Have You Seen This Sneaky Kimura Escape By The Crafty Tom DeBlass?

Kimura Escape From Closed Guard by Tom DeBlass

Who is Tom DeBlass? Tom DeBlass is many things. He is one of the most sought after instructors in the grappling world right now.  He is a world class grappler and former mixed martial artist. He is an exceptional instructor. He has a huge social media following from his technique breakdowns and advice on relationships, transformation, adversity and training.  Tom DeBlass is many things and world class in all of them.

Tom has many accomplishments in grappling and mixed martial arts. He has fought in both the UFC and Bellator. He is a 3x ADCC veteran, Fight To Win Pro Main Event Winner, 2016 ADCC North American Champion,2016 ADCC American Nationals Absolute Champion, ADCC NY Super Fight Champion,2015 Black Belt World No Gi Masters and Absolute Champion, 2014 ADCC North American Champion, 2013 Black Belt No Gi Pan American Champion, 2013 Black Belt No Gi Worlds Bronze Medal, 2009 ADCC North American Champion, 2009 Black Belt No Gi Worlds Bronze Medal, 2007 Brown Belt No Gi Worlds Champion, 2007 Brown Belt Pan American Champion, 2007 Brown Belt American Nationals Champion, 6X Grappler’s Quest Expert Champion and member of the New Jersey Martial Artist Hall of Fame.

DeBlass’ education and teaching ability is also exceptional. Tom earned his black belt from legendary ADCC and MMA veteran Ricardo Almeida in just over six years. There are many testaments to his exceptional teaching ability. His first black belt is the great Garry Tonon. Gordon Ryan is Tonon’s first black belt. Tom is a former elementary school special education teacher. This experience has honed his ability to take complex concepts and make them understandable to even the novice grapplers. Another testament to his teaching ability is his academy Ocean County Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He has over 350 students and 20 black belts. Additionally he has an empire of affiliates around the world.

It is also worth noting the Tao of Tom’s social media presence. He has many great quotes from training to adversity, transformation and life.  Here is a great quote from Tom on transformation, “The last 4 weeks I have dedicated to changing myself. Every day I have been praying, asking God to help me in the areas of life where I struggle. Regardless how successful you may think you are, there is always so much room for improvement, always. I am nowhere close to where I want to be, but every day I am getting better. It is a conscious effort that I must put in, but I feel myself becoming a better person.”

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In this video Tom explores how to escape a Kimura from closed guard. One of the main concerns is to keep your arm close to your body. To secure a structure for your arm, Tom posts out the leg that is on the same side of the attacked arm. Now he grabs the inside of his own thigh in an effort to buy some time. The second component of Tom’s escape is to drive his opponent’s arm above his opponent’s head. Mechanically the arm is weaker in that position. The example that Tom uses is of someone benching pressing. You are far stronger when you try to lift weight in a traditional bench press than you would be to lift the same weight when you are in a supine position with your arms above your head. To accomplish this, he cuts an angle and drives his shoulder into the Kimura.  Once his opponent lets go of his grip Tom squares off into guard. Next Tom explores two fundament principles of grappling. The first one is that it is imperative to give your opponent a reason to stop doing whatever it is that you want them to stop doing.  On a fundamental level it sounds pretty simple. Yet despite the simplicity the principle it is often overlooked. A second principle is to always make your opponent feel uncomfortable.  Tom states that this is true even if you are going light in a roll. Just because Jiu Jitsu is the gentle art that does not necessitate that we must allow our opponents to be comfortable.

This video is a fine example of Tom’s ability to breakdown technique and principles in a manner that is applicable to everyone from the white belt to black belt. Without a doubt, we can all refine our game with the information provided. Tom DeBlass is certainly many things. Beyond Jiu Jitsu technique, he sets an example on how to run an academy and our mindset for training, transformation, adversity and life in general. The Jiu Jitsu community is lucky to have people like Tom DeBlass.

Tom DeBlass is one of the most accomplished grapplers on the planet. He uses closed guard to tap high level opponents. Learn his closed guard secrets and destroy your competition with concepts and techniques from this master class found at BJJ Fanatics!

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