2012 Goals

As the New Year approaches I think it's important to outline some key goals as I step onto the mat for the first time as a blue belt. My technique library is really solid and I think I know more than most entry-level blues based on how immersed in the grappling scene I try to be. With that said, there are a few problem areas that need improvement and minor tweaking:

1. Improved control from guard. Head control, sleeve/wrist control, overhooks/underhooks. Essentially, continuously breaking posture. I play so much open guard nowadays that my closed guard needs improvement.

2. Polishing bread & butter sweeps from guard.

3. Polishing and chaining submissions from guard. Tight armbars, MORE TRIANGLES, and omoplata options (especially the plethora of sweeps available from that position).

4. Heavy development of Half Guard. Avoiding being flat on my back, framing the knee, controlling the bicep and GETTING THE UNDERHOOK! Summed up: avoid the cross-face.

5. Getting the submission I want. Transitions are crucial to ground fighting but maintaining a position (example: back control) and getting say, the rear-naked choke, is also important. Patience and good technique.

6. More collar and lapel use. Cross-collar from guard and top half-guard, Brabo chokes from top half, etc. Implementation of paper-cutter options into my side-control/north-south game.

7. Polishing transitions, TIGHTLY securing positions, being aware of weight distribution.

8. Improved guard passing and utilizing good shoulder and chest pressure to safely pass.

9. Improved takedowns, especially my wrestling.

10. Breathing

Ten goals for 2012. Doesn't seem too bad at all. I predict this will be a great year for my Jiu-Jitsu game.

Marcelo Garcia Promotes His First Two Black Belts

While this is obviously awesome news for Alliance and of course Marcelo himself, the real interesting point here is just WHO he has promoted. Of the two students, one was the subject of the 1993 film Searching For Bobby Fischer, Josh Waitzkin. Mr. Waitzkin was a child Chess prodigy. I find this to be incredibly fascinating, and it further illustrates the notion that Jiu-Jitsu is human Chess. Waitzkin has a goal of becoming a world champion by 2013, and I think with his unique ability to think ahead several "turns", he just may be able to do it. Gotta watch this one play out.

SOURCE

I am officially a Blue Belt!

I had been trying to prepare for the test for the past week and I'd gone over the techniques with Casey and Coe, trying to make sure I had everything looking nice and had a bunch of alternatives if Jacare complained. I left Athens at 9:15 and arrived in Atlanta at 10:45. Kinda sat around while one of the black belts, DJ, taught the beginner class. The front manager told me Jacare would be there shortly so I waited until he arrived at about noon. Coe arrived right before that and he tried to keep me relaxed. I ended up staying around for the whole class and paying the mat fee, but it's whatever. Warmed up, learned some new stuff that unfortunately I don't remember too well (too much else on my mind), then paired up with a blue-belted gentleman named Chris. He was just slightly bigger than me, maybe by 10lbs or so. He had *really* great top pressure and kept driving his shoulder into my neck and chest. I tried to keep him back using Z-guard but he passed me on a few occasions and I spent most of the round trying to get out of bad situations. He subbed me a couple times but my sub defense was pretty decent. I had a decent escape, too, off an attempted armbar. The second fellow's name was Austin. He was also a blue belt, but damn near the exact same size as me. I felt more confident but he ended up murking me. Passed my guard with ease, had super nice transitions and tons of subs. Consequently he had only been training for 1.5 years, but I guess that means a lot more considering he trains at Alliance HQ. Funny thing I realized when I left: the two people I rolled with had the same first and middle name as me (Kristopher Austin)...

Jacare pulled me off to the side around 2:00 and I snagged Coe to be my test partner, which was a lucky break. Another lucky break: Jacare only asked me a handful of techniques and not the whole test. I had to demonstrate the following:

- 1 double-leg takedown
- 1 hip throw
- 1 way to defend standing guillotine
- 1 knee-on-belly submission
- 1 side control submission
- 1 sweep from closed guard
- 1 sweep from open guard w/ a standing opponent
- 2 submissions from back mount
- 1 escape from back mount
- 1 side control escape
- 1 mount submission
- 1 way to defend the headlock on the ground

That's it. I was kind of shocked he didn't ask about passes and the variety of other things that are required, but I'm definitely not complaining. He caught me surprised with the open guard sweep, since I didn't think that was explicitly a requirement, but I proudly pulled a hook sweep out of my ass. Well, I think it was a modified hook sweep. But whatever, because it worked nicely.

After that, I posed for a picture with Jacare and ran the gauntlet to get whipped like a slave. A couple choice idiots were sure to whip the fuck out of me but overall it wasn't too bad. Got acquainted with several of the people there and told Jacare that I would be back at some point but it was "muito caro", which he replied to with "don't be a cheap bastard". LOL. I definitely need to get some training in up there, so I guess that means picking up extra shifts at work to cover the cost. Hoping to go at least once a month, though more than that would be nice.

I am glad everything is said and done. I am drained like a motherfucker. Worse than my finals drained me. Looking forward to a great night sleep and getting back into the groove after New Years. Happy Holidays.

Blog Update Complete!

I have completed the transformation of my blog from shitty to semi-professional. Feel free to share any and all constructive criticism you may have. Big shout-out to my buddy Paul Watson for designing the custom background for me. Hopefully we can get some regular followers and hopefully I can keep this updated with more reviews and news than ever before.

"Vai muito do dizer ao fazer."

Blog Overhaul

I will be cleaning/changing the blog within the next several days. Look out for some cool design stuff (probably not that great) and some content-related ads similar to my BJJHQ banner. Hoping to increase traffic a little bit.

Gear Review: Brute Exo Kneepads

I have been in the market for new kneepads for a while now, hoping to get a set that really protect my kneecaps. One of the most prolonged injuries I've had has been bruised kneecaps. Possibly bursitis, I don't really know. It hasn't been particularly bad in terms of regular life activities, but it has greatly affected my ability to work from inside my opponents' guard, turtle, etc. I began BJJ with some regular oversized white padded vollyball pads, but after 6 months the padding began to break up and shift around. For the past year I've used Mizuno pads (quite similar to THESE), but a year and change later I found the need to replace them too, as the padding was on the decline and no longer protecting my patellas.

I picked up a pair of Brute Exo pads in blue. They were very pricey at $16.99 a piece plus shipping, but hey it's protective gear! Anything that helps my knees is worth the premium price. These are wrestling pads and thus you need to take into account the issue of knee mobility -- ability to triangle, if they affect your half guard escapes, etc.

Firstly, the quality is very nice. These are some fairly heavy duty pads. There is a center circle of injection molding that protects against impact, especially when shooting doubles. There are also some smaller molded areas around the center. Stitching looks good; I don't anticipate having any problems with quality. The pads are lightweight and extremely comfortable. I barely even notice they're on, although I have yet to try them out in no-gi.

The back has mesh which allows your knees to breath and subsequently prevents excessive moisture build-up. I assume that this will work in favor of the life of the pad, as less sweat build-up can only be good. And then there's the lack of slippage, which is obviously very important. I am ~145lbs, 5'10" and I purchased a small. They fit perfectly, don't slide around, and I don't think I've had to adjust them AT ALL while rolling. I've had no issues triangling my legs, so chokes and body-locks are no problem. I have yet to be in someone's VERY tight half guard, but as of now I anticipate no problems there, either.

Overall these were a great buy. Despite the overall cost of approximately $40 including shipping, you just can't put a price on gear that saves your body parts. www.budovideos.com carries them for $14.95, but they only have black. For a better color selection (for the extra couple dollars, of course), check out www.eastbay.com. They are a great site with fast shipping.

FOLLOW UP, 7/15/12:

I keep forgetting to reply with a follow up, so here it is before I forget: these are great. I use them every class and I haven't had bruising on my knees. Well worth the price and highly recommended. There is NO issue of working half guard, triangles, or anything. They stay in place and do not inhibit mobility in any way. They are staying in pretty damn good shape, even after X number of washes. I expect them to last over 2 years with no problems, maybe even longer. 

Cardio

I think I'm going to try to get my cardio up a little bit. I ran yesterday for 1.3 miles. Not really that much but I could potentially go more. I haven't hit a treadmill in ages so I'm surprised at myself. I guess my cardio isn't that bad just from training. I also started lifting again, sorta. But that never lasts more than a week or two. Zero motivation for the mundane act of lifting metal.

One Sweep and One Sub Option Off Failed Classic Butterfly Sweep

While derping around on Facebook and Youtube I came across two very nice videos that deal with a failed single butterfly sweep from a seated position. Both involve your opponent posting out with their opposite leg and both involve you taking control of that leg. The sweep option is really cool; you pretty much take deep half, X guard their hooked leg and kick out to a single-leg takedown. You can probably pass most of the time, too. The other option is a basic ankle lock from a position I'm familiar with because I usually hit most leg locks from there. I do have a tendency to "reap the knee" without realizing, so I have to be conscious of that and stop the bad habit.

Ankle Lock Option:



X-Guard Sweep Option:

Training 11/9 and General Progress Assessment (Year and a Half of BJJ Anniversary)

Went in for some gi training and we reviewed some gi-based lapel and brabo chokes. A couple of options from half guard:

1. pull their lapel around to the back of their head, switch hands once it's on the other side of their head, then take a cross collar choke. If they tuck their chin, take the face crush. We played around with this and the facial crush could do some damage if you're in competition and they're being stubborn.

2. Same set up, but if they try to push into you and post out with their arm, take the arm and use your own chest pressure for the brabo choke -- driving their shoulder into their other artery.

3. Same as #2, but instead of pursuing the choke, pressure their elbow for the armlock.

Drilled with JC and Michael, choosing the majority of the drills to be on bottom of half guard. I was able to secure the underhook and shrimp for some very nice half guard sweeps. Rolling was also with JC and Michael. Somewhat uneventful. Had a few toeholds, TONS of sweeps and passes.

I've been evaluating my current game and trying to break it down in terms of stuff I'm really good at, stuff I know well and hit on occasion, and stuff I know well but rarely go for. Here's the list:

Guard:

Scissor sweep- VERY high percentage for me as of late. I've gotten very aggressive with it and can execute it even if I don't have their weight perfectly on me.

Flower sweep- When I play closed guard, this is also very high percentage. I notice a distinct lack of closed guard. I've gotten more comfortable with open guard and using hooks to throw people around.

Hip Bump sweep- Hit this on occasion. Again, don't play much closed guard, especially when I'm not gassed out.

Butterfly sweeps- These are becoming very high percentage. I'm becoming proficient with them and they combo well with my fake guillotine attempts which get people distracted for the sweep.

Push sweep, opposite-scissor-sweep-thingy, bicep crusher sweep- I can make these work, I know them well, but don't implement them enough. If I play spider guard I'll look for the bicep crusher sweep because I like the mounted triangle combo you can get off it.

Armbars- Super high percentage, these are my bread and butter submissions from guard.

Triangles, kimuras, omoplatas, etc- know these well, although I don't usually attempt them. I'm more than capable of using omoplatas to sweep if I remember to take the position.

To summarize my guard, I feel that it has gotten quite excellent in the past 4 months. I'm playing a ton of open guard, feeling really dynamic with butterfly hooks and just generally feeling relaxed as I throw people around. Josh is the only one who can easily pass my guard now, though Antony sometimes struggles or I do something stupid and he knows to capitalize on it immediately. So, I had the goal of improving my bottom game about 6 months back. Mission accomplished.

Guard passes:

I don't think I can say ANY passes I know are "high percentage" just yet. Passing is probably one of the hardest things you can master in BJJ, so I'm not too worried. In the meantime, I'm decent with the double and single underhook pass, knee-over, and a bunch of butterfly hook passes that land me in half guard.

Half Guard (top):

Half cross-face(grabbing under their head), shin into their abdomen pass- this is pretty high percentage for me. Sometimes I muff up the weight distribution and get dumped over, but I usually make the pass into side control.

knee-cut pass into scarf-hold, post-up-and-use-hook-to-free-leg pass are also decent but don't get used.

Step-over and toehold/kneebar are fun but not really super high percentage.

Half Guard (bottom):

Underhook sweep (fishing for their free foot, then rolling them either way)- Becoming high percentage. I can otherwise escape or recompose. I'm not getting stuck in half guard as much as before.

Side Control (top):

I know TONS of subs from here- armlocks, kimuras, chokes...but attempt none. I'm going to change that. Usually pass to north/south or mount.

Side Control (bottom):

Guard recomposition 99% of the time. Also, sometimes I'll hit the underhook escape. Rarely, I'll roll them.

Mount:

Aside from fucking around to make them uneasy (grapevining, dropping weight into their chest, etc), I always go for the keylock, which forces them to defend. From there I'll take technical mount and hit the armbar (almost always), bow and arrow choke (rarely), or take their back (sometimes, but obviously high percentage when I do).

North/South:

Kimura or armbar transition ALL DAY. Bread and butter submissions. Also aware of the head scissor choke, north/south choke (rare), and the paper cutter series, which is going to be heavily implemented into my game in the coming weeks.

Back Mount:

I usually fish for armbars here, too. I need to work on finishing the RNC and I'm pretty decent with bow and arrow chokes.


I left some other stuff out but this is a pretty solid summary of where I stand at the moment. This is after 1.5 YEARS OF BJJ WOOT. Time flies.

Major goal right now is to improve my top game. Once that happens, I will be really well-rounded and confident in my ability to handle most mid-range blue belts.

No-Gi Training 10/23/11

On friday there weren't many people there so I rolled with Casey and Yoshi, who's a Muay Thai instructor with tree trunk legs. His skill level and technique knowledge isn't near mine I think, but he had some great bread and butter stuff that destroyed me because I kept getting stuck on bottom. I played on top at one point and as he went for a kneebar he handed me his foot so I grabbed the toehold from it. Rolled with Casey and did pretty much nothing but try to survive, since all my offense was smashed with ease.

Today was similar, just me, Casey, Coe (who didn't even roll), Ian and Michael. Mike left after a bit because of Muay Thai-related exhaustion, so I rolled with the big guys. Mostly got smashed but had some great turtle escapes and guard re-compositions. Kept Ian thinking about the leg locks and just generally didn't do too poorly against a more skilled and larger opponent. Techniques were the same as Friday, just the Saulo Ribeiro pass where you lift their closed guard hips onto one of your thighs, post back with the other foot and push the knee down for the break. Cross knee over, pass into side control. Variations were the kneebar off the cross-knee and the toehold which is right there if the kneebar doesn't work.

I didn't even intend on going tonight due to homework problems, but I'm glad I got some good rolls in.

10/20 Training

Well I was out for about a week with various personal problems, but I felt really great back on the mats. My knees still are an issue, though thankfully not the inner knee. I'm waiting on some funds to purchase some new kneepads because these old ones are a year old and the padding is starting to feel like plaster.

Techniques were open guard. First was a spider guard counter where you reach around and cup their calves, posture upward to relieve pressure off your bicep and push their legs up to their head. You control them, place your knee over their pinned arm, strip their grips and look to pass. Second was off a bicep crusher attempt. Pin their opposite leg, strip grips, lift their non-pinned leg onto your shoulders and look to pass with the single underhook or the knee-over backward step pass. The other one was similar but you hit it off "grasshopper" guard or something I've never heard of. Sorta like spider guard. I don't know. Anyway, you end up in a position where you have one of their butterfly hooks in and the other leg is kinda free. You can drop your weight onto their hook, flatten it to the ground and pop it out. They are forced to establish half guard or get passed. You can then use your favorite half guard pass to get side control.

Drilling was rather easy. There were a bunch of lightweights around: Kati, Sergio, new guy Jeff, Michael, Michael's friend Romick(?), JC and Josh. Ran trains on everyone except Josh. JC went into defense mode and forced me into a rather ugly sit-up-and-flop into mount, armbarred a bunch of people, hit some nice Scissor sweeps (which are feeling smoother for me). Michael tried to cheat and started in a double underhook position, flung me over into turtle and ended up getting recomposed on and swept.

Rolling was me, Josh and Romick. This new dude has a crazy cartwheel-type pass that he surprised everyone with because it's so martial-arty but he didn't hit it at all on me or Josh. Dunno about the others. He kept trying to stand and go for it but got armbarred into oblivion from my guard, swept a couple times, ankle locked and passed with a nice single underhook toward the end. He defaulted to leg locks and got me twice with some ankle and knee locks. I have to be careful avoiding those, especially in no-gi without my usual grips.

Josh got me with some collar stuff, a triangle and a kneebar off that De La Riva-esque sweep I *almost* hit twice now off a combat base counter. Casey saw it and was awestruck which is cool. Too bad I get kneebarred off it. I will check into that and see if I can avoid feeding too much of my leg in so the knee isn't on the thigh upon completion.

So yeah, I felt rather great and was able to handle the other lightweights. Some things to work on:

1. Stay cognizant of weight distribution and mitigate getting swept.
2. Moar butterfly hook action and more Scissor sweep attempts.
3. Watch for leg locks and look for top position.
4. Posturing from guard. Avoiding submissions and passing from CLOSED guard.
5. Submissions from side control. I got a bunch but use none.
6. Half guard sweeps.
7. Back control escapes.

I'm going to need to test for my blue belt again at some point very very soon. I feel great with everything except back control escapes. I will get some of those in either tomorrow or within the next week and hopefully test within the next month. Even Coe, who never gives much credit at all, is telling me to test again.

Need to buy kneepads and a new, better cup for the boys.

10/7 Update

So on Wednesday I hyper-extended my right arm trying rather poorly to escape an armbar from guard. Probably the first time in a while that I've been caught in that and I was pretty nonchalant about the escape until I felt my arm bend past normal range of motion. I'm kind of an idiot I guess, but it really showed me what I was doing wrong with my technique and to NEVER allow your opponent to strike first before initiating your own offense. Regardless, I iced it up and wasn't out of commission at all, so that's good.

Friday's class was using your own leg to hook their arm and lace it through to their same-side leg. This is very similar to the bicep slicer/sweep variation I've been familiar with, but in going to their leg instead of hooking the tricep, you can hit a backwards roll sweep, omoplata (when you shoulder roll) and triangle off it. Very fancy stuff.

I rolled with Josh and Will at the fundamental class and got Tomoe Nage'd a bajillian times. I have to work on my weight distribution (from EVERY position). I've been cleaning up some half guard passes nicely and working on my turtle escapes and the "fat boy roll" which seems to work most of the time.

Progress -- 9/25

So I've been working on a few things, specifically the use of butterfly hooks. I think this is especially important in no-gi. I've noticed that there are a few things that are making me semi-suck in no-gi. One is my general lack of hook use, and the other is the fact that I don't change my game to compensate for lack of grips. Sure, in gi I have a collar to control in addition to arms, but in no-gi you have to do other shit. You need to establish body control with underhooks and overhooks, pay better attention to head control (since there's no collar) and use hooks effectively. You simply cannot use all the same grips. I'm looking to get better with no-gi now instead of chastising it like a bastard child. I'd like to make some of the UGA grappling classes and roll with a variety of people, and I think if I can get this going I will be really solid by year end.

On a similar note, I've been working the classic butterfly sweep a bit and I almost hit it today. I drove my leg to the sky but couldn't get my opponent's body to turn with it. I believe you have to drive it up and "over" your opponent's shoulder. My overhook was not bad.

This weekend was ADCC, the most prestigious no-gi tournament in existence. Unfortunately I didn't pay for it, but it seems that most matches were pretty badass. My boy Paul Harris fucked up some legs, pretty much heel hooking everything. The one guy he couldn't heel hook got kneebar'd like FUCK. Ol Treestump is definitely a retard of some nature. Here's some interesting shit he did this weekend:

http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f2/rousimar-palhares-continues-bizarre-behavior-1828767/

Anyways I guess that's it mostly. I learned a nice arm triangle escape from Josh which will be immensely useful since I always get caught in those. Seriously, that's like 95 percent of the submissions I get stuck in.

Friday Gi & Sunday No-Gi: 9/18

So on friday we had a smallish class. Casey went over some back attacks from double underhook control. First is, when your opponent has one arm up blocking access to the neck, you can grab their other arm and pull it hard across their body, which then frees up your other arm (the one on the same side of the arm you're pulling) for the choke. Second technique was the armbar on their lowered arm (not the one up protecting their neck), after you reach across and secure a figure-four grip and push their head down/bring your leg up and over. Third was pushing your arm under their neck-blocking arm, rotate your body and grab your other bicep for a back-mounted head-arm choke.

I got to roll with Casey which was fun. It's an interesting feeling knowing that not a single thing you do will work and you're going to get subbed or swept any second. It also sucks that you can't even bullshit stuff to throw him off. He got me with whatever he wanted, including a wristlock. Pretty much everything he gave me was a trap.

I've been using the lapel a lot to throw people off and it seems to work to some extent. I made a rage comic illustrating my strategy:

Only stayed for the fundamental class. Worked some half guard knee-through passes and the bottom of half knee bump --> single leg reversal.

Bad Manor FIghts and Wednesday Jits

So the fights were last friday and they were fucking excellent. This was my first live MMA experience and it was a good one. Thing is, I got there early and stood by the cage so the view was near perfect. I don't think I should hope to have such great "seats" all the time, so I guess the experience depends on that. We saw some great fights; 2 hard-fought decisions and 4 finishes, 3 of which were submissions. I hope Athens organizes fights again soon because I'd go as often as possible. And at 15 bucks, you can't go wrong.

Back on the mats yesterday, we worked a bunch of paper cutter attacks. I think I've blogged about most of these before. You start in side control, move to north/south and clear their near arm. Get an underhook, grip the back of their collar, then move back into side control and finish the choke. The variation was kesa to get the finishing grip, then basic side control.

We drilled from side control and I had little trouble pulling off escapes. I turtled against the new guy and hit a sweet "fat boy roll" -- over my own back into side control -- on the new guy, Michael. I rolled with him and pulled the same thing, then rolled with a new wrestler guy who pinned me down in side control with some sort of half nelson-ish maneuver. I turtled with him and hit the same escape, ultimately taking mount and hitting an armbar. From then on I worked full guard with him because those fucking wrestlers are great at passing guard. Hit a flower sweep into mount again. Rolled with Johnny and Coe who both raped my life, but that's obvious and fully expected. Johnny's top game is great and I have virtually zero opportunity to launch any offense against him.

Feeling really good on my escapes and my ability to reverse positions on people. I feel like I can compete with most newer blue belts now and there's no reason why I shouldn't be promoted. But still, no rush. As much as I hate being a white belt after almost a year and a half, I don't need the blue belt pressure just yet.

Gotta work on maintaining side control and launching subs from there. I have no problems changing positions but I want to work on that a bit.

Tornado Guard Success!

Well last night was a really fun session consisting of a bunch of great lightweights to roll with. We drilled 6 alternatives to the failed scissor sweep, including the sleeve-switch sweep, a collar choke, omoplata option, and some others that I don't remember too well. We drilled from closed guard and I worked a ton of guard passing and sweeps. I found myself in half guard with plenty of space and remembered the option for Tornado guard. Basically, it worked nicely and I hit the sweep off it. I think it's definitely NOT a good option against opponents larger than you, but equal in size it can work nicely. Tried to be really technical and had some great, dominant rolls with everyone except Antony and Josh who usually take a lot out of me because they're better. Called out Coe like usual and tried shooting in for a double underhook pass which worked, but he's so good about stiff-arming me away from side control that I had to attack his foot for the toehold, which also worked. At this point Coe probably goes like 60% with me, but it's whatever. I feel like I have extra motivation to maintain guard or avoid sweeps because of his ~80lb weight advantage and the fact that the match is over as soon as he lays on me or goes to knee-on-ribs.

Nothing else to talk about. Oh, also hit a nice armbar from backmount. I guess as far as standing sweeps go, I'm gonna continue playing with the De La Riva hook and see how it improves my game.

9/1- Armbars Everywhere

So I took Wednesday off because of a cold I had on Monday/Tuesday. I felt pretty decent aside from a lingering sinus discomfort which usually takes several days to drain completely. Regardless, went in today at 7:30.

Very small class consisting of me, Kati, Casey, Sergio and a new guy named Jeff who's a senior at UGA and roughly my size. He has a background in JJJ, so that's pretty cool and different.

Techniques were from side control. One was an armlock from scarfhold. Another was a mounted triangle from when they defend a kimura or something by hiding their arm over their own stomach and allow you to step over it and roll onto your back. Last was a combination of those two, but instead of finishing the triangle by rolling, you step with the other leg over their head for a power armlock.

Drilling was from side control, and I worked the underhook escape and generally controlling their far arm on my leg to make space for guard recomposure. No inverted triangles this time, just me trying to improve position by sweeping or escaping. Rolling was a giant gauntlet and a huge armbar clinic for me. I swear, probably 90% of my game at this point is armbars. I hit them from guard, mount, north/south. It's pretty awesome. The other 10% of my subs are comprised of kimuras from north/south, various collar chokes and the occasional triangle.

I gassed HARD today which must be due to sinus-related equilibrium problems. Still managed to do whatever and work sweeps and various subs on the new guy, including a nice loop choke and bow and arrow.

Agenda for me, still, are more technically sound guard passes. My single and double underhook passes are fairly decent, so I need to really work the knee-over variants. I know how to execute them, but I usually get sloppy and end up not hooking their trapped leg long enough to avoid half guard.

Training Log -- 8/24

AWESOME night on the mats. Techniques were:

- counter to underhook escape from side control. Take the whizzer and hop around their head to take their back.

- From this position, grab around their neck and take their collar. Grip their pants and lean back for the modified Bow and Arrow choke. Alternatively, don't grab their leg and instead use that arm to go behind their head for more choking pressure.

- armbar from this position.

Drilled with JC, Katie, new dude Michael, Antony and lastly Coe, because he insisted on rolling with people 80lbs lighter than him. I ran my mouth as usual and thus got the knee-in-ribs treatment from him. New dude kept telling me how to complete an armbar and choke during drilling, which was kinda getting on my nerves. Nonetheless I stayed quiet with him until rolling, where I swept and armbarred him from mount. He waited too long or maybe tried a bad escape which got his arm cranked more than he liked. Again swept him, tried for the same armbar but he turned into it. But instead of faceplanting I hit a sweeeeeet shoulder roll sending him upward and over, right into the armbar. He pounded the mat in frustration. Gotta love seeing that lol.

Antony was a blast and brought some very nice standing pass attempts to the table, which is different because Josh rarely passes standing with me. Antony hit me with a NICE "modified De La Riva", as he described it, but I tried to remain composed and prevent the pass. Recomposed guard and tried for a Sickle Sweep and also the butterfly hook variant of that sweep, but he saw it coming and stepped back with his lead foot. I took the single and reversed the position into his guard, but I don't think he fought the single leg too much anyway.

Overall I played a ton of top game and thus my body isn't as sore as usual. No guard passes on me and never really in a bad situation. Good progress. I tried for one of those rolling toeholds on Michael but as he defended I recalled my goals from Sunday and took top control. So yeah, good stuff.

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!!

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Training Log -- 6/24

Did some lapel techniques. One was an over-the-arm baseball choke, another was an arm-trap and switch to your own arm, and the last involved feeding your own lapel up to the neck, posting up with your knee and pulling up to block both the arteries off.

Primary thing to work on at the moment is having a more active guard and controlling/breaking down my opponent.

Training Log -- 6/22

Back at the gym after taking a week off to rehab my thumb. It feels 80% better now, but I taped the shit out of it just to be safe. Ended up working great.

Did some ankle lock defense where you change the angle of your foot (opposite direction so you don't get heel-hooked) and also one where you push you opponent's knee down to the mat and sit on it until you have mount (or similar) and the threat of the lock is gone.

Also went over paper cutters from north/south and the modified keylock from the same position (where you sit out and bring your legs up over their body while pressuring their shoulder).

Rolled with Steven and a noob who trained at hardcore a while back. He really liked the atmosphere here and liked that the pricing wasn't the same as hardcore. Nice guy overall. I shared some pointers with him such as never to attack from inside someone's guard. He was a bigger fellow, maybe 200lbs-ish but he couldn't stop giving me his arm, so both our rolls became armbar clinics.

Steven got armbarred and then was able to mount me, but his nose bled all over and he had to tend to it. He easily mounted the new guy and with much encouragement was able to armbar him twice. Honestly, his wrestling is so polished that if he were to at least learn a few basic subs WELL from various positions, he'd be a pretty decent grappler without even going to the gym much.

Good night overall.

Injuries!!

So I got swept while standing and decided it was in my best interest to break the fall with my thumb. Well, actually it just turned out that way. I believe at the end of the day it's nothing more than a bad jam, but I wont rule out an x-ray if problems persist. It seems a bit better today -- 24 hours later -- and has possibly moved out of the realm of "awkwardly painful" to just "really sore". Rolling with JC continues to lead to ankle issues, as he unwillingly attacks the same busted ankle every time. Fortunately, it's not bad at all and is very low on my injury alarm list at this point.

I got to thinking about all the wonderful injuries I've experienced in the past ~14 months of grappling:

Jammed finger
Jammed thumb (maybe worse)
hyper-extended elbow
AC joint trauma
Persistently painful ears (soon to be at least partially mangled lol)
Badly bruised kneecaps
sprained ankle
rolled toes

...damn.

Training Log -- 6/10

Some more guard passing from combat base. Not sure if that's a legit term or not, but whatever. Pretty much knee up in opponent's guard and your other leg posted for stability. Cross collar, knee over their thigh into side control. If they tie up your foot in "desperation" half guard, you can: A) armbar their defending arm (instead of a Brabo choke, which is more energy-intensive), B) step over, hug behind their neck and attack their leg for a kneebar, or C) step over, hug their neck and attack their foot and roll for a toe hold.

Got some good subs while rolling. Pretty much arm bars and a nice bicep crusher for when they're being too stubborn to give you an arm. I still have to continue working on sweeps from guard, but I'm making good progress.

Training Log -- 6/8

Techniques tonight were from a seated position with you trying to pass guard. Your opponent is grabbing your pants at the knee region and you have their sleeves. You can grab cross-collar, post up with the same side knee as the arm you're using for the cross-collar, and baseball slide into side control. We also worked the finishing cross-collar choke from that position; grabbing material on the opposite side of the gi and getting the tap, and finally a Brabo choke by pulling their defending arm across their neck, driving down with your shoulder and pulling up on their collar for the tap. The last one required way too much effort as far as I'm concerned, so I do doubt I'll use that technique any time soon. There's also an armbar from there which requires less energy.

Rolled with Josh, JC and Andrew. JC, ironically, was the only one to tap me tonight while rolling....though he caught me in an ankle lock on my braced ankle. No bueno. Credit to him for also sleeve choking me though. Completely my fault for letting him pass guard.

Josh steamrolled me while rolling but I fended off subs. I was feeling the groove a bit more while drilling with trying to pass his guard. I think my offense is coming along real nicely, and as far as passing is concerned, I still have to work on opening crossed ankles. Once they open their guard I'm finding it easier to do work.

I was able to stay active with Andrew, controlling him in half-guard and nearly advancing to mount before the buzzer. Second round, he passed my guard and mounted me, but I hit a very nice escape/scramble before he took me back down and I attacked his leg before the buzzer but couldn't secure a winning round.

Training Log -- 6/3 & 6/5

6/3:

Fundamental class on Friday consisted of Josh, Steven, me and Fausto. I haven't trained with Fausto since he left for Grad school around July of last year, which really means that I haven't trained with him since I was a noob of the purest order. I trained with him on Sunday the week prior and he definitely got the better of me without a gi, which is to be expected since my no-gi game is somewhat behind my gi game. Regardless, Friday's beginner class was pretty much straight rolling from the get-go. I got an ankle lock on Fausto, got wrestlefucked by Steven and steamrolled by Josh, as usual. I abandoned my sweep game and tried playing a bit more offensively with Fausto and saw some great results: guard passing, mount, side-control, north/south. Tried for an armbar from north/south but he defended well and I ended up in mount. It was, overall, a pretty nice night of control for me.

As the main class time approached I started to feel pretty crappy with cramping and exhaustion. Left a little into the main to rest up but had to take advil in the middle of the night for pain. Not sure what happened, but I felt (and still feel) like I got raped in an alley. Strange...


6/5:

I intended to only go to one class because my injuries were still really nagging. Josh asked that I go and watch out for beginners since he couldn't make it. JC and Katie -- Casey's kids -- showed up and I had them shrimp and work on mount escapes and reversals as per Josh's request. I got in a bit and rolled a couple times at the end, but left as the main class started. I definitely need a few days to heal up. I have bruising all over my body and kneecaps, some sort of a strain in my left calf and a busted ankle which came about as a result of a shitty Peruvian Necktie attempt on Fausto on Friday when he flipped to escape and landed on my ankle. Definitely could have avoided it if I applied the submission properly, but whatever. Hopefully I'll be back in form for Wednesday.

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Training Log -- 6/1

Amazing night of Jiu Jitsu!

Went in a bit late and missed a guard pull --> back control sequence using X-guard (I think?) but not too sure. Went into some techniques from mount, all of which begin with a keylock attempt to illicit a response. From there, when they turn onto their side to defend, you take technical mount and take an armbar. If they defend by reaching under your leg, you have a mounted triangle available. If they defend with switching your leg over their head, you can sit down into side control or take the bicep crusher.

Did some drilling from mount. I escaped after some effort against Andrew, then did a great job of controlling him from mount before he ultimately escaped. My control has gone up exponentially, so I'm pretty happy about that. I noticed that whenever he came close to shrimping, I automatically went for a rodeo-type thing that I recall vaguely from a video I saw a while back. Basically, it's one arm under their head and the other arm hooking their leg from behind. You can use this to stretch them out and it makes it really fucking hard to create any space for escapes. Pretty sweet.

Rolled with Cam and Andrew. Almost nailed Cam with an armbar to start and then transitioned to an inverted triangle which I managed to finish with the choke. Second roll was fucking mint. I pulled guard and hit a pendulum sweep into mount, dismounted to side control, into north/south and finished with a kimura. Just pure, perfect control. Rolled with Andrew and almost hit an armbar from guard but ended up in a scramble, which I handled VERY nicely and managed to prevent a guard pass. We ended up in ankle lock position and I got the better of him for the tap. He had a kneebar but probably didn't realize that he could have tapped me with it.

My jiu-jitsu has come a very long way and I'm finding it much easier to sweep people and have my way with their limbs and neck.

Training Log -- 5/29

Worked on defending and securing armbars in the fundamental class. Main class involved the whizzer you get when your opponent tries to use a popular side control escape. One possibility is the D'arce choke, one is a VERY tight armbar which involved you swinging your far leg over the neck, and another option is an arm-in guillotine/finger choke using one butterfly hook and the other leg to prevent your opponent from flipping over.

Things to work on:

1. Breaking down opponent from guard. Too often I attempt to secure sloppy armbars and I throw my leg up for triangle chokes and get my guard passed way too much. This is a rookie mistake and there is no excuse for garbage submission attempts from guard anymore. In fact, I'd say out of all the times my guard is passed, 95% is because I'm trying to triangle a postured opponent. NO MORE!

2. Securing position before advancing for a submission or changing positions. Almost had a nice arm-triangle from north/south but like a buffoon I neglected to actually lock my hand to my bicep before shifting from side control. There is no need to scramble for position when it can be avoided by actually doing something correctly. 

UFC 130 Predictions

Tonight should be a decent card. Some quick predictions:

Santiago TKO
Alves TKO
Browne Decision
Nelson Decision
Hamill Decision

Bonus: Mighty Mouse over Torres via wrestlefuck. 

Love my boy Mir but I think he's gunshy as of late and Roy has a granite chin. I just see Roy pushing the pace more and ultimately being more aggressive. Alves should be able to school Rick Story on how to strike, and I think Browne will prove to be a more experienced and mature fighter by outpointing Struve.

Hamill will control 'Page with takedowns and should be able to outpoint for a UD.

Updates: 5/22, 5/25, 5/27

Had some computer problems for the past week, so updates were not high up on the priority list. Had some time off for the past couple of weeks and Sunday was my day back.

5/22:

Rolled with Josh at the fundamentals class and went over the blue belt requirements. Feeling pretty good about everything so I don't think I'll have too hard a time passing the test. Casey was on vacation with his family, so Josh taught some butterfly stuff. One was an over/underhook sweep using one butterfly hook to lift your opponent toward their overhooked arm. Second sweep was double overhooks (usually a bi-product of losing a bid for underhooks) with the same leaning motion to lift your opponent over. Last was a "power" guillotine from double overhooks.


5/25:

Did some leg locks with Coe, which means the material didn't sink in much...I recall some interesting stuff regarding X-guard, ankle lock opportunities and heel hooks. Josh went over a sweet counter to 50/50 guard which he got me with. It sucked pretty bad but definitely a great move to remember for the guys who love leg locks. Rolled with the 205'er Mark and couldn't do too much with him except keep him some what neutralized.

5/27:

Big fundamental class so Josh went over some of the blue belt requirements. All the kids and Steven were largely ADD-ing all over the gym, so it wasn't a huge success for everyone. Went over some hip throws with Casey, triangles from guard and armbar grip breaks. Also went over an armbar --> triangle transition and nasty bicep crusher from juji gatame. Rolled with Josh and Grant, who's only in BJJ on occasion as he's more of a muay thai guy. Josh mostly rolled over me, but I did great against Grant with a few armbars and a sweet pendulum sweep to mount with an armbar finish.

All in all, I'm feeling ready for my blue belt. I think my biggest problem is still a lack of patience; that is, patience in knowing when to secure a position and patience when in a less-than-dominant position such as side control. I guess I'll calm down and be able to think things out as time passes, so no worries there.

Hermes Franca: Rapist

Damn Hermes Franca.

Looks like the guy is being brought up on charges in Oregon stemming from sexual assault of a female minor at a BJJ academy where he taught. He turned himself in and is facing a MMS of 6 years. As of today, MFC cut him from their roster.

RIP Franca's career.


Source

Royler Gracie Being a Bitch

Days after the announcement that Royler would have the opportunity to avenge his loss to Eddie Bravo at the 2003 ADCC, Royler is being a bitch. He is now demanding $50,000 just to show, plus $25,000 if he wins. Seems to me like he's ducking Bravo. This makes me very angry, and if he doesn't have his way, there will be no rematch and I will rage on something.

Source

Training Log 5/4

Started with some turtle techniques, including the "fatboy roll" which I'm already familiar with, pulling them back into your guard, and 2 types of rolls, one of which is a cool kneebar where you reach down and grab their leg (if it's in between yours) before rolling out.

Pretty rough night of rolling. I was in a four man group with Ankur, JC, and a newer/semi-regular white belt Mark who weighs 205lbs. I pretty much launched zero offense, as Ankur was able to pass my guard a couple times. JC defaulted to his secondary mode of attack, ankle locks, which he attempts if he can't get a hold of my collars. Largely avoided them but his crappy gi always tangles up my leg so it was pretty anticlimactic as usual. I tried working spider guard with Mark, but he just stacked the shit out of me and kept me defensive the whole time. Whenever he senses his arm in a precarious position he jolts it out with all his might and pretty much disengages, which makes it hard to do much. Tried the bicep slicer sweep but he used his weight to remain mostly static and careful. Almost had an armbar but he pulled out hard and stepped back. He nearly passed my guard off a failed spider guard sweep, but I turtled and avoided the proverbial loss of points.

Not feeling too bad considering Ankur said he was unable to sweep him too. I'm not sure if spider guard is the best technique for guys with 55 pound advantages on me, so I'm gonna work on more traditional closed guard with him next time and try out using butterfly hooks. See how that works.

I'm beginning to come to the conclusion that playing a lot of spider guard means I'll be taping my fingers up for the rest of my life. LOL. Ice and athletic tape ALL DAY LONG.

Training Log -- 5/1

Rolled with Josh at the 6:00 class and did pretty well for no-gi. I was able to prevent guard passing for the most part, so big ups there. Tons of leglocks throughout the night, the occasional triangle, guillotines etc. Got hit with a sweet omoplata too.

Main class was pretty unique in that we did 3 Jujitsu techniques. A couple involved a guy grabbing your shirt and you locking his arm and driving him to the floor and the third was a counter to a full nelson.

Rolled with Ankur, Josh and JC and largely held off submissions aside from the occasional ankle lock. Also kind of neutralized Ankur which is an accomplishment. Overall, good night with some great no-gi rolling action.

Training Log -- 4/30

Arrived at the 6:00 class but Josh didn't show. Watched the Hapkido idiots flail about in the opposite gym and then Brian arrived. He ended up convincing me to hit some pads around, so I worked on some Muay Thai kicks and knees.

Main class we worked on some spider guard escapes and grip breaks. One was shifting back and grabbing under your opponent's calf and jolting them up, pressing their knees and legs back to their ears (without forcing them to turtle). Then you take side control. Another one was stepping over with a leg and sitting down to take side control, and the final was shifting them to one side while you're standing and stepping one leg all the way over and sitting down. Looked like there was a variety of armbars/kneebars, etc from here so it looked cool.

Rolled with Antony and Cam, who's a 200lb white belt with Gracie Combative training from the army. I wasn't sure how much this would help him, but it translated to above average armbar defense. I worked on a bunch of submissions from guard and was able to attempt at least 5 armbars, only one of which he failed to defend. Hit the bicep slicer sweep into mount, framed a triangle and rolled back for a triangle finish. Also hit a nice sit-up sweep and went for a modified bow & arrow before the round ended. Antony was awesome tonight. He swept me a bunch and kept me scrambling. I was unable to pass his guard tonight but held my own and wasn't in any immediate danger of being subbed.

Also, today is the 30th, which marks the 1 year anniversary of me beginning BJJ. Hurray!

Training Log -- 4/27

Worked on more spider guard (yay). Techniques today included a scissor sweep variant for when your opponent is still on their knees, one for when they post one leg out, and one for when you're trying to work a triangle and they're defending. This final one involves you lacing your foot under their knee and scissoring the other leg for the sweep.

Worked a ton of that bicep crusher sweep and I must say, it's pretty awesome. I love how you're all set up for a mounted triangle once you complete it. There was a video I saw a while ago that discussed what to do if your opponent won't give you their leg. I think it was tornado-ing under after switching sleeve grips (cross sleeve) and bam, there's a triangle. I must further explore this.

Casey mentioned I'll be testing for my blue belt sometime toward the end of May. I am super excited because, to reiterate, being a white belt sucks.

Swole Train

Started weight training (for realz) on Saturday with the help of my strength and conditioning roommate. Haven't sweated that much from lifting in forever. Actually, ever. It was hardcore. We're gonna see where this goes, but I don't want to OD until I'm a little more acclimated to weights. My quads were seriously busted and are still bordering on crippled, but this will only be good. We got a hold of a weight vest which should be great for overall strength and will certainly translate to increased agility on the mats.

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Training Log -- 4/20 and 4/23

420's class consisted of us being split into 2 groups, which was mostly noobs and non-noobs. I was in the latter. We got to work on some interesting spider guard stuff that I *will* be implementing. There are a few work-throughs which are based on swinging one of your legs under theirs when they stand and going back to foot-into-bicep with a trapped leg. From here there are a bunch of sweeps and ankle lock opportunities. We also went over an awesome modified bow & arrow choke with you pulling their leg up toward their head and using that pressure to increase the collar choke's effectiveness.

4/23

Went to the fundamental class with Josh and Steven. We worked on no-gi guard passing and counters.

Main class was more spider guard, this time with feet-on-hips. Worked some triangles from here and some sweeps. One was similar to the bicep-slicer sweep which I've been fucking around with for a while now. Difference is, you don't lace your leg around their tricep but instead use momentum of your shin in their arm to drive them over. Both sweeps require you to underhook their leg and get their ankle up on your shoulder.

Rolling went super excellent. Armbared the shit out of Steven and pretty much kept him backing up and unwilling to engage. This is a victory for me because he's a wrestler. Our second roll saw him manage to pass guard but as usual, he was unable to capitalize on anything and I escaped several times. This is also a victory for me because he wasn't wearing a gi. No-gi is my weakness at the moment and Steven usually wrestlefucks me. With him grabbing my gi and me having nothing but limbs, I did really fucking well. He needs to put a gi on.

Managed to submit Josh with a bow & arrow after largely controlling him. This is a minor victory because he was one-armed with a torn somethingorother and couldn't use his arm. Kinda sounds lame but he usually can keep me away from advancing position and he'd certainly be twice as good with both arms. But I managed to take advantage of a few passes including the leg underhook to cross-collar/stack.

I'm feeling very very comfortable in open guard and I'm not getting swept like usual. Still have to work on guard-breaks and moar sweeps from my own guard. Shouldn't be too long before I get my blue belt, which will be awesome because being a white belt sucks.

Training Log -- 4/17

Worked on butterfly guard today. One was a double underhook sweep, one was an over/underhook sweep, and the other was a counter to your opponent posting his leg outward to avoid the sweep.

Rolling went well. Tried to not use much strength and just work from top and bottom. Still trying to remember to slow down and think about positions of limbs/neck before I bother transitioning from position to position.

Training Log -- 4/15

Went to the fundamental class at 6pm and worked with Josh on guard breaks, passing and sweeps. Flow rolled after. Main class's techniques were bicep slicers. Mostly stuff I'm very familiar with, such as the slicer from guard, the slicer sweep and the submission off the sweep.

Rolled with the kiddies and Coe threw himself into the mix. He took it easy on me but a 220lb Alliance purple belt is still a lot to handle even at half his actual ability. I managed to play from guard for a bit and recompose or escape when necessary. He still got some shin action into my ribs and such, but I did pretty well considering. Also had a body lock and a toe hold attempt at one point, though I couldn't finish it.

Pretty dead after 3 hours of rolling and my fingers are red and slightly mutilated from all the gi grips, but overall this was a great night. Feel like I'm progressing really nicely, and Coe seemed impressed as well.

Training Log -- 4/13

Back to the gym today following Lutador. We worked some scissor sweep variations, one of which was cross-gripping a sleeve and pulling your opponent over into side control. Also drilled the scissor sweep counter (pulling a sleeve and pushing the head) to escape.

Rolled with JC, Drake and new kid. Not really much effort required but I worked some more sweeps from guard and generally tried to work technique.

Post-Lutador

Headed out to Cobb Civic Center and arrived around 11:00am. I ended up waiting about 3 hours until my first match as they were running way behind. I drew a wrestler who was fucking huge, and all he did was double leg me and pretty much lay there huffing and puffing. My gi match was a decent Brazilian fellow who was quite a bit stronger than me. He had trouble sweeping me but had several collar choke attempts as well as an armbar. I worked out of the armbar and had decent positioning, but the ref was shitty and stood us up. He eventually mounted me and I tapped to a sleeve choke toward the end of the match.

Overall, the experience was pretty miserable. We were there waiting for our matches for nearly 8 hours and the whole place was running behind. I was exhausted by the end of he day and I'd say it had some effect on my final match. Not to make any excuses though, because I didn't go in there and do what I had hoped.

Lutador taught me that if I'm going to compete, I need to take it as seriously as any professional fighter would. That means weight training, cardio, and a weight cut. Next time I'll be super prepared so I can combine my BJJ skill with other aspects of combat sport competition.

Not many glaring problems in my game, so it's more along the lines of "back to the gym" to work on general improvement and my known weaknesses.

Training Log -- 4/6: Mock Tournament

Today was interesting because we had so many lightweights that we were able to do some great competition prep in the form of a mock tournament. Two people were paired up and points were called out. This gave me a newer perception of how to play the "game" of jiu-jitsu, which is something we don't do too much. Pretty much, I needed to work some strategy on getting points, and I'd say I did very well.

Shot a double, some singles, and pulled guard twice. Antony gave me the hardest time, and he also confirmed my suspicion that he wasn't giving me 100% all this time. It was nice to roll with him and know he was putting effort into trying to maul me. I worked a bit too much open guard, which is something to note for Saturday. I had some great scrambles and even took him down with a sweet ankle-pick in the middle of our first match. I passed guard and he took advantage of a kimura opportunity, which I fended off until the end. Our second match had me pressed down in mount, but I scrambled out the back door and got back to my feet.

I was really satisfied with my technical ability, and the work done today actually eased some nerves for this weekend.

I'm ready for war! And medals :D

Training Log -- 4/3

Worked on shrimping and guard retention at the fundamental class. Did some takedown work, but nothing too demanding.

Worked on the usual three attacks from side control: a kimura, keylock, and inverted armbar. Also went over the arm-triangle from the same position.

Rolled with Josh and Antony. Antony got a d'arce choke (?) on me and Josh did whatever he wanted. I tried to work some of the side control escapes and had some success, although I need to make sure to avoid the arm-triangle when escaping.

Wednesday is my last class before Lutador on Saturday. I'm feeling pretty good, but I'm slightly concerned about my decision to not cut weight. We'll see how that goes.

Training Log -- 3/30

Pretty much an easy-going night of jits.

Started out with more on the omoplata series we did a few months back. The sequence is break posture --> reach over their arm --> under your own leg --> grab the back of their collar. From here you can control them easily and work for an armbar, triangle, or an omoplata. I really liked these techniques and they stuck with me for a while in pretty good detail, though I haven't put them to practice yet because I've been working a lot on solidifying the basics. I'm definitely going to explore these in detail after Lutador.

Rolled with JC, Katie, Drake, and Antony. I felt EXCELLENT just going super slow and working mostly positions with the occasional submission. I worked from inside Antony's closed guard and was very conscious of my arms, neck, where I posted my legs and how far I shifted back. After he tried for a few sweeps and couldn't get one, he went into some great collar choke attempts that Josh showed us. I stayed aware of his intentions and tried to pass his guard, but his constant fussing with my sleeves and collar prevented most offense. He eventually hit a thumb-in choke which I knew was coming but he hit it really well. Actually, he said it was some kind of modified choke (not thumb-in) but whatever it was, it was awesome. The collar choke series is also fantastic and I'm going to work that into my game after Lutador as well. Even though collar chokes are less effective at higher levels, they open up a ton of joint-lock and sweep opportunities.

Working up less of a sweat since going really slow and careful. I think everything is coming along nicely and I feel a solid improvement in my game.

Out on Friday due to the Six Flags trip (provided it isn't canceled), but we're meeting tomorrow for open mat, which for me should help my half guard and side control reversals. They're the one thing I want to work on before competition.

Training Log -- 3/27: My Face Hurts

Fundamental class was me and Josh. Worked some half guard stuff, such as the overhook sweep, old school sweep, and plan B sweep. Flow rolled after.

Main Class was me, JC, Antony and Brian. We did the chinstrap choke, Marcello Garcia-gripped guillotine, and arm-in chinstrap choke. Started rolling and got caught a few times with some chokes, wristlock (...) and a armbar. I managed to rearrange my face on some T-shirt material, so now it looks pretty fucked up. Great Success.

Antony caught me with a guillotine and a nice textbook triangle which I have no excuse for being caught in. I played a more offensive game and was able to answer back with an armbar and straight ankle lock. This means that my defensive game is a few notches below my offense. Gonna work on that.

Brian destroyed my life even more than in Gi. My neck now looks fucked up from avoiding one of his monster RNCs.

Working more side-control escapes and half guard sweeps is on the agenda. Will be out next Friday, which is mildly annoying but whatever. I've included a sweet pic of my face (for the record, since this is my training log).

Training Log -- 3/25

Started the evening with collar choke drills. Tons of great info which I ultimately did not have an opportunity to practice tonight...

Did the basic 4 fingers in choke, as well as the thumb in around the head, grab-the-gi-material, and some Machado 4-fingers choke with the other elbow in the opposite artery.

Rolled with Johnny, who mauled me. Did MUCH better than I did 6 months go when I rolled with him, and I knew the Anaconda Choke was coming and defended it well enough. He was real explosive and forced his way into side-control where he hit all (or most of) his subs from. Tons of keylocks.

Only had guard with his brother, Steven, who's 180lbs and wrestles. He had no gi, so thus, no gi chokes. He wrestlered me but jumped into mount, where he usually does nothing. He tried for an armbar but botched it.

Rolled finally with a large white belt whose name escapes me. He weighs around 220lbs I think, and at that point I was thoroughly gassed. I got a sweep but couldn't do much as he ragdolled me. Couldn't submit me, though. I wanna roll with him when I'm fresher, because I think I can do much better, positionally speaking.

Got clocked with Josh's fist while avoiding a collar choke early on, so I got a sweet fat lip and also a matching black-ish eye from gi abrasion.

Gassed pretty bad, but good experience with some of the larger jiu jitsu guys.

Training Log -- 3/23: Sweeps

No new techniques today, just armbars, triangles, kimuras and collar chokes from guard, some sweeping work, takedowns and pulling guard.

Worked sweeps the best I could today. Rolled with Josh, Antony and Brian. Tried to take it real slow with Antony and did well. Brian out-muscled me, Triangle Choked Vertebrate-Crushed me, armbarred me and just generally raped my life. Hit a SWEEP from side control on Josh, which was the highlight of the otherwise uneventful evening. Got rear-naked jaw crushed by him but held out relatively well while he dominated on points.

Goals are to continue perfecting sweeps, work side control positional improvement, and play with more Spider Guard. Definitely progressing nicely and feeling good about Lutador.

Training Log -- 3/20

I hate no-gi.

Did some guard passes early on and worked on the technicalities of the scissor sweep. Flow rolled (rape rolled) and got airplaned on. Main class we did some shoulder lock that I didn't absorb too well, reverse armlock from guard, and some other stuff that didn't seem pertinent to me at the moment.

Focused hardcore on working sweeps and guard passing. Got a few guard passes, but nothing too advanced because the people I was rolling with don't have decent guard retention just yet. Hit several scissor sweeps and 1 half butterfly sweep.

Did some thinking about the type of game I want to play with, since I'm probably at the point in my training where I know enough to go into matches with "bread and butter" stuff. I really like the spider guard and I'm going to be working a ton of it in the coming weeks. As for no-gi, I'm not sure yet. It's gonna be a while before my comfort level gets anywhere near what it is in Gi, so we'll decide later on.

Going to continue to work guard sweeps, passing, half guard sweeps and side control escapes until Lutador. Should be feeling great by then.

Training Log -- 3/18 and UFC 128 Predictions

Today I was back at the gym after 5 days of "spring break". Arrived at 6pm for the fundamental class, of which I was the only one who showed. Drilled a guard pass and guard sweeps, including a half butterfly and spider guard sweep. Continued with some flow rolling with Josh and generally felt good going into the main class at 7:30.

Main class was small. We did a lapel choke from guard, armbar using the lapel, and Brabo choke with the lapel. Drilled a bit with Josh and Drake. Got murdered for the most part, but I think the guard passing is coming along nicely. I feel less panicky inside guard, and I feel like if I stop obsessing on subs from guard, there are usually sweeps waiting to be taken.

Rolled with Josh, Drake, and Coe, who's the 200+ pound purple belt assistant BJJ instructor. Got tossed around by Josh and mauled by Coe. Almost hit an armbar on Coe when I scrambled and he fell into a triangle set up, but he powered through it into side control and I couldn't finish it.

Pretty awesome night, and the extra drilling and flow rolling helped a lot. If I can up my sweep percentage, I might consider exclusively pulling guard at Lutador instead of going to the takedown.

UFC 128 is tomorrow, and it's going to be a great card. The main event is Bones Jones against Shogun Rua, and it should be quite entertaining. Here are my predictions:

Shogun by TKO. Jones is a great fighter with tons of potential, but he's MUITO ARROGANTE and Shogun is going to school him on how to fuck up the program. I expect Jones's chicken legs to get muay thai'd until he crumbles.

Faber by RNC. Faber will try to strike with Wineland, but eventually the fight is going down and he should have no problem locking that up.

Marquardt by decision. Yawn.

Schaub by KO. Cro Cop is old and he's got nothing for Schaub. Schaub should hit harder and faster. Crop Cop should look to hit one last LHK, just for nostalgia.

Jim Miller will probably win, but I don't really care. Kinda pissed that Benavidez's fight is unaired. Also, war Batman!

Spring Break

So, spring break is largely uneventful. Expected. Mostly spending time with the family and helping out around the house. Oh, and relaxing.

I'm pretty pissed off that I'm missing BJJ on Sunday and Wednesday, what with Lutador approaching and all (April 9th). Consequently, I am forced to analyze my game and decided where I need improvement the most before competition.

There are two main areas that I believe are too weak and must be improved prior to Lutador. They are:

1. Guard Passing
2. Guard sweeps

I believe that these weaknesses will end up costing me points and potential wins, so I need to work on them DILIGENTLY when I return. The only submission that should be attempted from guard while I fine-tune these positions is the climbing armbar, which should end up being a high percentage attack when I master it.

Diet and strength are both stagnant and I doubt I will see significant improvements in either before it's competition time. That doesn't mean I wont be working on them, though. I think if I get my ass in gear, then come NAGA time in July (if I decide to compete there), my body will likely resemble an Adonis of some sort.

I've been tossing around ideas for D'Arce/Brabo and Anaconda chokes. Mostly seeing some new positional opportunities for arm-triangle variants. I think head/arm chokes are arguably the most under-utilized submission and I want to explore them a bit more.


Looking forward to going fishing some time in the next couple weeks. Nothing like some time in the warm weather near a [preferably isolated] body of water. Also getting HYPED for UFC 128, which will undoubtedly be epic. Fight predictions will come later in the week, but I've begun to favor Shogun for the victory. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he hit a kneebar or something awesome like that.

I end this update with Kris's FotH (Fight of the Hour), a legendary ground war featuring everything from toe-holds to sloppy armbars and beyond. Seriously, this is crazy shit. I will probably plug it on facebook too, since I know some weirdos don't read my blog yet (ignorance is not stupidity).

Training Log -- 3/11

Went early to class and worked on some guard passing and pulling guard. Main class, we did some takedown review. Standard double leg, single leg, and sprawl---> d'arce choke.

Rolled with Steven, a 180lb high school wrestler and Brian the ammy MMA fighter. Steven did wrestler-y things to me, such as plowing into side control, jumping into mount and holding me down. He tried for an armbar but it was terribly sloppy and I easily got out. I think he has some great potential, especially with his wrestling background, but he needs to stop focusing mainly on that when in BJJ class and work on submissions.

Brian ragdolled me as usual, choking me 10000 different ways. I got a kimura on his arm and used the leverage to attempt an armbar, but he landed against the wall and flung himself backwards, managing to stack the shit out of me until I let go.

It's easy to feel defeated after getting raped, but the reality is, for a 145lb guy I'm doing fine. I can't expect to be close to even with a guy who's got more BJJ experience, MMA experience, and 30+ pounds of muscle on me. Nor can I expect to even the playing field against a wrestler with more weight than me. If I keep everything in perspective, I'm doing fine.

Did some conditioning afterward, which left me largely in pain and exhausted.

Off to spring break, which will consist of me eating less (go figure) and missing Sunday and Wednesday. I hope to get back in gear when I return and start my weight training.

Training Log -- 3/9

Did some more gi-based guard passing. The two that I really liked were sleeve-grabbing techniques. One was a sleeve grab, tripod up, elbow in thigh nerve, and then knee-over their leg. Shrug off their other leg and pass. The second was a lead-in for a hammerlock, which involved grabbing the sleeve, passing their arm under their own body, and then passing using the elbow-in-nerve. Continue the arm crank once in side control for the submission.

Rolling was me, Katie, JC, and Antony. Forced myself to work from inside guard, which I've really begun to dread. I think my top, offensive game has largely passed my defensive game, and I'm not as proficient when I pull guard or end up inside someone's guard. JC managed to get his damn collar choke on me, which I fended off, gave my back, and avoided a rear-naked choke. He got mount and completed his choke, as I was gassed from the defense.

Rolling with Antony was easily my high point. I forced myself into his guard as I wanted to work from there. He hit a nice hip bump sweep and raped me from mount. He tried for an armbar but I popped my elbow out as the bell went off.
The next two rolls were great. Passed into north/south and controlled him for a good bit. Locked in a kimura and waited for him to react. Hit a sweet transition to his back. Second roll I got caught in his half guard and worked to free my leg. Casey mentioned that my control of Antony was fantastic, and he really liked the smooth transition. Win.

Did some conditioning after. Felt like crap, but great night of jitz.

Training Log -- 3/4

Went over the basics today. Got the most out of side control review, because side control is probably my weakest position. Rolled with a new guy who was slightly goon-ish for a high school wrestler. Triangled him pretty easily, but apparently I wasn't supposed to go for subs...lol.

Drilling went well. Armbarred people and then got tapped by Josh with some collar choke I totally didn't see coming. It pretty much raped my windpipe, so gonna have to look into that further.

Techniques were some guard passes which are ALWAYS good for me to re-learn. Mostly a collar grab, elbow in thigh nerve to break the closed guard, and then the usual pass. Gonna try to work these more often for experience.

Did some "light" rolling with Drake, who's pretty young, and JC. Worked sweeps with Drake and did whatever I wanted. Helped him out a bit with triangle defense, like protecting the arm, and armbar escapes. With JC I hit a bunch of subs for the first time in a while, since I usually just steamroll on him and win on points (probably like 14-0...). Armbarred and keylocked him. Took his back but was tired from the previous 2.5 hours of rolling. Overall, pretty satisfied with today's work.

My leg is still busted up, but I can roll fairly easily still. Put on 4 pounds thus far and I am continuing to push for between 2800-3000 calories a day. Goal weight is 155 currently.

Weight training begins tomorrow. Trying to have a programmed designed for me by my roommate who's in strength and conditioning.

Ideal would be 155 pounds, then cut weight for my competition in April (which I'm still not 100% on taking) down to 149 and compete as a featherweight. We'll see what happens here. Motivation is a massive factor and unfortunately, I fucking despise weight training.

Training Log -- 3/2

Did some judo throws to start out. My leg cramped up pretty badly half way through (something that has persisted for the past few days), and I sat out the rest of the drilling.

Rolled with JC, who's Casey's son, and Antony. Did the usual with JC without really thinking, which included passing his non-existent guard and bending his arm in gruesome directions. Got sloppy from North/South and ended up in mount again. Still have to work on securing positions before sub attempts.

Did well with Antony. Passed his guard and he recomposed after a hip-bump (there's the securing position thing again...). Worked from my own guard, keeping him largely at bay and preventing side control. He stood up and I did a technical stand, which resulted in me hitting a sweet single-leg for another guard pass. Second roll, I worked again from guard, eventually locking in a triangle on my weak side. Struggled to finish it, but tried to shift the total weight over to the better angle and work for an armbar. He escaped, and we both acknowledged we were too gassed out to do anything else.

Rolled again with Brian just for shits and giggles. I think he passed, but lost position. I got a sweep and ended up briefly in side control before he ragdolled me and I re-established guard.

Not a bad night overall.

Training Log -- 2/27

Interesting night. Went in early to work on armbars from guard, transitions to triangles, and back to armbars off failed attempts. Worked on securing an underhook, lifting the hips up on the opposite end, and threatening the opposing arm.

Began regular class with some work from side control. Mostly variations of faking knee-in-belly, grabbing the defending arm, and taking high mount (s-mount...) for a triangle choke. Variations included a ridiculously tight armlock and rolling over to guard for a finish. I foolishly paired up with Brian, a freakishly strong Muay Thai vet and MMA fighter. His side control was painful to say the least, and he didn't really need to lock in the triangle for me to tap to cup-in face pain. Great chiropractic treatment, and for free!

Rolled with Ankur once, who I did OK against, warding off submission attempts and generally trying to protect my arms from his whip-like, Gumby-esque limbs. Also rolled with Andrew, who steam-rolled me with superior speed and wrestling (if needed).

Had a new guy who was stupidly strong and outweighed me. Drilled with him from top side-control and almost lost position as he damn near threw me away. Transitioned to an armbar and flung him down for a loud "TAP!" Rolled with him, and really wanted to work on the underhooked armbar from guard, but the dude insisted on going into BEAST MODE every time, using some kind of Brian-strength. He caught me with some kind of pseudo jaw-crusher which I shouldn't have tapped to, but it fucking hurt. At that point I shifted to a defensive game, stalking him on one knee with a leg out for bait. He fell into it twice, and I pulled an easy high guard and arm barred him. The second armbar saw him lift me off the ground and attempt to powerbomb me Rampage style. I released the submission for the sake of my vertebrates.

Closed out the evening with a crazy roll with Brian. He shit on my life with infinite beast mode and triangles everywhere. I have no answer for "GSP thighs" around my arteries. The highlight came from another defensive roll with him, as I was somehow able to keep him from passing guard and stay conscious of his arms. I nearly locked in a triangle with my less dominant side, but knew I wouldn't be able to finish the choke against his massive neck. I was able to pry his arm down and hit a textbook armbar from a failed choke. He stacked the shit out of me and I eventually let the lock go. Minor victory.

I left after that with symptoms best described as lactic acidosis. Fun night, though.