July 14, 2009
Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir: How to Destroy the Half Guard
Brock Lesnar probably wouldn't be on my list of people to invite to a book club or an evening of wine tasting. But love him or hate him, you have to admit that he's a hell of a fighter and force to be reckoned with.
What I found most interesting about Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir at UFC 100 was that it was a case study of how to shut down the half guard. Frank spent most of the match in the half guard, and I have no doubt that he has a TON of highly effective sweeps and attacks from there.
But that night none of his techniques worked on Brock...
Of course it's partially that Brock Lesnar is a very large human being. I mean he actually cuts weight to make it down to the upper limit for heavyweights (265 lbs)! He's also explosive, incredibly agile and has great endurance.
Let's first take a look at two strategies that form the foundation of most successful half guard attacks:
- Being on your side, facing your opponent, and
- Getting your body under his center of gravity
Brock deliberately kept Frank on his back and/or facing away from him, and also didn't let him get under his center of gravity.
How did he do this? At various times in the fight Brock used the following techniques and tactics:
- He stiff armed his neck (keeping Frank away),
- He pinned the head and moved his body back
- He turned the head away with his forearm
- He secured the far underhook and applied chest pressure
- He used his head to grind into Frank's jaw, and drive into the chest and armpit
- He grabbed the far armpit to turn Frank's face away and place it directly in the line of fire
The thing is that there are counters and preventive measures to all these half guard top position techniques and tactics. And I'm sure that Frank knows them and practiced them. It's just that when the size difference is that large then your timing has to be razor sharp in order to apply your game. And a bit of luck helps too...
A rematch between these two fighters is inevitable. Maybe the next time Frank will be sharp enough or lucky enough to impose his half guard game on Brock!
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Labels: Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir, half guard, UFC
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June 13, 2009
Seven Things I Wish I'd Known...
I'm on the road this week, and tonight, on the eve of UFC 99, I find myself in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
I'm excited about tonight's UFC for number of reasons. First of all the card itself looks great. Then it's being held in mainland Europe, showing how much the sport has grown. And finally I'll be watching the events with UFC fighter TJ Grant (who recently defeated Ryo Chonan).
It's always fascinating to have insider access to the insights of a pro-fighter when you're watching one of these things...
Anyway, as you've probably figured out by now, I'm all about sharing information. I also don't think that anyone has the monopoly on truth - myself included!
That's why when I see something really good created by someone else then I want to share it with you!
I recently came across something that I thought was particularly useful: a special downloadable article called "Seven Things I Wish I Knew When I Was a Blue Belt" (right click to save it to your hard drive).
This report is written by John Will - if you don't know who he is, you should! He's one of the most senior BJJ blackbelts around, and he's not even from Brazil! He received his black belt from the Machados way back in 1998, making him one of the first twelve non-Brazilian BJJ black belts in the world!
And he's not been idle! Just a few of his accomplishements include teaching thousands of people at his acclaimed seminars, producing a series of instructional books and videos, working with law enforcement and special forces, and heading the grappling program for a series of Australasian schools.
When that much mat time meets that much teaching experience good things are bound to happen. In this article John shares some of his most important BJJ insights.
I'm sure you'll like it as much as I do
Right click here to save the pdf document to your hard drive: Seven Things I Wish I Knew When I Was a Blue Belt
bookmark this! del.icio.us | Digg it | reddit | Yahoo MyWeb | Google | StumbleUpon
I'm excited about tonight's UFC for number of reasons. First of all the card itself looks great. Then it's being held in mainland Europe, showing how much the sport has grown. And finally I'll be watching the events with UFC fighter TJ Grant (who recently defeated Ryo Chonan).
It's always fascinating to have insider access to the insights of a pro-fighter when you're watching one of these things...
Anyway, as you've probably figured out by now, I'm all about sharing information. I also don't think that anyone has the monopoly on truth - myself included!
That's why when I see something really good created by someone else then I want to share it with you!
I recently came across something that I thought was particularly useful: a special downloadable article called "Seven Things I Wish I Knew When I Was a Blue Belt" (right click to save it to your hard drive).This report is written by John Will - if you don't know who he is, you should! He's one of the most senior BJJ blackbelts around, and he's not even from Brazil! He received his black belt from the Machados way back in 1998, making him one of the first twelve non-Brazilian BJJ black belts in the world!
And he's not been idle! Just a few of his accomplishements include teaching thousands of people at his acclaimed seminars, producing a series of instructional books and videos, working with law enforcement and special forces, and heading the grappling program for a series of Australasian schools.
When that much mat time meets that much teaching experience good things are bound to happen. In this article John shares some of his most important BJJ insights.
I'm sure you'll like it as much as I do
Right click here to save the pdf document to your hard drive: Seven Things I Wish I Knew When I Was a Blue Belt
Labels: Brazilian jiu-jitsu, MMA, UFC
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April 22, 2009
Boring? Why I thought UFC 97 was Great!
OK, I admit it. UFC 97 did have a few boring fights.
The worst, hands down, was the debacle between Anderson Silva and Thales Leites. (I find it hard to blame Leites, because he was outclassed by an opponent who clearly didn't want to engage or push the pace of the fight).
But it really doesn't matter who was to blame: I'll just never get those 25 minutes back...
Despite the incredibly lame title fight I was very excited by UFC 97. That's because this was the first time that I'd personally trained with more than one of the competitors fighting on the same UFC event.
The first fighter was Denis Kang, who I first met at more than 10 years ago. He now trains mostly in Florida and Montreal, but before that we logged a TON of training sessions together (click here for an early profile of Denis with MMA techniques).
Unlike his first fight in the UFC - which was hampered by a serious ankle injury - in UFC 97 we saw the 'real' Denis Kang as he took on and dominated a very dangerous opponent (Xavier Foupa-Pokam).
The second fighter on the card that I was very eagerly watching was T.J. Grant.
I've met and trained with T.J a few times when I visited his home town of Halifax, Nova Scotia. To call him an "up and coming fighter" would be to do him a disservice. His opponent was Ryo Chonan, who has defeated MANY high level fighters.
Both my friends put in great performances and I think it's a real shame that their fights weren't televised in North America.
And their fights were made all the sweeter by the fact that both of 'my' guys won.
Congratulations!
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The worst, hands down, was the debacle between Anderson Silva and Thales Leites. (I find it hard to blame Leites, because he was outclassed by an opponent who clearly didn't want to engage or push the pace of the fight).
But it really doesn't matter who was to blame: I'll just never get those 25 minutes back...
Despite the incredibly lame title fight I was very excited by UFC 97. That's because this was the first time that I'd personally trained with more than one of the competitors fighting on the same UFC event.
The first fighter was Denis Kang, who I first met at more than 10 years ago. He now trains mostly in Florida and Montreal, but before that we logged a TON of training sessions together (click here for an early profile of Denis with MMA techniques).
Unlike his first fight in the UFC - which was hampered by a serious ankle injury - in UFC 97 we saw the 'real' Denis Kang as he took on and dominated a very dangerous opponent (Xavier Foupa-Pokam).
The second fighter on the card that I was very eagerly watching was T.J. Grant.
I've met and trained with T.J a few times when I visited his home town of Halifax, Nova Scotia. To call him an "up and coming fighter" would be to do him a disservice. His opponent was Ryo Chonan, who has defeated MANY high level fighters.
Both my friends put in great performances and I think it's a real shame that their fights weren't televised in North America.
And their fights were made all the sweeter by the fact that both of 'my' guys won.
Congratulations!
bookmark this! del.icio.us | Digg it | reddit | Yahoo MyWeb | Google | StumbleUpon