A sweep that even Lucas Lepri couldn’t stop

  • June 13, 2019

I’ve been on a serious Gustavo Batista kick lately after seeing his match with Renato Cardosa.

But I found something even more shocking in one of his matches.

It happened this year at the Europeans in the finals of the absolute against Lucas Lepri, one of the all time greats of the sport.

The expectation when you see a Lucas match is just straight up domination from the top. Hell, he has won Worlds without having a single point scored on him, and there are so many little things he does that are worthy of study.

This match was different though.

Lucas didn’t dominate.

And it all started in the opening seconds when Gustavo established grips on the same side collar and the same side tricep. What followed was a sweep that looked effortless, and from there, it was all down hill for Lucas.

Man…

I had to stop the tape and wind it back.

And I did that more than once. But that’s not all. As soon as possible I grabbed someone to drill it on, and it’s startling how easy it is.

You know what though?

It shares the same mechanics as the sweep he hit against Renato, and it’s definitely getting added to my arsenal. I won’t be selfish about it though. On deck for micro adjustments is a lesson that focuses on the mechanics of the sweep and why it works.

And I’m going to give you the best breakdown that I can on a conceptual lesson.

Expect it here soon:

[btnsx id=”7084″]

Giving perspective on both sides of the equation

  • June 12, 2019

Lately, I’ve been making a change to my teaching methodology.

The focus has slowly been shifting to what I’ve decided to call physical demonstrations of what not to do.

Case in point:

There are two rules that when it comes to staying safe in someone else’s closed guard, and unlike many other tactics in the game, I haven’t found any exceptions for them.

The first is that we must always address the cross collar grip when possible, and the second is that we must avoid putting our hands on the mat.

Why?

Because doom awaits us if we choose not to adhere to those rules.

The cross collar grip can be used to break posture, set up cross chokes, hit scissor sweeps and unleash many other threats on us. And a hand on the mat is a trigger for opponents to lash out with kimuras.

Saying that is one thing though.

It’s far better to demonstrate it.

And that’s exactly what I’ve been doing while teaching methods for passing the closed guard this week.

We’ll work on a pass, then we’ll work on a counter when the top guy makes a mistake like putting their hands on the mount or failing to address the cross collar grip.

Just building out a basic understanding of what’s possible in the position by exploring both the top and the bottom in the same class.

I’ve found helpful to me as an instructor when it comes to identifying a few immutable laws about the topic at hand, and I bring it now as an idea for you to focus on in your training as well.

Drill both sides of a position and identify the specific reactions that lead directly into offensive options.

And if you want to see this teaching methodology in action, I plan to use this format in the next micro adjustments lesson, which will delve deeper into the topic of killing the kneecut at multiple stages of threat.

Grab access here if you so wish:

[btnsx id=”7084″]

A darn right sneaky variation of a scissor sweep

  • June 11, 2019

Currently, I’m in the process of watching and studying every black belt match at this year’s Worlds, and I’ve been seeing all kinds of interesting things.

Case in point:

In the match between Gustavo Batista and Renato Cardosa, I saw a darn right sneaky variation of a scissor sweep.

And every time Gustavo went for it, he either created opportunities through major base disruption or hit the sweep, and frankly, it’s so rare to see the scissor sweep work at high levels that I had to stop everything and watch those moments over and over again to discern exactly how he was doing it.

This is kind of stuff that gets me excited about the game.

So obviously I’ve been playing with it in the academy ever since, and I’ve been able to identify a few crucial details like the importance of gripping behind the tricep instead of the sleeve or how the grips on the collar and sleeve must work as a push pull dynamic in addition to the actual scissor motion of the legs.

And you know what?

After I work on this for awhile longer and really streamline its execution, I’ll be making a video on the topic for micro adjustments, and you can find out more about how to get access here:

[btnsx id=”7084″]

How to punish opponents for killing your angle in the overhook closed guard

  • June 7, 2019

Even if you lose the underhook, you can still kneecut

  • June 1, 2019