La Migra said:

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Where and who was this?

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Gonna wait till I see more details come out before I say much more.

Holy s*#t! Sorry to hear that... crazy!!

Oh man that's terrible. Sorry to hear that.

I've started seeing a number of FB posts from mutual friends and acquaintances who knew him. Really sad.

Despite the rough week for your school, glad to see that you had good results at the tournament. 22-0 is a huge win! Congrats on your wins, but congrats mostly on just pressing forward in competition despite the difficult circumstances.

I'm glad to see you guys ended up going.


I've got a shoulder procedure scheduled next Wed. I was planning to go to Duncanville to compete with some of our guys this weekend before the lay off...

and freaking tweaked my back turning my alarm clock off this morning. I hadn't registered yet because I was waiting to make sure my weekend was going to be clear. Don't have much outside work left this week so maybe I can rest up and feel ok enough to register Friday.

In house tourney last night, won my first match vs. former college wrestler I've mentioned. (Just us two in the super-heavy) Man I had butterflies as this guy is an animal. (But a great dude)

He took me down & we wrestled around in half guard for 2-3 minutes & he finally got full mount.
I upa'd him but couldn't sweep... however was able to get a good cross collar choke on him from the bottom for the tap.

Second match was a long one, more free flowing but he eventually passed my guard & got me with a head & arm choke 4 minutes in.

Rubber match I went for a knee pick which caught him by surprise, but didn't get him down. Ended up in the same position as match one. I had a really deep cross collar grip with my right hand & was putting a decent breadcutter choke on him as he was forcing himself down on me. I was hoping he'd pull back so I could get another hand in to take out the slack in the lapel to get a good choke, but no dice. He broke my grip & went for another head & arm choke shoving my arm up violently.... there was a loud "pop" in my shoulder & sudden pain so I tapped instead of fighting. Not sure what happened as the pain went away quickly.

I was really worried I'd get double legged and slammed, or that he'd just power over me quickly, so I was pleased with the results. His top pressure is amazing, much more so than the purple & blue belts I've rolled with. I hope by the time he figures out more submissions I can figure out how to deal with that better. Anyway, survived & will finally get my second stripe next week.

Very cool! Congrats on the successful results, and on doing well even in the matches you didn't win Continued improvement and having fun with BJJ is what it's all about. Glad the shoulder pain went away quickly. Hopefully it's stayed away and feels good.

From what you mentioned in your post, you were able to do a number of things really well, which is great! But just a quick question....I noticed a couple things that you can maybe focus on the next time around that might help. Do you mind if I make a couple comments/tips? But if your coach has already mentioned them, didn't want to bug ya' by giving feedback/tips.

Let me know, I'm off the mat with an MCL strain and a couple close calls with Covid, so all I'm doing is watching BJJ videos and wanting to talk BJJ (which my wife wants no part of). Haha.

Any advice is appreciated! I am in the "drinking from a fire hose" stage... the more I learn, the more I realize I have to learn. It is limitless & I like that.

One thing I didn't mention is that said wrestler & I both went in for a Saturday open mat with a brown belt. We worked on a half guard sweep & a pass.

Last night I had him in half guard & neither of us could remember all the steps to make it work. The brown belt was there & gave us both sh*t for not remembering & we all had a good laugh.

Ok, cool. But if your coach ever gives different advice than what I'm giving, go with their advice over mine. Don't want to you to be that white belt saying "well, this guy on the internet told me to do it this way"...haha.

Couple thoughts....On that first match sub, if I understand correctly you were on the bottom, mounted, and you collar choked the opponent from bottom. Generally, that's a really high-risk / low percentage move. Against an upper belt you'll end up on the losing end of a fast, tight armbar from top.

If your stuck on the bottom, mounted, focus first on defense (elbows tight against ribs, hands up to protect neck), then on re-establishing layers of defense. You can try to reverse and get to the top. But against a wrestler, that's tough. So start to think about incremental improvements to position....1/4 guard < 1/2 guard < closed guard, etc.

There are lots of good videos out there with mount escapes, but check this one out. It shows the role the feet, hips and elbows play in recovering position (as opposed to just upa type escapes). I trained under Brandon Mullins (the guy showing the technique) from blue belt to brown belt and this was the first move he showed me years ago. Worked great then, still works today. All his stuff on YouTube and Grapplearts is gold.

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Generally, that's a really high-risk / low percentage move.

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Yeah, that's a case of me knowing my opponent very well!
Interesting mount escape, I haven't seen that one. Getting out of heavy top pressure is definitely something I need to work on. I managed to stay fairly relaxed with my breathing & not panic which I was prone to due in the past. I'm anxious to try anything that can get me out of trouble.

It's about a year to the day since I started BJJ, but there have been two - 6-8 week breaks in there due to Covid & a shoulder problem so I'm way behind where I should be.

You mention knowing your opponent (which makes sense). I had a funny situation where I knew my opponent, but was way out of my element.

Several years ago, I rolled with Valentina Shevchenko (UFC Flyweight champion) while she was training for her second fight with Amanda Nunes. It was nogi, and as we got ready to roll she says "is it ok if I punch?". Although she had 4 oz gloves on, I must have looked scared because she said she would only punch lightly and they would be body shots. Sounded reasonable.

We get rolling and things start to pick up. And as the pace picked up, those light body shots started coming up to my face and picking up some speed. I realized then that BJJ is way harder to do when getting punched in the face (even lightly). I really never got control of the roll, despite being 35 lbs heavier than her. She was just too technical and too athletic. At the end of the roll, she submitted me with a heel hook.

It was fun, but I realized that strikes are game changers for BJJ and also realized that an upper 40's desk jockey is no match for a highly trained professional fighter regardless of gender/size.

But, could you punch her back?

No, she was the only one allowed punch. Her fight was only a couple weeks out at that point so she was being careful.

Also, it was a controlled, situational roll. We had agreed that I'd start on the bottom position and she would start in my closed guard. So there wasn't really any time I would have tried strikes from my back.

Every time she'd punch I kept thinking "jeez, this sweep/sub sure isn't working like it does in BJJ". It was fun though.

I know you've also rolled against Bourdain.
Any other famous people you've rolled with???

Nope, haven't rolled with any other celebrities.

The only other famous person I've encountered in MMA/BJJ circles was Booker T, the wrestler. But only because I almost tripped him while he was walking past my chair at an event. I didn't see him and just stretched my legs out at the wrong time.

My frantic apologies must have been ok because he just laughed and kept walking. I realize wrestling is fake, but wanted NO part of that!!! Haha.

That's awesome! Booker T is a big dude , I don't care how fake wrestling is, he could do some damage... sucka lol.

I'm a fan of Bullet Valentina also, that must have been intimidating as hell, she is a killer in the octagon.

Yeah, she's so much fun to watch. She's tearing up the division now at 125. Glad she dropped from 135, she was too small and wasn't even cutting.

Women's MMA is really good these days. Amanda Nunes is a beast. Zhang Weili is a monster as well.

What I love the most about women's MMA is it's just MMA. You don't think "oh this was a good woman's fight", you just say damn that was a good fight!

I'm pretty bummed I had to miss the JJ World league in Nov. and Grappling Games in Dec. since I got Covid (mild mild case but lack of training set me back for Dec. and I tested positive the day before the Nov. tournament). But more time to get ready for 2021.

BTW, our gym owner, Alex Morono, has a fight this Saturday against Anthony Pettis. This was a short notice fight he picked up but the biggest of his career!

Oh wow, that is a big fight! Glad to see that! I remember watching him fight locally in Legacy and Fury before his move to the UFC. He's an exciting fighter. Is he still at GB Woodlands?

Sorry to hear about your Covid and missing those tournaments. 2020 has been a rough year for BJJ (and everything else for that matter).

Yes, he still own GB Woodlands. Good guy, very passionate about bjj and fighting.

Well unfortunately he came up short, but it was a good fight! When Alex took his back in the first round, and got his hooks in, it looked like he had the chance for a rear naked choke.

Pettis has such a fast kick and that spinning kick at the end of the 3rd that got Alex on the top of the head definitely stunned him.

I'm curious how Alex's performance was in the eyes of the UFC and who his next opponent will be.

I didn't see Morono's fight last night but followed the play-by-play on Sherdog. Sounded like he fought hard, despite not getting the win. Hopefully is willingness to step-up on short notice and his exciting style will get him future UFC fights with a bit more notice.

That kick was crazy. Tough dudes.

White belt here just getting started in BJJ. I started out switching between gi and nogi classes, then had a guy in the nogi class say its best to start training in gi class until you reach blue belt before incorporating nogi. Been doing only gi classes for the past few weeks. Any thoughts on his advice? Are there better fundamentals learned in gi vs nogi?

I was told to do both gi and nogi, so I'm doing both. Just a white belt though so I know nothing.

As a fellow white belt, I think you learn the fundamentals better in no-gi, mainly because there is no fallback option of grabbing a handful of cloth. It also strips away some of the really complex elements of the game like lapel guards and moves that rely on jacket/belt/pants grips, and makes you focus more on body placement and movement. Plus as a white belt any submission you learn in no-gi can be used or enhanced with the gi.

The best way to improve your fundamentals? Train as often as possible, put in the time on the mats, regardless of the type.

Train both if you can. They are both fun, and they build your game in different ways. But if you can only train one, I would stay in a gi for at least a year or so.

I'm an old dude (from an age and belt standpoint) and have trained both, so will offer up perspective. Pro's and con's to both. Nogi is fun, explosive and easier to learn initially because there's only three or four subs that work regularly (if you leave out the modern leg entanglement game). But you can develop really sloppy technique and over rely on power, explosiveness and sweat to escape. Gi is slower, more technical and complex and forces you to develop better defense. But it also makes you over rely on grips, weird positions and a slower pace.

I started out rolling nogi for my first year of BJJ. But then I started rolling gi and got smashed and choked about 1,000 times because I was really sloppy. It was terrible. But now I spend about 90% of my time in a gi because I enjoy it more. Plus, all those handles on the gi let me slow those darn young guys down a bit...haha. But on the rare instance I roll nogi, I make a few changes to my guard and sub game and can still roll fine with the nogi guys.

Shut up and take my money . . .

OaklandAg06 said:

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Shut up and take my money . . .

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And purchased

That is very cool! Did The Beast roll/grapple with folks at the seminar? I imagine he's probably still a seriously tough guy even though he's getting up there in years.

I was told that he rolled a couple of times and that he still moves really well. Unfortunately, I didn't stay to roll/watch because I had family that lives out of the country in town. However, I was the Uke for 2 techniques that he demonstrated, and his top pressure and strength were incredible.

With his Beast size and his high level wrestling background, I can imagine that top pressure is horrific even at his age! Very cool opportunity to train with an MMA pioneer and legend.

Btw, welcome to the BJJ thread! There's a wide range of folks on here (in terms of experience, age, training, etc.) and always good to have a purple belt in the mix! Posting is a bit sporadic, but always good to have a place to test out questions, share experiences, etc.