Open Mat

QUICK TIP: against opponents that play a very feint-heavy game, committing to an offensive move in response can often lead to breakthroughs. Nicky Ryan famously plays a high/low level change feint; either looking for low posture to start snapping the head down, or high posture to open up shots into the legs. Jonnatas opens up a 3rd option for himself by starting his own offense while Nicky was preoccupied expecting defensive reactions.

If you’re coming to BJJ with experience in another grappling art it’s important to modify your skills to fit a BJJ ruleset. Due to submission danger it’s a good idea to be judicious about using moves that expose your back or that require a large amount of limb extension.

This is a very helpful detail when looking to get the finish from the back. One thing that I would add is you can use the gable grip to physically pull the hand into place and then switch to the more traditional (and efficient) figure 4 grip.

A detail that is tragically under taught in guard passing: The idea of getting ANGLE on the guard player first. Any sweep or submission entry that a guard player can perform is easier when the passer is standing directly in front of them with a squared stance. Whenever possible, look to take an angle when you go to pass guard. If you can’t do that then at the very least blade your stance before engaging. It sounds like a minor detail but against very good guard players a square stance is an open invitation to sweeps and leglocks

Regular reminder: If you’re training properly you should be consistently pushing the limits of your competency. Pressure testing moves where you’re not sure if they will work to learn what areas specifically you need to improve in. You won’t always look like a stud training out of bad spots but this is how you make drastic improvements to your game.

For people new to the art of BJJ or just new to guard play I recommend learning half guard first. It doesn’t require much in terms of athleticism or flexibility and does a lot to slow down a very athletic opponent. It has very accessible transitions to nearly all of the fundamental guards of the sport. And is fantastic for reversing to dominant top positions. Certain forms of half guard also have a shocking degree of effectiveness in MMA. Many of the reguard techniques in BJJ make pit stops in half guard so it’s critical for a good defensive game as well. My personal vote for the most important guard to know is half guard.

A lot of interesting insights to unpack here: Dern enters the arm bar with her leg trapped by Markos. This is problematic because trapping her leg far away from the crossface leg makes power bleed out of the armbar. Ideally you want your knees close together for strong finishes. HOWEVER Markos is in a dilemma: the counter attacks from this particular armbar escape generally end in leglock positions less than ideal for MMA. She can attempt to build up but would need to untie her legs and release Derns foot to do so, giving her the finish. Dern makes a very adept improvisation by switching to a lat armbar which gives her way more leverage in an otherwise feeble armbar position. It earned her the finish. Very intelligent move but that’s why Dern has the reputation she does as a grappler.

A very efficient method of opening up the arms to score underhooks from mount

I am a big fan of using the prone position to enter rear strangles. Weight will be on your opponent’s arms and the space in front of them is closed off by the mat making it very difficult to hand fight and avoid the choke. The guy on bottom also has zero mobility from this position. Clearing any hooks or body triangles is impossible until they get back to their side or turtle. Whenever you can drive your opponents prone DO IT. The advantage it gives you is immediately felt.

Quick and useful observation: Kimura as a counter to Bolo/Wedging style back takes. Players will often take grips across your hip to get proper alignment performing this style of back take. It seems that far hip grip is vulnerable to kimura counters. This style of back take is very much trending in modern Jiujitsu so counters like these are worth experimenting with.

HOW TO DEVELOP YOUR BJJ OFFENSE: The Kimura Trap is a lot of people’s first encounter with a systemized approach to BJJ. If you examine why it’s so immediately effective you can extract a few principles that will apply broadly to how you should approach BJJ Offense. 1. It’s simple, no complicated moves necessary. It leads to a back take, armbar, triangle, or kimura. All very basic moves that can be reliably performed under stress. 2. All options come from 1 grip. Much of learning BJJ offense is knowing your options off your preferred grip and getting to those grips 3. It covers all escapes.* Having a game plan for all the common counters to your offense is huge. Expect resistance to any move you try in live rolls. Apply these concepts broadly to your offensive moves and prosper. Any questions feel free to message me on Twitter. *yes I know there are solid escapes to the kimura trap lol

Quick tip on passing De La Riva Guards: Initial control of the far leg will buy you valuable time to setup your passes before they can start inverting. A “c” grip that pushes the far heel back to their butt will keep their hips in place just long enough for you to address the DLR grips.

Your initial entry into a submission will rarely be enough to get the tap on a strong opponent. Usually you’ll make an initial bite and have to self analyze and make adjustments on the fly. This is why it’s important to have knowledge of finishing mechanics so you’ll immediately know if the sub is on or not when they don’t tap immediately. It’s also (partly) why people say “position before submission” as the pins of Jiujitsu give you more leeway to make adjustments without losing all your advantage while you do so.

Super clever sequence here that’s worth analyzing and using. Wilhan sits down into Nicky Ryan’s butterfly half guard. Nicky immediately uses his cross post and butterfly hook to off-balance Wilhan to the left and that’s where it gets interesting. The “standard” option from here is to do the kani basami back step from bottom and end in the saddle position. Wilhan is an adept leglocker himself and knows this so he quickly pummels his leg out. Nicky doesn’t miss a beat and counters the counter by sitting through to irimi ashi which leads to his eventual finish. The adjustments barely take two seconds but if you are a leglock player it behooves you to be aware of these options

Slamming your way out of submissions is somewhat overrated. If the context allows for it and it works then great. If it doesn’t work and that was your only game plan for escape then you’re in a world of trouble. Always have a technical plan of escape to fall back on. Slamming your way out is never guaranteed especially if you’re facing someone skilled.

How to Defend The D’arce Choke: The D’arce Choke is in a category of chokes where you’re strangled between your opponent’s arm on one side of the neck and your own shoulder on the other side. If you can create space or ease pressure between your neck and shoulder you can stave off the submission. The athlete in the red shorts does this by first keeping his right elbow wide and away from his body, and then wedging a hand on his opponents hip to prevent them closing the space back off. His opponent smartly realized the choke was no longer there and attempted to switch off to another submission but red shorts escaped in transition. ADCC trials kicks off this weekend I encourage everyone to watch it and learn as practitioners.

This quote gets meme’d and made fun of a lot, in reality it would keep a lot of people from wasting time if they really listened to it. If you’ve done Jiujitsu long enough you’ll see people that have trained for many years but scarcely get better. New regulars to the gym and continuously catch up to them and surpass them. This is what happens when you stop actively analyzing why you lost a particular match and working specifically on your weaknesses. At a certain point people just go through the motions. Don’t let a bad round just happen and you forget about it. Walk away with an objective that you need to improve and a plan on how to do it!

Leg dexterity is crucial for good Jiujitsu. The ability to wrestle accurately with your legs makes you dangerous from WAY more positions than if not. Jiujitsu does a very good job of building this skill into it’s athletes organically: pay special attention to your triangle drills. Consciously make an effort to develop both triangles where your hips face your opponent (front and rear triangles) and when your hips face away (side and reverse triangles) Once you’re adept at both your guard instantly becomes more dangerous because your opponents will have to watch their hand placement very carefully even when they begin to flank you.

QUICK TIP: Scrambles can be confusing. Orienting yourself at a moments notice and figuring out where exactly your opponent is can be difficult to do in the moment. A quick remedy to this is to default to chasing your opponents back. A high reward and generally low risk option that is generally always available until your opponent commits their back to the mat. Let back mount be your North Star ⭐️

The setup Gordon used to break the lock of the arms here is worth analyzing. Triangling OVER the locked hands is firstly very uncomfortable and will make the vast majority of people unlock their hands via pain compliance. If they choose to bare the pain; the lock of the legs also forms an effective wedge you can use to scrape their grip loose (as Gordon did) Once the grip is loose this setup leaves your legs in perfect position for shoulder triangles like Gordon used but also the massively controlling pillow arm bar where both calves cross around your opponent’s neck. One of my favorite armbar setups so happy to see it get attention :D