Competition

Planning Your Competition Calendar

On of the fastest ways to improve your BJJ is by competition. In this video, Tom and Chelsea discuss why you should compete, how you structure your competition calendar, and a whole lot more.

00:00 – Intro
00:23 – Why most people don’t compete
01:25 – Why you should compete
05:08 – How to think about competition
07:19 – Four competitive tracks
09:40 – Three Competition Cycles
11:27 – Examples & Calendars
18:06 – How To Train For Competitions

Here is the link to the Google competition calendar: Competition Calendar

Here is the link to the overview of the competition calendar: Competition Calendar Overview

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It Ain’t Over

You’ve probably heard the saying, “it ain’t over ‘til it’s over!” A couple of weeks ago, there was a perfect example of why this is so true for BJJ at the Pan Ams.

You might have heard about the match between Adam Wardzinski and Fellipe Andrew. It was a super exciting match, and up until the 90 seconds, Wardzinski was down by nine points.

Usually, nine points is a death sentence in a BJJ match, even more so against a high-level opponent like Fellipe Andrew. However, Wardzinski had different ideas…

With just 90 seconds on the clock, Wardzinski sweeps passed to mount and equalised the score. Then with just 2 seconds left, Wardzinski sets up a cross choke and scored the winning advantage.

A lot of people would see a nine point deficit against the guy who just beat you in the finals of the euros as insurmountable odds.

But this is a perfect example of why you should never give up in a competition. When I grow up, I hope to have the same resilience as Wardzinski.

Check out the match below as even knowing the outcome, it’s full packed full of some great Jiu Jitsu and Wardzinski’s come back is incredible.

Lessons Learned In Revenge

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. You can learn The Sucuri HERE.

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.

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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.

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:

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

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

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.

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:

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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Points Mean Prizes: How To Score Quick Points In A BJJ Contest.

I have a question for you… Let say, you’re in the last minute of a Jiu Jitsu match, and the score is tied. If it goes to a decision, the referee could easily pick your opponent.

What do you do?

If your answer is “I’d set up my favourite sweep”, then you’ll probably run out of time. If your answer is “I’d submit my opponent”, why haven’t you already?

Regardless of whether you’re a black belt world champion or 4 stripes white belt, anyone can give you problems for a minute. You need a reliable way to score points when it counts late in the fight.

One thing that I regularly see missing from the games of many good, technical BJJ players is explosive, points-targeted techniques for use at the end of a match to score immediately.

Technical players want to take their time and set up their points carefully, which is great— until there’s only 1 minute left in the match and you need to score to win.

In this article, I’m going to share with you some of the best ways to score late in a fight.

The first one of these techniques is the collar drag. The collar drag is a great technique for this situation because it’s so powerful, particularly against opponents who are immobile, stiff, or stalling.

But it’s also a technique that is easy to do wrong. If you do the collar drag wrong, you might easily find yourself accidentally in the bottom of side control.

The easiest way to master the collar drag is from a seated position, but once you’ve got it, it’s applicable across a whole array of situations.

To learn the power of the collar drag the watch videos below now:

Technique #1: The Basic Collar Drag

Technique #2: Collar Drag Against A Standing Opponent

Technique #3: Collar Drag From Standing

It’s easy to get tired when you’re fighting a skilled guard player that frustrates your every move. When you get tired (like at the end of a match), kneeling and taking a break can seem like a good idea.

However, kneeling will give your opponent a great opportunity to score with something like the collar drag or ankle pick.

The ankle pick is like the yin to the collar drag’s yang. If you start with one technique your opponent’s reaction will set up the other.

Late in a match, the ankle pick and collar drag combination is a great way to score some fast points. Check out the videos below to learn two variations of the ankle pick:

Technique #4: The Basic Ankle Pick

Technique #5: Ankle Pick Against Kneeling Opponent

One of the most common questions people have is about the “technique” of the ankle pick — but there isn’t a whole lot of technique involved.

The ankle pick is more about recognising a lull in your opponents passing momentum and bowling them over with your hands, arms, shoulders, face, or whatever else is handy.

Getting the technique right for the ankle pick is easy, but the timing can be hard. Like the collar drag, the only way to get good at the ankle pick is to pressure test it in sparring over and over again.

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