About 2 years ago I noticed It had started to become increasingly more difficult to get out of bed in the morning due to some wicked soreness in my hips and lower back. It would take me almost a half hour of hunched...

Just as I put my kids on the carousel last night at the local festival a fight broke out. I heard a loud crash and looked down to see 2 kids, maybe in their early 20’s, exchanging blows, and trying to get the...

The rear naked choke. The term transcends our art. Becoming almost a household name, there may not be a technique more familiar outside the realm of BJJ and MMA. Among the fighting arts, the RNC would certainly be deemed as a “classic.” Recently,...

As if jiu jitsu itself didn't take you far enough outside of your comfort level, there's another summit you can reach for and that is on the competition mats.  Competing in BJJ is one of the purest tests of not only your knowledge...

The kimura is a powerful shoulder submission that has roots in catch wrestling and judo, but became known as the kimura after a famous jiu jitsu match between Helio Gracie and Japanese fighter Masahiko Kimura who defeated Gracie in a legendary match where...

After rolling with one of the newer female white belts at our academy today, we had a few minutes to chat and I asked how she felt she's doing right now?  How was her confidence level?  Was she enjoying BJJ?  She is fairly...

Jake MacKenzie is a Canadian-born black belt under Roberto "Cyborg" Abreu who has spent the majority of his formative years training and competing in Brazil.  Beginning in 2003, at around 16 years of age, having just earned his blue belt in BJJ, he...

In this edition of Kurt Osiander's wildly popular "Move of the Week" series, he comes to us from Gracie Barra Cheshunt UK where he was doing a seminar for the team there.  In this move, he shows a simple arm attack from the...

Grappling superstar Garry Tonon is quickly creating the need for a new moniker, "MMA Superstar" as he dominated his opponent today in his second MMA fight for the One Fighting Championship.  This Tom DeBlass jiu jitsu black belt and founding member of John...

Today marked the return after 7 long years of Renzo Gracie to the Mixed Martial Arts stage in the Philippines for the One Fighting Championship organization.  Renzo Gracie is arguably one of the most influential jiu jitsu practitioners on the planet today.  As...

When you have aspirations of opening your own academy, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Doing things your way, being able to train around the clock, the sense of pride you’ll feel from bringing the benefits of BJJ into the lives...

Does X -guard intimidate you? I can recall a mini seminar one of my instructors was giving only a few months after I started training. I saw the advertisement at my academy and immediately I was scared by the term. X-guard. It had...

Talk about luring someone into a false sense of security. Check out this unorthodox loop choke from Alexandre Vieira. What I love about the way Alexandre sets up this particular choke, is that he’s able to coax his opponent into making a series...

When we start training BJJ, we’re all at different places in life. You may be young, old, athletic, or out of shape. You might be in the middle of a divorce, just getting out of high school, or maybe you just moved to...

Paul Moran is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt, influential podcaster, and cancer survivor.  He began jiu jitsu in the mid-2000's and began his Open Mat Radio podcast not long after.  In 2012, Paul was diagnosed with rectal cancer and has spent the...