Enter Diaz vs Mcgregor
seems i have started something.. i got a flood of facebook messages about my post regarding diaz/mcgregor and how it had little to do with the BJJ most people are practicing.. some good some very angry so let me take the time to elaborate more in depth to make my point cleat
lets begin with the post that started it all on Facebook
SHAME ON YOU GUYS
“I love Jiu-Jitsu, that’s probably why I don’t understand how after watching the Diaz / Mcgregor fight last night people will be rushing to the mats practicing the 50/50 and Lapel Guards more intensely than ever LOL and walking around feeling tough recently validated by Nates work in the octagon last night.. All you BJJ “Meem-Sters” today should look past the marketing opportunity and recognize that while Jiu-Jjitsu sealed the deal it was the ability to fight on the feet (punching and defending them) & stop the takedown that made that possible. Jiu-jitsu is a complete martial arts do yourself a favour and get learning”
Last night in the UFC we saw a really amazing fight with Diaz versus Mcgregor . Martial arts fans generally see what they want to see. So this morning I was greeted with a million Facebook meems and comments about Connors lack of BJJ skills and posts somehow celebrating the win as a victory for those practising jiu-jitsu?? No doubt trying to push more members in the door with the idea plain as day validation that BJJ BEATS ALL and you just have to sign up for classes and you will be able to defend yourself too.
Breaking news guys
There are many branches on the tree of Jiu-Jitsu, none better or worse than the rest, just different.
In the case of Nate Diaz for most of you what you are doing ain’t what he’s doing, punches played a huge roll in the fight with the damage from the punches leading to the shot which led to the choke–> more punches–>and finally the fight ending choke.
If you read that paragraph again you’ll see the word punches comes up quite a bit, because it was pivotal in the results of the fight and just about every other fight.
It only takes a little bit of critical analysis to look at the jujitsu class taught in most academies and realize that the concept of a potential strike “punch or kick” is rarely if ever considered.
Again let me be clear this is no disrespect to those looking to dominate the tournament scene and be the best competitor you can be, more power to you but this situation is a little problematic for the new student looking to learn how to defend themselves or learn the actual martial art.
Even worse it cuts off the important tradition of combative skills that makes jiu-jitsu what is is.
If I’m not mistaken I think the white to blue curriculum in a few classical jiujitsu academies focuses on the self defence and fighting application of the art to make us a students fundamental base before branching off more to the sport jujitsu mixed martial arts or no-gi portion of things. I think that’s great and that’s essentially what I’ve done with our Core jiu-jitsu program,teaching the fight based fundamentals of the art from a jiu-jitsu perspective
As far as I know I’m the only one doing something like this locally but lets be clear I don’t have a lock on it nor do I want one.
I firmly believe every academy should be extending the full picture of the art to people coming in the doors looking to learn and then letting them decide what direction they want to go with their training.
This post has been long enough to let me give you a quick summary of what’s what in my opinion.
1-Jiu-Jitsu is a complete martial art that when taught properly will teach you everything you need to know about a one-on-one fight
2-If you are not addressing the 3 ranges of combat then you are missing a lot in your training as a martial artist
3-In martial arts Strikes count. If you’re ignoring the elements of striking entirely in your training under the assumption that just your grappling skills and be enough to get the job done versus anyone who has a clue about fighting you are probably wrong.
4- You don’t have to to switch academies to do this, it is easy to play fight, experiment, look for openings and see how the aspect of someone potentially hitting you or not pulling guard affects your reactions in the fight.
5- Mixed martial arts is not for everyone and not the answer for the average everyday person but jujitsu can be if you look at the full picture.
Either way if you haven’t seen Gracie in action video chronicling bjj in various fights take a look it could be life changing
The sportive side of Jiu-jitsu and grappling are both blowing because the people working in those areas are making moves to expand things to more people. It is time we as martial artists do the same..It’s my firm belief that the reason jiujitsu is a martial art is not bigger is because it’s primarily pushed as a style of cross training for MMA or sport jujitsu, both competitive aspects of the art that ignore the needs of the majority of people actually looking to learn martial arts.
That might go over some of your heads but if you know what I’m talking about then you know what I’m talking about.
Claude patrick
info@bjjmississauga.com