rules dictate style

CORE BJJ & GRAPPLING

Rules  should govern your style

So ufc 187 is in the bag and as usual the experts have voiced their opinion on why this guy lost the fight vs that guy..

The greatest debates right now are the Blackzillian’s team being dominated on the mat in both  main event fights.

Now having been in fights more than a few times myself I wont put myself in a spot where I am  Monday morning quarterbacking the choices of athletes who put it on the line when it counts

Instead lets see if we can get people seeing things differently.

Side note | i dont know Vitor at all but have done an entire whole training camp with Anthony Johnson so have the up-most respect for the man’s skill & dedication+ and fully recognize the fact he could have put his hand through my chest on multiple occasions sparring in the gym. Nothing said here is meant as a criticism but instead a inside look at the fights and how they happened from a complete MMA perspective. Not BJJ, Muay Thai or Wrestling.

 

VITOR VS CHRIS WEIDMAN

Basic art of war Sun Tzu concept of controlling the range in which the battle takes place pays of in a big way inside the octagon.

Vitor while likely the better pure striker of the two wasn’t able to make good use of the advantage as Chris took him out of his element. “the key to mma at a high level”

A formidable wrestler, striker and very skilled on the ground. Once the intial flurry took place and he wisely transitioned the fight to the ground  and though Vitor is also a black belt in jiu-jitsu he was able to heavily dominate from top position.

Today everyone is going wild about the idea of him striking back from the bottom of the mount, while I admit that’s less than a good idea its really tough to say what you would do in a FIGHT when mounted.

Make no mistake weidman is a tank so 95 percent of people were not executing any upa’s vs his mount with strikes coming down.

I invite everyone who has illusions of the basic UPA and hip escape bailing them out to grab a decent training partner tonight, put gloves on them and you try to escape the mount :)..

Honestly it doesn’t go down like in the text books every time so you may find it a lot more tricky than what you think.

Rules dictate your tactics

MMA today aint what it use to be.. with the training I started out learning in the mid 90’s having your back taken was a HUGE misake.

Why you ask ???? Well, As soon as you expose your back it’s a certainty elbows and punches are flying right to back of your head.. that’s a 100 percent fight ender no matter who you are.

Think about it is you could still elbow guys to the base of the neck they wouldn’t be so quick to turtle at all.

Many famous fighters wouldn’t have done much with just this 1 tweak of the rules to game thier way to big win. “sakuraba is my number 1 example” didnt always work that well but he used the turtle great in mma.

Different game different tactics

For your jiu-jitsu to remain relevant you  have to evolve with the rules “or lack thereoff” under which you are competing.

I know im gonna catch heat for this from some of my jiu-jitsu brothers but just think for second..

“If Vitor committed the cardinal sin “in BJJ” of turning  over & exposing his back he would have faced far  less direct strikes and then had to deal with a possible choke yes but that beats the certainty of getting pounded from mount.”

In todays sport of mma the plan isn’t what is was 20 years ago and it is certainly scored differently so youve got to adjust your thinking as a grappler.

The original guard plan in vale tudo went like this

1|Defend –> 2| maintain position till opponents tires–> 3 |sweep or submit

Circa 2015 we are looking at this

1|Defend / Not get hit –> 2| Get up /Sweep —> 3| Go for submissions

If you are in trouble transitioning is the best plan.. yes it takes practice and its not easy but as a competitor in anything without a gi you’ve gotta learn how to scamble

Ditch the idea of these static positions just because they score in tournaments.. for mma ground based scrambling is so essential  and great source of this is none other than folk style  or high level freestyle wrestling or a really active movement based style of Jiu-jitsu.

never forget there is a lot more toJiu-jitsu & ground fighting than pulling guard and positions that score points in tournaments

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