Well I got the crap kicked out of my last night. Adam wasn't feeling very good so he went over a couple of open guard sweeps quickly and then we rolled. I rolled with one of the Blue belts, Ryan, who I haven't rolled with before. Ryan is bigger than me, better than me and if he hadn't hurt his elbows he was going to go to the worlds. I did Ok to start with, I managed to regain guard a few times, prevent some passes and even reversed him a time or two but he slowly started to take over. His constant pressure wore me down and he started to dominate. I got caught in a triangle, an arm bar and triangle from the mount.

Some good things I took out of that roll was the I managed to regain guard from side control, which is something I have more of a problem with then I should. I also held my own against a better fighter for at least 5 minutes before he began to wear me down. We have some pretty good blues (Marcus doesn't promote fast) so hang with them even for 5 minutes is a sign that I am improving, both technically and in my cardio.

Open your guard

2008-06-15T21:50:00.000-07:00

Normally, I just post my thoughts on my training. I mainly use this as a training log. Once in a while I will post breakdowns of MMA fights. Today, I feel the need to rant about a trend I see a lot in MMA and in BJJ/sub grappling. I was watching the Ultimate fighter reality show on Thursday which featured the fight between Jesse Taylor and Tim Credeur. During the fight, Credeur lost the fight mainly because he refused to open his guard. Through out the fight, the BJJ coach for Team Forrest, Cameron Diffley, yelled for him to open his guard and move to butterfly guard. Despite these requests, Credeur rarely opened his guard. When ever he did, he had success and when he closed his guard he ate punches, elbows and hammerfists. While it was frustrating to watch someone, who otherwise showed very good jiu-jitsu, lose a fight like that, I can completely understand it.

While a lot about grappling (and fighting in general)is very natural, sometimes we need to do counter intuitive things to be successful. Opening your guard is like that. We think that by closing our guard and trying to tie up our opponent we are protecting ourselves. The problem is that against anyone who any good at all, a tight closed guard is very easy to defeat. The days of Royce Gracie confusing opponents by being happy on his back are long gone. Every MMA fighter works from inside someones gaurd. Whether the goal is to pass, stand up or just ground and pound from inside the guard, they all practice it. In Jiu-jitsu, you start learning how to pass a closed guard within the first week.

The closed guard has its uses. It works best as a neutral position, where you can take stock of the situation and begin to work your game. If you prefer a methodical jiu-jitsu game, like I do, then closed guard can be a good place to start rather than trying to work off scrambles (although that has to be part of your game as well). The problem with the closed guard is that there are relatively few moves you can do from there. There are a couple of sweeps and if you are doing gi jiu-jitsu, there are some chokes. But that is it, everything else needs you to open up.

The problem I find is that people are afraid of having their guard passed. Being able to work off scrambles (as I mentioned above) helps, as does confidence in your ability to regain guard which means working on your escapes. I had the same problem. The way that I got over it was to start working the feet on the hips guard. I liked it because having the feet there provided me with a barrier that I felt help prevent a guard pass. If you are one of those people who is afraid of having your guard passed, try putting your feet on their hips and working that guard.

A more important question is why are you afraid of having your guard passed? In a fight or competition, the answer is obvious. You don't want to lose. However, you can not win against a reasonably skilled opponent, if you don't open your guard. That is just a fact. Now since you can't open your guard because it will be passed and you will lose, but not opening it means you lose as well, we are at a bit of an impasse. My solution is that you need to open it up in training. I see it all the time and have heard many, many accounts of the same thing. Guys start rolling in the gym and all of a sudden it is the Mundials or the UFC. How many people talk about winning their rolls at practice? Did you get a medal or a belt?

Practice is to learn knew things. To provide a personal example, I am concentrating on Butterfly guard this month. Butterfly guard is very hard to master. It is very easy to pass if you suck at it, which I certainly did when I started. To some extant I still do suck at it but I am better than I used to be. Organisms learn, in part, by experiencing new situations and developing ways to adapt to them. Jiu-jitsu is no different. In the beginning, my guard was passed like a bad case of herpes, easily and frequently. As such, I got lots of work with scrambles and escapes. I also started to learn how to prevent them from passing, I started to hit some sweeps and I started to add an effective guard to my game.

Depending on the night and who I roll with, I may end up winning the roll, losing the roll or just rolling until one of us needs a break. Unless I wrote it here, I couldn't tell you how many taps I got 3 weeks ago. I do know that about 3 weeks ago, I managed to far enough into the half guard sweep I was working on, that my instructor, Adam, decided to go with it. That was a huge cry from where it was when I started. I do know that about a week ago, I sweep my 240 pound training partner, Devon, with a hook sweep for the first time. These are the wins I am concerned with. I am not saying that getting a tap isn't a win. It can be especially if you do it with a technique you have been trying to master. In training, take risks and make mistakes. You have to take risks in fights to do it in the gym and when it comes fight time, you will make less mistakes.

Daily Submission

2008-06-12T13:22:00.000-07:00

Learned a really cool half guard sweep from the long distance Half guard (LDHG). Below is a video of Jorge Vidal doing a very similar sweep. The main differences were that this was an attack rather than a response to a situation as it appears in the video and that Adam keeps the knee in the guys stomach during the roll. I stole this from Aesopian's totally awesome journal which in my link section. He also has a nice series on LDHG.

From Crackle: Jorge's half guard #2

Marcus Soares Seminar notes

2008-06-09T22:15:00.001-07:00

Marcus Soares Seminar – After action report

Seminar started a bout 45 minutes late because Marcus got lost on the way to the gym. When he arrived, he started off the seminar with a hellish warm up. It was tough. I was damn near shot by the end.

The seminar was very casual. Marcus began by asking for questions. He wanted to know what we were having problems with. He answered some quick questions and moved into a standing guard pass, followed by 3 mount defenses, a side control escape, 2 back control escapes and 2 escapes from the turtle.

I was struck by a few things regarding Professor Soares. The first was he reliance on the basics of jiu jitsu. He just has those basics down to a science and does need fancy new techniques. Second was just how little power he uses. In all the escapes, his bridges were simple little rolls, rather than a big explosion, he maneuvers his hips to the perfect angle and just rolls. His use of leverage is amazing. The third was his pressure was intense. My instructor Adam has awesome pressure, and a lot of wrestlers that I have rolled with over the years have great pressure but Marcus is on another level. He just uses leverage, angles, and every ounce body weight.

We ended up with a belt test. This was different type of test then I have ever been involved in. Basically, they matched up pairs by weight and we rolled tournament style. I don't really know how this could really show your entire skill set.

Technical notes

Guard pass:

Secure lapel and sleeve. Tuck elbows in tight and cross his hand to his opposite hip. Push down on hip and stand up with the leg on the side of the arm that is controlled. Stand with the other leg. Switch grip on the sleeve and grab the pants with the free hand. Push down on the hip with pants hand. Break the legs open, Finish as per regular under hook guard pass.

Mount escape one. (hooks in)

Grab lapel and opposite pant leg at the knee. Push against knee, free hook on that leg. Use foot to lift ankle and maneuver leg out to get to half guard. Roll towards your free leg and push away with hand on lapel, Secure side control.

Mount escape 2. triple attack position

Opponent has mount and has secured arm and is half way to spiderweb (cross arm bar) position. Use free hand to grab own wrist, Take trapped arm and put it behind head. Use chin and arm pressure to keep his arm trapped. Shift hips into him and swim free arm under his leg. Shift hips back the other way and roll/bridge into him. His arm will be levered against his leg in an arm bar. If not pass to side control.

Mount escape 3. High mount

Clasp hands together over face, Push up a little to create space. Grab belt. Push all the way up and over your had as you move your hips over his leg, keep moving your hips over and rolling in that direct, try to create enough space that you can pass to side control.

Turtle escape

You are turtled with opponent on your side. Use opposite hand to defend collar choke. Assuming he is on your right side, grab his right sleeve as he tries to get the choke. Secure it tight to you. Reach between his legs with your right hand and wrap it over and around his ankle. Suck that back in and grab his right sleeve with your right hand. Secure his left elbow with your left elbow. Flatten out you legs (or at least you left leg) and roll him over you. Secure side control.

Turtle escape 2 hook in

Grab right sleeve with left hand and with the right hand as High as you can on the shoulder, Push it way and to the left until it is the left side of your head. Secure it tight. Bridge up on you head and feet and he will slide down your back, Kick leg out to remove the hook and then start to rotate around as you suck his arm in and move to side control.

Back control, opponent shifted to side.

Assuming he is choking with the right hand and is off to the left. Grab right sleeve with left hand, grab right shoulder with right hand. Push up on his elbow to pop you head out. As you pop your head out, do not release his wrist, continue to push his elbow up and away from you and pull his wrist in. Swim your left arm under his wrist and over his triceps in to a chicken wing (reverse kimura) and drive it forward, Make sure his left leg stays over top of yours so he can not roll out.

Daily Submission

2008-05-24T21:58:00.000-07:00

Friday was my first day back after a week and a bit lay off from a sore knee. It was also the first time I rolled no gi since I got back. I rolled with two guys, Chris one of the blue belts, and Andrew who I have known for a long time and actually used to help teach grappling to sometimes. If I haven't mentioned before, blue belts are the highest belts we have next to Adam, who is a black. But they are also Marcus Soares blue belts. Marcus does like giving out belts, he only has like 7 black belts and he is Carlson Gracie's highest ranking student. They are pretty good. I was hoping to do better than the last time I rolled with one of the blue belts because this was no-gi and I am normally harder to finish without a gi.

I did do better but not much. For one, he triangle me and got me in a rear naked choke. Those don't happen often. Because of my wide shoulder, general lack of a neck and strong posture, even if some one locks a triangle on, I can defend it just by posturing up until he loosens up trying to re-adjust. This time he locked it on fast and tight and broke my posture. It was a losing battle. He showed really good arm drags. Adam's advanced students have really good wrestling for BJJ guys.

I had a really good roll with andrew. I outweigh him by a fair amount but he is in awesome shape and used to fighting bigger guys. One of the things, I forgot about no-gi, is just how hard it can be to finish someone. I played a good positional game, had a couple sweeps, took mount a few times but I couldn't finish. We rolled back and forth for like 20 minutes which was a huge step for me because I am finally in grappling shape. I still have to get better but at least I can go for a while.

I also got some help from one of the blue belts with my triangle choke. I don't have the kind of build that allows for easy triangle chokes. I have short, thick legs so I have a hard time. I am determined to get them down, even if it will never be one of my go to moves. One little tip that made all the difference, it seems was putting the opposite foot on the hip. It allowed me to push off to get my hips up and spin to the side to help get my leg across his neck. The other thing was grabbing the shin before you lock the other leg on. Apparently, I have been doing it the old school way ( it did learn more than 10 years ago) which is much harder. I will have to give it some more reps over the next little while.

I have a new goal for the next 4 weeks. Last month was half guard. I have worked almost exclusively on my half guard game and I have seen exponential returns because of it. So I am going to apply that same focus to another part of my game that needs work, my butterfly game. I am going to try to pull butterfly guard almost exclusively and try to become as comfortable as I can in that area. I started friday and I managed 3 sweeps from butterfly guard. Hopefully I can pick it up better over the coming weeks.

UFC 84 Breakdown Sokoudjou vs Nakamura

2008-05-19T21:51:00.000-07:00

Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura.

This is a fight between two of the better Judo stylist in MMA. Nakamura is a Japanese national medalist, and Sokoudjou is a US Open judo gold medal winner. Here is how I see the breakdown.

Striking:

Both are actually pretty good strikers despite being judo fighters. Sokou is athletic, fast and has very good power. Nak has improved his striking considerably over his career and has developed some pretty strong boxing. I would have to give the edge to Sokoudjou based on his proven power and quickness.

Wrestling:

In this case, it would be judo. Both are accomplished judo players. Sokoudjou probably has the better pedigree, and training at team quest with Dan Henderson should help him learn to apply judo with out a gi. However, we just haven't seen it in his MMA fights. Machida was able to take him down and finish him. Nakamura has been much more consistent using his Judo in MMA so I would give the edge to him.

Jiu Jitsu

This is another area where Nak has the proven edge mainly because we haven't seen much of anything from Sokoudjou. Nakamura hasn't shown an amazing ground game but his only submission loses come against Lil Nog and Josh Barnett which has more to do with those guys being pretty amazing grapplers. Sokoudjou was submitted by Machida, but Machida is a BJJ black belt.

Cardio

Nakamura doesn't have the best cardio in the world but Sokoudjou hasn't been to a decision since his first fight. Kaz has gone the distance 10 times in his career and while he is no Sean sherk or Tito Ortiz cardio wise. He will be able to keep his work rate up at a reasonable level for all three rounds. Sokodjou looks like he is in good shape and training with Dan henderson has got to be good on the cardio but who knows. Edge Nakamura

Level of Competition.

Normally someone with wins over Arona and lil Nog and a fight with Machida, will be the favorite in this category but not in this case, For Kaz, like many japanese fighters in PRIDE, his skill or experience level had less to do with his matchups then his nationality. Accordingly his record is a who's-who's of PRIDE superstars. After fighting Antonio Rogerio "Minotoro" Nogueira (lil Nog) in his first fight, he went on to fight: a rematch with Lil Nog, Bustamante, Henderson, Randleman, Vovchanchyn, Silva, Kondo, Barnett, Rua and Machida. He went 5-7 in those matches. Although he has a losing record against "name" opponents, he is quite used to fighting in big fights. Edge Nak.

Conclusion

In theory, Nakamura has most of the advantages here. He has fought tougher competition, shown better use of his judo and proven his ability to fight for 3 rounds. But Sokoudjou demolished two of the better LHW is the world, one of who holds two wins over Nakamura. He hasn't really shown his ability, or lack of ability, in so many areas. That makes him somewhat of an unknown still. Nak is going to want to take this to the ground because he has shown a tendency to eat punches rather than block them. I predict that Sokodjou will be able to keep this on the feet and use his striking to batter Nakamura. Nak is tough as they come so I don't expect an early stoppage but I think Sokoudjou overwhelms him late in the fight for the stoppage.

UFC 84 Breakdown - Ortiz vs Machida

2008-05-18T20:54:00.000-07:00

Machida vs Ortiz

By far the hardest bout to call because there are so many questions surrounding both fighters. Is Machida for real or just untested? Is Tito done as a top fighter?

Striking;

Edge Machida. Machida has a very unorthodox striking game as he is one of the few fighters who uses a Karate based style in MMA. He has used it to his advantage as most fighters have had a hard time figuring it out. Tito has never been a particularly great striker. He lacks power and a natural striking rhythm. He does have a very good cage and throw very tight technical punches. Against Griffin, he managed to throw tight hooks inside of Forrest’s wide swinging punches (a fact that is often over looked) and even hurt him at one point. Remember he has basically spent most of the last 3 years training to beat Chuck Liddell. However, Machida is a natural striker who will be more comfortable on his feet.

Wrestling

Edge Ortiz. Ortiz has very good wrestling and has used it to good effect through out his MMA career. He appears to have slowed down a step due to a nagging knee injury. The question is can he take Machida down? I think he can, even he has to crush him against the fence. Tito is a very strong LHW and will have to use that to his advantage. Machida is not without wrestling skills of his own. He has a sumo background and it will be interesting to see how he uses it against Ortiz.

Jiu Jitsu

Edge Machida. Machida is a BJJ black belt although he does not use his BJJ as often. Much like Anderson or Wandalei Silva, he prefers to stand rather than use his BJJ to submit and opponent. Against Sokoudjou he showed a decent top game prior to winning by arm triangle. Tito how ever hasn’t been caught in a submission since his second fight at UFC 13! That is more than 10 years ago. He has a great base and is hard to sweep. He has not shown much on the ground other that his solid top control game.

Cardio:

Edge Ortiz. Tito has legendary Cardio although it may be beginning to fail him. Tito has always concentrated on his conditioning, training at altitude, and more than once simple out lasted his opponents. Tito has gone 5 round 3 times in his career, something Machida has never done. Tito may be able to push the pace late in the fight although I doubt either fighter will gas in this 3 round fight.

Level of Competition:

Edge Ortiz. Tito has faced Liddel (twice), Couture, Belfort (early Belfort, also known as good Belfort), Frank Shamrock, Ken Shamrock (3 X although only one was a challenge), Evan Tanner, Forrest Griffin and Rashad Evans. Machida only has two really proven fighters on his resume. A BJ Penn (puffed up to 205) and Rich Franklin prior to Frnaklin dropping down to 185 and winning the UFC Middleweight title.

Conclusion:

This is Tito’s fight to lose. He should be able to take Machida down, pin him against the fence and elbow him towards a stoppage or decision. He needs a big win for the last fight of his UFC contract or he will see his stock fade as he joins a new organization. If he can’t take down Machida, expect a boring decision win for Lyoto.

UFC 84 Breakdown- Silva vs. Jardine

2008-05-17T19:22:00.000-07:00

Silva vs. Jardine

I’m sorry, I have never been sold on Jardine. He lost to Rashad Evans on TUF, lost to Stephan Bonnar and lost to Houston Alexander. His win against Forrest was legit but it didn’t really show anything other than he has some power. It did more to show that Forrest needs to stay out of the pocket rather than drop his head and brawl. His win against Chuck, was a matter of Chuck expecting him to drop from a right hand. In the third when Chuck finally turned it on, he did not look as good. Lets quickly break this down.

Striking:

Edge Silva. Jardine is a decent kickboxer but so is Silva and Silva has more power and more tools. Silva’s clinch is a deadly weapon and he throws every punch with bad intentions. He is also more than capable of dealing with Jardine’s leg kicks which is his best weapon.

Wrestling;

Edge Silva. Silva’s wrestling isn’t amazing but it is solid. Jardine has not shown any wrestling ability at all. Also Silva has a create Muay Thai Clinch and while it is mainly a striking weapon, it means that he can control the action against the fence. He is also working full time with Randy Couture which can’t hurt.

Jiu jitsu

Edge Silva. Silva is a BJJ black belt and the few times we have seen him use his BJJ it has been very effective. He has shown a very active guard that allows him to prevent damage and scramble to his feet. Jardine has not shown any real skill on the ground.

Cardio:

2008-04-08T19:24:00.000-07:00

Well, here is the first submission. This Blog will mainly be a log of my training as I re-enter the world of submission grappling. I will post techniques that I learn, training lessons, personal successes and failures and generally just comment on my training. I will also use it as a general place to rant about MMA, Martial Arts and Combative training in general.

I will post the second submission later on tonight.