February 8th, 2010 by jgatienza

This past weekend I participated in a tournament. I came out 1-2. I won my first fight and lost the last 2.

My first fight, I believed he was a wrestler, a 4 stripe white belt. He mounted me and really tried to choke me. I felt very relaxed I never panicked I can hear Mophead coaching from the sidelines telling me what to do. I eventually reversed it, I heard I was down on points and tried to mount but I ended up in his half guard. I slipped in a lapel choke hoping he would open up his half guard. I didn’t really feel like he was defending so I just kept on choking him. At one point I thought I put him to sleep cause he made a snoring sound and I looked at him but he was still fighting it, so I kept choking him until he tapped a few seconds later.

The next two videos I got my ass handed to me. I tapped to a rear-naked choke but not so much that he was choking but that he had his forearm right across my face and I thought my bottom teeth is going to go thru my bottom lip. I thought to myself I have to go to work on Monday I don’t need to be any uglier than I already am.

My last fight I was probably most dissappointed in not because I lost but because I didn’t feel like go into my game. I rolled right into my opponents armbar. It was over before I could even try to defend it. I spoke to him afterwards and said he had been training very hard and that his chokes suck and that I was defending really well but he worked a lot on that armbar.

I’m going to have to train harder on my technique to be able to keep up with these younger, stronger guys.

I thought I came out pretty aggressive, I don’t think anyone really tried to take me down. I know I tried to do a single leg several times… Failed each time.

All in all, I was always in a bad position but I never panicked, I was always pretty relaxed even if the guys were younger, faster and stronger than me. I had fun and learned a few things and that’s what’s most important.

tournament

January 20th, 2010 by jgatienza

I believe I’ve covered the guillotine in a past post before so I won’t bore anyone on how to do this (like anyone really reads this )

This technique on how to defend the guillotine is awesome:

• your opponent has you in a guillotine with his legs around you
• protect your neck this is the most important thing, with your left hand pull down on his arm
• with your right arm put it under his head, grab his gi material if you can
• drive your right shoulder onto his neck
• he’ll either tap or let go of the guillotine

This one guillotine technique I was shown yesterday is money:

• the technique is the same as the regular giullotine, head under the right arm, left hand grabs your right wrist
• the only different thing is you take your left elbow and place it over his right shoulder and motorcycle grip your wrist. I found it easier for me to do this if I adjusted my body slightly to the right so I can get my elbow over

January 20th, 2010 by jgatienza

Basic escape from the mount (Upa):

• if your opponent has his hand in your collar, with your right hand grab his wrist, with your left hand place it behind his elbow
• push it  directly in the middle of your bodies
• square up to his head/body
• with your left leg trap his right leg
• with your right leg bump upwards to your left shoulder for the escape

Second escape from mount:

• your opponent has his right arm under your head
• with your left hand hold his elbow, with your right hand work to get it on his left bicep
• with your left leg trap his right leg
• with your right leg bump upwards to your left shoulder for the escape

A more advanced escape from the mount described on the second example is:

• your opponent has his right arm under your head
• with your left hand hold his elbow, with your right hand grab his wrist and press your head down to trap his arm
• with your left leg trap his right leg
• with your right leg bump upwards to your left shoulder for the escape

January 20th, 2010 by jgatienza

This gi choke that was shown to us is very similar to a baseball choke, the only difference is the way that you grip your gi for the choke.

This technique is done from the right side of your opponent.

• from side control, your left hand is under your opponents head
• with your left hand pull your gi out and feed it to your left hand
• with your right hand, slide your fingers under the gi next to your left hand
• drive your shoulder into his chest and windshield wipe your right elbow across his chest for the choke
• switch your hips, slide your right leg under your left so that your hips are almost facing to the sky, crank his head towards you

Axe choke is basically the same choke except you don’t use your gi, instead you use your hands.

• from side control, left hand under his head
• with your right hand lock your hands together using the master grip
• drive your shoulder to his chest, windshield wipe your right elbow, switch your hips and crank on his neck

axe choke, gi choke

January 15th, 2010 by jgatienza

If I’m starting off on my butt, my feet need to be on the ground or my back is on the ground with my feet in the air. I should never be flat on my back with my feet on the mat.

From standing:

• grab his gi on the left side with your right hand (you can grab his right sleeve if you want, not necessary).
• fall to your butt and pull him with your right hand closer to you
• your head should always be in the inside of his leg!
• wrap your left hand around his right leg and grab your lapel on the right side as deep as you can, you can use your right hand to help with this.
• post up on your right hand, shoot your right leg out behind you and drive forward
• your left foot helps trip your opponent
• finish strong in side control

Note: it’s very important to create angles

take down