Tomorrow!! Finishers 8 -145 Bracket - Pure EBI Format Submission Only: Krikorian, Rosenthal, JM Holland and others

Rolled out to Pure MMA in NJ to coach a student of mine who was doing the Finishers Open White/Blue -155 Bracket, and managed to coach another Renzo teammate of mine whilst there who took 3rd in the -135 White/Blue bracket.

Tomorrow a number of the best -145 Submission Grapplers will square off. I won't lie, it was bittersweet being there today as I was the first guy announced for this bracket and had to pull out due to ACL/Meniscus surgery. I'd been prepping for EBI format since before Christmas in order to do this tournament and I've previously beaten 3 of the guys in the bracket.

Keith and/or Frank are the 2 top seeds to win the event. Frank has won a bunch of superfights in the past year, travelling all over to the UK and even Kuwait recently for an event meanwhile Keith has been filling his schedule with: superfights, bracket format events, IBJJF, EBI format, ADCC trials...everything and anything over the past year. Keith is also the reigning -155 Finishers champ beating a very tough Nick Ronan in the finals of that event. I'm super bummed given the level of talent signed up that I'm now going to miss this event and Sub Spectrum -135 event happening next weekend which I was also slated to compete in.

JM Holland of EBI & Combat JiuJitsu resume rounds out the obvious favorites to win the event. Emilio Hernandez is my 4th seed to take it with a passing oriented top game but willingness to fall back on legs throughout the match. Previously, I've seen him do well attacking the feet of those who leg lock him with enough diligence to force them to abandon leg entanglements, but I haven't followed his recent matches so will be interesting to see what if any modifications he's added to his passing and submission attacks. Sheridan Moran competed in a previous Combat JiuJitsu event and with a heavy top game and wrestling pedigree will be tough to finish in regulation.

My picks for the bracket are as follows:
Left side of the bracket is basically a lock of Keith vs Frank in the Semi-Finals, and I expect JM Holland to take his half of the bracket. I saw Kyvann struggle to beat several guys at the Grappling Industries Secaucus event a few weeks ago and unless that was him working on some new things or feeling out new parts of his game as a test run, it wasn't a convincing performance to suggest to me that he'll beat JM Holland or Emilio Hernandez. Kyvann should beat Stapleton first round in regulation. Depending how Gabe Tejada's leg locks have come along, he may catch Valor Boyer. I've beaten Valor twice in OT in EBI format, but wasn't particularly threatened by his offensive finishing/submission arsenal. Hughes vs Dvorovy is a non-matter as whichever guy wins will get leg locked by Rosenthal next round after Rosenthal likely leg locks or perhaps passes the guard and backtakes his first round opponent.

I'll be teaching class then posted up in bed icing my knee and watching the matches, experiencing soul crushing FOMO

John Danaher on Cross Training

Feel like I just said something about this the other day....

Danaher discusses grappling

Ignore the interviewer's 2 cents:

Grappling Links for your Tuesday

Graciemag has a follow-up piece on Otavio Sousa after his winning both weight and the absolute in the black belt at the NY Open. The piece on his NY Open performance is HERE along with a butterfly guard pass that one of my instructors teaches, incidentally.
My earlier pieces on Otavio Sousa are HERE and HERE.
If I'm not mistaken, he's also out of GB Pernambuco where I trained earlier this year during my stay in Brazil.

For those that don't know, I'm a big John Danaher fan. Not b/c he coaches GSP b/c I've heard so much about how amazing he is, but his approach to explaining the why and how we do things is refreshing. I'm much more interested in WHY a high level practitioner thinks the way they do than "show me an inverted spider guard to spiral guard transition to reverse omoplata."
I posted awhile back HERE about going inside the matrix with John Danaher. Coincidence I guess that the podcast I'm linking here went with that same angle. You'll also notice my post is dated January 16th of this year. Any how, whatever, the podcast is good and as always, Danaher says some things that make you reconsider or at least add to your perspective on grappling. And that's the difference between a good speaker and a great one.

BJJ Heroes has a piece up on Vitor Toledo HERE.
(the guy who Kayron crossfaced to hell and beat recently at the Pan Ams).


Graciemag also has a piece up on Minotauro HERE, the one, the only, the legend. It also includes a guillotine prevention bit. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

The World Jiu-Jitsu Expo in Long Beach is also heating up to be quite the fan friendly and hardcore grappling fan's dream:
Kayron will face Rafael Lovato Jr.
Victor Estima will face the wily Kron Gracie (Victor lost by DQ at the recent 2012 Pan Ams to Kron via reaping the knee).
And for the ladies, Kyra Gracie has thrown her name in the mix with an as of yet unnamed opponent being sought out.

At any rate, Happy Trainingz!

John Danaher Takes You Inside the Matrix

Read the full article about the seminar by John Danaher over at Submission Control.

For me, when I started Jiu-Jitsu, my background was predominantly in Judo. I had also wrestled for a club team in college and helped coach a local high school program by working out with the kids and doing my fair share of freestyle wrestling.

When I began committing more time to Jiu-Jitsu, like many, I started by looking for moves. Looking for a certain or particular escape. I look for a piece of the puzzle.
Over time, however, you often find yourself more interested in knowing at times what the big picture looks like. Even a rudimentary understanding of what the puzzle should look like will help a brand new puzzle solver complete the puzzle.

With time, you tend to find yourself looking for an approach, or a style in which you approach Jiu-Jitsu. For some it is a passing/top position game. For others it is an open guard game to sweep and/or submit et cetera.

It's easy to find 1001 submissions on youtube. And technique videos have their place.
But, I find myself far more interested in hearing a high level grappler talk about their approach to Jiu-Jitsu, and their philosophy. That being said, when I read the description of a seminar by John Danaher I was highly interested. He's one of those guys that other black belts find themselves blown away by. Much in the manner which I hear black belts talk about how Rickson will explain an armbar or a collar choke, one technique, but his ability to deepen their level of understanding proves astounding.

Back to the article:
Danaher breaks down what he calls high percentage moves. His working definition for a high percentage move is one you see at all levels of competition, at all body types, and succeeds a large(r) portion of the time when attempted.

I highly recommend you go read the article for yourself btw, rathere than read my paraphrasing.

He breaks down into list form the highest level/percentage moves in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (while using the Japanese terminology ;)

They are as follows:
1) The Roger Gracie mounted collar choke
2) Mounted collar choke to armbar
3) Cross Collar choke from Butterfly guard
4) Double lapel choke from the back mount to armbar

At any rate, Happy Trainingz and give this some food for thought.

For sure, high level grapplers have their pet techiniques like Marcelo's Guillotine, or Langhi's Spider guard, Roger's mounted collar choke, but their attributes, are often what lets them best so many various styles and players.
Their base, balance, grip, precision, pressure.....these are the true hallmarks of a high level grappler.