or beliefs and "represent them." That being said, I'm just saying it's unfortunate Colby plays to the lowest common denominator with his antics and insults on the basis of country of origin, sex, vulgarity, and the rest.

If nothing else, Colby showed he's a poor man's version of Usman. Busy enough on the feet to duck that head and press you against the cage (ala Johnny Hendricks fights after the surgery that took away his bazooka punch), and busy enough to win rounds, but that complete befuddlement as to how to submit an opponent or even land meaningful damage following the takedown won't fly against Usman. Usman puts you down, keeps you there, and does work (ask Woodley).

I see the fight being clinch heavy, and active, but I see Usman taking the majority of the rounds with top position and landing more position whilst there. Colby is nothing if not a decision factory, and against Usman, I don't see Colby's skillset getting him the nod as it's just a less voluminous version of Usman's.

Lawler's always been good at getting to his feet, and showed that again in this fight but seemed content to give away the first two rounds, and hearing the corner advice you expected him to pick up the pace but it really only came in a couple spurts and then only in a meaningful way in the 5th round. Anyway, moving on, Miller got tagged, tagged Guida, and jumped on that arm-in guillotine, had his leg over the shoulder and the end was inevitable. A crazy combined number of fights between these two future hall of famers and we'll see both guys in the Octagon again.

Beyond that, the Tristar standout made a name for himself slipping in a hook and sleeping Silva, on an otherwise not very meaningful card for a Saturday afternoon at 3pm. It's always a good day when I can watch my favorite sport in the afternoon like other sports fans do every weekend for an ENTIRE season of a sport.

Thursday night we have Satoshi Ishii and Vinny Magalhaes each facing opponents on the PFL card.
Saturday we've got Schevchenko rematching Carmouche, Mike Perry facing Luque, Oezdemir fighting Latifi, & Rodolfo Vieira's UFC debut. Gilbert Burns makes his welterweight debut on the undercard which is odd because he's a good bit into his UFC career with several stoppages to his credit, so it's odd he's buried early on in the card, but go figure.