Leglocks: Enter The System by John Danaher

“Leglocks – Enter The System” from John Danaher: The Most
Sought After Grappling Instructor On The Planet. 

This is the Program He Uses To Turn Ordinary Men Into Super Men.

If you talked to the one hundred most knowledgeable grapplers in the world and asked them, “Who would you most like to learn grappling from?” ninety-eight, ninety-nine, or maybe even all one hundred of them would give you the same answer: John Danaher.  There is just no equal.

But it is not just the Ryan brothers who have excelled:

John helped coach Georges St Pierre and Chris Weidman to UFC World Titles. Garry Tonon has become a 3x ADCC competitor and a grappling Icon.

The list of stars who just show up to take classes with him is perhaps more than any other instructor on the planet could hope to attain. It’s like a Who’s Who of the top fighters on the planet:

·        Roger Gracie

·        Romulo Barral

·        Craig Jones

·        AJ Agazarm

·        And too many MMA stars to even name

Everyone who joins John’s squad seems to start winning and winning and winning.

But John Also Helps “Normal People” Too

“One thing that constantly surprises me.. is that you have many busy career oriented people who find time to train in Jiu Jitsu and do incredibly well… I often have situations where professional mixed martial arts or even professional jiu jitsu athletes train with my part time career people and yet the part time career people give the professionals a very difficult time and in some cases even overcome them..”  - John Danaher

Since the beginning of time one man saying to another some version of, “I think I could take you” has undoubtedly resulted in hundreds of millions (or perhaps even billions) of informal fisticuffs, or more friendly wrestling matches like the one that soon ensued.  John got the much smaller and weaker man into a headlock and found that he could do nothing.  The man hadn’t gained enough knowledge to escape but he did gain enough to keep himself safe before John gassed out a couple of minutes later and let go.  John was marveled.  He had to see this for himself.  He became a student at the Renzo Gracie Academy in New York City and four years later he became an instructor.  John grew quite addicted.  Renzo used to joke that no one was at the Academy more than John and if he kept it open on Christmas, John would undoubtedly show up.  John Danaher never completed his PhD at Columbia, but he would go on to become perhaps the most famous Jiu Jitsu instructor on the planet.

John takes a very cerebral approach to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.  He is able to articulate the art in a way that perhaps no one else can.  While John is incredible to listen to, he has a perhaps unmatched ability to make the complex seem simple, make the difficult become easy - and it is this skill that speeds the learning curve like no other teacher on the planet.

The one thing that John is perhaps best known for though?  The leg lock.

What got Danaher into leg locks?

The realization that most Jiu Jitsu practitioners were ignoring 50% of the body.

John Danaher met Dean Lister for only 3 days and most of the insight happened in a quick conversation in 3 minutes when Dean asked John the following question: “Why would you ignore 50% of the human body?”  John had no immediate answer.  But over time, John used that as motivation to change grappling as we know it.  From that chance encounter emerged a simple but cataclysmic idea:

Focus on what most people ignore.

During those days Dean Lister was known for his Achilles lock and he later went on to win 2 ADCC titles.

But it wasn’t a technique that John learned from him, it was the simple perspective that most Jiu Jitsu practitioners are missing something in plain sight – the legs.

The Leg Attack System

 John’s system is based on 3 Principles.. 6 concepts

Frank Trigg interviews Chris Weidman on how John Danaher “helped set up his camp to specifically beat Anderson Silva.”

He called John Danaher “like a mad scientist”

Basically Danaher’s systematic organizational skills helped Chris.

“If you haven’t felt a John Danaher heel hook then you haven’t really lived.”

 July 18th, 2017

“Just one of the people I owe everything to.”

 January 2nd, 2015

Before ADCC 2017 many doubted if Danaher’s star pupil, Gordon Ryan, had the experience and skill set to walk away a champion in the tournament's most crowded division, which included Xande Ribeiro and Romulo Barral. While the list of former champions and savage grapplers was extensive, Ryan proved to be ready for the challenge and was the last man standing in the division.

When asked immediately off the mats what the secret was to his success, Ryan blurted out without hesitation, "John Danaher."

“Me and John Danaher one of my best creations... He began Jiujitsu at 27 years old, and with his great determination and love for the art has prove me right as a instructor, since there's no better reward to a teacher than the excellence achieved by his students...”

– Renzo Gracie February 17. 2017

 “He [Danaher] does jiu-jitsu every day;we can’t get him out of here. I think he would come in on Christmas if we would let him.” 

Matt put Danaher on the map by saying “This is the genius that helps me.”

“He’s a true student of the game,” Longo says. 

 “So thankful that I've had the legend himself John Danaher with me every step of the way in my journey to the great unknown world of MMA. We started my very first shoot boxing training, drilling, and sparring, just over 3 months ago. Our biggest task was preparing me for something I basically had no knowledge, skills, or expertise in, fighting with strikes in the standing position. Along with that complete deficit in skill, I needed work in grapple box, fence wrestling, and clinch fighting. We needed to make up a lot of ground in a very short period of time, but at the same time not take to much damage while doing so. From running sparring, drilling, studying tape, strategy, tactics, to finally following me out to Thailand to corner me against my first ever opponent in MMA, John coordinated it all. I realize how difficult of a task that is, and how big of a commitment he made to helping me prepare. He helped me go from frantically fighting for my life in early sparring, to being genuinely confident going into my first fight. I'm loyal to this guy forever. Thanks for everything brother.”

March 20th, 2018