Training Log -- 8/21

Rolled with Josh at 6pm and had a few good rolling toeholds, straight ankle locks and guillotines. Actually hit a d'arce off a front headlock, which is a first for me because I'll usually look to take the back off that position. I feel like my leg locks are getting really good, particularly the toehold. I'm going to try going for them less at this point so I don't get too hung up on lower body submissions.

We had a massive main class for the first time in forever. We had a couple ammy fighters come in from Jefferson to work on their ground game before the fights at Bad Manor (see bottom of post for information). One is a 140lb guy who will be fighting Ralph from Hardcore Gym. He was a really nice dude and it looks like he'll be joining us from now on. There was the other new guy Michael who is kinda spazzy still, and a couple bigger guys who I didn't roll with. There was also that kid Sean who I remembered as the guy I choked unconscious back in October. Fun times! Well, for me, anyway.

Rolled with JC, Josh, Sean, Michael, and that fighter. I think his name was Paul. His jits isn't too bad, but his guard retention is his biggest weakness. I had little problem passing into side control and shifting around between there and North/south. I think his best bet is to stand with Ralph because he's gonna get owned otherwise. I haven't seen Ralph roll but he's a purple belt and this guy is still white belt level.

I had a similar situation with Michael but he had an easier time muscling me around so I mostly played from my back while threatening with armbars and chokes. Sean ended up being player's choice so I subbed him from anywhere I wanted.

We did "Octopus Guard" which is eduardo telles's game. I was actually 100% unfamiliar with it so it was awesome to check out some stuff I'd never seen before, including anywhere on the net. There was a back-take, shoulder lock, and sweep into mount using a butterfly hook.

Anyone who is Athens and would like to see some great live MMA, Bad Manor will be hosting "Battle for Athens" or something to that effect. We have a few fighters from my gym competing so it's gonna be an awesome night. Check it out!

http://www.thebadmanor.com/FightFusionFightNight

Training Log -- 8/17

Well most of my injuries had healed, so that's good. Wednesday's class was speed armbars, more technical armbars, and armbars using your opponent's lapel -- all from guard. Rolled with JC, Steven and a newer guy named Michael who claimed he had been training at a Karate school (sounded McDojo-ish) and won 2 NAGA tournaments. He was a good bit stronger than me, maybe 170lbs, but the only thing he pulled off was tossing me off mount and coming back into my guard. He gassed me out BAD but I armbarred him from mount, Kimura from North/South and took a toehold off a scramble. Not too bad.

I've been laying off the fast food and I think I feel a bit better. Weight is maybe a little over 145 now, which is good. Not much else to report on. Oh, and my right ring finger is still jammed.

Zuffa Assfucks Golden Glory

Just read that Zuffa has fired 3 Golden Glory fighters: Einemo, Valentijn Overeem, and Marloes Coenen. This almost certainly has something to do with the firing of Alistair Overeem, which was fishy in and of itself. Now it seems like some sort of guilt by association thing. Thing is, Marloes was a big representative of WMMA and her firing is a clear sign that Zuffa doesn't care about promoting women fighters once Strikeforce is dissolved, which makes me VERY sad. Einemo may have lost his first UFC bout, but he put on a hell of a show and was awarded FotN. This makes no sense and I'm looking forward to more information coming forth.

Training Log -- 7/31

Went in at 6 and was happy to see some of the kids and Ian there as well. We drilled escapes from knee on belly, side control, half guard, mount and north/south. Flow rolled with the kids and lastly with Ian. We finished up at 7 and I relaxed a bit until the main class.

For the first time I think, main class was pretty much straight rolling with an emphasis on working on stuff we need to improve upon. Rolled with JC, Brian, Vinnie (a muay thai guy with some mid-blue belt BJJ experience), and a girl Amanda who does Muay Thai but apparently had some BJJ experience from a few years back. I was able to work for 90% of the time on top of JC, switching from mount/side control/north-south before hitting a keylock and getting a somewhat rare tapout from him. Messed around a lot with butterfly hooks on Amanda and tried to really pace myself, monitor my breathing and generally not burn energy while flowing through techniques. Brian steamrolled me like usual but I can definitely see my improvements when I train with him. I almost passed his guard and took a front headlock, but didn't base out and had him gator roll me onto my skull using patented "Brian Strength" which sucked really bad. Vinnie didn't murder me too bad, but I expect he was going maybe 60% with me. At one point he heel hooked me HARD and I felt it in my knee. Gave him the "you should know better" look and he obviously felt like shit.

This morning my knee was awkward so I braced it while I walked around campus. It's feeling better and should be fine in a couple days, so luckily no major ACL injury. My shins and kneecaps are still purple.

I'm thinking of taking a small amount of initiative and changing my diet. I think my recovery is being affected by my laziness and I'm concerned about my overall health, in general. I still eat a lot of fast food, especially after training. Coupled with immediately going to sleep, I'm getting heartburn in addition to being hurty in the morning. I think the main goal is going to be cutting down on fast food. Greasy and fried stuff in particular.

Training Log -- 7/29

Fun night of mostly rolling. Went in at 6pm and rolled with Josh for about an hour. Tried to work some stuff that I had stewing in the back of my mind and eventually put together a nice Sickle sweep I recalled from a BJJWeekly video. Seems simple and straight forward and definitely a nice addition to my attacks on a standing opponent. There's a nice work-in with that involving hooking the back of the knee which I'm gonna go over again.

We went over some Tornado guard stuff which was interesting. Seemed to get the sweep *somewhat* down, if not a bit awkward. I flowed into the triangle one time out of nowhere, but we couldn't figure out the sequence of events leading up to it. Gotta go back and watch the video again and work on it further, cause it's a great position to have available, if for nothing more than simple guard re-composure. Some things that are slowly improving are my thinking and balance. Still finding myself in positions where I KNOW what's coming, but I get hit with sweeps anyway. Muffed up the butterfly pass for a second time, once again due to my rush to pass. Gotta sloooowww downnn. Play Jiu Jitsu, not fight Jiu Jitsu.

Main class was Ian, Casey, Coe, and Ian's kid Drake and his friend Alan. Kati's friend was there, too. We did some more techniques from "Z" Guard, including a triangle combination to Scorpion Lock, Omoplata backwards roll into side control (if they muscle up on you), and a back-take from cross sleeve grip. Drilled from half guard a bit and had some more problems with the distribution of my body weight. Again, slowly improving. Rolled and killed the kids for shits n giggles while Coe came in to maul them, too. He proceeded to mock Tornado guard and how it doesn't work because I couldn't sweep his 220lb frame over me. We rolled while he shit on my life and I struggled to not get my organs crushed. Then worked some deep half stuff, specifically the armbar from there. Great night overall, but the hours of straight rolling left me sore as hell. Resting up today and icing my joints and contusions.

Training Log -- 7/22

Worked some omoplata set-ups and finishes. Basic flattening them out before sitting up, using your instep as a choke alternative when you get perpendicular to them (as opposed to parallel for a traditional omoplata), and rolling forward when they roll, grabbing their opposite arm from behind and slowly shifting outward for the shoulder lock.

Antony was back which was a nice change, and we did a giant gauntlet. I worked a lot off my back, which is what I've been doing much more often lately. My guard is becoming very difficult to pass which is awesome, and I find that I much prefer open guard as opposed to closed. I feel like I'd rather not take a chance having my guard opened on their own accord, so I've been playing a lot of spider guard, following their hips and generally keeping them working for the pass. I've also started hunting down X-guard and De La Riva positioning. Safe to say I've improved a great deal off my back and sweeps are coming easier each time I roll.

My passing isn't half bad either. I'm going to start trying to pass more guard and get that up to speed while continuing to work sweeps and open guard progression.

Training Log -- 7/15

Went over basic guard sweeps in preparation for testing. Drilled the sit-up, scissor, push, flower, and the sweep that involves you going for a scissor, switching grips so they can't post out, reaching over and sending them back over your head-ish.

I came to the realization the other day that nowadays, the only person I tap to is Josh. This of course means that I need to step my game up and roll with the heavier, much more experienced people as much as possible. Rolling with the noobs is fun, and although Drake is getting better and better and making me work hard for my sweeps/subs, I need to put myself in the situation of getting armbarred, choked, etc into oblivion so I can really take my technique to another level. I want to be subbed! haha

Training Log -- 7/13

So, a nice update on my gi situation: Keiko sent me a replacement. It was probably in their best interest because otherwise I would be forced to go New York on them and then they'd cry and replace it anyway.

Went over all the blue belt test material and then drilled from various positions like knee-in-belly, back mount and side control. Nothing too major to report except more calmness on my part while rolling which is great. I finished a bow and arrow on Josh one time when he usually escapes my back mount with relative ease, but the highlight of my night was a ridiculous De La Riva sweep I pulled completely out of my ass on him. Haven't done DLR work in well over a year, so me pulling off random shit that's legit just means I'm tying everything together and actively thinking through positions.

Damn near pulled off the half guard pass Casey showed us a few nights back (knee in belly while grabbing behind their neck, turn to your side and dig under their leg, using your own shin pushing to free your leg) but fell victim to the dreaded inverted triangle. Completely bullshit for me because I'm waayyy too familiar with that position as I attempt it on people all the time. Gotta remember to keep my head away from their legs so I don't get caught in that when my arm is already there.

Training Log -- 7/3

Rolled with Josh at 6pm and worked some side control escapes a bit while he largely rolled on me. He uses combat base and knee-on-belly a lot and it's not something I'm used to, although I definitely should be more accustomed to it.

Main class we worked some Scarf Hold aka Kesa-Gatame subs. One was a neck crank of sorts, another was the straight armbar and the last was a keylock. With the exception of the neck crank, I was familiar with the other stuff from a class several months back, but tonight was a good opportunity to drill from Kesa, since it isn't a position I usually play in (although I sometimes find myself fighting out of it).

Rolled with a newer guy who I met last night. He's Ankur's friend and he's larger and stronger than me. He willingly went into my guard so I was able to impose my will the entire night with subs and sweeps.

Also rolled with Ian, which is something I don't do often. Ian is 6+ feet tall and probably over 200lbs, an ex-marine and cop. He's MUCH stronger than I will ever be, but I did surprisingly well against him tonight. He worked hard for his sweeps and sweated it out a bit in side control while I squirmed and tried to protect my arm, but he got it eventually. Our second roll he slowly rolled me into mount and I rolled him back and scrambled to guard with a butterfly hook in. He waited it out and tried to pass before exploding his skull into my lip trying to buck off my hook. Not a big deal, but I feel like this is huge wins for me for putting up a solid, well-thought out fight against a bigger and more skilled opponent.

In other news, my Keiko gi ripped and I raged on budovideos to replace it. They're "dealing with Keiko" so I will call on tuesday because there's no reason for a well-taken care of 3 month old gi to tear in the middle of the fucking material.

UFC 132 Predictions

Well, an awesome card is upon us, and so here are my predictions for the night:

Siver, UD over Wiman.
Condit, TKO over DHK
Bader, TKO over Ortiz
Leben, TKO over Wand
Faber, Sub over Cruz

WAR FABER!!