The Indomitable Pressure Game of Rodolfo Vieira

By Emil Fischer, May 04, 2016

There are few competitors that strike fear in their opponents like Rodolfo Vieira does. The man is the personification of intensity, pressure and intelligent aggression. What makes Vieira so powerful? How has he been able to amass such a laundry list of submission wins over tough opponents?

The secret to Rodolfo Vieira’s success is his hardnosed and persistent guard passing game. You do not want to play guard against Rodolfo Vieira and if you do, it will get smashed, passed and you will most likely be forced to tap. This GF Team heavyweight competitor has finished most of his matches with chokes from the back and arm bars, both of which he expertly sets up with his immense pressure after passing his opponents’ guards.

Pressure passing is all about making your opponent bear your weight in order to negate and ultimately destroy their guard. Vieira seems to be built for this, constantly passing his opponents’ guards. He makes it look easy, often breezing through guards that most competitors fear with calm and steadfast determination.

Check out this video of how he addresses the effective and trendy worm guard:

If you watch closely, you see Vieira’s training partner’s soul get squeezed out of his body during the pass. Seriously though, there are very few competitors who can hold and retain guard against the Rodolfo Vieira because of his understanding of weight distribution and pressure. And once he passes the guard, he submits his opponents with relative ease.

Perhaps equally important to his understanding of pressure, Rodolfo Vieira makes great use of body mechanics. He is able to twist his opponents to make them weaker in order to negate and ultimately pass their guards. This is a rare skill as it requires a certain understanding of the human body and the way it works. However, if you watch Rodolfo Vieira’s passing methodology and preferred methods, you’ll see that time and again he crunches his opponents up like aluminum cans.

Of all competitors who use pressure to pass; one specific detail about Rodolfo Vieira sets him apart: his ability to finish once he passes and his stability once he establishes a top position. Finishers are rare in the world of competition jiu jitsu, lots of matches between high level competitors are determined by points and worse yet advantages or referee’s decisions, but Rodolfo Vieira has a very high finish rate.

Probably the main reason he finishes so well is that in the process of passing the guard, he forces his opponents to waste a lot of energy, and in forcing them to waste energy he plies them a bit to make them easier to submit. But that’s not always enough…

While Rodolfo establishes top control, he also begins to set the stage for his fearsome submission game. A good submission game relies on a few key factors:

Ability to hold and improve position
Understanding what you need to do to the other person to make them tap
Knowing when to go for it or when to simply wait
Understanding how to apply a submission in a way that will force your opponent to tap

Rodolfo Vieira accomplishes these with ease. After he passes the guard, he immediately goes to work, normally trying to get the opponent to give up his back, but in some cases accepting their arm as a consolation prize. He’s good at plenty of submissions but chokes from the back and arm bars seem to be his go to moves.

As you may or may not know, Rodolfo Vieira has put together a 3 DVD set teaching how precisely he destroys his opponents and explaining in great detail his battle tested and proven methodology. With this DVD set you can learn exactly how Rodolfo imposes his will on his opponents with his smash passing, heavy pressure and precise submission game.

It includes step by step details on everything from opening the guard to dealing with the various trendy guards that have become popularized over the past few years. These techniques are not easy, and will require many hours of practice, but this DVD will ensure that you are getting information right from the man himself.

You can pick the DVD up here https://bjjfanatics.com/product/rodolfo-vieira-jiu-jitsu-domination-3-dvd-set-smash-pass-finish/