The standing Kimura armlock is now an established and respected submission, but it wasn't always like this. In fact, when someone showed me this submission in the early 1990's I thought they were kidding and had run out of legitimate material to share. But then in 1999 and 2000, a Japanese pro-wrestler called Kazushi Sakuraba did something that many thought was impossible. In just over a … [Read more...]
How To Do The ‘Imanari Roll’
The Imanari roll is absolutely one of the coolest submission attacks out there. It's unorthodox, it's fancy, but unlike many other flashy moves it's it's also quite high percentage. If you do it correctly you get straight into the 411 leglock position, which is the most powerful leglocking position we have. So there's definitely a huge upside if you land it. This move has been used … [Read more...]
The Most Successful Gracie Family Fighter of All Time
Not only is Robert Drysdale a BJJ and ADCC World Champion, he has also conducted extensive research into the history of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. In this interview, he reveals some of what he's discovered, including... 01:54 - The first wave of jiu-jitsu in Brazil - Helio Gracie and Carlos Gracie 04:35 - Exhibition and carnival fighting in Brazil 06:55 - Traditional jiu-jitsu style vs modified … [Read more...]
Seven Reasons Carlson Gracie Was the First Modern MMA Coach and Fighter
Carlson Gracie fought 18 Vale Tudo in the 1950's and 60's. His 17 wins make him the most successful Gracie fighter to this day. In the course of his long fighting and coaching career, he innovated many of the MMA training practices that we now take for granted. Here are seven ways in which he was the first modern MMA coach and fighter... Carlson's radical-for-the-time ideas included … [Read more...]
Top 10 Wrestling Moves for BJJ
by Jeff Meszaros In many ways, wrestling and Brazilian jiu jitsu are total opposites. The core concepts of the two sports run against each other, and what's a great idea in one art is often a terrible idea in the other. In wrestling, you do anything you can to avoid having your back put on the mat. But in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, people will often fall to their backs immediately to "pull guard" … [Read more...]
The 5 Main Variations of the Toreando Guard Pass
The Toreando guard pass (aka the Matador pass) is a very powerful way to pass the guard in gi jiu-jitsu and no gi submission grappling. (You even see it used in MMA where it combines very well with powerful overhand punches. The fact that you're controlling his feet or his shins makes it much harder for him to upkick you!) This pass is used in every high level tournament in the world, but … [Read more...]
Julie Kedzie on Choking Opponents and Dissing Vladimir Putin
In today's episode of The Strenuous Life Podcast I talk with Julie Kedzie. Julie is a retired MMA fighter who has now works as a fight commentator, interviewer and matchmaker for Invicta Fighting Championships. In this episode she shares her experience of meeting Vladimir Putin, unaffiliating yourself from bad people (like Vladimir Putin), the importance of role models, what drove her to start … [Read more...]
On Winning a Tough Fight in the UFC by KO While Partially Blind in One Eye – Lance Gibson Sr on MMA
Lance Gibson Sr made a HUGE impression on me when he KO'd Jermaine Andre in the UFC while partially blind in one eye. That fight was a masterclass in both grit and strategy, so I was thrilled to have him on the podcast. We talked at length about, How training for MMA has changed since the early days, Whether you can operate a gym and fight professionally at the same time, What really … [Read more...]
Nate ‘The Rock’ Quarry
I was thrilled to have MMA fighter Nate 'The Rock' Quarry on the podcast where we talked about being raised in a cult, his comeback to the UFC after a serious back surgery, his biggest loss in MMA, the UFC monopoly, and staying in shape after retirement. Nate is active on Twitter where he can be found @NateRockQuarry; please let him know if you enjoyed our conversation! Links to … [Read more...]
Top 10 Throws and Takedowns for BJJ
I'll go ahead and say it: every practitioner should have at least a couple of throws and takedowns for BJJ. Yes, it's true that pulling guard is an option in sport BJJ competition, but ultimately this is a martial art, which means we have to at least occasionally consider the self defense aspects of what we're doing. Are you going to pull guard in a streetfight? Not bloody likely. In this … [Read more...]
The Five Types of Triangle Choke You Need to Know
The triangle choke is one of the most powerful BJJ submissions. Thousands upon thousands of matches have been ended with it, including in the UFC and other MMA events. Knowing how to do the triangle choke properly is an absolute necessity for every grappler This choke originated in Japanese Ju-jutsu and was then incorporated into Judo in the early 1900's where it is known as sankaku-jime … [Read more...]
Oleg Taktarov Interview: Sambo in MMA and the UFC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s94y2uII3Oo I was absolutely thrilled to welcome Oleg Taktarov to my podcast. Oleg used his Sambo skills to win UFC 6, beat Dolph Lungren in a widely publicised boxing match, and fought at the infamous Pentagon Combat event which ended in a riot and got MMA banned in Rio de Janeiro. Oleg is also a great teacher - I personally use techniques and concepts I … [Read more...]
Joel Gerson vs Rumina Sato, the Greatest Upset in Japanese Shooto History
On March 1st, 1998 Joel Gerson stepped into the ring against Japanese Shooto superstar Rumina Sato. At that time Rumina Sato was undefeated in Shooto, Japan's oldest MMA promotion. Think of him as an early version of Georges St Pierre - an explosive, unorthodox fighter who could punch, kick, and attack with a dizzying array of upper and lower body submissions. In this era Japanese MMA stars … [Read more...]
The Folding Guard Pass for No Gi and MMA
The folding pass is a bread and butter guard pass that everyone should know. That's because the folding pass can be used in BJJ with the gi, submission grappling without the gi, and in MMA where guard passing is often mixed with ground and pound. Here's an excerpt from The Pressure Passing System with 4 x World Champion Fabio Gurgel breaking down how this exact pass can be used in no gi … [Read more...]
Interview with Yuri Simoes, 2 x ADCC World Champion
Yuri Simoes is a two time ADCC World Championship, a two-time IBJJF black belt Absolute No-Gi World Champion, and a two-time Pan American Champion. In our chat we go deep into developing the motivation required to train at such a high level, recovering from 2 horrific knee injuries and winning ADCC, the importance of self defense training, how he took down a Olympic Judo champion in … [Read more...]
Interview with Greg Nelson, Brock Lesnar’s MMA Coach
How do you turn 290 lb WWE superstar and human wrecking ball Brock Lesnar into a UFC champion in a relatively short amount of time? And assuming you have those skills, then how do you then pivot to train smaller fighters, including 155 lb UFC champion Sean Sherk and 115 lb 'Thug' Rose Namajunas? In this interview I go deep into fight strategy and training camp design with MMA master … [Read more...]
Tristan Connelly on Fighting and Training MMA
I recently had the great pleasure of chatting with Tristan Connelly who was just fresh off his absolutely amazing underdog MMA win over Michel Pereira in the UFC, We went deep into detail about mindset, strategy and training. I think you'll find this a great episode! Specific topics included, 00:14 A detailed breakdown of his fight with Michel Pereira, 07:00 Weight control for MMA … [Read more...]
Defending and Escaping When Someone is On Your Back!
Having someone on your back in rear mount is an absolutely terrible situation. It doesn't matter if you're doing BJJ, no gi submission grappling, MMA, or are in a self defense situation. When someone is behind you with the hooks in and his arms locked in the seatbelt position then you're really very close to getting choked into a drooling mess. There's a reason that being caught in rear … [Read more...]
Single and Double Leg Takedowns for Beginners
My friend Rob Biernacki and I recently shot a video about two of the most important takedowns for grappling: the single and the double leg takedowns. These are deeply complex techniques that can be explored and elaborated on endlessly, but for beginners it's sometimes good to keep things simple. However we let our inner smartasses run wild when we were filming this material, so the … [Read more...]
How to Win Lethwei World Championships,
Today's we're talking about training a fighter to become a world champion in an incredibly intense full contact martial known as Lethwei. Lethwei is from Burma and looks a bit like Muay Thai with a few crazy additions... First of all, in addition to punches, kicks, elbows, and knees they also allow headbutts... If a fighter gets knocked out their cornermen have two minutes tor resuscitate them … [Read more...]