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Archive for the ‘BJJ Techniques’ Category

BJJ Techniques from Henry Akins: “Closest living thing to Rickson Gracie”

Posted in BJJ Techniques, Uncategorized on June 16, 2013| 10 Comments »

Henry Akins. Rickson Gracie's third American black belt

Henry Akins. Rickson Gracie’s third American black belt

A collection of Brazilian jiu-jitsu technique videos by Henry Akins, the third American to receive a BJJ black belt from Rickson Gracie. Jiu-jitsu has a wide appeal because it’s adaptable to different aptitudes and body types. Early on I was enamoured by Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza because of his ADCC 2005 performance, but quickly realized that my physical attributes (ie. slowness) weren’t in line. Ditto for Royler Gracie, Genki Sudo, Carlos Newton, Dave Camarillo, Buchecha, Ryan Hall, the Mendes brothers, etc. I’ve ended up with a slower, methodical BJJ game. It’s built around judo ashi-waza and top control, or closed and half guard from the bottom, and influenced by watching jiu-jitsu in MMA more often than sport BJJ. Henry Akins is right up my alley.

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Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza MMA Career Spotlight

Posted in BJJ Techniques, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) on March 11, 2013| 5 Comments »

Jacare, the alligator of Brazilian jiu-jitsu

An alligator, the namesake of Jacare Souza, on the prowl. Photo courtesy of Steven Beger Photography (Beger.com)

An overview of the MMA career of Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza dos Santos, one of the best Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighters in mixed martial arts. Hailing from the jungles of Manaus, Brazil (also the home of BJJ legend Wallid Ismael), Jacare is a jiu-jitsu black belt, judo black belt, and multiple-time World BJJ and ADCC champion. He’s also one of the few to defeat Roger Gracie in Brazilian jiu-jitsu competition (Jacare vs. Roger Gracie match from the 2004 Mundial). At the time of writing (March 10, 2013), Jacare’s MMA record is 17 wins (13 submissions, one KO), three losses (two by KO), and one no-contest.

I’m a big fan of picking an MMA fighter and watching their evolution by tracking down all of their fights and watching them in sequence. A few months back The Jiu-Jitsu Vortex published an overview of Demian Maia’s MMA career up to his brutal “twin blood jets” neck crank victory over Rick Story on October 13, 2012. This time Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza gets the treatment.

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Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Strategy: Frustrate and Annoy

Posted in BJJ Techniques, Martial Arts / Jiu-Jitsu Philosophy, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Uncategorized on December 14, 2012| 7 Comments »

BJJ strategy frustrate and annoy

Frustrate and Annoy – The official BJJ strategy of The Jiu-Jitsu Vortex. With an obvious nod to Craig Stecyk and Thrasher skateboard magazine.

What did Helio Gracie and Vince Lombardi have in common? Brazilian jiu-jitsu strategy is a hot topic and recent events like the Gracie Worlds and the Metamoris Pro have added fire to the debate by pitting the traditional “submission is the only victory” BJJ against more competition-friendly strategies. All of the talk got me thinking about my own approach to rolling and what the strengths and weaknesses are.
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Why and How To Keep a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Notebook

Posted in BJJ Techniques, Judo Techniques, Uncategorized on November 18, 2012| 9 Comments »

Brazilian jiu-jitsu notebooks

Jeff gets arty: Brazilian jiu-jitsu still life with gym bag, notebooks, and gi.

A technique notebook is one of the most powerful Brazilian jiu-jitsu training aids. I’ve been keeping one on and off since my first judo class and have found that my rate of progression is directly proportional to my diligence with updating my BJJ notebook. Jiu-jitsu isn’t something that’s easy to describe using words alone and a couple of people at my gym have asked to see my notes, so I figured I’d put together an article explaining why and how I do it.

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Crippling Jiu-Jitsu: A Leglock Article Roundup

Posted in BJJ Techniques, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Nutrition/Wellness, Uncategorized on November 7, 2012| 6 Comments »

On November 4, 2012, my Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach, Adam Ryan, took gold in the senior 2 black belt category of the IBJJF 2012 World No-Gi Championships, submitting his opponent with a pretty brutal ankle lock. The Dynamic MMA team were all pretty excited to watch this, and in honour of Adam’s leglock finish, I figured I’d put together a quick compilation of leglock-related articles that I’ve written over the years. These articles were published in different places under different sets of publication guidelines, so there’s some repetition, but they give a good overview. The flow is: introduction, examples of leglocks in action, learning resources, and dealing with knee or ankle injuries.

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Demian Maia MMA Retrospective: A BJJ Submission Extravaganza

Posted in BJJ Techniques, Judo Techniques, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Uncategorized on October 25, 2012| 4 Comments »

UFC 131 weigh ins

Demian Maia weighs in for UFC 131 in Vancouver. Photo courtesy of MartialArtsNomad.com

Demian Maia might be the best Brazilian jiu-jitsu technician in mixed martial arts. Of his 17 professional MMA wins, nine have come by submission and three by TKO. Maia’s MMA career has been interesting – from highlight-reel submissions to boring decision losses and back. Watching his recent quick victories over Dong Hyun Kim “The Korean Stun Gun” and Rick Story in UFC 148 and 153, respectively, inspired me to track down some videos and put together a brief Demian Maia MMA retrospective.

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Entire Judo Throwing Technique Syllabus in One Awesome Video

Posted in BJJ Techniques, Judo Techniques, Martial Arts / Jiu-jitsu History, Uncategorized on October 13, 2012| 9 Comments »

Holy crap! A two-hour video breakdown of every judo nage-waza (throwing technique) in the gokyo no waza and shimmeisho no waza. 68 judo takedowns in all! And it was put together by the Kodokan Judo Institute, the International Judo Federation (IJF), and the All Japan Judo Federation so it’s the real thing. It was passed on to me by one of my longtime Dynamic MMA training partners, who Twitter types may know as JiuJitsuDude.

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