The hip escape is single handedly one of the best escapes in all of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. The hip escape works as a mount escape, side control prevention and the motion is the basis for most Jiu Jitsu techniques. It is day one stuff. In your first few BJJ classes that you’ve done, you probably […]

Royce Gracie black belt, Matt Arroyo is not only a great competitor but also a great teacher. Matt has shown time and time again that is he a super knowledgeable about the many facets of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. From the advanced techniques all the way to the basic fundamentals, he has some fantastic details on […]

Any experienced Jiu Jitsu competitor knows how dangerous the various open guards can be. When you try to pass the guard of a good open guard player, you can quickly see how tricky that it can be. While you need to learn how to pass guard, there is one tool that can work well as […]

Travis Stevens is one of the most badass dudes in modern grappling today. He is a Judo black belt, Judo Olympian with a silver medal, and a BJJ black belt under John Danaher. Travis has also competed in NAGA, Grappler’s Quest and Copa Podio. He has a very well rounded game. Chokes, leg locks, throws […]

For those of you who check out the many articles on BJJ Fanatics, you have probably seen one of the pieces that I’ve written. In addition to writing, I am a BJJ purple belt who has competed in BJJ, Submission Wrestling (no gi), MMA, Kickboxing and Boxing. Out of everything, I have mainly competed in […]

There is a style of guard play that has become extremely popular in recent years in jiu jitsu, the Z-Guard.  The Z-Guard is a position in which the guard player has an open half guard with their top leg framed at an angle across their opponent.  Why is this guard so effective?  And what does […]

One of the new school positions that I am a big fan of is the dead orchard. It was created by Eddie Bravo black belt, Nathan Orchard. If you haven’t seen it, it is quite the tight position to achieve. It essentially is a triangle choke with both of the opponent’s arms in, with one […]

Just a little earlier this year, the Grand Slam Rio tournament was one to watch. Some of the best in the world were competing. While some talented black belts were competing, everyone had a feeling that it would come down to two of the world’s best practitioners in the 94KG category.  And those two black […]

Before the horrible Reebok deal came to fruition in the UFC, all the fighters had ways of showing their own identity and style. And they were able to do that through their MMA shorts. No one wore the exact same shorts, and it was cool to see how our favorite fighters wanted to fight in […]

When it comes to Judo in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Claudio Calasans should be someone that pops into your mind right away. Calasans, a Judo black belt and a BJJ black belt, who trains out of the world famous Atos school has adapted his Judo greatly for BJJ competition. It is not an easy task, going […]

If you’re not already familiar with Henry Akins you should familiarize yourself with him. The Rickson Gracie black belt has grown in popularity over the past few years teaching the concept based fundamental “invisible” jiu jitsu style that he learned from his teacher.  The idea is simple enough: when jiu jitsu practitioners are shown moves either […]

For many people, passing the closed guard in no gi is a difficult task. With the gi, you have so many handles and grips to use, that it is with a bit more ease to perform. But when the gi comes off, it is hard to get that guard  pass. You have to know the […]

As a BJJ practitioner, I have an affinity for Judo takedowns. Not that I do not enjoy or see the usefulness of Wrestling takedowns, but I have more experience with takedowns from the Judo arsenal. With all of the big and crowd pleasing throws, one of the takedowns I enjoy most is the ouchi gari. […]

The omoplata can be an awesome technique. Of course, it’s a shoulder cranking submission but it also can be used to get some pretty easy sweeps. Unfortunately there are also easy defenses to the omoplata. Posturing up, rolling over the shoulder, and also stepping over are all ways that people defend the omoplata. But there […]

Mata leao, also known as the rear naked choke is probably the highest percentage finishing technique in all of Jiu Jitsu. No matter how big, bad or tough someone is, they all will fall to the rear naked choke sometime in their lives. Because it is a high percentage choke, you will need to know […]