Dean Lister, The Houdini of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

By Fanatics Authors, September 09, 2017

Dean Lister is one of the best grapplers of all time. Dean Lister won the most prestigious title ever; he won the ADCC open weight division in 2003. Dean also went over ten years as a black belt without being submitted. Dean has submission victories over many of the best grapplers in the world. Some of his famous submission wins include a heel hook victory over arguably the best Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighter ever, Rodolfo Viera, a knee bar over Saulo Ribeiro, and many more.

Dean Lister has some of the best submissions and we all know this, but what are just as magnificent as his submissions are his escapes. Dean Lister is the Houdini of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He went over ten years competing at the biggest tournaments and never losing by submission. There are several factors that play a role in Dean’s resilience, he always maintains a cool mindset, he is comfortable in every position, and he studies escapes.

Dean Stays Calm and Collected

Dean has the blankest expressions on his face when he is in positions where mortal humans would be in excruciating pain. How can someone be so comfortable in bad positions? Well he understands all the inches necessary to finish a submission and he always finds his way out. Dean can wiggle his way out of virtually any submissions.

Dean has escaped submissions from some of the best bjj players in the entire world. He escaped a omoplata from 7x World Champion, Xande Ribeiro in their Metamoris bout. This omoplata looked like it would’ve broke his shoulder but somehow he wiggled his way out. Check out this picture of Dean Lister looking super relaxed in the omoplata from Xande.

Finding Comfort in Bad Positions

Finding comfort in bad positions in extremely important. Many people are very quick to give up as soon as the match takes a turn and starts to not go their way. Dean is the opposite. He loves to fight through the adversity and use his escapes to better his position. Dean has such an extensive knowledge of escapes.

Knowing how to escape is extremely important, and Dean is a mastermind of escapes. No matter what the submission is he knows a way out, in fact, Dean has an entire DVD set dedicated to all of his escapes. Check out Dean Listers escapes below. This is one of the best resources any grappler can have for escaping positions.