Tournament Self-Review: US Grappling Virginia Beach Continued

Back when I had long hair, chillin' matside.

I posted my first two matches of the day HERE, where I primarily utilized the Bernardo Faria sweep to knee through passing to knee on belly then finished with a lapel choke from the top.

Second to last match of the Day, a rematch with a guy I beat at the Submission Only the month before:
I sit and immediately fight to deep half guard, then feed the lapel for my Bernardo Faria sweep, I end up in a double under type position from bottom with my opponent in a near mount type position, but I'm able to sweep and come up on top.
I get to my over/under position and pass briefly but he counters and I utilize the stack pass to settle into sidemount on the far side, I get to knee on belly and eventually finish with a lapel choke variation I got from Gui Mendes in one of the Art of Jiu-Jitsu videos.

 

Final match of the day, blue belt under 149 adult final:
I had failed to submit him in the 30+ division earlier b/c of a mistake I made in not fighting for the underhook which burned time off the clock as we scrambled before I got back to top position. I was determined to finish him this time around.

I hit my Kurt Osiander DLR sweep to top position from sit-up guard as I did in our previous match. He nearly swept me in the scramble but I come up to top.
I fight for my under/over pass but he had his leg partially across and my grip is entangled from the sweep but I know I can't reset my grips mid pass or I'll lose the progress I've made.
I fight to half-guard, obtain the underhook but then go back to the over/under pass position and finally backstep/over/under pass then settle into sidemount by keeping the pressure but I almost get swept as I get too high with my knee in the hip, fighting for the underhook and he almost gets his belly down like he did in our first match which forced me to spin to the back the first time around. This time I'm on my grip and settle after he tries to disrupt my base and I'm ride back to my low angle half-guard pass knee up cut through.
I go for my brabo but he defends, then I reset my grip and get the tap as I use mount to add pressure from the top.

 

(Non)Tournament Proof Tuesday: Referee Bias(?)

I agree there needs to be statistical data to avoid confirmation bias, and the file drawer effect regarding the debate of referee bias in the IBJJF and in any large scale governing body. If there can be the kind of corruption in amateur boxing (listening to the commentators have to discuss and accept the likelihood that certain athletes might not get the nod due to where the judges were from was nauseating. I stopped watching boxing in the Olympics this summer as a result) then there can easily be bias in a group that virtually all has ties to some of the major competing teams in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

This reminds me of whenever they discuss corruption in USA Judo. The coaches who want to retain their perks or want a shot at being head coach of Team USA at some point all keep their mouth shut and say "oh, no, those are rarities, the athletes and blah blah blah" and then the disgruntled are shushed away as being outliers and the exception meanwhile USAJudo flies more administrators and paper pushers than it does referees to international events and the IJF and others penalize athletes for not staying at more expensive accomodations when traveling abroad.

From ze one and only Lloyd Irvin:
"Must Be Nice! It's time for a change, there is a "good ole' boy" network within the ranks of the ibjjf refs and this network needs to be broken up, the playing field needs to be even. I would like to see an American 'head ref' and at least one American side ref during finals and semi-final matches when an American is fighting in the match. I recommend HIllary Williams for the Job!...There are many refs tired of this, but they won't speak up, I completely understand. So I'll be Rosa Park and stand up and refuse to sit in the back of this bus. Something has to change! Does anyone know who appoints the refs that will be responsible for reffing the finals of the World Championships?"

Romero "Jacare" Cavalcante of Alliance rebutalled:
"I am not here to advocate for the IBJJF Federation but I do not think there is corruption or anything like that with the referees. They make mistakes and need to get better of course, but to accuse them of corruption is a little bit too much....

....Just a few weeks back at the Atlanta Open we had a match for the final of the open division black belt between Lucas Lepri (Alliance) and DJ Jackson (LIrvin) so one American and one Brazilian the score was even on points and in my opinion Lucas pushed the pace and DJ waited to counter attack or whatever at the end the refs decided to give the win to DJ Jackson which I totally disagreed and I saw in many occasions the decisions going both ways."

To which Lloyd re-rebuttaled: (after Romero said that Lloyd's guys were not gentlemanly for opting out of going to the podium to accept their medals)
"What about you teaching your fighters not to taunt former teammates, make threats, etc. I watched you and the entire Alliance Team taunt Jordan when he lost to Sinistro at the Pans, I saw you personally taunt Alec verbally when he lost "creontes never win!", and the list goes on, when Keenan beat Sinistro you didn't see anyone on our team taunt Sinistro, I teach my guy/gals better than that, I don't do that, you should teach them to behave like gentleman and not taunt or threaten former students and accept the fact that students switching teams is part of any sport as you put it."

Hillary Williams responds with the type of non-committal/deferential regard you'd expect someone who does not want to anger the IBJJF:
"Regardless of the extent and timeline, favoritism behavior is a reflection on the individual integrity of the referee and not the fault of the organization. Now, heads exploding again--"If IBJJF employs them, the blame of corruption falls on them!" To some extent, yes, I agree with hypothetical forum member. However, nothing can be taken out of context. We must be aware of the issues of ref availability and the inability to play big brother."

Non-Tournament Proof Tuesday: The Great Paredes Jiu-Jitsu Hunt

For those who haven't been following the tiresome yet awesome Paredes fraud Jiu-Jitsu witch hunt, it has reached its climax for the time being.
If you've forgotten or haven't seen his terribly incompetent grappling techniques, there's 17 of them linked on this youtube channel.

Here is the original thread at Jiujitsuforums.com
Here is the second thread at Sherdog's forums.

Here are some of my posts on the topic. HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Myself, and 3 buddies sought him out at his school to try and get a picture with the elusive myth that is James Paredes.
Part of me refuses to believe this is over:

Tournament Proof Tuesday: Wrestling Class

If you are a NoGi competitor, you should be attending a wrestling class.
If your interior monologue is already inventing excuses reasons for why you can't go, then you will likely never be a high level competitor. Not b/c of the factors beyond your control but b/c you would rather rationalize deficiencies in your game than address them.
Even worse are those who will watch Torres vs Tanquinho (below) and use the amount of time on the feet "wasted" as a rationale for why their current training and gameplan paradigm is superior.
Your rationalization to avoid where you are uncomfortable (on your feet and/or wrestling) is deeply-ingrained and it will take a major shift for you to come out of the cave and walk into the light.

There is no greater failure than than choosing not to succeed.
Even for those who do not regularly compete, you are missing out on a whole host of new problems, situations, and positions to learn and adapt to your grappling.

Regardless your focus, it will improve your game.
The choice is yours.

Tournament Proof Tuesday: Insist on the Pass

In the months leading up to my trip to Brazil, I'd spent a lot of time on top position and guard passing.
Bullfighter, leg drag, you name it. My goal was to bring my guard passing up to about the level of my closed guard game so as to not be completely unbalanced. Coming from Judo, I'd spent years grappling but with not a lot of finesse or much of an arsenal off my back. I spent about 4 1/2 years once I started going to Jiu-Jitsu classes playing off my back, closed guard, sweeping, et cetera.

At any rate, the biggest thing I took from my trip to Brazil was the emphasis on passing with pressure. It may just have been the 2 schools I visited, but at both places, the emphasis was on driving forward, insisting and forcing the pass in order to develop that crushing pressure.

"Butt down" and "hips lower" were what I heard every time I rolled.

While not aesthetically pleasing perhaps, DJ Jackson shows the efficacy of this insistence on the pass in beating Cyborg at the Pro Trials in NJ/NYC.
3 years ago, I watched Cyborg walk through the black belt division at the Pro Trials without hardly breaking a sweat.
Seeing DJ beat him him is pretty damn impressive.

 

 

Ultimately, Cyborg's decision to let DJ try to pass and try to pass and try to pass and accept bottom position runs down the clock and leaves him with too little time to recoup points near the end of the match. Cyborg finally gives up an advantage around 5:30 on the video (not sure the time left in the match exactly) and is now forced to get moving. DJ needs only drain the clock and does so to get the cash and plane ticket to Abu Dhabi.

6 minute matches at that level are an interesting time limit that forces a different pace and different approach to time management. They also magnify the value of even an advantage as one advantage just made the different in thousands of dollars cash and a free trip to Abu Dhabi.

On a sad note, having done the Pro Trials in the past, the registration portion is such a hassle now, that it's become essentially the big schools trying to win a free trip to Abu Dhabi, and the smaller schools of less renown not filling out the brackets.
You have to register your school, and your instructors have to be verified and blah blah *&^%ing blah. So, you either have to have your school/instructors foot that bill or that gets tacked onto your travel, hotel/hostel, food, car rental if necessary, and registration fee.

Way to make it harder for competitors to participate.

Tournament Proof Tuesday: Terrere Knee Shield Guard Pass

When you start focusing on guard passing, the shield is something you will eventually come across.
In the above, notice the left knee of the player on bottom creating space at a roughly 90 degreen angle. While relatively simple in theory, passing the knee shield can prove difficult.

Guys with strong legs, and particularly longer legs will use this to stuff much of your guard passing and keep you from getting the knee in the middle and knee through or cut through pass depending on your particular preference. But if you do as Terrere does, "No can defend!"

I dunno who else teaches this or who invented it, I just call it the Terrere guard pass for lack of a better description.

It's one of the passes I can still do when moving around even though I'm about 3 1/2 months post op from ACL surgery. The Jiu-Jitsu I'm most interested in right now is what works even though one of my legs is very weak and lack quite a bit of range of motion.
You can see me lace the legs and do the Terrere pass at 2:59 below:
If I can do it moving around the first few times back from surgery, I'll add it to the list of techniques to keep in the repertoire.

Tournament Tuesday: Shameless Self-Promotion

Took the pains to set up some new video sections at the top of the Tool Bar to the right.
They're also linked here:

Judo For Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

My Judo Matches

My Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Matches

My MMA Fights

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.

Tournament Proof Tuesday: Clinch, Takedown, Finish (and an Ezekiel!)

"You lack discipline!"

Found this bouncing around facebook. It details among others Rickson, a teenager, and Relson Gracie defeating a Karate school in a challenge match.

If nothing else, hopefully it's a reminder that for non-takedown-centric players, you should be drilling bridging the gap and gaining top position. Especially when punches are involved.

For some extra interest, here's the Ezekiel from inside the guard. I've blogged about it here before: 
"Is Ezekiel the name of:
a) a 6th century BC priest/prophet whose 7 visions comprise a biblical book of the same name
b) Ezekiel Paraguassu, member of the Brazilian National Judo Team who choked a number of Gracie Barra black belts from inside the guard with the sleeve choke now given his namesake
c) both a. and b.
d) none of the above
---------------------
The correct answer is "C".

Disrespect the choke at your own peril.

Technique Tuesday: Eddie Bravo Dissects Rousey's Armbar

Love him or hate him, here's Eddie Bravo's breakdown of Rousey's armbar finish.
Eddie Bravo internet hate aside, the guy is a legit JJ Machado black belt in BJJ.

I'd be more interested to hear what Dan Camarillo the "arm hunter" or Giva the "arm collector" think of her finish as those are two competitors who know more than most of us will ever forget about taking the arm home to put on the mantle, but, breakdowns are always interesting as it's good to hear what longtime grapplers see that most of us probably or potentially miss while watching a fight or grappling match. .

And in kinda-sorta-slightly-maybe not really-related news, Kayla Harrison is a huge Ayn Rand/Atlas Shrugged fan.

Tourament Proof Tuesday: What Mistakes in Judo Look Like

The above is from March of 2011. I hadn't competed since the previous August.
I'd just finished a round of BJJ tournaments but opted to compete anyway b/c time on the mat is always good time.

I'm the smaller/shorter player (wearing the white belt) and this was the next weight division up from my natural weight class.
You can tell immediately my legs are much too far apart rather than adopting an upright stance.
You can see clearly that had my opponent been a competent uchimata player, I would have been toast in about 7 seconds.

I'm also lazy about my cross gripping (feeding the opponent's lapel to my dominant hand with my rear hand) and as a result I end up in neutral grips with my opponent (where we each have a hand on the other's sleeve and lapel). Neither of us is anywhere near optimal throwing range and position, hampered even further by his being taller yet playing more bent over than I, the shorter player.

Compounding that fact is that my style of play makes clear I don't really know how or what I want to do. My feet aren't moving (foot sweeps) and I'm lost out there as we move around the mat. My timing is off and I'm not really setting anything up except for the occasional over the back grip his posture gives me.

You can also see I make virtually zero effort to transition to mat work even when in top position.

The referee calls "matte" (stop) and I relax, then my opponent hits a semi-suplex. I'm hoping to pull a penalty or something else to get him to open up his game as he's playing even more bent over than I am.

At any rate, at 3:08 I hit an uchimata-counter to an outside trip for a waza ari (half point).

You'll notice in the 2 scoring attacks by me (at 3:08 and 4:20) I control his left grip at the outset of the gripping exchange. When he adjusts his grip, I adopt my position-ally stronger grip, throw, and score.

Takeaways:
I neglected to follow the gripping sequence. I simply walked forward, and put my hands out to grab my opponent. My gripping was lazy. I didn't circle, move my feet, I went for virtually no foot sweeps. My posture was atrocious. 
And on a technical/game planning level, I simply did not have one. I had not decided and specifically trained the combinations that are tested at the local level of tournaments.
 
It was an ugly match on my part and proof that the fundamentals create the opportunities for good Judo and avoid many of the positions and situations that lead to losing matches.
I was fortunate my changes in gripping for stronger grips led to 2 scoring opportunities.