This is one of those situations where your training actually hurts you. You train yourself to react without thinking—which sounds good until it isn’t. That’s what happens when you’ve been in martial arts for so long that instinct replaces awareness. You stop asking, “Should I?” and only know “I can.”

 

In a fight we all know that’s dangerous. You spend years drilling armbars, triangles, guillotines, playing with positions until they’re automatic. But real life isn’t a controlled mat with referees and soft landings. There’s concrete, there’s gravity, and there’s that one moment in even IBJJF certified jiu-jitsu or ADCC grappling when someone decides they don’t care about the rules.

 

 

There’s a clip floating around from Brazil—two old-school guys, Marcelo Brigadiero and another veteran named Nique. Both black belts. Both know exactly what they’re doing. They’re having what looks like a master no gi match, just two guys testing each other. Somewhere in the scramble, Brigadiero ends up on top inside closed guard, one arm caught. It looks like the setup for a triangle from Nique

 

Then Marcelo stands up… all the way up.. Now, if you’re the guy on bottom, this is the moment where every survival instinct in your body should scream open your guard. You’re being lifted off the floor. I don’t care what submission you think you have—it’s over. Because if you don’t let go, you’re about to find out how hard the ground hits.

 

And that’s exactly what happened.  He stayed closed, probably thinking, I’ve got him right where I want him. The next second hes out.

 

 

And then people online start arguing—“Oh, that’s illegal!” or “That shouldn’t count!” Illegal? Against what? You think the floor cares?

 

This is the part that kills me. Jiu-jitsu atleast how i studied it always circles back to a fight whether that be self-defense, takedowns, or just general training .. do what you want but realize any time you colour too far outside the lines you are risking it. Protect yourself first.

That’s day one. Before sport, before medals, before Instagram highlights. But somewhere along the way, people forget. They train so long inside the rules that they start believing the rules exist everywhere and that going to save you a life long injury or worse.

 

If you’re ever lifted above someone’s waist, your job isn’t to finish a choke. It’s to survive. Because if you don’t open your guard, the impact can finish you. That’s physics, not opinion. Judo’s had that figured out forever—you don’t hang on when someone stands. the Ref Breaks it up because the risk of injury is far to high.

 

Here’s another great one with Ryron Gracie vs. the very ferocious Cameron Earle before Ryron was keeping it playfull :)

 

Look, I get it. You train thousands of reps. You hit that same submission a hundred times a week. You trust it. You start believing that if you just squeeze harder, it’ll work. But that’s not fighting—that’s wishful thinking and udnerstand if you keep going back to the well you will eventually run outta water…

And yet, in BJJ all to often , people will fight gravity itself to keep a triangle or invert under a 300lb man chasing a bakc 50/50 leg lock lol

Sometimes, the smartest move is letting go.

 

And that’s the bigger point here. Training isn’t about how deep you can go into autopilot—it’s about knowing when not to. It’s about seeing the danger that your muscle memory can’t. Because out there, it’s not about winning. It’s about being safe enough to walk away regardless.. I get it it the ADCC finals you can hit your flying triangle for $1000000 in video sales and seminars ok go for it.. but two 60 year old guys in a local tourney ??? NAHH best to play it smart.

 

 

 You can have the cleanest technique, the best grips, the prettiest triangles in the world—none of that matters if you forget the first rule: Don’t get hurt.

 

So yeah, maybe you win in the academy. Maybe you submit everyone in class. But if you can’t recognize when your own training is leading you into a wall, that’s not mastery—that’s blindness.

 

Sometimes, the thing that makes you great in the gym can get you killed outside of it.

 

Open your Eyes and at the right time Open your Guard