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      04-08-2010, 08:17 AM   #66
fezz93
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There are lots of good opinions on this topic and I would like to share my 2 cents. My first MMA fight was in 1997 and I came from an Olympic freestyle background of 6 years then picked up Thai boxing and submission wrestling. I have been fortunate to have trained with some of the best guys; Josh Barnett (PRIDE, UFC, DREAM), Francisco Filho (K-1), Tsuyoshi Kohsaka(RINGS, PRIDE, UFC), Maurice Smith (K-1, UFC), Randy Couture, Frank Shamrock, to name a few.

This is a great sport and my comments are only observations that I have personally made and I do not profess to know it all. Observations would be:

-This is a sport, (have been in a bar fight where I mounted the guy and was kicked in the back of the head by the guys friend) night night time for me

-BJJ is not MMA,(I have found that it is much easier to submit someone that wants to be submitted because they don’t want to be hit anymore) Ex would be spin for the arm bar and clamp your legs tight and secure the arm with you arm closest to their body and then hammer fist the guy in the face with the arm closest to the head until he straightens his arm for you. You lose nothing by doing this because you have secured the arm bar position and expect them to escape and continue to counter.

-Don’t give up superior striking positioning in the attempts of a possible submission. Ex would be someone here had said that you take someone’s back with hooks in and cant sink in the choke and to then give up that superior position in the attempts of getting the arm bar (if you miss that arm bar you will be lucky to catch them back in you guard and if not lucky they will have side mount or half guard on you) I would suggest that you keep the back control and hit them until they worry more about being hit that getting choked. The very least it takes their wind away and limits their ability to breath. Fatigue makes cowards of us all

- I have trained at a lot of BJJ clubs that claim to be MMA, but they only teach sport BJJ and they commit both hands to an guard escapes and leave the face wide open, or side mount escapes that would leave you head crushed by elbows. The saying of make a BJJ black belt a brown belt by punching him in the face and keep hitting him until he is a white belt

-with respects to “brawlers” I would say that in most cases you cannot teach grit. You can settle people down with stress inoculation, but you just can’t teach someone to like being hit. Meaning that those guys in tough man contest who like to trade punches are a breed all of there own. Some guy’s look good hitting a bag or pads and the second they get in the ring their game falls apart because they are more worried about not getting hit then they are about winning the fight. There are guys with grit that have almost no training in the gym that beat better guys just because they dont know how to lose. I have much respect for the bangers in the sprort.

-gi is easier for most new people to pick up because the role is much slower and methodical. (very frustrating for wrestlers to be slowed down). No gi is more explosive and quick pace because it is harder to control the other person with nothing to hold on to and it is much easier to slip out of things.

-Strive to have no bad positions, Ex is start with the guy on your back both hooks in and the chock locked in and fight your way out. If you hate having a guy side mounted on you then always start with the person in that position until you figure it out.

-Have no ego and you should never care if you get tapped out, because it is just training. There is nothing worse then 2 guys who just stale mate for 5- 10 mins because they fear being tapped out. A good training session would be giving up positions and working out of the submissions. Ex do not just stop and reset after someone taps out, instead after they tap, the person should just release pressure and allow the person to work an escape and continue the role.

-most gyms start on the ground in BJJ and MMA classes and do not prepare people to be dumped hard, this is great for wrestlers in Pancrase/MMA, because we just slammed guys on there heads and even though we were not as good at BJJ we hit people until they didn’t want to fight anymore. Don’t get me wrong I have also been on the receiving end and it sucked.

These are just some observations and experiences that I have had and believe me there is a price to be paid for the realistic training, but it is an amazing feeling to stand in a ring and face a man who has trained to fight you. That guy feels that he is going to beat you as much as you believe that you will beat him. It is no weakling that stands in front of you and there is no room for bullies in this world because the bluff is called as soon as the bell rings.
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