Issue 043

Inspired by the performances of Royce Gracie submitting behemoths in the original UFC, Dino Costeas, already a black belt instructor in other martial arts like hapkido, discovered Brazilian jiu-jitsu. And under the tutelage of Rickson Gracie and his right-hand man Luis ‘Limao’ Heredia, who Costeas would eventually earn his black belt under, he’s been teaching BJJ at his base in Chicago, Illinois, ever since.

However, 18 months into his training, when Costeas was a blue belt and Rickson’s Illinois representative, a return trip to Renzo’s academy in New York, saw Costeas reevaluate his outlook on training. “I had been doing pretty well for my level and felt good about my progress,” he recalls. “Then I went [to Renzo’s] and after some training the instructors had us take off our gis. I was like, ‘What do you mean? We can do that?’” he laughs. 

 “Guys you could tap out with the gi, guys you could control with the gi, you took it off and it was like you were drowning. They are tapping you out and you don’t understand what is happening.

That experience changed my outlook. Nobody likes going home after having gotten beaten up.”

After the trip, Costeas stuffed his gi in a closet for six months in an effort to begin to learn the adjustments he needed to make in his game to transition to no-gi and fighting. The grips, the positions and indeed sometimes the entire mind-set needed to be adjusted, he discovered.

“Back in those early days it really was all about really deep insertion into the collar when playing guard,” Costeas says. “Back then in the gi, as a guard player you used that deep insertion into the collar to set up same-side armbars and chokes or to set up leg locks. I would do that all the time and if a choke wouldn’t work then you’d snag the arm.

But without the gi all of the sudden it was not like that whatsoever. You’re not really versed in how to control a guy’s posture because you were so used to grabbing deep inside the collar but now you have nothing – he’s ripping his arm out, posturing up, and you’re in trouble. In a gi, you have so many grips to control a guy, hold a guy inside your guard.”

Costeas had begun training jiu-jitsu because he saw Royce using it to win real fights, but he was now realizing he wasn’t as prepared for real-life situations as he thought. “Jiu-jitsu is about winning fights,” he adds. “I didn’t get into jiu-jitsu because it was a sport… If my first exposure to jiu-jitsu would have been a grappling tournament instead of Royce in the UFC I don’t think my interest in it would have been what it is.”

Costeas now focuses his own training and that of his students on dealing with the less-than-ideal situations where all you’ll have to manipulate in a fight is your own and your opponent’s bodies, not convenient grips, ropes and levers.

He says there are a few basic fundamental approaches that are necessary to transition from gi to no-gi. “In no-gi and MMA you need to use double overhooks or double underhooks, similar to a Greco Roman style, but on the ground. With a gi you can have one hand on the lapel and one hand on the sleeve or pants but in no-gi you have no material to grip. You need to control your opponent’s posture in other ways, like by holding the back of his head,” he explains.

“We need to be using a very active open guard game focused on sweeping or taking the back. If you use a closed guard, you have to bring your opponent to you and break down their posture with both your arms pulling down on his head and your legs, pulling him into you. You need to be constantly cutting an angle from there, keeping him close to you for triangle chokes, take the back and sweeps.”

There are plenty of high-level practitioners from the world of gi jiu-jitsu that take the right approach, however. Fabricio Werdum is a perfect example according to Costeas, who has coached against him in the UFC.

“Werdum is amazing at submitting people, even in MMA. It is obvious that he is studying Muay Thai a lot and wrestling. His clinch work looks great,” he says. “Cross training is everything. Guys like Werdum and [Demian] Maia already feel so confident in their jiu-jitsu on the mats at the ADCC or Mundials. They find success in fighting because they put their best foot forward in the striking department, in the wrestling department.”