Issue 134
November 2015
If you want to earn a submission in the modern era of MMA you have to embrace one essential philosophy – attack!
When the UFC first emerged, Royce Gracie used Brazilian jiu-jitsu to finish everyone. He was a master of his craft and crucially, nobody knew what he was doing and how to defend against him. Many opponents practically fell into his web of submissions.
More than two decades later and the art of BJJ has been tempered by an educated and evolving pool of fighters. If a fighter wants to compete at any level of mixed martial arts, they have to have the grappling chops to stay out of holds, and many can counter them to recover position or set up their own offense.
As a result, many grapplers are happy to play it safe and try to ride out a decision from top position. But that’s not going to win anyone any fans, and a reputation as a boring lay-and-prayer is no good for anyone. MMA aficionados want to see finishes, which has the bonus of keeping a fighter’s fate out of the hands of those meddlesome judges.
Fight-finishing chokes and locks are still there for the taking, you just have to go after them and know how to set them up correctly.
Harri Niva, BJJ black belt and head coach at Finnfighters Gym in Turku, Finland, explains how to elevate your jitz game to become a more attack-minded manhandler on the mat.
Harri Niva’s top 5 BJJ tips
Give space
“Give your opponent some room to move and make mistakes. When this happens you can attack. More space is aggressive and risky but it presents more openings.”
Punch
“You have to hit your opponent on the ground. It softens them up. If you threaten them with ground ‘n’ pound or a submission, it creates openings for you to attack.”
Pressure
“This doesn’t necessarily mean just holding your opponent; you’re constantly working, constantly attacking. Make sure your weight is always on your opponent and you feel heavy.”
Take a chance
“If you see an opportunity you must always take it and be aggressive. You must train yourself to take little ricks because they will help you finish fights.”
Relax
“Don’t panic and don’t rush your movements. Take your time, stay patient and the opportunity will come if you do the above steps.”
Pulling guard: the right way
Pulling guard like ‘Big Nog’ circa 2003 is a one-way ticket to a punch in the face. Use these three aggressive guards to stay safe and set yourself up to take someone’s arm or neck
De la Riva guard
An open guard that uses a foot hook to set up different attacks. It’s great to use against fighters who like to pass guard. You can sweep left or right and it’s ideal to transition and take the back.
Deep half guard
This can be used to neutralize a bigger, stronger opponent. You can enter from a defensive position and quickly find yourself in a good place for submissions and sweeps.
Butterfly guard
Ideal for keeping your opponent’s weight off by giving you unlimited mobility on the bottom. You can use it to hit some of the most powerful sweeps and submissions.
One more round
Cutman ‘Stitch’ Duran answers your questions
Q. What’s the worst cut you’ve ever had to deal with and how did you manage to stop the blood flow?
A. There’s a long list of bad cuts, but let me tell you about the cuts Robbie Lawler received in his epic battle with Rory MacDonald. A majority of the fans never realized Robbie had received a four-inch gash on top of his head from an elbow because I worked on it and controlled the bleeding immediately. The lip is what fans talked about. Knowing the gash was still a concern, but not a problem, I concentrated on Robbie’s lip using Qwick-Aid bandages.
Safety of a fighter is our number-one concern, so as I was working on the cut the doctor arrived and asked me to show him. He acknowledged I was doing a good job and finally asked Robbie how he felt. His response was, “I feel f**king great.” The doctor let the fight continue and Robbie had that one more round to finish the fight.
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