Technique

Lesson’s Learned From Revenge (& Two Cool Submissions)

When I first started, Jiu Jitsu professional BJJ competitions were a dream. Honestly, I never expected them to become a reality, let alone be invited to fight in them.

So, when I was approached by the guys at the Tuff Invitational I jumped at the chance to compete in a professional Sub-Only competition. Plus I would get to settle a score with an old rival, Paul Bridges, after nearly nine years.

The Arm Bar

Paul is one of the pioneers of UK BJJ, and I had the pleasure (or misfortune) to fight him under MMA rules back in 2006 on a UKMMA show.

This was really the early days of the UK MMA scene, and the competitors were nowhere nearly as well rounded as they are today.

Side note: Paul and I’s fight took place in one of the first cages in the UK. If you watch the video closely you’ll see there is a 3-inch gap between the cage and canvas, and the canvas was actually canvas, it hurt like hell when you grappled on it and left you with severe friction burns. Fun times!

At the time, I was primarily a Kickboxer, although I had done a fair amount of grappling and wasn’t afraid of the ground or to wrestle.

Paul, on the other hand, was already a purple belt and one of the top guys on the UK BJJ scene having won most of the comps available at that time.

It was a classic striker vs. grappler match up, that unfortunately for me, went the same painful way striker vs. grappler matchups go.

Check out the fight below:

This fight and Paul’s beautiful armbar are the main reason’s I got so heavily involved in Jiu Jitsu. I realised if I wanted a future in MMA I’d need to develop my BJJ skills to avoid situations like this happening again.

However, along the way I developed a love for Jiu Jitsu that overtook my desire to compete in MMA and be punched int the face. The rest, as they say, is history.

Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to compete against Paul again. He was always ahead of me in belt rank, and by the time I’d caught up he was focusing on his academy.

I thought I’d never get to test myself against him again.

So, when the guys at the Tuff Invitational asked me who I’d like to fight, Paul was the first person I thought of, and thankfully he agreed.

The Rematch

My preparation for the match against Paul was a little strange. I’d just competed and won the No Gi Worlds for the second time and was in good shape. But I had a distinct lack of high-level training partners and it was still a 6-weeks out from the event so needed to stay in shape.

So, I did what I could and I found a few great people to train with around Devon (which meant a lot of travelling but hey-ho). And when I couldn’t roll, I supplemented with more strength and conditioning sessions.

By the time the fight came around, I was in the best shape I could be in and I had a solid game plan.

That’s an important lesson, many people miss. When you’ve done everything you can in preparation for a fight, you will feel more confident. This is why training camps are essential for creating many people’s positive mindsets.

So, how did the fight go? Well here’s a complete breakdown of the match

The Lessons

Personally, there’s tonne of things I took away from this event, including: not rolling for 40-minutes before a match, fighting on a platform feels like a deathmatch, and several other things.

And there are also a couple of important lessons you can take away from this it too. Here’s four of the most important:

1. Don’t keep driving forwards if you head gets caught during a takedown attempt. Instead, shuck your head out by turning towards your head towards the body. Here’s Braulio Estima demonstrating the technique:

2) Don’t wait when you’re passing guard. Instead, immediately go on the offensive and start to pass. This forces your opponent to defend your pass not whatever you did to get there.

3) Put yourself in a position where your opponent is forced to defend multiple things. Your opponent can only really defend one thing at a time, so if you have two attacking options, they will have to give you one.

This is the reason I was able to submit Paul. I forced him to defend the armbar, Sucuri, and his neck.

You may never have seen this submission before, it’s a little unusual but the Sucuri is incredibly painful. Here’s how to perform it:

4. Do your best to prepare for a match. Even if you don’t have a lot of time, or training partners, or whatever, the knowledge you’ve done everything you can to prepare for an event is incredibly beneficial to your mindset when competing.

If you enjoyed this article, please leave me a comment or share it with your friends. It would make my day. Until next time.

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The Round The World Drill

Love it or hate it, you will spend a large part of your time on the mats trying to pass the guard. So it’s worth investing some time getting good at passing.

However, like the mythical one-punch KO, it’s rarely the first pass that gets the job done.

You need to create combinations of passes and transition based on your opponent’s reactions. Each movement should take you one step closer to your goal, and you keep linking techniques until you’re in a position where your opponent can’t defend.

So, how do you learn to transition between passes?

One way is to train combinations of passes with your partner providing the correct counter-response. Drilling like this will help you start to understand what to do in specific situations and begin to improve your reaction time.

To help illustrate the concept, and give you something to practice, here is a flow drill I call the “Round The World Drill”. This sequence of passes is a great way to warm up, but will also improve your guard passing transition speed. Check out the drill below:

Here’s the sequence with each technique being performed on both sides:

– Leg Drag
– Duck Under
– Jump Over
– Windshield Wiper Over Top
– Knee On Belly Switch
– Top Spin
– Chair Sit

Don’t have access to a training partner? Try the solo version of the Round The World Drill.

Here’s a 15-minute solo drilling training plan to help you practice the sequence.

Minute 1: One are leg drag
Minute 2: Jump over
Minute 3: Windshield Wiper Over Top
Minute 4: Knee On Belly Switch
Minute 5: Top Spin
Minute 6: Arm Bars
Minute 7: Leg Drag -> Jump Over
Minute 8: Jump Over -> Windshield Wiper Over Top
Minute 8: Windshield Wiper Over Top -> Knee On Belly Switch
Minute 9: Knee On Belly Switch -> Top Spin
Minute 10: Leg Drag -> Jump Over -> Windshield Wiper Over Top
Minute 11: Knee On Belly Switch -> Top Spin -> Arm Bar
Minute 12-15: Leg Drag -> Jump Over -> Windshield Wiper Over Top -> Knee On Belly Switch -> Top Spin -> Arm Bar

These drills are just two of many included in Escapology Online. To learn more about how Escapology Online and get your free trial visit:

https://escapologybjj.com/online

Solo Inversion Drills

Whether you love it or hate it inverting has become a big part of modern Jiu Jitsu. And even if you never plan on Berimboloing like a Miyao, learning to go upside down can be very beneficial to your Jiu Jitsu.

The inversion movement is used in many different areas of Jiu Jitsu including back attacks, sweeps, submissions, and guard retention. On top of that, the increased flexibility developed from practising inverting can also help you avoid injury.

The video below covers a few simple solo drills that you can use to improve your ability to invert and flexibility.

Here’s what covered in the video:

Inversion Progression
Wall Drills (Cross Stepping, Spider Guard Stepping, Inversion)
Shrimping Inversions
Inversion flexibility drills (S Stretch, Hamstring Stretch, Squat)

Typically, when I practice these drills, I do each one for around 30 – 60 seconds. I find this is enough to loosen my back, hips, and hamstrings. That makes them ideal to use as a warm-up or cool down.

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Crab Ride Drills

Jiu Jitsu is ever-evolving (as it should be), and if you don’t keep up with the advancements in the game, you will get left behind.

Whether you intend on using positions like the Worm Guard, Berimbolo or Crab Ride it’s important you understand them. Like any position, once you understand the mechanics, you can choose to use it yourself or defend against it.

One position that is becoming very popular with lighter weight Jiu Jitsu players is the Crab Ride.

It’s a great position to both set up the guard pass or attack the back. And if you don’t know this position then you’re going to be left with a hole in your game that can easily be exploited.

Thankfully, there are a few easy drills you can do to help you understand the position. Check out the video below that covers some of the drills you should practice to learn the Crab Ride.

As with any new position, there are only really two ways to train to get better at it. You can spar or drill.

Sparring a new position is fairly self-explanatory, basically, you invert and see what happens. Drilling a new position can be a little more complicated which is where resources like Performance Drilling can be incredibly useful.

You get a copy of Performance Drilling when you create your FREE account at Escapology Online.

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Simple Knee On Belly Escapes

There are few positions in Jiu Jitsu as painful as Knee on Belly. When you get someone that understands how to control the position, it can feel like a baby hippo pressing down on your chest.

I’ve seen many people tap (and a few go to hospital) just from the pressure of the Knee on Belly position. Personally, anytime I end up in that Knee on Belly I try to escape as quickly as possible.

So how do you escape the knee on belly position?

Whether it’s Knee on Belly or any other position, your first line of defence is ALWAYS prevention. To prevent Knee on Belly, you can use your knee and elbow as a shield on the same side as your opponent.

For example, if you’re in bottom side control; your knee and elbow closest to your opponent should be ready to block any attempt they make to bring their knee on your stomach.

But what if you can’t do that?

There are a couple of other options, and the video below covers two of my favourite knee on belly escapes. Check out the video below:

As with any technique, you need to practice to get it to work for you. The simplest way to do this is to spend a few minutes before or after your regular class drilling the technique and then specific training from Knee on Belly.

Within no time, escaping knee on belly will be a piece of cake!

Sick of getting stuck under your opponents?

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