I don’t follow MMA at all, but I am curious when big-name BJJ guys like Rodolfo Vieira fight.
I suppose about a half of the subscribers of BJJ Reflections have more than a few years of experience in BJJ (and probably know about Rodolfo). The other half is somewhat new to BJJ and may not know who Rodolfo Vieira is.
Rodolfo is probably one of the best BJJ guys ever, and he’s excellent in every aspect of BJJ. He transitioned into MMA a few years ago.
At UFC 258, he fought against Anthony Hernandez. I don’t know much about Anthony, but he was supposed to be an underdog.
Pretty early in round 2, Anthony caught Rodolfo with arm-in guillotine choke… and got a tap from Rodolfo. I checked Anthony’s records. Most of his submission wins come from guillotine.
I read that he is a purple belt in BJJ. While his belt rank may not matter much, especially after finishing Rodolfo with guillotine, IF it were a pure grappling (or gi) match, I’m guessing Rodolfo would have destroyed Anthony easily. Except it wasn’t a grappling match, of course.
I congratulate Anthony on his win over someone like Rodolfo, and I feel it’s a good reality check for BJJ players that MMA is a different beast.
That’s not new to me or most BJJ folks. Because it’s not the first time big name BJJ players compete in MMA and get demolished after all.
But when you see someone like Rodolfo getting hit multiple times, completely gassed out, and guillotined rather easily…
It strongly reminds you that you need to be excellent in one or more areas and decent in every other aspect of MMA.
On a related note, if you can tire out your opponent to the point that they cannot even stand properly, your chance of catching them will increase no matter how strong/big your opponent is.
So, if there are lessons to be learned from Rodolfo’s loss (or Anthony’s win)…
- Tire out your opponent.
- Guillotine choke works (so, learn how to do it).
- If you do MMA (or are interested in doing MMA), make sure to be better in every area.
- Even if you aren’t interested in competing in MMA, it’s probably a good idea to know how to strike and defend yourself from punches & kicks for self-defense purposes.
I hope Rodolfo will recover from his loss and improve his skills, though. There’s a lot of room for improvement for all of us, including someone like Rodolfo.