The Excitement Builds for ADCC 2019

 

Waiting in Atlanta to board a plane to Los Angeles, I can’t help but be incredibly excited about what IM about to witness. I’m heading to Anaheim, California to take in my very first ADCC in person. As a long time, practitioner of BJJ and an enormous fan of the sport, this will certainly be one of my greatest BJJ experiences to date. I’m assuming I won’t be able to walk 10 feet without seeing a famous BJJ icon. This is an exciting prospect. I expect my neck to be sore from trying to choose which matches to watch.

ADCC has not made an appearance in America since 2007, when they brought the famed grappling contest to New Jersey. I knew that I needed to be here this year, beaches who knows when it will return. With Seth Daniels (Fight to Win Founder) at the helm pf the production aspects of the show this year, it promises to be an assault on all of the senses. I needed to get a ticket, and get myself to this event for many reasons. If you train BJJ, you know this is the Olympics of our sport. The level of competition at ADCC is unlike any other BJJ event on the planet and I must be there to soak up some of this incredible energy. 

Take a look at the list of competitors and you’d be hard pressed to see a name you didn’t recognize. Whether earned or invited, this list of BJJ titans is packed with legends, up and comers, and heroes of the modern BJJ generation. The amount of work these athletes have had to put in to get to this point is unfathomable. The right to step on to the ADCC mat is a hard earned one that these competitors have worked tirelessly to be a part of. 

Of the 88 competitors competing at ADCC, BJJ Fanatics has worked with or will work with 34 of these talented individuals. Each weight class carries a number of BJJ Fanatics athletes all with hopes of capturing ADCC gold. 

JT Torres is one of these phenomenal athletes and hell be returning this year to ADCC to once again chased gold. Torres won his division at ADCC 2017 and returned home with the highest of ADCC honors. Torres’ athleticism seemed otherworldly, with amazing wrestling, and aggressive back takes. He took the division by storm, defeating some of the biggest names and favorites of the weight class. Torres credited much of his success at ADCC to his extensive competition experience and one the best training camps of his career. With a stacked weight class to deal with, Torres is again one of the top favorites to win his division and once again realize the dream of ADCC gold! 

While we patiently await Torres’ return to the ADCC competition floor, let’s look at some instruction from the man himself. Torres has a very air tight game with no wasted movement and he’s a great instructor. Let’s start with an attack from the mount. Here, Torres will address some common issues we encounter when trying to impose our game in the mount position. Have a look! 

 

We all know that guy that gets mounted and refuses to move. Of course, when your mounted you have to be careful about the risks you take. But when the elbows are tight to the body and there’s not a whole lot of effort to escape, it can be challenging to open our opponents up so that we can get to work. This is where Torres begins his instruction. 

Torres starts with a very simple concept. The idea of two hands against his partners one. This is always going to cause some type of reaction and get things moving. As his partner configures his body with the elbows tight to his body, Torres uses both of his hands to begin placing downward pressure on his partners forearm. This gets the attention of his partner and causes him to become focused on the limb that’s under attack. After the initial push downward, Torres takes a grip on his partners opposite sleeve, pulls up on it a bit, and places his knee under the arm just a bit. I actually wasn’t sure what to expect here but Torres surprised me with the next piece of instruction. While maintaining his grips he jumps his body upward a bit and travels to an s-mount style position. Here, the initial limb he was focusing on is now buried under his leg and the opposite arm is all by itself. Here he can simply pass his leg over his partners head and sit back for a traditional style arm bar. 

This is incredibly simple but at the same time leaves me scratching my head and asking why I’ve never thought to do it. This is a great way to approach this particular scenario. Good luck to JT Torres at ADCC 2019!

Lucas Lepri has made his way to the finals at ADCC twice, but for this 7X world champion, ADCC gold is about the only accolade that’s missing from the trophy room. Lepri has enjoyed a long illustrious competition career with many great achievements and ADCC domination would be a grand feat for this seasoned veteran. Its very likely that we’ll see Lepri and Torres meet in the finals as Lepri will be joining him in the 77kg division. Lepri is incredibly well rounded and there zero doubt he possesses every skill needed to be successful in the tournament. 

Let’s check out some instruction. Lepri is a master guard passer. His abilities allow him to shut down some of the greatest guards in the sport. IN this video he explains a couple methods of shutting down a more modern guard, the single leg x. Check it out. 

 

Beginning inside the single leg x guard, Lepri begins with a phenomena detail that vie never really seen before. One of the great utilities of the SLXG is its ability to off balance the passer. If we don’t address this rather quickly, we can easily get in to trouble. Tangled in the position, Lepri first takes a grip on the collar to stabilize himself. He then holds the foot and pushes his hip forward wo help clear the leg. Removing the foot in this way looks to be very effective, but it also makes the reacquisition of the position very difficult. This is a great detail.

Using the same hand, he cleared the foot with, Lepri now looks to control the elbow while he stabilizes and then secures a thumb down grip in the collar. As his partner bumps him, Lepri can simply make a base with his free hand and maintain the position, but this is also his opportunity to begin passing. He now begins to cut his knee across his partner’s beltline for a simple knee cut. 

In a second variation of the technique, Lepri can not free his foot to perform the knee cut, so instead he steps over his partner’s outside knee directly in to the mount. Very slick. 

We’ll be watching closely as Lepri attempts to impose his game on the 77kg roster and once again chases the ADCC title. 

Dante Leon has been tearing through the competitive circuit making a name for himself among elite level BJJ players. He has a fantasia guard, good passing, and he’s very aggressive. Leon is tough and he’s a farce competitor with a perfect game for the ADCC ruleset. Also, a member of the 77kg roster, Leon can’t be counted out as a contender that has what it takes to make it in to the later rounds of the competition. 

IN this video Leon demonstrates a simple sweep from a reverse De La Riva position with a lapel involved int eh mix. Take a look at this! 

 

Feeding his partner’s far side lapel in under his leg, Leon sets up the position. As Leon uses his legs to create space and distance, he elevates his partners leg a bit and solidifies a shin on shin position, where he can now relax with the threat of his partner coming forward mostly gone. He then takes a grip in the collar on the far side and begins to extend his legs, elevating and reversing his partner. He quickly retracts his legs and begins to come up in to the top position. 

Another one to watch, Leon is exciting and capable of having a great performance at ADCC 2019!

Moving up to the 88kg division we find Adam Wardzinski. Widely known for his butterfly guard game, Wardzinski is not revered for his no gi game, but this master of the reversal could be a dark horse at ADCC this year. This will be a great test for the butterfly guard master!

A departure from what he’s most well known for, we have a guard pass here from Wardzinski in this segment of instruction. Check it out!

 

Starting from a disconnected guard passing scenario, Wardzinski finds a grip on the pants and an anchor at the hip and enters a knee cut style passing sequence. As we oftentimes will, Wardzinski meets resistance in the form of frames and clever foot work that keep him from taking a standard path and completing the pass. As this occurs, Wardzinski cuts his knee down the side of his partner’s leg, sliding down the calf. As he clears the leg, he finds his partner’s knee and posts on it with his left hand. Finding a tripod position, he clears the knee from his path and continues on, passing in to side control. 

The big story here is the extreme angle change Wardzinski uses to complete the sequence. As e slides down his partner’s leg, he completely changes his trajectory and then comes back again to finish the job. This is a great alternative to a standard style knee cut pass. Great stuff!

We’re looking forward to seeing all these great competitors throw their hats in to the ring on Saturday. ADCC 2019 is sure to produce fireworks over and over again and we can’t wait see it unfold! See you there! 

 

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