Masafumi Matsumoto One of the critical questions you can always ask yourself is whether you are safe at a given moment. If you can’t be sure that you are safe, you need to improve your situation unless the time is running out and you need to take a greater risk. On a related note, what will help …
Eoghan O’Flanagan, a.k.a the UK variant leg locker, barely missed a chance to win a medal at ADCC 2022, losing to Vagner Rocha in their bronze medal match. But his overall performance was outstanding. He beat more well-known and established grapplers, Xande Ribeiro and Mason Fowler. As I mentioned in my previous post, Eoghan co-runs …
BJJ keeps evolving, and people always come up with new moves. You do need to be familiar with these moves, but that doesn’t mean you have to use them. You can beat skilled opponents with fundamental techniques alone if you sharpen them to a higher level. Roger Gracie is the best example of using the …
BJJ is a game of real-time problem-solving. Both players try to present one or more problems to each other, and the player who fails to keep up with solving their opponent’s problems will get put into a worse position and eventually submitted. New techniques and positions present new problems, and you typically need to use …
ADCC 2022 was packed with exciting matches. We also saw major upsets where relatively less-known competitors beat more seasoned and well-established grapplers. Some of the new entrants to ADCC had already been more known than others due to widespread coverage via FloGrappling. Nicholas Meregali, the Manaus boys (Mica Galvão, Fabricio Andrey, and Diogo Reis), Giancarlo …
It seems ADCC 2022 exceeded most people’s expectations overall. I enjoyed watching the event and thought there were terrific matches where elite grapplers showcased the best of their skills and strategy. One thing I noticed from watching these matches is that many of the competitors know how to avoid losing scores. It’s an essential part …
When there are a lot of things to process, it can be confusing. The key is to narrow them down and focus on just a few essential things. And take one step at a time so you can get closer to your goal little by little. When you roll with your partner, you aim to …
The tripod sweep is one of the most basic BJJ moves people learn as a white belt, except many of them probably stop using it at some point. If you need a quick reminder of what the sweep is like, check out this 2-minute video featuring Renzo Gracie. This standard version of the sweep can …
Let’s say you’ve been working on a certain move. It doesn’t work in the beginning, but eventually, you start getting the hang of it. You start catching some people with it. White belts and sometimes even blue belts. You might start hitting that move on purple, brown, and black belt training partners if you are …
When you roll with skilled players, you might get “beaten” pretty badly. Or worse, you might not do well against people who are supposedly less skilled but much heavier/stronger than you. As a consequence, you might end up feeling you have no talent for BJJ. But not so quick! I understand you might feel that …