Move of the Day: Paulista Pass

Guy who trained at my gym for awhile came from a Ralph Gracie school. I looked up the gym, and the instructor, and lo and behold, the guy puts out simple, effective video clips.

Sticking with the theme of yesterday's mention about when I came from Judo and began learning BJJ separately: the following clip is a pass to sidemount I've been using a lot since I watched it a few months ago. I first learned this pass early on in Judo, probably about 6 years ago. I was taught the pass with a regular sleeve/lapel grip immediately following a failed throw/when the opponent falls to his side type scenario.

The cross grip shown here lends itself to a lot of passing power/control in the Gi + can set up a sweet "simple choke" as the guy points out. It's worked for me against small, big, and everything in between size guys. Can't hate on that.

Evolving Your Game: Identify. Address. Implement. Repeat.

Preface:
A lot of times, in Jiu-Jitsu, we begin learning defensively. We learn first how to survive. For those who have read Saulo Ribeiro's Jiu-Jitsu University, his white and blue belt sections emphasize this point thoroughly: as a white belt you must first survive. As a blue belt you must escape.

Phase 1: 

When I came from Judo I did what a lot of Judoka do: played top position whenever possible, got to my feet, and played an aggressive, physical, if not less than overly technical game. I cut corners, smashed and passed and occasionally got a choke or armbar.

There's nothing wrong with an aggressive, smashing, top control based style. I'm simply calling it for what it is.
I realized that my energy expenditure did not much what I was actually accomplishing when I was rolling with so much effort. I had the conditioning from Judo to roll hard for 5 min's straight, but my energy expended versus what I was achieving was woefully disparate.
I watched the precise way the purple and brown belts would control and pass and submit and I wanted that. Call it lazy, call it effective, call it smart, but I wanted it. 


I decided to make en effort to learn Jiu-Jitsu for what it was, or what I felt like it had to offer in filling in the holes in my game: I started playing the guard, fighting off of my back, and doing the positions I was not good at. I wanted to find the control, finesse, and smooth, relaxed pressure game I felt from higher ranking BJJ players who made it seem effortless. 

Phase 2: 

Fast forward 2-3 years when I began fighting competing in MMA. I realized that being on the bottom is a dangerous place (moreso than the top). Judges tend to score a round more favorably for the top position fighter, and in general, more damage can be inflicted from the top. My primary goal was to absorb as little damage as possible while on bottom, and sweep or get back to my feet.
My game from off my back became breaking down posture, minimizing damage, and scrambling to a standing position.

Phase 3: 

After 4 1/2 years of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, I've found that my passing/top game now needs to be polished every bit as much as my bottom game. 

In class, I virtually always start off my back or in a bad position, work to escape, transition to top then look to pass to dominant position then submit. However, what I've found is that due to my Judo background, I spend far more time in tournaments working to pass open guard or some half-open-guard transitional position.





Summary: 
Recognize tournament performance and class performance.
Address areas in need of attention.
Prioritize training time/training with partners accordingly.

Judo World Championships: 3 days of Prelim Highlights

Day 1


Day 2 Part 1


Day 2 Part 2


Day 3

Some great nagewaza, osaekomiwaza, and shimewaza during the transitions from failed throws to the mat.

Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Recap

Check out the below for Barnett's head/arm triangle win over Kharitonov.
His bodylock/outside trip takedown into full mount was impressive enough. The patience from mount then taking the head/arm that Kharitonov gave him was equally slick/opportunistic.

I would have been more excited to see Jacare use his BJJ and to see Gracie lock up with King Mo on the canvas, but then, this is fighting, not Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, or wrestling.
Same goes for how Cormier would have fared against Silva off his back....

Technique of the Week: Pedro's Ouchi Gari

This is probably one of the best instructionals I've seen on this throw. Period. I've used this in the Gi and also in NoGi. I've hit this with 16 0z. gloves on, in sparring, doing mma style sparring, etc.


The throw works. You read on forums about how Judo doesn't work for MMA. Like I said, I've pulled this off with gloves on, gi, and nogi, and hit it in the blue belt Gi, and intermediate NoGi division in submission only tournament before more than once.
I usually hit it in NoGi from a bodylock rather than an over/under tie up position, but try the different grips with a partner and find the one that feels right for you. It's (for me anyway) a relatively low risk throw from Judo that works from a variety of grips, bodylock, and clinch positions. Even if the Ouchi Gari fails, it gets the guy moving, gets him off balance and lets me step behind him for an outside trip.

Over/Under grip:

However, I personally prefer to hit the bodylock grip whenever possible, in NoGi or in MMA style sparring/in a fight. I feel it afford far more control, better control of his hips, and nearly always leads to my scoring a takedown. It also minimizes the number of knee strikes he can effectively land on me.

Body Lock:

Clearly the bodylock in the above is more of a set up for an outside trip/tani otoshi type throw, but the bodylock to me in my fights and in sparring with wrestlers, Judo players, mma fighters, is the most powerful position in the clinch. What I lose in the variety of strikes available by taking the bodylock I gain in control and efficiency with getting the takedown.

Cheers. Go Train.

"I prefer standing Judo" ( So long as that excludes leg grabs and double legs)

                                     What's that? Standing Judo you say? Well, it's Haragoshi....
                           so it doesn't count. Seionage doesn't have to be completely standing either.
                                    Only those damn double legs aren't  the real "standing Judo".
          
I read a lot of posts by Judo purists emphasizing Judo posture and disparaging leg grabs, the double leg (wrestling). They typically dream of this mythical place where every Judoka has perfect upright posture and the gripping is limited, and perfect Ippons fall from the sky. I noticed that they rarely disparage dropping to the knees for seionage, or makikomi/rolling all the way through for tomoenage, haraighoshi, or uchimata. They don't really mean "standing Judo" completely. They mean "standing Judo" when it's applied to wrestling and pick-up techniques so they don't have to bother with sprawling or figuring out a way to counter bent over posture.


So, then, it's not really the "standing Judo" across the board which they seek...it's to ban the leg grabs and pick-ups that are typically outside of their skillset.


Were that the case they would harp on makikomi uchimata or haraigoshi or virtually all sutemi waza....but they don't.

When the russians came in with unorthodox grips and more leg grabs/pick-ups, all of a sudden, the Japanese supremacy came into question. They realized that so long as other countries, decades behind the curve, without a national sport worth of training partners had tried to play the Japanese style of Judo, Japan was elite. All of a sudden, the Japanese style was less effective against players who did not try to play as though they were Japanese.

So gripping rules were made, they disparaged the other styles of wrestling and Sambo that made it more difficult to win with the mythical "standing Judo".

                  OMG!!! Even in 1986, standing Judo at the Olympic level wasn't taking place!!!!!

Good posture is key to Judo. An emphasis on standing Judo and strong upright Ippon Judo is also wonderful and great and should be the end goal. But to disparage a group of techniques that have their place, according to Kano himself, is not in the spirit of Judo.

    - Judo Revolution

Thoughts on the Judo World Championships: Gripping and Playing the Edge

                                      (Jimmy was right. It's all about gripping. I doubt even he knew
                                                             how true this would become)

If you're like me, you've been following the Judo World Championships in Paris the last few days. Last night after about an hour, I noted I was bored by the number of 7-11 minute matches with few discernible big throwing attempts, save in the last few minutes of regulation.
I got to thinking about my most recent tournament and some things I realized on the drive home.....

I competed recently in a regional level Judo tournament. I had semi-dislocated my elbow 3 weeks prior due to armbar/jujigatame in an MMA fight. I was unable to play right hand due to pain in my elbow and had only managed about 6-7 training sessions before the tournament.

I managed to sweep two weight classes, win all my matches by Ippon while playing predominantly left-handed. My tokuiwaza is a right Tai Otoshi with either traditional grip or a cross/same side grip.
This post isn't about how I'm the most awesome Judoka ever. It's more specifically about the importance of gripping based on the new rules in Judo. I thought back on the 2 hour drive home from the tournament. I beat several players not so much b/c I was a stronger thrower, had better conditioning, or even a wider range of strong throws.....I won b/c for the most part won the battle for grips: I kept them from getting their preferred grip and out-hustled them by attacking first in most of the exchanges. Some of these were legitimate attacks and some of these were just to make it look like I was throwing and he wasn't throwing.
When my opponents did attack, it was often  from a technically weaker position due to inferior gripping/position. I had watched their previous matches and my first order of business on the mat was keeping their preferred grip out of reach. I avoided any high collar grips or over the back grips from being placed on me, and I controlled their sleeve at the end, without letting them grip me on that side.

They eventually became anxious due to penalty for passivity or began coming forward out of frustration. Or both.
Each time this set up my finishing throw for Ippon. I actually threw my 2 toughest opponents the easiest out of the rest of the guys I faced b/c they grew anxious due to penalty or frustration and added their momentum to my throw.
--

Back to the Paris World Championships:
The banning of leg attacks and the move towards Judo being a mainly standing/throwing version of grappling (as opposed to wrestling, BJJ, Sambo et cetera) has very much increased the importance of gripping in Judo.

If you go and watch matches like I've linked below in the 60kg and 66kg category you see a much higher incidence of gripping exchanges that float to the edge of the mat with either half-hearted throws attempted or none at all. Many more matches are being thrown/won/decided at the edge of the mat following what feels like more protracted gripping exchanges than in the past.

Sobirov vs Hiroaka



Hiroaka


2 more matches in the 66kg with protracted gripping exchanges and few big throw attempts
-

-

The final of the 60kg, at my first watching seemed overly passive, almost like neither player was really looking to throw and throw big. But as I went back and rewatched the matches, my perception changed. Players that historically could attack a leg or look for a pick-up when in an uncomfortable position or being driven to the edge of the mat now must either regrip, break the opponent's grip, or hope for a referee's "matte".

Sutemiwaza which was such a common occurrence in the last Olympics was still on display in the 60 and 66 as a fall back for players out of position and wary of passivity penalties by referees.A number of players you could tell just went for a sutemiwaza just to do something rather than draw a passivity call.

In Summary:
With the new emphasis on standing Judo and the banning of leg attacks; gripping has become even more important due to new limitations on attacks. In theory, players can still set in for a pick-up or a fireman's carry/kata guruma, but the potential for hansokumake/disqualification by a referee makes this ill-advised in competition.
In addition, the combination of shidos into points has also changed the nature of matches. Once a player is penalized, the non-penalized player then pours it on in rate of attack in the hopes of the opponent being further penalized and falling behind in points, thus having to further open up and attack from potentially inferior positions.

The banning of leg attacks and the double leg/morotegari was meant to get rid of "koka" Judo and make Judo a standup grappling sport.
The Cubans were criticized for their strategy of getting ahead then riding out a lead by foot sweeping and looking busy when ahead on points.
What we now may have is a mainly grappling for position/grip sport where big throws are fewer and further between than ever.

Thoughts? Comments?