Kesa Gatame is one of the most under-utilized positions in BJJ. People in jiu-jitsu tend to ignore this position but generations of judo players and wrestlers have proved that Kesa Gatame IS a powerful and effective way to pin someone. And - even worse for someone caught in it - Kesa Gatame is also a great entry into some very effective armlocks, leglocks, neck cranks and diaphragm … [Read more...]
Unorthodox Strategies
Kesa Gatame in BJJ
Kesa Gatame is the name for a DEADLY position also known as the Scarf Hold or the Head and Arm pin. It's a staple pin in Judo, Sambo and Freestyle Wrestling. All these arts have honed kesa gatame as a pinning position. The only problem is that they don't use or teach very many submissions from here. In those particular sports the submission is redundant - if you pin your opponent for 3 … [Read more...]
Announcing No Gi Leglocks with Oliver Taza!
Some super-exciting news for you... Today I've just released No Gi Leglocks featuring Oliver Taza! Oliver is a phenomenal grappler. He trains with the Danaher Death Squad in NYC and with Firas Zahabi (Georges St Pierre's trainer) at Tristar in Montreal. Oliver has used his DEEP knowledge of leglocks to amass wins at Polaris, Metamoris, the ADCC Trials, the No Gi Worlds, and many … [Read more...]
Wrist Locks – Attacking The Most Under-Attacked Joint
Jiu-jitsu and submission grappling offer techniques to attack almost every major joint in the body including the elbow, shoulder, neck, knees, feet, and ankles. These should be your bread and butter submissions because they have a long, proven track record of effectiveness. I think a bit of variety is a good thing, however, so let’s talk about a not-so-common attack: wrist locks! The … [Read more...]
The Fat, Lazy, Old Man Kimura Finish
The first time I saw this Kimura variation from the north-south position I said to myself, "Yeah right, that'll never work in a million, billion years!" And that's because it looked like you had no control over his body. But the funny thing was that when I actually started training it then it felt pretty good... And then I started catching people in it and tapping them out... And now, … [Read more...]
Jiu-Jitsu for the Zombie Apocalypse
As we get closer and closer to Halloween it's important to shift your priorities from training jiu-jitsu to surviving the impending zombie apocalypse. (After all, it's tough to train jiu-jitsu when you're dead. Or undead, as the case may be.) That's why you've got to check out the most important video I've ever put onto Youtube: Jiu-Jitsu for the Zombie Apocalypse. A lot of people will … [Read more...]
Escaping the Reverse Mount the Proper Way
The reverse mount is a tricky position... If you're opponent has you caught in it then he's placing a tremendous amount of pressure on your diaphragm, which makes it hard to breath. He also has lots of entries to kneebars, heel hooks, leg laces, and other submissions available to him. Compounding the problem is the fact that it's not a very common position, meaning that most people don't … [Read more...]
A Powerful Judo Pinning Trick You Can Use in BJJ
In Judo you win the match if you pin your opponent for 20 seconds, and so Judoka can have some pretty ferocious 'osaekomi' (Japanese for pinning someone's back to the mat). To help them get to a pin and then hold down frantically struggling opponents Judo players have quite a few tricks up their sleeve. Today I want to talk about one of these moves that creates a handle on one of … [Read more...]
The Miyao Brothers’ 5 Step BJJ Competition Strategy
by Jeff Meszaros Every now and then, someone comes along who takes a sport by storm and revolutionizes the game by playing it differently... The Gracies famously changed the world of martial arts by showing the importance of ground work. Wayne Gretzky changed hockey with his "go around the net" trick. Mike Tyson dominated boxing by using a "peekaboo" style that hadn't been used like that … [Read more...]
Napoleon and How To Be Ready for Anything in BJJ
Napoleon Bonaparte may have been a megalomaniac who left millions dead in his wake, but if you read about his battles and military campaigns there is no doubt that he was a strategic and tactical genius. (Well, maybe he wasn't a genius when he invaded Russia in 1812, but before that he was damn near unstoppable...) He fought over sixty battles in his lifetime, during which he was … [Read more...]
Five Tricks to Tighten Up Your Sidemount
There's nothing worse than weathering the storm in someone's guard, passing their guard by fighting your way past their legs, finally getting to sidemount, making one tiny mistake and then - boom - you're back in their guard. It's tiring, demoralising, and leaves you open to getting swept or tapped out. No! After doing all that work you want to stay in sidemount, make them pay for giving … [Read more...]
Three and a Half Techniques to Escape from a Tight Closed Guard Overhook
Just the other day I shared four counters to a pesky deep cross-collar grip from closed guard. Well, the cross-collar grip isn't the only way your opponent might try to destroy your posture... There's another posture-breaking grip that can be just as bad, and unlike the cross-collar this one can be used in BJJ, MMA and submission grappling. Gi and no gi. … [Read more...]
How To Do the Cartwheel Guard Pass
The cartwheel guard pass is one of the most spectacular guard passes out there. But it's not as difficult to do as you might think. In the video below I show you an easy four step progression, including some drills you can do on your own, to incorporate this exciting move into your repertoire. … [Read more...]
Kangaroo MMA with Rear Naked Choke!!
This might just be the coolest thing I have ever seen. A Kangaroo MMA match complete with kicks, clinching, takedowns and a bona fide chokeout for the submission of the night! From my vantage point it looks like Joey actually used the 'short choke', rather than the classic Rear Naked Choke, but in this situation it was just as effective. And the next time we're all arguing about whether a … [Read more...]
The 3 Fanciest Leglocks That Actually Work
Some leglocks are simple, straight-ahead, super-effective submissions that should be in every grappler's arsenal. Other leglock attacks, by contrast, are super-complicated multi-step techniques. And once you actually manoeuvre everybody into place you're left with something that resembles an octopus orgy: arms, legs, and other body parts tangled together in a giant Gordian knot. The more … [Read more...]
Unorthodox Positions and Attacks
There are six major positions in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Mixed Martial Arts and Submission Grappling. If you learn these positions you'll be off to a great start, but you'll also be a bit predictable... … [Read more...]
An Advanced Submission used at the Highest Level
I thought that this was just too cool not to share... A few years ago my friend Matt Kirtley sent me a breakdown of the rolling reverse omoplata. This advanced technique looks pretty fancy but I can vouch for it because I've used it on some very saavy training partners. But be warned: it's a VERY powerful submission. It comes on pretty quickly and I've seen several people hurt by it, so … [Read more...]
Get Off the Ground!!!
Once you get good at Brazilian jiu-jitsu the ground will be your happy place. Rolling around and hunting for submissions will feel as natural as walking! But there's a time and a place for everything... … [Read more...]
Box a fighter, fight a boxer
"Box a fighter, and fight a boxer." This old saying isn't only limited to boxing - you can use the very same principle in grappling, jiu-jitsu and MMA.In a competition, or a 'serious' match you DON'T want to play the other guy's game. His game is what he's good at. … [Read more...]
A Lifetime of Learning
At my recent seminar on Unorthodox Positions I thought that I would be doing all the teaching, and that the students would be doing all the learning. Well I was wrong... One of the things I taught was a cool entry into the north-south choke from the offside kesa gatame position. … [Read more...]