On Saturday, May 8th, I had the opportunity to travel to London, Ontario with a group from the Japanese Martial Arts Center and attend a Brazilian Jujutsu seminar instructed by Royce Gracie, who is one of the most widely-known BJJ practitioners due to his undisputed dominance in the first four Ultimate Fighting Championships. It was a funny coincidence that the UFC 113 went down later that night, and it was a great experience to train with the original champion.
I have to say that I really enjoyed the seminar, and I was impressed by Mr. Gracie's unambiguous teaching style. He was readily available to answer questions, and he vigilantly circled the area to ensure techniques were being applied correctly. Regardless of his fighting background, he was very straightforward and systematic, and in fact stressed the point that excessive speed, strength and roughness were not appropriate in the training environment.
The focus of the seminar was to maintain a consistent offense toward the opponent. It began with a takedown that secured the mounted position, and from there, flowed sequentially like a kata: Launch an attack, and if the opponent defends, launch an attack to take advantage of his defense.
We spent a good amount of time on each technique, and at the end of the lesson we went all the way though, from the initial takedown to the final submission.
The day ended with a bit of free sparring among the participating students. While I am normally pretty passive in competition and free practice, Mr. Gracie made it a point to let him know the victor of the exchange, so the testosterone in me demanded an accumulation of taps. After winning four exchanges, Mr. Gracie told three of us from our group — Suino Sensei, Joe and I — to "Put on a Blue Belt."
Though it may be difficult to understand without having attended the seminar, here are some notes I took:
1) From the Mount:
-> Arm Triangle (like tate-shiho-gatame in Judo)
2) If the opponent is able to defend:
-> Switch your arms around the opponent's neck and grab the wrist of the arm stuck across his face. Pull it taught and roll him face downward.
-> Lift his forehead and apply a Rear Naked Choke (hadaka-jime)
3) If the opponent successfully prevents you from rolling him over:
-> Change to Side-Mount
-> Create space between the arm and the opponent's neck so that you can grab it with your other hand
-> Lean forward will all your weight on the the opponent's arm
-> Bring your opposite leg over the opponent's head and apply a Straight Arm Bar ( ude-hishigi-ude-gatame )
4) If the opponent grabs his wrist to defend the Arm Bar from the Side Mount:
-> Create space between the arm and the opponent's neck so that you can feed an arm through to open his collar
-> With your other hand, release the opponent's wrist and grab deeply into the opened collar
-> Sliding Collar Choke ( okuri-eri-jime)
5) If the opponent defends by pulling his elbows in tightly, thus making it difficult to create space for the choke from the Side Mount:
-> Grab the wrist around his neck with both hands
-> Lean forward, and bring the leg behind him tight to his body
-> Lean backward, and roll the opponent onto his opposite side
-> Take the opponent's back, and position him directly on top of you
-> Lift his forehead and apply a Rear Naked Choke (hadaka-jime)
6) If the opponent leans forward, so that you can't reach to choke him from his back:
-> Place one leg around his waist, the other on his thigh
-> Place an arm at the side of his head
-> Roll toward that side and swing the leg on his thigh over his head
-> Apply a Straight Arm Bar ( ude-hishigi-ude-gatame )
7) If the opponent grabs the arm you are attacking with his other hand and hugs it to his chest, making it difficult to reverse his elbow:
-> Place the leg not over his head onto his hand
-> Place your arm that is under his elbow on your thigh
-> Break the grip by pushing your leg on his hand and levering your arm against your thigh
-> Apply a Straight Arm Bar ( ude-hishigi-ude-gatame )
8) If the opponent grabs the arm you are attacking with his other hand but does not keep them close to his chest:
-> Weave the leg not over his head between the arms
-> Lift his head and pinch it tightly between your hand and knee
-> Roll back and apply a Triangle Choke ( sankaku-jime)
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