The flower sweep is one of the more traditional sweeps used in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. This flavorful technique can be executed with the gi and without the gi, just like many other sweeps from the closed guard. Although this sweep doesn’t get the...

Learning how to effectively execute takedowns in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is vital to become a good grappler. Many students ignore the takedown elements of Jiu Jitsu. This is for many reasons. One is that it can be dangerous, or at least perceived as...

You’ve either been living under a rock or just had your first class if you haven’t heard of Professor John Danaher. Professor Danaher is one of today’s best Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructors, arguably the best ever. Evidence of this comes from the success...

  Garry Tonon, pupil of Tom DeBlass/John Danaher, will be returning to MMA action sooner than expected, and for that we are thankful! Tonon was able to put on a brutal display of black belt prowess mixed with devastating ground and pound. After...

It seems that over the years of training certain positions give me more trouble than others.   Often times I know I’m developing new skills in that position, however everyone around me is too.  When I look at my training as a whole,...

Be Safe. Be Aware. As a firearms instructor, I get an interesting view into the thought process the general public has towards self-defense.  Many times, it’s very one sided, assuming because I know (insert any number of things here eg: Karate, military training,...

Do you have a strategy going into an open mat, or do you just show up and go with the flow?   Some things I noticed today as I looked around the open mat at my academy. I noticed the Professor came in...

Being a beginner in any anything can be a confusing time... Where BJJ is concerned, the excitement of the mere discovery of the art is enough to make your head explode. Not to mention the feeling out process we all go through at...

How often do you pull off the arm bar from the guard? For me, this is not a high percentage technique. Unfortunately, it’s been a fundamental pillar of my BJJ training since day one, but it’s definitely never been a front runner in...

If you’ve been training BJJ for any amount of time, you’ve probably been exposed to a single leg take down. The single leg is probably one of the most important techniques to cross over from wrestling to BJJ. It’s a basic technique, and...

  We last saw Lightweight Champ Khabib in action November of 2018, when he defeated Conor McGregor and decided to leap off of the cage. After the dust settled on this crazy ordeal, we were left with the champ suspended. Conor has retired...

  The UFC returned to Russia this weekend to put on a fight night that originally had MMA Legend Alistair Overeem slated to take on rising Russian Heavyweight Alexander Volkov. When Volkov had to withdraw from the fight Alexey Oleynik stepped in to...

Being stuck in back control is easily one of the most frustrating things that can happen to us when rolling or competing. Being in back control is an entirely defensive position while the attacker is in an entirely offensive position. The main trouble...

More often than not, we end up getting stuck in turtle while trying to defend guard passes or from a failed shot. Although some grapplers are good at attacking from turtle, especially leg attacks, the turtle is still primarily a defensive position we...

The second guard Brazilian Jiu Jitsu students learn after studying the closed guard is the half guard. The half guard is one of the more commonly used positions in Jiu Jitsu, even more than closed guard. Half guard is more complex and effective...