03/12/2011 - Mauricio Gomes Masterclass & GB Submission Only Comp

Class #435
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Mauricio 'Maurição' Motta Gomes, Bristol, UK - 03/12/2011

I've been out of training for the last week, as last weekend I got some kind of nasty flu. That meant I wasn't sleeping well, so spend the day and night sniffling while wrapped up in a sleeping bag, my laptop at the ready. Also meant I finally got round to watching the commentaries of my Blackadder box set, then put on Battlestar Galactica, which I keep hearing is really good. Decent plot and acting so far, but then I've only been through the mini-series and first episode.

I was determined to make today, as we were going to have the rare treat of Mauricio 'Maurição' Gomes popping down to do a 'masterclass', before the regular internal Gracie Barra competition Geeza runs every few months. If you don't know who he is, Maurição has four major claims to fame: first, he is one of the very few people to be promoted to black belt by Rolls Gracie. Second, he is the man largely responsible for growing BJJ in the UK. Third, he is a member of another rare group, red and black belts (the belt after black belt). Finally, his son is Roger Gracie, whose name might ring a bell. ;)

I was also to grab Maurição for an interview later in the day, which was cool: we spent a good forty minutes chatting about Rolls Gracie, BJJ in the UK, Roger, belt tests, the first female black belt and various other topics. Always great to chat to the big names. I have met Maurição before, back when I was training regularly at the RGA HQ, but I was surprised that he remembered me. Clearly a man with a good memory for faces! ;)

There was no warm-up, as Maurição went straight into technique, keeping things fairly basic. He started off with a guard pass, where you grab both their collars with one hand and their sleeve with the other. Shove that sleeve into their hip, then hop up into a crouch, basing by pressing your weight through your hands. Stand up, letting go of the collars but pulling up on their sleeve. With your free hand, press inside their knee while simultaneously stepping your same side leg back.

Ideally, that should mean you can now open their guard and shove their knee to the floor. As soon as you do, slide your same side knee over, pinning their leg to the mat with your shin. You now have two options for passing. Either you can bump their other leg up onto your shoulder, reach for the collar with your outside hand then smash pass (like I showed last week), or you can go the other way, backstepping then pulling your leg through.

Maurição followed up with some knee on belly attacks, of which I think there were about four. However, I was drilling with Maeve, so that was a bit overwhelming for a white belt, meaning we just stuck with the first one. After you've passed and established knee on belly, sliding your knee across their belt line, get a deep grip in their collar, four fingers in, just like you were going for a cross choke. Your other hand goes on top, gripping the other collar thumb in. Once you've secured that grip, sprawl back with your feet, which puts all your weight through the neck, then twist your wrists to finish the submission.

Having covered knee on belly, Maurição moved rapidly onto attacks from mount. Specifically, it was technical mount, for when your opponent has turned to one side. Again, just like a class I've taught before (although obviously I don't teach it anywhere near as well as Maurição, who has literally been a black belt longer than I've been alive), during the technical mount portion of my attacking the mount lesson.

Finally, Maurição went through a couple of basic sweeps, the double ankle grab and one of my favourites, the sickle sweep (which I last taught here). He then handed over to one of the other black belts in attendance, Nick Brooks (if you're wondering who the other two were, it was Salvo from GB Bath and Raphael Dos Santos, who runs a number of schools under the GB Cornwall banner)

Having experienced Nick's excellent instruction at Mill Hill a couple of times, I knew he'd have something good up his sleeve. Today, that was a nifty but simple half guard sweep. The starting position is unusual. You have your inside foot over their upper leg, hooking around for control, but the knee of your leg is still in front of them, pressing into their hip. Your outside leg is just clamping tight against them, rather than locked up into an orthodox half guard.

Grab their sleeve on the outside leg side, while also gripping their trouser leg on the inside leg side. Bridge slightly, then turn towards the outside leg, driving your knees in that direction, pulling on their sleeve and lifting with your trouser grip. Very simple, but effective.

That marked the end of the masterclass, which ran for about an hour. Geeza then sorted out the brackets for the internal competition. This is open to all Gracie Barra students in the UK. Previously, the competitions have mainly consisted of Gracie Barra Bristol and Gracie Barra Bath, but this time a number of students came along from Cornwall, Birmingham, Swindon, Wales, the main RGA school in London and Nick Brooks' school in Mill Hill. GB Bristol has a lot of mat space, so Geeza was able to have five matches running at once.

I wasn't feeling up to competing (perhaps I'll give it a shot in the future, as I couldn't really ask for a more convenient environment), so instead I helped out as a ref. Of course, that wasn't a very demanding job, given the rules of this particular competition. Geeza, as you may know if you've ever watched his TheRealGeeza YouTube channel, is a firm believer that you should aim to finish the fight, not play for points. To that end, the internal GB comps he runs are submission only.

That meant my job as a ref was basically to stop people rolling into other fights, avoid hitting the wall, pause the action if trousers or jacket were falling off (more common than you'd expect!), stop the fight once someone was tapping and then raise the hand of the winner. Some techniques were illegal, such as cervical locks, slamming and all leglocks except straight ankle locks, but nobody ended up doing them and getting disqualified.

It was cool to get some reffing experience, as that's something I'd like to get into, in order to become a better teacher: I'll often have students ask, "so how many points would that be?", and I'm not always certain when the situation gets a bit more complex. Submission only is a good way to dip my toes, as it is so much simpler than the usual IBJJF rules. Most of the fights were pretty quick, but there were a few monsters, such as the epic eighty minute white belt battle. Among the women, Maeve also had an impressively long fight, going for fifty-three minutes.

Finaly, it was great to catch up with some old training partners from RGA and GB Brum, especially Conor, who I hadn't even realised was here in England now rather than Belfast. There should eventually be lots of videos, either on TheRealGeeza or the official Gracie Barra Bristol channel, so keep an eye on those. :)

08/04/2011 - De la Riva at Mill Hill

Class #385
RGA Mill Hill, (BJJ), Nick Brooks, Mill Hill, UK - 08/04/2011

I had intended to train in Bristol last week, but annoyingly I picked up some kind of virus. So, that ruled out BJJ, as I didn't want to pass that around the rest of the academy (it irritates me when people come in sniffling and coughing: if you know you're ill with something infectious, don't train!)

That meant I would have to wait until April to get back on the mats. For an upcoming issue of Jiu Jitsu Style, Nick Brooks generously arranged an interview with Ricardo de la Riva, who is visiting the UK for a couple of seminars. Even more generously, Nick also invited me down to train beforehand at the Mill Hill academy. Packing my dictaphone (or rather, my gf's dictaphone), I jumped on the train to London.

It has been almost three months since I hurt my knee, so I decided it was time to see if it could cope with a warm-up. The knee didn't complain during running round the room or shrimping, so it must be on the road to recovery. I'm still wary of sparring, but that's not a problem as long as I have sensible, considerate training partners.

Technique today was based around the flower sweep. Nick began with a straightforward method, beginning by grabbing both their sleeves. Release one of your grips and grab their same side trouser leg. Still on that side, kick your leg up into their armpit, aiming to break their posture and knock them diagonally forwards.

Continue pushing with your leg, pulling on their sleeve and lifting with that grip on their pant leg. That should enable you to roll through into mount. If they base out with a hand, you can take the opportunity to move into a triangle, bringing the leg on their basing side to curl around their head. Push them to the other side with that leg, then lock up the triangle.

You can also use different grips when you start. The orthodox version is to grab one sleeve (stopping their attempt to base out), then with your other hand, grab the opposite pant leg. However, you can also grab a sleeve, using your elbow and forearm to clamp down on their other wrist, trapping it in place (which again stops them using it to base out). On the same side as your grip, grab their pant leg, then proceed with the technique as before.

Finally, you can try a slightly different tactic from the same position. Establish your grips and go for the flower sweep. However, after you've kicked up into their armpit, you're going to swivel 180 degrees, then straighten that leg. At the same time, pull on their trouser leg straight backwards (rather than lifting up, as before).

This should flatten them out, so you end up alongside them, reaching over their body to immobilise their torso, ready to move into an omoplata. Normally, you would lean over to their opposite shoulder as if whispering in their ear to apply the submission. Nick showed a slightly different variation, where making sure your leg is over their shoulder, your head goes to their opposite hip instead. Twist your hips up for the shoulder lock.

Sparring was down to Nick, who like Kev pairs people up. As he knew about my knee, he started me off with a green belt. Children are useful if you've got an injury, as they're so light that it is unlikely they're going to power into some awkward movement that jars whatever joint you've hurt. It also meant I could stay very relaxed, leaving openings to see what he did, while also looking to concentrate purely on technique.

Next up was an entirely different prospect, the mighty Dan Strauss, fresh off his impressive victory at Submission 1000 (despite the fact that the tournament included several black and brown belts, purple belt Dan was able to win the whole thing). He took it easy on my knee, but given he is such a high level purple, that still meant he totally dominated me. I couldn't do anything except flop around defending.

No doubt if he'd been going full force, I would have spent the whole time tapping. However, as Dan was being nice, I mainly got a good work out due to all the spinning and twisting of my escape attempts. He also had some advice on escaping triangles, after he caught me with an americana from his guard.

I had been looking to create some kind of frame with my arm, as he had established a solid high mount and was in the process of locking in the triangle. I put my hand on my head as he rolled to guard in order to finish, hoping to wriggle my elbow back and slip my arm free. Instead, he simply twisted my arm to the side for a submission.

Dan suggested that instead, I should have grabbed his knee, driven it to the floor and then worked from there to get free. Alternatively, I could have tucked my chin to make some space, stand up, then use my knee to pry my head and arm free.

My training partner from the earlier drilling was next, Cho, a friendly white belt. Yet again, I went to the Xande open guard to avoid using my injured leg, which is mostly where we stayed (especially as, like everyone else, Cho was being careful of my left knee). Last up was a tall blue belt, who also stayed light. I got stuck in z-guard a few times, and was trying to push his knees together and to the mat. However, that mostly seemed to just present a chance for them to attack my neck, so I still need lots of work to get that pass right.

De la Riva was teaching a private at the time, before moving into a photoshoot with fellow blogger Meerkatsu, who trains at Mill Hill. It is always cool to meet internet friends in the real world: I've trained with Seymour a number of times now, but it's been a while. Once Seymour had finished off his camerawork, it was my turn to put that dictaphone to use.

Thanks to David Soares kindly acting as translator, I was able to have a forty minute chat with de la Riva (I checked on the capitalisation with the man himself, in case you've ever wondered how to write his surname). Our conversation should be popping up in Issue 3 of Jiu Jitsu Style, once I've typed it up and edited it down to the requisite length.

Clint was also there: I first met him last time I trained at Mill Hill. He is in the process of raising some money for charity, as part of the fight against cancer. Clint is planning to wear a bright pink gi, also sporting a fetching pink mohawk: if you'd like to sponsor him, check out his page.

23/12/2010 - Mill Hill BJJ

Class #370
RGA Mill Hill, (BJJ), Nick Brooks, Mill Hill, UK - 23/12/2010

Kev has recently set up a blog for RGA Buckinghamshire (the place I train: I refer to it as RGA High Wycombe, because that's the location I go to. The main club is in Aylesbury, with another branch in Bletchley). Check it out here. Kev is planning to keep it regularly updated with the latest news about RGA Bucks.

Due to the bad weather, Kev closed down for the Christmas break a few days early. So, I decided to take the opportunity to check out another RGA affiliate, in Mill Hill. Nick Brooks' club is the first RGA affiliate, as far as I'm aware, which was later followed by Farringdon, Kilburn and the rest of the growing RGA family. I've trained with Nick before, having been taught by him a couple of times back when he was a purple belt, and also rolled with him (I remember getting footlocked. A lot.)

This was the first time I'd experienced a Nick Brooks class at his own school. It is relatively easy to get to: I hopped on the underground, going from Marylebone to Oxford Circus on the Bakerloo, then the Victoria line through to Kings Cross, and finally an overground train to Mill Hill Broadway. If you head out of the station, down the stairs and past the buses (bearing to your left), you will eventually turn onto a street called The Broadway.

Follow that round to the left until you hit Bunns Lane. Keep on going down that road (you'll have to cross over a couple of times as the footpath appears and disappears) until you see a little industrial looking complex, with a music centre and a car wash. If you go in there and walk past the units with music blaring out of them, you'll eventually see the distinctive Mill Hill logo, with two big tyres outside (presumably for the strength and conditioning sessions).

There was a pretty good turnout for the day before Christmas Eve, mostly white belts, but also a blue and a purple belt present too. Nick was very welcoming to both me and another guy who was visiting from Gracie Barra Essex. After getting changed upstairs in the lounge (bunch of sofas, heaters, a big TV, grappling magazines and a copy of The Gracie Way: you couldn't ask for much more), it was time for class.

The warm-up was interesting, as Nick had us do what he called 'jiu jitsu chess'. I've heard about that in the context of Hélio Gracie before, where the idea is to take it in turns getting into different positions. You don't offer up any resistance, just let your partner test something out, then you respond from whatever position you end up in. Not something I've done before: essentially, it felt like the step before flow-rolling.

Nick then asked the class what they wanted to do, settling on the purple belt's suggestion of practicing some half guard sweeps. The initial two were from a knee shield/z-guard, while the third switched to half butterfly. I particularly liked the last one, as that works from when you're stuck under a dominant half guard.

The first half guard sweep begins in typical half guard, with the modification that you insert the knee of your outside leg into their hip. If you can, you want to get the shin across, but you also need to be able to lock your feet, or at least wrap your instep by your heel. If you leave your legs open, they can simply raise their trapped leg and pivot, bringing their lower leg through the gap between your feet.

Nick said that the far underhook was less of an issue than the cross-face, so having got onto your side with that knee braced against them, put both hands on their cross-facing arm to block their attempt to get their shoulder into your face. Get a strong grip on their sleeve with your top hand (which will therefore be a cross-grip, as that will be the opposite arm).

Your other hand reaches under their same side leg, grabbing the bottom of their trousers (not inside the cuff though, as that is illegal). Pull their sleeve and drive your knee into them, so that you're basically doing a scissor sweep, but from half guard. It is integral to the technique that you don't let go of those grips.

Also, don't get over-excited and try and jump right into side control. Instead, you're just going to roll your hips, staying low and pressed into them the whole time, hip to hip. As you are still holding their leg, they can't re-lock their half guard. You can simply move your trapped leg backwards to stretch out their leg, then loop it around, moving into side control.

You also still have that grip on the sleeve, which sets you up immediately for an americana. You have a number of options to secure the figure four, depending on how you're holding that sleeve. One way is to control their arm with the other hand to then re-establish a better grip on the wrist with your first hand. Another is to roll your hand forward or backwards to change from the sleeve to the wrist. Or you could try pressing your head into their arm, and use that to hold it in place while you get the proper grips.

That was followed by a variation on the same half guard sweep. This time, you've gone for the scissor motion, but they have moved their head in the opposite direction your knee shield is pointing, which shifts their base. You can no longer get the half guard scissor, but in changing their weight distribution, they have opened up an alternative.

Open up their arm with the sleeve grip, so that they move perpendicular to your body. This also means you can shift your knee shield so that they are balanced on the shin. If you get this right, they should feel fairly weightless. All you need to do now is roll backwards over your shoulder, still holding on to that sleeve grip. As before, you'll end up in side control with the americana ready to be applied.

Finally, Nick demonstrated how even when you've messed up and are stuck underneath half guard, and they have a strong cross-face and far underhook, you can still get a sweep. Start by opening up their lapel with your free hand, on the opposite side to the leg you've trapped. Bring that gi material over their back and feed it to your other hand: this grip needs to be tight, so you want to work your hand as close to the armpit as you can.

Shrimp out towards the trapped side (you'll have to release your locking leg to do this, so keep the inside leg heavy on their calf to stop them passing). You may need to do this a couple of times, until you can insert your outside foot under their inner thigh. This means you are now in half-butterfly.

With your free hand, pin the arm they have under your head to your skull: note that you want to avoid them bringing their knee up into your armpit, as that gives them better control. You can now lift with your butterfly hook, stepping in with your other leg if you need additional leverage (same as with the orthodox sweep from full butterfly guard).

Don't get greedy and try to go straight to mount, as they will probably snatch half guard. Instead, as soon as your knee hits the mat, switch your hips so that your other legs swings over, putting you in side control. This is much safer. Of course, it is not a bad thing to get mount, but due to that high risk of getting caught in half, it makes more sense to go for side control in this situation.

Nick had everyone who wanted to spar line up against the wall, whereupon he matched us up. I started off with a white belt, which gave me a chance to work my offence. I played around with that same spider guard attack where you're pressing into one arm with both feet, but didn't quite get what I wanted, as I think my posture was a bit off: I was falling off to one side. I also went for a handstand sweep, although I think a higher belt would have punished me for my sloppy transition from there.

Next was the purple belt, which of course made for a tougher roll. It also meant I could test out the running escape again, which seemed to work fairly well in terms of defending myself, but not much more than that (though of course hard to know if they were taking it easy on me or something like that). I concentrated on preventing their arm from getting around my torso, or if they did, locking that up with the intention of using the space they want to attack in order to effect my escape (although we didn't get that far: mostly just stayed in a 'survival' position, attempting to feel if there was any space opening up).

For the rest of the class, I went with Nick. As with Kev, he is so much better than me that he took it very easy, leaving openings to see what I'd do. Also as with Kev, that resulted in me mostly staring at him from open guard. I was trying to go for a couple of things, like the spider guard attack again, but got nowhere with that. I also wanted to try sitting guard, but couldn't break his grips.

Again like Kev, he mentioned I wasn't doing enough to break his grips, letting him get a dominant hold. However, what make Kev and Nick good instructors is that they don't just say "be more assertive," they add in plenty of technical pointers too. This time, they mostly came as a result of the next round of sparring, where upon being given the choice I asked to work on passing.

First important detail was thrusting my hips forward. However, that wasn't as simple as I thought, as you don't want to be able to see your feet. I was thrusting my hips, but with my feet splayed out, so that I wasn't creating a convex shape with my body. You need to make sure you are really driving those hips forward, so that bend becomes pronounced.

Secondly, basic posture when looking to pass the De La Riva. Turn the foot of your hooked leg outwards, so that you can then drive your shin into the back of their leg. This will make it very difficult for them to maintain a hook. You can then continue your De La Riva pass, normally grabbing the other leg to start.

Third, for when you're on the bottom in reverse De La Riva, grab the trouser leg rather than the ankle. If you grab the ankle, it is easier for them to kick their leg free, or drive through to collapse your knees and slide into side control. I think that also may have been happening with the purple belt, as I kept getting into quarter guard, holding him off for a moment, then getting stuck in either knee on belly or side control (the running escape seemed to come in handy for both).

Thanks again to Nick for his generosity, not only in having me down to train, but also because he spent a good thirty minutes or so sparring with me and providing lots of excellent advice. That wraps up this year's training. My next session should be at Gracie Barra Bristol at the start of the next year: I'm currently intending to head along for the Sunday sparring session on the 2nd January 2011 (I would aim for Friday, but that's New Year's Eve, so I'll most likely be deep in drunken conversation at a house party).

25/04/2007 - BJJ

Class #56


Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Nick Brooks, London, UK - 25/04/2007

I was still aching a bit from yesterday’s ZSK, having not used those kicking muscles in my legs for quite some time, but soon had a chance to loosen up. Apparently, the little room by the entrance at RGA is available for rolling, or at least according to Owen. Either way, we managed to fit in a bit of sparring before class started. Being a wuss, I was pretty much ready to stop after the first roll, but Owen managed to bully me into doing a few more – he’s probably right in that as I’m going off on holiday soon, I need all the training I can get! :icon_wink

As with the last time I rolled with Owen, I found myself stuck in his open guard, one arm often jammed into my bicep or armpit. After struggling for a few minutes, Owen took pity and gave me some handy hints. First of all, get one leg to the ground: instead of gripping by the ankle, as I keep finding myself doing, go down to the inside of the knee and drive that leg to the floor. Next step is to underhook the other leg and push it in the same direction, aiming to move round into side control. Alternately, Owen advised gripping plenty of fabric by the knees, driving the legs together, which should make them easy to either push to one side or stack (IIRC). Similar to what Maurição showed us a while back, but always useful to go through again.

Jude wasn’t able to take class tonight, so we had another class with one of the purple belts, Nick. He ran us through something I haven’t done before, armbar defence counter. The first variation was if Person A managed to grab their bicep and hook a hand round the back of Person B’s knee. To stop Person A pulling free, Person B shifts their grip from the wrist they were going for to the other arm. Locking Person A’s arms in place by tightening the legs, Person B then reaches through the large gap formed near their leg, holding onto Person A’s neck or collar. Preparing the second armbar attempt, Person B moves their other hand outside of Person A’s arms, then on top of Person A’s wrist.

Keeping the other arm solid, Person B then quickly brings their leg away from Person A’s neck, pushes with the straight arm, then brings their leg back into position. The aim here is to dislodge Person A’s hand that was gripping the back of the knee, moving it in front of the leg. Finally, Person B places both hands on Person A’s wrist, raises their hips and pulls for the armbar.

The second variation was a little less complicated, and hopefully easier to understand in text. This time, Person A hasn’t been quick enough to defend the armbar by getting a hand behind the knee. However, they have managed to bring their hand around the front of the knee, gripping the trouser fabric. As before, Person B locks up with their legs to hold Person A in place, meaning they can then transfer their grip outside Person A’s arm and on top of the wrist. To remove the trouser hold, Person B brings their arm out straight in between Person A’s face and the gripping hand. Using their inner forearm, Person B scrapes Person A’s hand off their gi, pushing it right back, eventually joining their other hand on top of Person A’s wrist. Finally, Person B raises the hips and pulls back for the armbar.

That’s a fairly complicated description: Dominique and I also had some problems in drilling. I kept finding myself forgetting to come outside the arms first, or not getting the arm close enough to my chest to use the arm beneath as a fulcrum. The principle of the inner forearm to dislodge a hand looks like a useful one – will be interesting to see if that works with other grips too.

Sparring was guard passage, starting off with Dominique. She has changed her passing style from last time, so I was having a lot more trouble getting the push sweep I managed before. Instead of standing up and coming forward, she was getting a knee underneath and turning right to the side. That meant I had to readjust round to the side before I could even start trying to pull her in close. Generally I was relying on a firm grip to pull myself round, but that’s rather sloppy, so I should look into a more consistent method of readjusting.

I found that the elevator was an effective sweep to go for, or at least whatever sloppy version I’ve been attempting. Although I don’t always get it cleanly, its been forming a useful base to work off. I’ve also been trying to get my knees back if the person on top is passing, but leaving me space. That worked fairly well today, as if I couldn’t get the sweep, then I could at least recover guard.

However, I need to be aware of other options. I kept finding myself with an arm around one leg and a grip on the gi, meaning I could drag my partner downwards. If I could have grabbed an arm too, I might have been able to try some kind of sweep pulling on those two limbs. In fact, I that’s a variation of the flower sweep I should be trying: as I keep whining, that’s something I need to work.

BJ Penn’s pass continues to be my main successful technique on top, which I think I’ll include in my made-up ‘tailbone pass’ category. I wanted to work grabbing the head and keeping my weight down as I passed, for which I think I got the first part, but still not quite there on the second. Having got that pass, I wanted to also try the basic standing one too. I’m not sure I quite succeeded, but I was at least able to keep my base. Need to work on breaking the guard, and I also keep forgetting to get a firm grasp of the collar, which is pretty central to the technique. I was concentrating too much on controlling the hip, which doesn’t help me much I don’t also have a hold of the gi.

The other person I rolled with today was a new guy called Nick. He used to train six years ago, but after a year of intense training, he wasn’t able to attend classes anymore. Now he’s writing some article for a magazine about the Gracie Invitational (if I understood him correctly), so has been training himself back up in order to enter. As with Dominique, the tailbone pass and the elevator sweep were effective, as was keeping a knee into his stomach if he got close to passing. He had me in a fairly tight collar choke from the guard a few times, which resulted in a bit of a stalemate as I resisted by looking up and getting a hand to my neck. That may have been a good opportunity to see if the forearm would have been able to dislodge the hold, but I didn’t think to try it. Removing grips is definitely something else I want to work, which is getting to be part of a rather long list!

Tomorrow is my last lesson for a month. Will be painful to miss out on all that training, but probably healthy for my writing, not to mention my gf will be happy I’ll be spending a little more time up in Brum. I’ll try to pop down to some other classes, maybe some MMA, but knowing me, I’ll probably be either too shy and/or lazy to make it. We’ll see how it goes: if nothing else, I should have several hours at the throwdown on the 26th May to get back into it.

18/04/2007 - BJJ

Class #54


Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Nick Brooks, London, UK - 18/04/2007

I’d forgotten that there are a few celebrities who train at the club: had a reminder before the beginners class started, as I saw one have a private from Maurição and Luciano. Always kinda cool to see famous people! For some reason it was a small class today – someone mentioned there was a football match on, which may have been the reason for the low attendance.

Jude was present today, but wasn’t able to take class, so we were taught by a purple belt, Nick (I’m assuming Nick Brooks, as I’m not sure there is another purple belt Nick at RGA?), instead. He began with another route to move from side control to mount. Person A grips underneath Person B’s head and one of their arms, clasping their hands palm to palm. Keeping their weight right down, Person A digs their shoulder into Person B’s face, aiming to get them to turn their head to the side. This makes it difficult for Person B to turn their hips, therefore making it easier to get mount. Having crushed their face, Person A moves sideways towards Person B’s head, in order to make space to get a knee on the belly. Once in that position, Person A then drives the knee down, also raising up Person B’s elbow (from the trapped arm) and pushing hard. That eventually leads to mount.

Next, Nick showed us a submission, the triangle from mount. Having achieved mount through the previous method, Person A should have one of Person B’s arms trapped underneath their leg. Pressing that hand to Person B’s chest, Person A raises up Person B’s head, puts their leg out, then slips it underneath Person B’s neck. Person A then grips the shin of that leg, in order to make space to hook their other leg around the ankle. Pressing down with their hips, squeezing with their legs and pulling on the head, Person A goes for the choke. There's a video here of some guy doing it at the end of a sparring session (embedding disabled, unfortunately), while here's a mounted triangle that ends up rolling into guard:



I had real trouble getting this on Dominique. I was in position, but couldn’t seem to get tight enough on her neck. This could have been because I was too far forward, or perhaps wasn’t pressing my hips down enough. She did say that she felt the requisite pressure at one point, but I then readjusted, so its sounds as if I’m getting into position then moving myself out of it. Hopefully we’ll go through the technique again in the not too distant future so I can work out the kinks.

I spent the rest of the lesson sparring Dominique, going from side control. As with the last time I rolled with Dominique from this position, I worried that I was using strength too much, as at one point I picked her up with an elbow and rolled right over. I resolved not to try that again, as its completely pointless because I’d never get it on anyone heavier, instead trying to concentrate on the basic shrimp escape. I managed that once or twice early on, but I think that was because Dominique was holding side control from her knees, which gave me a bit of space to swivel through. When she changed to come up on her toes and press her weight down, it was much harder to manoeuvre.

Also, at one point Dominique could have caught me in half guard but didn’t go for it, thinking I was already through. After I assured her she could have trapped my leg, it became even more difficult on top, as she frequently locked on her half guard. I couldn’t quite remember the half-guard escapes we had been shown a while back, except for switching base and trying to get my foot flat to the floor. I did eventually move through to mount later on, but that was probably due to fatigue on Dominique’s partner.

I also went for a kimura variation I haven’t tried before, where my hands were much tighter and closer together on Dominique’s arm. I think I saw it in the video I posted a while back: not sure if I got it right, but Dominique did say the lock was on. Then again, its not something I’ve been shown in class yet, so I won’t be doing the technique correctly – will have to ask Felipe or Jude about it if I get the chance.

In addition I’d like to inquire about putting your weight down in side control – Dominique said that she noticed I felt heavier than normal, so I’ve at least improved, but as again it isn’t something I’ve been shown yet in class, I’ll need to ask an instructor about the specifics of that technique.

Should be training again tomorrow, which I imagine will be more side control. Good to work on that position, as I continue to struggle for options when sparring, or I go blank when trying to think of the technique I wanted to attempt.