Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Congratulations to all the Crew that competed in the first No-Gi Nationals Competition

It was an awesome day with a great atmosphere with people from all over New Zealand competing.

Leyla Okyay 1st Womens +65kgs and 2nd Womens Abosolute

Serina Cole 3rd Womens Absolute and 4th Womens -65kgs

Dane Crosby 1st Mens Open and 2nd Mens Intermediate -105kgs

Campbell Dickie 3rd Mens Intermediate -83kgs

Nick Allan 3rd  Intermediate -87kgs

Patrick Burns 4th Mens Intermediate -67kgs

Bevan Brooking 4th Mens Advanced -73kgs

Warren Lambert 4th Mens Advanced  -77kgs

Thanks to Geoff Grant for supplying the Pics from the day!

For full results check out www.nzgrappler.co.nz

Congrats to Leyla Okyay on Winning Gold in Australia last week at the Pan Pacs! it was the first time one of the Submission Crew had been across for this highly regarded Brazilian Jiujitsu comp and come away with a Gold medal!

Congrats to the crew from Submission who crossed the Tasman for our Annual Will/Machado Australasia Champs.

Serina Cole GOLD Women’s Masters -69kg, and flying armbar attempt in the women’s open. Sick!

Leyla Okyay GOLD Women’s Open weight/open belt, totally dominanted! And sneaked into the guys purple open!

Steve Hogg SILVER purple under 76kg, triangle SUBMISSION but concussed himself on a flying armbar – nothing a few shots of tequila won’t fix!

Nick Ovens SILVER blue under 76kg, wicked bow and arrow choke!

Warren Lambert BRONZE purple underwear (under 83kg) and BRONZE purple OPEN!!!

Massive congrats to all the other kiwis, pretty much everyone grabbed some Aussie bling!!!

Congrats to the three Peeps that entered the ICNZ Contender Series yesterday!

Bevan Brooking 1st in the Under 70kgs Division

Jae Hee Lee 2nd in the Under 65kgs Division

Serina Cole 3rd in the Womens Open

Here is a clip of one of the fights from the day!

17-8-11

Half Nelson Cross-Lapel Choke from Seated/Side Mount
Step-up Choke from Side Control
Rolling Lapel Choke from Head-to-Head/Sprawled

Note on Chokes
Before we get into the techniques there are some things to explain about chokes.
- The vast majority of chokes used in BJJ are what are called blood chokes. They are designed to close both carotid arteries, cutting off blood flow to the brain, causing the victim to lose consciousness. The carotid arteries run in a line down the neck close to the jaw line. Imagine a line running down from your earlobe to your shoulder. So, it’s not the windpipe that’s meant to receive the treatment. This is helpful information because it might change your understanding of the mechanics of chokes
- Blood Chokes are all designed as “traps”. Basically, every blood choke needs to put pressure on both arteries, and trap the head into the points of pressure. If only one artery is blocked it’s not a blood choke. If you get a tap from there it’s either because you’re crushing the opponent’s jaw, teeth, or windpipe, or you’re cranking their neck.

If the head isn’t trapped it’s not anything. Think of a triangle choke with both your legs straight up, or a guillotine with no pressure on the back of their neck (which is usually the reason a guillotine isn’t working), or a cross lapel choke from guard without actually holding the lapels. Doesn’t work in your head? Well, it doesn’t work in reality either. Remember that every choke needs a full trap.
- This is important information because when drilling these techniques you need to know what you’re actually trying to accomplish. You are looking for set a trap and tighten, not crush a windpipe or pull a head off. Make sure your partner is telling you if it’s being put on correctly. They should feel pressure build up in the head. It’s a very distinct feeling. It’s completely unlike pressure on the windpipe, or having your neck cranked.
- If you get the grips, and pull the collar across, and trap the back of the head, and the opponent puts his chin down to fight the choke, don’t believe him when he doesn’t tap quickly. Some people think that if they put the chin down they are completely safe. Understand the mechanics of the choke, know when it’s on, believe it the move. Some guys will be so convinced that they’re safe that they’ll take a nice nap just to prove their point.

Half Nelson Cross Lapel Choke from Seated/Side Mount
Sometimes when you have an opponent mounted he turns onto his side. This is a great opportunity to attack the collar.

From a seated mount position- right leg posted on the opponent’s belt line, blocking the hip, and left leg, knee down behind the opponent’s back- knee at the shoulder, foot towards the butt.

Under-hook the top (right) arm of the opponent with your right arm.

Left arm reaches under the head and takes a cross lapel grip, thumb in. You want this grip to be deep on the collar, and along the neck. The left arm is the pressure on the left artery, the opponent’s collar is the pressure on the right artery.

Right arm reaches behind the head, maintaining the under-hook. This will lift the arm up into a half nelson hold. The right hand becomes the trap behind the opponent’s head.

From there, pull with your left arm like you’re trying to wrap the collar around the opponent’s neck again. Push the back of the opponent’s head with your right hand. Posture your body up to help with the torque.

Tips:
- Keep your legs tight so the opponent can’t roll out. Left leg should eliminate the ability to go back to a flat position. The right foot and leg should eliminate the ability to run away, or turn onto the knees.
- Fight for the under-hooked arm. This is quite a way through an arm-bar setup. Most people will worry about the arm (rightfully so). The more you pull on it, and establish a tighter under-hook, the more they will protect the arm. Remember, they can only protect so many things at once. Usually, if they are fight for the arm back they are not protecting the collar.
- Using the right hand to pull the slack out of the Gi will help you get a tight grip with the left hand.
- If you really want the arm-bar, start playing with the collar like you’re going to go for the choke. This might be the distraction you need to get in place for the arm-bar.

Step-up Choke from Side Control
This is a choke that can be set up from side control that doesn’t require you to have an under-hook on the far arm.

You’re in an established side control with your right hand blocking the opponent’s hip, and the left hand under the opponent’s head.

Bring the left hand around the head and get a cross collar grip. You’ll need to be set up with your left side up near the shoulders of the opponent in order to establish this grip. That is, unless you have super long arms.

Grab the opponent’s near leg (the right one) with your right hand, getting a friction grip under the knee. This stops the opponent from running away from the collar grip.

You want to turn the opponent away from you so that you can step up onto both feet. You want your right foot wedged under the side so that your shin is going up the opponent’s lower back. You want your left foot under the armpit so that your shin is going up the shoulder blades.

With the collar grip and the friction grip under the knee you want to bend the opponent backwards around your legs.

Tips:
- If you’re having trouble getting the collar grip because of a tidy Gi, try hoping up to knee-ride and opening their lapels.
- If they are defending the collar with the inside (right) hand try going to knee-ride. While up there transition the left knee onto the chest and window wipe the arm off with your own leg.
- Think of the finish in a similar fashion to the bow-and-arrow choke.

Rolling Lapel Choke from Head-to-Head/Sprawled
If an opponent shoots for a take-down and you sprawl and manage to get your arm in between his head and arm you can set up this choke. You can also attack this from the top of someone in the turtle position.

Right arm in between the shoulder and head of your opponent. Weight on the opponent’s shoulders.

Reach over, across the throat to grab the opposite collar with a fingers in, thumb out grip. Keep the weight on the top of the shoulders/base of the neck of the opponent.

With the left arm get a friction grip on the tricep of the opponent’s right arm. Drag the arm towards you. Once there’s room slide the left arm under the arm and bring the hand up to the back of the head of the opponent.

Here you have the blood choke trap. Your right arm is blocking the left artery, their collar is blocking their right artery, and your hand is blocking the back of their head. However, you need to remove their head from the floor in order to tighten the noose.

Bringing your left knee to your right knee, and shooting your head towards their opposite hip, roll the opponent over, keeping the grip and trap.

Walk your legs around towards their left side. Put pressure on the back of their neck and pull around with your left hand to tighten the trap, cutting off the blood flow, and getting the tap… or an evening sleep time cuddle.

Tips:
- Pay close attention to the choking grips. You have to cut off both arteries. If your arm is pulling away from their neck you’re just trying to crush their windpipe with their own Gi. That’s not the point of this choke. Your arm must act as a block to their artery.
- If they pull back the arm that you’re trying to drag feel free to accept the gift, and put on the guillotine.

Training ideas:
- Learn the mechanics of chokes. That will help your application of them. It will also help you see past false defences.
- Work on your grip strength. Start with a light rubber band that you carry with you all the time. Whenever you get a chance put the rubber band around your finger tips and open and close your hand. 15 minutes a day on each hand does wonders. During your work-outs (because we all do them, right?) throw a Gi over a bar and do pull-ups. After a few of those just get a collar grip and hold yourself up for as long as you can. Fold a towel around your dumb-bells or bar-bells so that you’re just grabbing cloth. This will not only help your chokes, it will help your entire game.
- During sparring over a few weeks focus your entire game around the acquisition and retention of the collar grip in every position. This will force you to adjust your weight, movements, and techniques in order to compensate. It will help you figure out different ways to finding the collar. It’s really a strategy in and of itself.

A night of sparring

Submission Martial Arts Porirua was host to two guests from GSW. So, we spent the night sparring. This is done so that we have a chance to roll with people we’re not used to. Thanks to Ngateja Rangitaawa and Fiso Siloata from GSW Martial Arts.

Rolling Tip from Wednesday (or Lessons with Uncle Glen)
ALWAYS PUT YOURSELF IN A POSITION TO LEARN. One way to do that is to mix up who you roll with.

Everyone has different body types, game plans, strengths, weaknesses, favourite techniques, and physical attributes. Therefore, to get a well rounded game it’s important to roll with different people as often as possible.

Having guests from GSW gives us opportunity to roll with guys we’ve never rolled with before. That put us, automatically, in a position to learn something new.

For example: I took mount and immediately had my legs wrapped up. The under-hooks on my legs then turned into grips on my collar and arm. That lead to me being, quite easily swept. I had never seen that kind of counter before. I asked the question after our roll, “What should I do when you’ve wrapped my legs while mounted?” and he was more than willing to give an answer. My game is now slightly more developed simply because I’ve experienced something new. That experience came because I rolled with someone that I’d never rolled with before.

Make sure you come to every class looking to learn something new about Jiu-Jitsu. We’re not actually winning or losing on the mats. We’re learning. That mindset alone will improve your game. The next step is to add strategy to the mindset.

Tips:
Pick your partners according to what you’re trying to learn/accomplish:
- If you’re trying to learn a new move you’ve been working on roll with guys that are equal or lesser skill than yourself. This will give opportunity to try the move against slightly less resistance than a higher skilled opponent.
- If you’re working on escapes roll with someone that likes the top game.
- If you’re working on guard passes roll with guard players.
- If you want to see how tight your defense is roll against someone of higher skill level and ask them to attack away.
- Try not to roll with the same guy twice before you’ve rolled with everyone else.
- Don’t bite, or punch people in the face. No one will want to roll with you anymore (Glen bit me AND punched me in the face on Wednesday… just saying).

What an Awesome night! Simo Postings WON his fight via Unanimous Decision! He dominated his opponent on the Ground and gave the crowd some well executed double leg takedowns which he is becoming famous for!! This takes Simos Amateur record up to 4 wins and No loses! Well Done Simo the Team are super Proud!

Brayden Goldring had his work cut out for him facing off with a Champion Black Belt Judo fighter Gareth Carter who has had 1 Amateur MMA fight. At one stage we thought Brayden had an Arm bar from Guard sunk when Gareth picked him up and dropped him. The fight went the full three rounds when it was announced a Draw! Unfortunately Brayden couldn’t quite get the upper edge over Gareth in the 4th Round and Gareth won via Majority Decision! Huge War for Brayden! The crowd was cheering this was one of the most technical fights of the night! Well Done Brayden we can’t wait for the next one!

NZMMA.tv have full results
Videos should be up soon.

Congrats to Nick Ovens and Vince Lowe from Submission Takapuna on their promotions at John Wills latest Seminar round.

Nick Ovens just recently came first in the ABJJNZ Nationals and Vince Lowe is coming off a win at ICNZ.

Both guys are a pleasure to have on our Mat.

John Will’s motto for the day was “LOVE what you DO”.