Category Archives: Judo

Top 3 BJJ and Judo Blog Posts of the Week

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I read a bunch of blogs on judo and jiu jitsu throughout the week, and I thought that I’d pick out my favorite 3 every week. First, let me give a shout out to BJJ News (and on Facebook too). They do an awesome job of finding interesting articles and videos on a daily basis.

Here are three posts I liked in no particular order. Check them out, comment, and subscribe to their feeds! Reward informative blogs with your positive feedback. They will appreciate it, and work that much harder.

  1. Are You Consumed With the Question of Why from BJJ Canvas:
    You should always be asking yourself “why” especially when a technique doesn’t work. That leads to a better understanding of the concept behind the technique and in turn helps you figure out how it can work for your style and body type.
  2. Interview with Professor Jacare Cavalcanti from Science of Skill:
    Lots of wise words here from the head of Alliance in US. Including: a team of champions builds “momentum”, and that the job of an instructor is to find ways to challenge everyone no matter how good they are.
  3. Judo Players to Dominate Mixed Martial Arts? from Business/Judo of Life:
    A brutally honest look at judo in MMA from a judo world champion and the mom of one of the star judokas in MMA right now. If your game relies on grips, your throws may not transfer effectively to the cage.

Popular Judo Ground Techniques that BJJ People Rarely Do

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Given the difference in the rules of sport jiu jitsu and sport judo, a number of techniques have developed that are used widely in one community and not at all in the other, even when they are legal (and effective) in both sports. Since I have a foot in both camps, I wanted to mention a few such techniques I’m aware of:

Sankaku-Jime Turtle Turnover

In judo, the turtle position is an effective way to escape ground work, because both people are stood back up on their feet if no progress is made on the ground. In that way, the turtle position is effectively used by many judoka to stall any kind of progress. Because of this a large number of techniques have been developed in judo to open up or to turnover the an opponent in a turtle position. One of the most popular is the sankaku-jime (triangle choke) turnover that is shown at the 2:10 mark of the following video:

PS: Thanks to my buddy Caleb for making the observation how few jiu jitsu people use this technique. 

Kesa Gatama Pin

This is one of the most popular pins in judo and is often the first pin taught to a white belt judoka. However, it also happens to break one of the “commandments” of bjj. You are exposing your back by turning without having an underhook on the far side. I personally don’t like this technique in both sports, but that’s because my heart is not in it. If you’re committed to it, I’ve seen competitors in both sports (and also MMA) use it effectively.

Clock Choke

Many jiu jitsu folks know how to do the clock choke but it’s very often far down on the list of attacks to try on a turtled opponent. Usually the first thought is “take the back with one or two hooks in”, then try for a gi choke such as the bow-and-arrow. On the contrary, for many judoka the first thought when face with a turtle opponent is “clock choke”. This may have to do with the fact that time is limited, and taking the back can often take some time. Also, a failed throw will often lead naturally into a choke given that one of your hands may already be gripping your opponents lapel.

Comparing Top Salaries of Combat Sports

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There is an illusion that since UFC is “fastest growing sport” that its stars would be paid on the level of other professional. That illusion was shattered for me when I found out that the prize money for Chael Sonnen from this weekend was just $50,000 (source). Of course, he perhaps earned over a million dollars through sponsorship deals, but still.

The following are the top earners (based on approximate yearly earnings from their fights alone) from each of the sports in a recent year.

  • Boxing: Floyd Mayweather at $85,000,000
  • MMA: Rashad Evans at $710,000
  • Freestyle/Greco-Roman Wrestling: $0 (unless they medal, then some countries give bonuses. Russia is highest with $100,000 bonus for gold)
  • Judo: Teddy Riner was paid $100K without sponsors and then sponsors bring that up to a about $1,000,000.
  • Jiu Jitsu: ADCC pays $40,000 to the superfight winner. World Pro pays $30,000 to the winner of the absolute and $8,000 to the winner of the division. Ultimate Absolute pays $10,000 to first place. So someone like Andre Galvao who won almost all of these prizes, could earn $88,000 a year.

It’s clear that superstars in any sport get paid well. An example of that is judo’s Teddy Riner. But still, it surprised me that the top 10 earners in boxing still make more than the top paid UFC fighters.

For many Olympic sports, money is not the main motivator, which is why the Olympics often feel like the purest form of athletic competition. There’s something beautiful about a human being sacrificing the prime of his or her life for the singular (and nearly impossible) goal of a gold medal…

Extra Fat and Happy

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I’ve been eating a lot, working a lot, enjoying life.

The food is healthy (veggies, lean meat, some fruit) but the quantity is what I’m not limiting.  I want to give myself a breather, before diving back into it for the fall.

Before I finish writing this status update, let me go grab a random snack. Why? Because I can! That’s a damn good feeling. Oh and I’ll be competing in the local tournaments in the extra fat divisions. No real cutting until September.

The problem with the “diet” I was on before is that I never quite followed it seriously enough. When I competed at Worlds, my carelessness with food resulted in me being 2 lbs overweight. I ran it off in just 10 minutes and that served as a good warm up, but still this was supposed to be my fat division (middleweight, ~177 lbs). A “fat” division is one I should be able to make without cutting at all or even thinking of cutting.

Competition is stressful, and my goal for this year is to reduce that stress as much as possible. I want to not have to think about any tournaments (except the really big ones) until the day of the event. A strict diet plan leading up to each competition is part of that. While I’ve been very systematic about learning jiu jitsu. I’ve been a complete white belt meathead about learning dieting, and dieting is the thing that breaks many competitors who have demanding jobs (and/or other responsibilities) outside the sport.

Another random rant comes to a close. PS: I had beer with my coach yesterday while watching judo. We should make that a regular thing.

Brazilian Judo

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Guess what country has the most active judo players? You’ll probably guess China or Russia or France, but you’d be wrong. It’s Brazil. Yes, the country that gave birth to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is also the country that is training the most judoka in the world.

In 2012, Brazil’s olympic judo team has a qualified athlete (both male and female) in every weight category. That’s a rare, and a sign that their squad runs deep. The Brazilian women in particular have been dominating on the world stage, and are definite medal hopefuls for both the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. Just see them dominate in Moscow this month:

I think the popularity of judo in Brazil is facinating. I still think that judo and jiu jitsu are kept seperate in most academies in the world. But when BJJ grows enough to be respected all over the world, the scary day will come when an Olympic judoka will also be competing at the Worlds. And by “scary”, I mean “exciting”.

I hope that jiu jitsu rules will eventually be adjusted to penalize the guard pull (even if just with an advantage) and encourage the grapplers to go at it on their feet. If you watch the video above, that results in some big throws, and a more exciting sport for the spectators.

Four Hundred Pages on One Technique

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There is something very appealing about a big book that focuses on a single technique. That’s the reason I’ve really enjoyed Marcelo Gartcia’s X Guard book (that’s been out since 2008, before I started jiu jitsu). And that’s also the reason I’m really curious about an upcoming book from Steve Scott exclusive focused on the armbar: Juji Gatame Encyclopedia.

I always felt that the judo community has a very interesting approach to the armbar. The rules of sports judo require that you progress toward a successful submission much faster than in jiu jitsu. Therefore, judo folks can find the armbar from a lot of positions and finish it very effectively. The problem of course, from the perspective of a jiu jitsu player, is that sports judo players are not concerned about “losing position”. By that I mean, they are not worried of giving up their back if the arm bar fails.

Either way, I’m sure there is a lot I can learn from this, and I’ll be sure to buy it when it comes out in a few weeks.

I hope that more people will release authoritarianism books like this that focus on one technique. That allows the student to immerse himself in the system that integrates everything necessary to make the technique part of an effective game. Besides I’ve always believed in exploring different variations of a technique until I find one that I fall in love with. Sometimes a certain way of performing a technique just clicks. I’m always in search of that…

Videos of Your Matches for Sale

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Ever since I started competing in judo and bjj, I’ve been recording my matches on video. I put up a little 5in tripod on the score table, press record, and go fight. Watching myself compete has been very useful for identifying the holes in my game and fixing them. But it’s also cool to be able to send the videos to my friends and family that want to see them.

The question I’ve always had is why don’t tournaments record every single match on every mat? To record, organize, and upload HD content is relatively straight forward these days. Budovideos just did an amazing job of live streaming 12 mats simultaneously for the IBJJF 2012 Pans.

This could be made available for free or for a membership fee. But even more than that, I think many competitors would be willing to pay a significant amount of money for a copy of their matches. I know I would, especially for bigger IBJJF events.

When I went sky diving, lots of people were willing to pay extra ($100+ more) to be videotaped during their jump. They wanted to remember the experience, because who knows when they’ll do it again. The same goes for tournaments! For many competitors, a tournament is a relatively rare experience that they want to remember for a long time.

Anyway, it has always been puzzling to me why no tournament (that I know of) has attempted this for all their matches. Some tournaments live stream some of the matches, but they never take the next step of organizing the content. The target audience doesn’t have to be the general public. The target could just be the competitors themselves.

Kill Face vs Kitten Face

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This is the first time I came across “Enter the Dojo” which is an online mocumentary-style show about martial arts. I am thoroughly entertained by it. First the funny stuff and then I’ll write a couple of related but more serious comments that this video reminded me of.

“Having a good ‘kill face’ is like walking around with a loaded gun in your pocket, only it’s not in your pocket… it’s on your face.”

That pretty much says it all right there. My favorite part of the above video is the one guy who is completely unaffected by the “kill face” and the girl that says she “likes kittens”.

In all seriousness, I think facial expressions and general attitude are very important in competition. I believe there isn’t one correct way to carry yourself. What’s important is that you maximize the focus, minimize distractions.

For me, the most effective “face” is a relaxed one. No matter how tired, angry, or excited I get in competition, I try to maintain a calm expression. This isn’t so much for anyone else, but for myself to help relax and ride out the storm. I’m not sure why but it helps me to almost meditate when I’m doing something streneous like grappling, sprinting, etc. It lets me watch the “pain” and let is pass over me. That’s sounds like hippie crap, but it helps.

One problem I have is that I get too friendly before the match. I think being friendly (for me) is a distraction (if it’s right before a match). I’ll shake hands. I’ll nod. I’ll even say “good luck”. But having a conversation is just not a good idea for me, at least not at this stage. I’ve seen high level black belts that are casually joking around right before their fights, and that shows me that being ultra serious is not essential for everyone. So you have to figure out what works for you. I think ultimately you have to get serious when the match starts, and if you’re the type of person that can go from smiling and joking to serious and focused in just a few seconds, then by all means, do it! Joking around will probably make the time pass faster.

Everyone Loves to Complain About the Referees

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I competed at the Liberty Bell Judo Classic yesterday. Fought some tough black belts and had a good experience. I’ll have more to say about that when I get around to editing the video blog of that day.

I got to watch a lot of matches, and if anything was a common theme, it was that people complained about calls the referees made. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Just the usual amount of complaining. But that’s just it: people love to complain about referees and tournament organizers. The stress, nerves, emotions of competition need to go somewhere, and where better than to put them on the shoulders of the very people that make the event happen. That’s a sarcastic statement, by the way.

I’ve never felt that way about refs and tournament organizers. I am always filled with gratitude and genuine respect for the people that run the tournament. Perhaps I’m naive, but to me it seems that they are some of the most passionate supporters, fans, and practitioners of the sport. I’ll get a “bad” call and will be upset about it, but I won’t see it as the refs fault, but just bad luck. It’s part of the game. The ref only comes into play when your jiu jitsu and judo are not dynamic, active, and dominant. I always put it on myself if a referee was put into the position of having to decide the match.

I’m just grateful for the folks that love the competition side of the sport enough to help out. Many of the refs and organizers are current or past competitors themselves. They know what it takes to step on the mat, fight your ass off, and give everything for the chance to win gold.   They know it, they respect it, and they nurture it.

Alright enough of that. I just wanted to say that you’ll never hear me complain about the refs or tournament organizers, except jokingly over a beer or something. Because talking about the weather and complaining about the referees are the two things you can always fall back on where there is nothing to talk about at the bar.

By the way, I’m being nice in this post, so you would think I would get more good calls in my favor. On the contrary, I’ve learned over the months and years that I competed that the more I become friends with the refs, the harder they are on me when I’m competing.

PS: The picture in this post is that of Teddy Riner losing the 2010 World Judo Championships open category by a split referee decision.

Olympic Judoka Pulling Guard in a No Gi Grappling Tournament

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The follow match is an Olympic judoka Travis Stevens (currently ranked 5th in the world) competing in a recent Grapplers Quest (in December, 2011). In judo, Travis is probably my favorite actively competing judoka to watch, partly because he goes for big throws and big wins, but partly because his judo game is very similar to mine, so of course it’s easy for me to like his game.

I gained even more respect for him when I watched him compete in 5+ divisions at that Grapplers Quest in both gi and no gi. In almost all the matches I saw he either pulled or jumped guard, not using his judo almost at all. I think that’s a sign of a true champion, willing to put ego aside in order to learn, improve, and grow from the experience. That said, he beat almost everyone. His open and closed guards are very difficult to pass. Moreover, he is very dangerous off his back, constantly looking for triangles, arm bars, and omoplatas. Here’s one of the only (if not the only) match he lost that day, tapping to a straight foot lock:

I wanted to post this match because it reminds me what local and regional tournaments are all about at all levels. The idea is to have as many matches as possible, do your best, but don’t take a loss too seriously, and more importantly, don’t let the possibility of a loss prevent you from taking risks and opening up your game.

If you notice, Travis smiles during the relatively intense attacks by the top guy. I’ve seen him smiling like this at the highest level of competition. I’m not sure what the intent of it is, but in my eyes, it definitely has a positive effect of showing his opponent that he is not tired (even if he is).

If an Olympic judoka doesn’t mind stepping completely out of his comfort zone and losing, the rest of us have no excuse. Get out there and compete!