Category Archives: Articles
BJJ Competition and Training Strategies with Brandon 'Wolverine' Mullins
In this interview 2 x World No Gi Champion Brandon ‘Wolverine’ Mullins shares his best competition and training advice. The questions come from my newsletter readership, who I polled to see if they had any questions for Brandon, especially about training, competing or holding their own against bigger opponents. Boy, did they ever!
We then sifted and sorted hundreds of emails to pick out the very best questions for him, and this in-depth conversation was the result. Maybe one of my best interviews ever! (more…)
5 Ways You Can Best use Open Mat in BJJ
A Guest Article by Mark Mullen
The majority of most BJJ’ers training time is spent attending structured classes at their academy. And most academies divide their structured classes into 3 portions: (more…)
The Secret Subversive Power of BJJ
by Valerie Worthington, Emily Kwok, and Lola Newsom
Groundswell Grappling Concepts
We have a hypothesis about some women who grapple. We may be projecting, but our wholly unscientific data collection and analysis supports it. Namely, Brazilian jiu jitsu affords women who are looking for such things a mechanism for subversion. (more…)
2 Good Reasons to Bail Out of the Mount
What? Abandon the Mount? The position you’ve worked so hard to achieve?!? Let me explain…
BJJ is a position-based art. The positional system of BJJ is the central organizing theme of my ‘Roadmap for BJJ’ book (more…)
Three X Guard Mistakes (and my Best Drill for Getting a Killer X Guard)
The X Guard is one of my very favorite ‘go to’ positions. If I can get there in a match then I’m suddenly a very happy camper…
In fact, this position is so dominant that you should be able to sweep your opponent at least 80% of the time when you get him jacked up into the X Guard. (more…)
What To Do When Your Guard Attacks Fail
It’s my very favorite quote from the movie ‘The Avengers’ which I saw last night:
Captain America: We need a plan of attack!
Iron man: I have a plan… Attack!! (more…)
How Not to Break Your Neck Doing Takedowns
There’s no getting around it, all contact sports are inherently dangerous. And it’s hard to have more contact in a sport than in MMA.
Now it’s true that MMA might not be the most dangerous contact sport – that dubious title could arguably go to boxing or pro football – but in the past few years there have still been been some very, very serious injuries in MMA related to takedowns… (more…)
4 Mistakes That'll KILL Your Half Guard...
Whether you want to or not, you ARE going to end up in the half guard!
Some people simply use the half guard as a last resort when their guard is being passed. Their opponent is blasting around their guard, so without even thinking about it they lash out with their legs and trap one of his legs between their own. (more…)
Is BJJ still relevant in MMA?
A while ago I had the honor of interviewing Ricardo Liborio. Liborio is a famous Carlson Gracie’s black belt who is known for his incredible depth of understanding of BJJ. He’s also the head coach at American Top Team, which is literally one of MMA’s most successful champion factories. (more…)
An Easy Way to Make Your Closed Guard Hard to Pass
I was recently watching an out-of-print instructional DVD by a friend of mine and had one of those really great ‘aha’ moments.
It was a tweak that I can use to make my closed guard much, much harder to pass. And also much more powerful when it comes to setting up attacks and sweeps. (more…)
Preventing Achy Elbows (and Getting a Killer Grip)
A lot of grapplers have creaky joints, and tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow are just two of the most common overtraining injuries you’re likely to encounter at the club. Here’s one grappler’s solution to his grappling-induced elbow problems. (more…)
Here’s a reader question that turned into quite the 3-way discussion….
Q: Hi Stephan, I twisted my foot badly around 18 months ago. I tore a load of ligaments and was out of action for a bit. (more…)
Escaping Side Mount for Smaller Grapplers
A reader writes…
Q: Hi Stephan, I’ve got a question for you if you don’t mind me asking. I often struggle when it comes to rolling with big guys. I weigh roughly 52 kilos and the guys at the gym obviously weigh a lot more than me. (more…)
Arm Behind the Back Guard Pass
Getting a handle, or a grip, on your opponent in MMA is not always easy. Here Denis uses an unusual grip both to control his opponent and remove one of his potential weapons from the equation. (more…)
As you probably know, I write a free newsletter called the Beginning BJJ eCourse.
Just to give you a taste, here are some of the tips that get sent out in that newsletter – some sample lessons, if you will.
A Confusion of Open Guards
The open guard can be quite confusing. Basically any time your legs are not closed around the back of your opponent you are in a type of open guard. Butterfly guard, X guard, spider guard, sitting guard etc. etc. are all open guards. (more…)
Counter vs. Opponent Catching your Kick
In MMA a sharp striker can sometimes counter a determined grappler. But to do this they have to know how to mix their striking with standup wrestling, like in this technique! (more…)
Takedown and Neck Crank vs. Thai Kick
Photos and explanation that show the transition from Blocked Thai Kick to a takedown and neck crank.
Clinch to Inside Trip to Heel Hook vs. Punching
Closing the gap in MMA can be the most dangerous part of the fight. Sometimes throwing fake strikes allows you to get in close enough to take your opponent down… (more…)
Sprawl Counter vs. Double Leg Tackle
If you try a sloppy takedown in MMA you could end up paying a hefty price. Here’s how your takedown gone wrong might go down… (more…)
Double Leg Shoot vs. Right Cross
A lot of MMA fights have been won by someone shooting a double leg takedown just as their opponent throws a big right cross… (more…)
Half Guard Leg Position Drill for BJJ & Submission Grappling
The Half Guard is a very powerful position from which to sweep or submit your opponent. But just like all other forms of guard, it’s really important to know how to move your hips and your legs correctly. No movement = no guard!!! (more…)
Never Get Guillotined Again!
OK, I have to admit that I’m exaggerating with the whole “never get guillotined again” title, but it’s almost true. If you incorporate principle that I’m about to share with into your grappling two things will happen:
- you’ll tap out to many, many fewer guillotine chokes (more…)
The Deep Half Guard
The Deep Half Guard is a position that I’ve been working with for the past year or so. I often end up using it to counter various guard passes to the ‘regular’ half guard.
In the Deep Half Guard you jack your opponent’s leg up onto your shoulder. (more…)
The Evolution of the 'Logsplitter' From Fluke to Trusted BJJ Technique...
Today I want to tell you a story about how I stumbled across a technique by fluke at a tournament, and how it became one of my bread and butter moves from Butterly Guard, X Guard and Half Guard. (more…)
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