I am waaay overdue for an update to the blog. Life has really gotten in the way but I hope to have a little bit more time to devote to bringing some new content. For those that follow along...I plan to have matches from the BJJ Expo up as soon as the event is over each day so stay tuned if you don't plan on ordering in a week!
Budovideos was kind enough to share this video from 2008 and I couldn't help but pass it along. This event was the 2008 World Championships and depicts both Rader & Mendes as brown belts. It's evident early on that Gui's style has not changed a lot over the years.
*Skip down to the bottom if you don't want the match spoiled*
Match Commentary:
Early on Gui looks to pull open guard. He manages a seated single leg guard and transitions into De La Riva. Gui's super deep DLR hook helps him work towards the back similar to a Babybolo. Rader defends well but Gui turns it into a single leg take down to score 2 points and begin to work his crushing top game.
Gui threatens the back and Rader flees out of bounds at the 2:26 mark. At the restart, Gui pulls guard carefully as to not give up any points to Rader. Gui works a half-guard butterfly and maintains an over hook on Rader's arm. From this position Gui hits a beautiful sweep for another 2 points. Rader manages to catch quarter guard but tries to get to his knees giving Gui the timing to move into mount.
Gui still maintaining the over hook attempts to attack for an armbar/omoplata. He settles for the shoulder lock but Rader escapes and moves out of bounds in typical Rader fashion.
On the restart Gui works to guard and quickly throws up a triangle. He manages to trip a standing Rader. Rader works out of the triangle choke and attacks a straight ankle lock. Gui defends well and manages to pass the guard again landing in side mount. This was the beginning of the end at the 5:30 mark.
Gui uses Rader's lapel to control the cross face and threaten with a baseball bat choke that he's now famous for. Rader defends well but cannot escape Gui's nasty top side game. The match ends with a pretty lopsided score in favor of Gui.
For Mobile Users: http://www.youtube.com/v/QUAUVNp02f8?version=3&autohide=1&feature=share&autohide=1&attribution_tag=09Jd6spzxjKWwM0PrmBr7w&showinfo=1&autoplay=1
Upcoming blog posts: 1. BJJ Expo Matches 2. Review of Shoyoroll Winter 13 Shorts 3. Review of Shoyoroll Original Logo LS Rashguard 4. Next SYR gi drop?
The Copa Podio Middleweight Grand Prix took place September 8th featuring some incredible talent ranging from brown to black belt. Athletes from Ralph Gracie, Atos, Caio Terra Association, and many more great teams represented very well. If you would like to watch some of the matches On Demand you're in luck. You can do this here: http://www.copapodio.com/index.php
If you'd just like to get a taste of what transpired then take a look at this great highlight that BJJ Hacks just released for the event.
This match took place at the 2013 IBJJF Vegas Open recently. If you are a JT Torres fan then you will probably enjoy this match as he shows some excellent technique. I won't do my regular commentary as there is just a lot of beautiful Jiu-Jitsu going on this match but rather highlight some of my favorite moments.
JT initiates a closed guard pull (yes take that closed guard pulling haters...even top level guys do it!). Action is moved and restarted in the middle of the ring. JT moves into a deep DLR / X-guard position, pops up into a technical stand-up and finishes a nice single leg take down.
At 4:11 JT is attempting to Berimbolo, his opponent rolls away, JT inverts to roll with coming up into the leg drag position. Text book leg drag to pass here.
At 5:28 Rodriguez manages to turtle but JT is maintaining an inside hook with his far arm to control the hips. This allows JT to pull him into a slick back mount. JT sets up a bow and arrow choke to force the tap at 5:37.
No, it's not Jiu-Jitsu but its damn cool. For those that missed the stream last week here is a nice little HL someone put together. If you are looking for the event online, look no further than here: https://www.youtube.com/user/judo?feature=watch
Feeling a little down? Able to pass your buddies De La Riva guard but getting stuck in Reverse De La Riva? Bruno Frazatto shows an excellent way to pass the frustrating position by maintaining a low base, using lots of pressure, and finishing with a leg drag.
1. Maintain a low and heavy base. Do NOT post your free leg too far forward or you risk getting swept by Kiss of the Dragon or in X-Guard.
2. Remove collar grip.
3. Lace the legs by controlling the bottom leg pant sleeve.
4. HEAVY shoulder on top leg.
5. Free hand controls collar.
6. Tripod up and move back a little to remove the RDLR hook.
7. Leg drag--->Consolidate the upper body and pass.
You've probably seen the Most Ridiculously Photogenic Jiu-Jitsu guy memes. Clark Gracie has only recently become more of house hold name due to him winning his first world title at the 2013 Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championships. Clark Gracie won in epic fashion against Marcelo Mafra that saw him come from behind and choke him out in the final seconds to claim his first gold at the highest level in his career. Clark Gracie's "meme fame" came about as a result and the very match this photo was lifted actually took place at the IBJJF New York Open in 2012 (before the Pan match).
Commentary (Skip to the bottom for the video):
This match would start in typical fashion. Ken Primola with his wrestling background obliges Clark Gracie's open guard pull. Both fighters waste no time establishing grips. Ken tries to pass low on the knees but Clark is able to keep his grips and invert preventing the pass.
Clark manages to set up his spider guard with leg lasso. At the 1:00 mark Clark removes his right hook that was used to prevent Ken from passing, then inverts underneath him for the omoplata. Because Ken is standing it is imperative that Clark sucks his arm in and shoot his hips high to secure the omoplata shoulder lock position on his standing opponent.
Ken steps over to the far side but his shoulder is still trapped. Ken attempts to drive his near side knee into Clark to help him posture but it's no use. Clark manages to secure his left arm over Ken's back.
Ken stands and Clark maintains a grip in the collar and one on the leg to disturb his base. Clark alternates his grips in an attempt to make him come back to the ground. It's worth noting that once he brings Ken lower, Clark lets go of the collar and focuses more on the legs. When Ken begins to posture back up Clark attacks at the collar again to disturb his posture.
At 2:20 Ken finally has to set him back down out of frustration. Clark does an excellent job to move his hips away from Ken to keep him broken down. At 2:26 Clark uses his far hand to attack the collar and begin setting up his choke. Clark begins sitting up and Ken chooses to roll which is exactly what Clark wanted.
Clark lands in a crucifix and the lapel choke is on. The omoplata still trapping the far arm and the near arm is under hooked making it nearly impossible to defend the choke. Clark forces the tap at the 2:33 mark.
For more awesome references to omoplata setups, take some time and watch this episode of Budovideos Rolled Up with Shawn Williams. Shawn is a big fan of the omoplata and goes in depth with the position. Around the 4:18 mark Shawn does cover the omoplata choke and details to finish it. Give it a look.
Caio Terra is easily one of the most visible and vocal competitors in recent years. His gym, Institute of Martial Arts is based in San Jose, California. He has not only built a gym with excellent competitors and instructors but he has been spending a great deal of his time traveling the globe giving seminars. In addition to this he has established over a dozen affiliates throughout the country.
I have been following Caio Terra for the last 4 years both in competitions and his instructional DVD's. Being a small grappler myself, I can relate to a lot of the techniques that Caio teaches and uses with a a lot of success. His dominance in major tournaments speaks volumes about his abilities and I have found his teaching methodology to be fairly easy to follow.
When I heard a local gym would be bringing him in for a two day seminar I jumped at the opportunity. Caio has never visited Texas for seminars and considered myself lucky that he would be in my own backyard.
Day 1 (Gi portion)
Caio gave our group about seven topics of things we could focus on for the gi portion of the seminar. The majority vote would decide on the focus for the techniques he would show. We chose to work the De La Riva/Berimbolo stuff. Caio made a comment about this before starting. He said, "most of the time everyone wants to work really hard techniques because they think they are better...the reality is they are just harder." That seemed funny at the time but was a great point. I think sometimes we tend to over-complicate Jiu-Jitsu and lose sight of the importance of executing clean, basic techniques that are high percentage...or at a minimum easier to achieve a higher level of understanding.
Caio began by showing how to initiate and maintain the DLR guard. He also pointed out that dragging your opponent to the ground for Berimbolo can be very laborious (which I totally agree with) and that it is vital to break down your opponent in order to get it. One might not necessarily go straight for it by pulling/yanking on them and trying to force but first to hide your intentions with lapel and/or sleeve grips. His methods for initiating the sweep were a bit different than what I have previously studied. I have spent a great deal of time utilizing the Mendes brothers stuff so it was good to see a different perspective. In some ways it was a challenge to execute his technique as I tended to get confused on occasion due to my muscle memory. So over the course of day one we covered the following from DLR guard:
1. Back take (Babybolo)
2. Leg drag from Berimbolo (probably my favorite)
3. Back take from Berimbolo
4. Mount from Berimbolo
This may not sound like a lot of techniques but it really was. The amount of detail Caio shows could be overwhelming for a white belt but necessary. We ended the day with Q&A over anything we wanted, even techniques which were not covered during the seminar. This was excellent as he showed us how he sets up and finishes his secret ankle lock attack from DLR guard. Video below shows him hitting this same ankle lock in a recent IBJJF tournament. He has used this same submission against Fabio Passos (Cobrinha black belt) in competition a little about a year ago.
Caio Terra vs Fabio Passos
Caio rolled with pretty much everyone that was interested after pictures were taken. It was apparent pretty quickly he intended to triangle choke every single victim opponent. When it was my turn we exchanged some pleasantries. I attempted a sitting guard-->single leg technical stand-up which he quickly shut down. I joked about it and he actually allowed me to attempt it again which I managed to get and sweep he let me. As I was attempting to pass towards the back he started to invert a bit and forced me into 50/50 guard (see exhibit A):
Exhibit A
That week I had been working on some 50/50 guard stuff from his half-guard DVD (specifically the ankle lock) and was pretty nervous in this position with him as he's known to be a killer with leg locks. As I was battling for grips he stood up and began removing the 50/50 guard and moved quickly into side mount. As I was preventing the cross-face he slid into mount, trapped an arm, and threw up a triangle rolling to his back. This happened so quickly I really didn't see any of it coming. I defended pretty well but he transitioned into an armbar to finish the roll. I lasted maybe 2 minutes. I can honestly say that he is the smoothest I have ever rolled against. I have experienced world class black belts pressure, explosiveness, etc. but Caio never exhibited any of those traits. He was just smooth as can be. There was nothing wasted...simply efficient.
Day 2 (Nogi portion)
At the beginning of the second day, Caio reiterated that we chose a difficult topic the day prior and he would pick for the second day...something much easier. We spent the entire second day working from the side mount. The focus was on moving to north-south, trapping the far side arm with an over hook and moving into side mount on the far side to eventually finish the armbar. We worked the following scenarios:
1. Finishing same side armbar (2 different methods)
2. Switching sides to far side armbar (2 different methods)
3. Finishing the armbar many different ways on the far side based on your opponents responses to defend and interlock their hands.
The nice thing about this particular series was that after each variation, he would add a layer or option depending on your opponent's response or attempt to escape the submission/position. It is worth noting he covered the armbar he managed to finish with against Jeff Glover at Metamoris earlier this year. (Video is linked at the bottom of this article.)
Again, it may not sound like a lot of material but it really built layer upon layer from beginning to end. I probably got more out of the second day for some of the basic concepts that I had not seen before. There was no rolling at the end of the second day but again he allowed questions which I took full advantage. I asked how to finish the ankle lock from 50/50 when your opponent hides their feet really well (particularly figure four). He showed multiple ways to attack the non-hidden foot by way of ankle lock and toe-holds. One of the great concepts I took away from it was almost anytime your are working the 50/50 guard...if you want to sweep, submit, escape you have to be willing to make space with your hips.
Overall I think it was a very good seminar. Caio showed some excellent techniques and details. I do get the impression that Caio is a perfectionist while showing technique. There were some moments when he appeared to get a little frustrated with his training partner while trying to show technique. Some positives to take away from those moments that should be applied during training are the following:
1. The training partner should never feed any moves; don't make the technique easy because the reality is most techniques will not be easy to apply on a resisting opponent.
2. The training partner should react naturally (not necessarily defend) but use good posture when stuck in DLR guard rather than slumping over, don't just lay flat on your back while your partner attempts Berimbolo, etc. These are not natural during a live roll so why would you do this while training? Giving that much natural resistance makes it more real for the person attempting the techniques.
Something else worth noting. After circling up to review some of the covered techniques, if someone had a question about a detail he would have them perform the move in front of the group and then correct the issue. This is good for both the people directly involved and also the group. Being able to evaluate what others are doing or having issues with may answer some questions for everyone involved.
All in all it was an excellent two days of training. I might not recommend a Caio Terra seminar to a white belt but every one's learning curves are different. I've seen my fair share of blue belts that have a hard time keeping up with the level of techniques during some seminars.
Things Caio has upcoming:
1. World Jiu-Jitsu Expo in November. I asked him if he had an opponent and he said that had not been determined yet. Stay up to date on this event here: https://www.facebook.com/worldjiujitsuexpo
2. Pan Jiu-Jitsu Nogi Championships the last weekend of September.
3. Rumor has it that Caio will be launching an online training site. I confirmed with him via Facebook that he indeed plans to launch the site. No target date was provided.
I'd like to extend a huge amount of thanks to Collin Grayson for hosting the seminar. He provided most of the pictures for this article. He is also now the first and ONLY Caio Terra affiliate in Texas! http://www.ctarockwall.com/
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