UFC 141

Quick and to the point today, I got places to be. Good card to finish off the year tomorrow, lets see how it shakes down.

Nam Phan vs. Jim "The Kid" Hettes
featherweight

Hettes is a solid up and comer, but Phan is way too well rounded. He'll pick Hettes apart on the feet and prevent him from getting the fight were he wants it, on the ground. By the third, Hettes will be beaten up, exhausted, and in need of a finish. Phan gets it instead, by a late stoppage or decision, and I think it's the latter.

Phan via Unanimous Decision

Vladimir "The Janitor" Matyushenko vs. Alexander "The Mauler" Gustafsson
light heavyweight

The grizzled vet against the promising up and comer, but don't count out the old dog in Matyushenko, because taking him lightly is what got Jason Brilz knocked out. Gustafsson is not likely to be done in so easily, and is more than capable of dictating where this fight takes place. A long, lanky 205 pounder, he has power and speed in his hands, and a sneaky good ground game, if Matyushenko manages to get the fight to the ground. It's far from a done deal, but "The Janitor" has a tough road to hoe in this fight, and I see Gustafsson getting the stoppage late in the second.

Gustafsson via TKO, Rd. 2

Jon Fitch vs. Johny Hendricks
welterweight

The perennial second best fighter in the 170 pound division in Fitch makes his return to the Octagon after nearly a year out of it due to injury. He faces a rising star in Hendricks, but with GSP out for the next year, and the welterweight title in his sights, this one is all but academic. Fitch is a massive welterweight, and uses a stifling top game with superb wrestling to grind his opponents out. Hendricks may actually be the better wrestler, and has devastating power in his hands, but he may not have the cardio to outlast Fitch, who has a chin like granite, and loves taking fights into the later rounds. After weathering an early flurry from Hendricks, he will pick his spots and wear him out on his way to another unanimous decision.

Fitch via Unanimous Decision

Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone vs. Nate Diaz
lightweight

Nearly a shoe in for Fight of the Night, this 155 pound battle is further excited by the fact that these two simply do not like each other. A former title contender in the WEC, Cerrone looks to put a stamp on his debut year in the UFC by winning his fifth straight...this year! Diaz returned to the lightweight division in style by submitting Takanori Gomi after pummeling him on the feet. Cerrone has the better stand up, but Diaz's boxing has improved by leaps and bounds. Diaz is the better grappler, but Cerrone is far from lost on the ground. Cerrone is going to want to stand and bang, and he also has a tendency to get a little wild. He's also shown in the past that he can be submitted, which can be a problem for opponents of the Diaz clan. The stand up war will be tight, but slightly edged by Cerrone, and the real question is how things go if they make it to the mat. Cerrone does just enough to edge out the barest of split decisions, and poises himself for a shot at the lightweight title in 2012.

Cerrone via Split Decision

Brock Lesnar vs. Alistair "Demolition Man" Overeem
heavyweight

The winner of this fight is the number one contender, and gets the first shot at newly crowned champion, Junior dos Santos. Lesnar hasn't fought in over a year, and Overeem is making his UFC debut. All that aside, this should be one hell of a fight. Both men top six foot three (Overeem is 6' 5") and weigh in around the top of the 265 pound weight limit, so we have a couple of big boys in the ring. Overeem is a K-1 kickboxing champion, and has brutal knockout power in addition to his striking prowess. He also has surprising submission skills, which usually get dismissed due to his ability on the feet. Lesnar is a genetic beast, with power and speed that simply should not exist in nature. While still improving on the feet, his real strength is on the mat, where he can flex his NCAA National champion wrestling skills, and unleash truly terrifying ground and pound. When Lesnar gets this fight to the ground, it may be all but over. Overeem is going to want to do anything he can to prevent this, and however strong his own ground game may be, fighting off your back with a 290 pound gorilla smashing your face is simply no fun. There will be a lot of feeling out by Overeem, but Lesnar likes to mix things up right away, and may go for the take down right off the bat. If Overeem can fend it off, and start putting the leather on Lesnar, it's going to be a short night for the Minnesotan. I think Brock just can't handle the firepower "Demolition Man" brings, and ends up getting TKO'd in the first. I hope I'm wrong though.....


Overeem via TKO, Rd. 1

MMA and me; day 190/191

With the past few days jiu jitsu classes having been so small, we have been focusing on more specific techniques, and their applications. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we did a lot of work on the knee shield. It's very similar to the action guard, but it is it's own animal entirely. With your opponent in your half guard, take your bottom foot and bring it over their inside leg, so your knee is on the ground, and the foot is propped up with the shin resting on their calf. Bring your top side leg over and step on the blade of your bottom side foot, while bringing your topside knee in tight on the point of their outside hip bone. By pinching your knees together, pressing down on your own foot, and extending your hips, you can control your opponent very well, and they will have a tough time passing your guard. Now, with your bottom side arm, post the elbow to the mat, and frame up the other arm by grabbing it with the bottom side hand. There is no need to push hard, or relax completely, because the whole point of framing up your arms is to prevent your opponent from bowling you over with pressure, and keeping them at bay. As the push into you, bring your top side knee all the way up into their arm pit, and then pummel the same side arm in for an under hook. After claiming the under hook, extend the top side leg, and slip out to back control, keeping the bottom side leg hook in. From back control reach around their back and under their stomach to get both arms around their far arm, suck it in tight and drive them over to the side where there arm was posted, while circling around behind them into side control. From here, you can grab a gift wrap (arm under their head to grab the wrist of their own arm that is wrapped around their neck) and lift them up to a seated position, and rolling them over your posted leg to get back control, and rolling them over your body, back and forth to fully center your chest on their spine, and get both hooks in. You can also get wrist control on their outside arm, pull it away from their body, and then snake your bottom side leg around their neck to set up a triangle by swiveling your hips around to the other side of their body,

We also worked a position if the knee shield gets passed, and they end up in a modified low judo/half guard position on top of you. With your legs still around their now top side leg, and their back facing you, swim your foot under their top side leg and set the hook by putting your boot on, and twisting your leg so the toes are pointed straight up to the ceiling. From here, you have some options; if they base their legs out wide, you can lock your hands together around their body, lift your hooked leg straight up and roll them over your body to either take their back, or clear your bottom side leg, then swing on your hips back away from the leg you cleared and land a triangle. Or, if they don't base out wide, and instead under hook your top side leg, as you swim your foot in to set the hook, reach around their body and gran their wrist that is under hooking your leg. You can use this in a very similar manner to the body lock, but you can also lift the hook up high, and roll them directly backward over yourself to land in a perfect set up to a mounted triangle.

We also worked a great deal of gi chokes which we have gone over before. The main thing to focus on with gi chokes is getting the proper grip, maintaining pressure, and revving the motorcycle grips. Gi jiu jitsu is particularly nasty with chokes, because you can just get totally stuck, and you HAVE to be very meticulous and precise with your movements or you're toast. Well, I'm pretty beat after this week, and I will perhaps be in for a class or maybe two next week, but if I don't make it in, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year everybody!

MMA and me; day 189

Yesterday (Monday) we worked on what I can best describe as filler. Frequently in jiu jitsu, we learn submissions, or transitions, or points on which to focus. Monday we specifically worked on shadow grappling, and more specifically, how to fill the space in between the points. We started out by stretching, and getting our bodies ready, then we went up into a head stand. We held the head stand for a bit, then moved onto rolling down from the head stand, and switching our hips over to a four point position. From there we incorporated a sit out to a switch, and then began utilizing our shoulder rolls from our knees and our butts. From ending on our backsides, we added coming up to our knees and shooting for a couple take downs, spinning on our knees, and shooting for more take downs. We also added swiveling on our hips to prevent our guard from being passed, pivoting on our sacrum (thanks Nikki!) in a long arc to prevent a standing opponent from stepping around the guard. A couple more focal points were added into our shadow grappling; falling into a bridge from a head stand and then quickly switching our hips from the bridge to being on all fours, and escaping from old school side control by utilizing the curly run, or as Amanda calls it (which I totally agree with) the Homer Simpson, where you bridge, turn to your shoulder and head, and then proceed to run around in a circle until you escape from under the side control and take their back. We combined all of the elements together that we worked on today and shadow grappled for the final 10 minutes of class, and the purpose of this was to feel more complete when grappling. A lot of schools focus on specific moves, and don't work on what goes between them. I really like this type of class, because it forces you to be aware of your body and where you're going to next, which is IMMENSELY important during grappling sessions. Thank you Coach for a great class!!

MMA and me; day 188

Yesterday we stressed the importance of stretching. We went over why stretching is important, and how having an above average degree of flexibility can pay off in jiu jitsu, and mma as a whole. We then went through an extremely rigorous hip stretching routine, where we utilized our arms, belts, and for some people (not me!) weights. I do not possess a great deal of flexibility in my hips, yet. I will eventually become a fairly flexible person, because for the goals I have set for myself, I will need it. I intend to begin a small stretching routine, and one of my early New Year's resolutions is to being taking yoga classes. It's going to happen, and I see big things in my future for me in jiu jitsu!

MMA and me; day 187

After getting all stretched out, we went through our shrimping drills, excuse me, hip escape drills, and then went through shoulder rolls, from the backside and from the knees, and knocked out a two minute headstand. We went right into the arm bar/triangle/omoplata drill, and I realized that the higher you keep your hips off the mat during this drill, the easier it is to a) swing your hips around on the arm bar and triangle, and b) pop your hips down to the mat and roll up to the omoplata. We went through two rounds with two different partners, and then worked on the swinging arm bar drill, and the wrist control triangle drill. For the swinging arm bar drill, from an open guard, push off of their hip with the same side foot, and swing your leg as far down to the mat and around their head into an arm bar position, then using your momentum, push off their other hip with your other foot, and swing all the way around to the other side, putting their other arm in an arm bar. It's easiest to cup their elbows while doing this, because it helps prevent them from pulling their arm out, and it helps you keep your hips elevated, and pivot on your shoulder blades. For the triangle drill, grab wrist control from open guard, and peacock their arms out wide, bring one of your knees in tight to your chest, and then slide your foot up around their neck, pulling them in tight with the wrist control, and cutting an angle off to the side to lock in the triangle. Pull your legs out and back into the open guard, and then repeat on the other side, going back and forth, as smoothly as possible. Lastly, we worked on an omoplata drill from the guard. Grab the outside of the tricep with the same side arm, and with the other arm, push on the side of their face away from the arm you have isolated to create space, shrimping to that side and swimming your top side leg over the shoulder, and pinning that wrist in your hip as you come up to your backside. To finish the submission, get your feet behind you, and bring your head to the outside as far as you can, and then bring your whole body around their head in a circular motion for the tap. We went back and forth on each side to finish off class. Awesome fundamentals, and to cap things off, I received my bjj blue belt from my coach at the end of class. I feel that I am just beginning to scratch the surface of potential, and while I am incredibly proud to be promoted, it's only making me more motivated to learn as much as I possibly can!

MMA and me; day 185/186

Another two in one blog today. Last Thursday, we drilled arm bar after arm bar, after arm bar. First, the snap arm bar from side control, where you hook the near side arm, flick your leg side foot up under their head, swing your head side foot around, not over their head, bring that heel in tight to their neck, pinch your knees together as you lean back and with their arm trapped in your elbow pit, pull it toward you and arch your hips until they tap. Next was the arm bar from back mount. With a seat belt grip, heist the under hook up high and bring the over hook to the near side of their head and push it away. Using the heisted under hook as leverage, swing the opposite leg around their head, again, not over, pull the heel in tight with your boot on, pinch your knees together, and pull the arm tight as you extend your hips with their thumb pointed away from your body until they tap. Next was the arm bar from S mount. To get to S mount, push down on either arm from mount (preferably the one on top of the other arm), and as they try to push it back across, shove it further with your hand on that same side, and hold it in place by bringing your chest around and across, then on that same side, bring your knee up to just past the top of their head, and flare your other leg out straight until you're sitting on their chest with your hamstring. From here, under hook their head side arm, and lean across their body to swing your leg around their head, and go through the arm bar checklist for the tap. Lastly, we practiced the step over arm bar from back mount. With your opponent on all fours and you having their back, keep your hooks in tight to their hips, and maintain a seat belt (over/under) grip. Much like the arm bar from back control, you use the over hook to push their head away, and heist the under hook up, but you also step around their head, and roll forward (TUCK YOUR HEAD!) and then extend your hips to help flip them over. Make sure you already have your boot on, head side foot pulled into their neck, and are pinching your knees together. It makes flipping them over much easier, and will get them to tap much quicker. I really like arm bars, and definitely need to be using them more often. If you're in my gym and you read this, a fair heads up, I'll be throwing up A LOT more arm bars! :) Great day of classes!

Yesterday was a lot of getting up off of the bottom. We started out with pummeling drills, first from our knees, and then from our feet. Next, we worked a pummeling drill from the feet to a take down. From the pummel, take your under hook hand, and slide it down their arm to the wrist (keeping in contact the whole time) and pull their arm straight down so their is a gap between their arm and their body. With your other arm, reach through the gap and grab around the back of their tricep. Step around to the back of their legs with your outside leg and grab both hands together around their waist, trapping the near side arm. Keeping your hips perpendicular to theirs, lunge your leg that is behind them far behind you and sit your hips down until you pull them over your front leg, which is bent at the knee. As they fall down, adjust your grip from around their waist to a C block, and end in side control. We worked on pummeling from the guard next, and following under hooks. When pummeling, hip escape (shrimp) to the side of the under hook, and heist it over your head, continuing to ratchet your hips clear of theirs until you can pop your head out and take their back. Another variation on this, is as you hip escape, bring your bottom leg in between their legs, putting your foot on their near side knee, and then using that to help swing your other leg around behind them to sink in your hook and take their back. Lastly, we worked on arm drags and wrist control. With your opponent in your guard, establish inside wrist control, and pull either arm straight out to the side. Shrimp to the same side as that hip, and under hook it with your other arm. Once the arm gets to being completely perpendicular, under hook it with your other arm and heist it over your head to take their back. If you don't get completely squared up to their back with your chest, and don't get the far hook in, just keep dribbling and popping your hips into them until you can clear the leg free and sink the hook to square yourself up. Also, you can either grab a handful of gi, or an under hook to roll them across your body, which will get you to the proper alignment. We also worked an arm drag where you pull the arm across your body (or they reach across your body) and then with your opposite side arm, grab for an under hook and latch on to their tricep or shoulder. Using that pressure, pull them down and pull yourself up to work around to taking their back. Little pops with your hips help clear to a solid position where you can lock in both hooks and get solid back control. Another great day of jiu jitsu at the gym!!

UFC 140

The super short version of predictions is going up, because it's been kind of a busy week. Anyways, here goes nothing

Mark "The Machine" Hominick vs Chan Sung "The Korean Zombie" Jung
featherweight

Jung is a ton of fun to watch, and has heart like few other in the sport. All that being said, Hominick is simply a far better mma fighter. His stand up is about as clean and accurate as you could possibly find, and he's also extremely under rated on the ground. "The Machine" will just pick Jung apart and most likely get an early stoppage in the first or second round in what will very likely be an entertaining fight.

Hominick via TKO, Rd. 2

Claude "The Prince" Patrick vs Brian "Bad Boy" Ebersole
welterweight

Patrick is stepping in on short notice for an injured Rory McDonald, and while Patrick is a fairly exciting fighter in his own right, this will definitely not be the fight it could have been. Ebersole is simply a beast in all aspects of the game. It's easy to under estimate him, due to his wildly unorthodox approach and wacky chest hair, but over sixty professional fights and nearly fifty wins? Ebersole can bring it. Patrick will definitely bring the fight, but as soon as Ebersole gets it to the ground, the fight will be on it's way to being finished. I see Ebersole getting Patrick to tap early in the third, if not before.

Ebersole via submission (rear naked choke) Rd. 3


Tito "The Peoples Champ" Ortiz vs. Antonio Rogerio "Minotoro" Nogueira
light heavyweight

This fight was supposed to happen at the Fight Night in Seattle back in March, but as an under card on a pay per view, it makes more sense. Both men are coming off losses and are looking to prove they deserve to stay in the UFC. If Ortiz can impose his wrestling game, and avoid getting beat up on the feet, he may be able to eke out a decision victory, but I doubt that will happen. Nogueira is just too good of a boxer, and like his brother, has a very slick ground game. Ortiz will stay competitive, but Nogueira should win a tight, but decisive victory in the eyes of the judges.

Nogueira via Unanimous decision.


Frank Mir vs. Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira
heavyweight

A rematch of a fight that was won by Mir three years ago is the co main event, and should be every bit as exciting as the first one. A decent underdog, Mir surprised Nogueira with his striking, and beat him up on his way to a second round TKO. There were all sorts of speculations about Nogueiras health afterward, and Nogueira himself admitted to being less than fully healthy leading up to the fight. In any event, if Mir can control the stand up like he did before, and keep his somewhat suspect chin away from the Brazilians power shots, he can likely repeat his performance. Nogueira wants to turn the fight into more of a slug fest, and in those exchanges he can definitely come out on top. Their ground games are both fantastic, so I don't expect to see either one submitting the other. Push come to shove, I gotta side with Mir (shocking I know) by late second round stoppage, or a solid decision.

Mir via TKO, Rd. 2

LIGHT HEAVY WEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Champion: Jon "Bones" Jones vs. Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida

This will just be a very fun fight to watch. Can Jones do what Shogun did and solve the puzzle that is Machida? Can Machida be the first person to really hit and hurt Jones? I honestly think that the patience Machida has shown in the past will reap benefits, but like everyone else, he will have issues with the pterodactyl like wingspan of the champion. Jones also may struggle to get Machida down, despite his impressive array of trips and sweeps, as Machida has a remarkably stout take down defense. I'd like to say that Machida will be able to do what nobody else has done, and really bring the fight to him, but I just don't see it happening. I think we get a very solid five round fight that sees Machida winning maybe a round, but ultimately, Jones continues his dominance with a sound unanimous decision.

Jones via Unanimous Decision

MMA and me; day 184

Triangles, triangles, triangles. That's what we drilled in jiu jitsu. We began the class by shrimping and rolling. We rolled forward and backward, and across our shoulders from our behinds and our knees. After partnering up, we started working the run and roll drill. From all fours with your partner behind you and to the side, you take a few steps forward and then lay your same side shoulder to the mat, and roll across your shoulders. Swing your opposite side leg over your head around their neck, and spin on your shoulders to a perpendicular angle from them, making sure to have your boot on as you bring your leg over the back of their neck. From here, you have three options to secure your position; under hook their near side arm, under hook their near side leg, or reach under their body for a full body lock. The next triangle drill we worked was from full guard. With wrist control, shove one of their wrists to their own waist, and swing your same side leg around their neck, while pushing off their other side hip with your other leg, to get to that same perpendicular position. From here, go through the same checklist; boot on as the leg goes across the neck, push their arm across their face, loop your other leg around the ankle of the leg on their neck, and then go from arm, to leg, to body. The key to the triangle is not the over hooking leg, but the leg over the neck, keeping your boot on, and having their neck as tight into the crook of your knee as possible. If your opponent uses their arm in to block the triangle, bring it up to the side of your head, pull it toward you while driving your carpal bone into the elbow for a cutting arm bar, or pull the arm and press the top side leg straight to get the tap due to the choke. You can also switch leg positions into a reverse triangle, if they posture up with their head, and then pull down on their head while arching your hips. Triangles are everywhere, and for some reason, very satisfying to apply. Thanks to everyone for a great day!

MMA and me; day 183

Yesterday was a very cool day at the gym, because we worked entirely on balance, and pressure. We each got a big bouncy exercise ball, and began by trying to balance on top of them on our knees. We then worked on balancing on one knee, with the other leg straight out. This was a good way to help calm your center of gravity, and really sink your hips in to stay connected. From there we balanced from our butts with legs straight out in front of us. We then moved on to rolling forward and rolling back, keeping the ball in tight to our chest with our arms and knees, and then rolling sideways with a quick re roll. I tried to do the backflip roll, where you start on your butt with your feet on the floor, walk forward and then slide your hips over your head while staying in constant contact with the ball, landing on your feet. Next, we tried to actually stand on the ball, and while I was getting close, I never made it up freely. It's a good thing we had the boxing ringposts to hold ourselves up, because I would have fallen pretty dang hard on my behind, several times, if not. I still got very close though. Our next couple of drills involved standing behind the ball, passing the outside leg over the top, and dropping that same side hip directly onto the ball, and bouncing straight up to stand behind it again. We also jumped up splitting both legs out, bouncing off the ball with our butt back to standing. We followed that up with sprawl drills, with our partner rolling the ball towards us, and sprawling our hips down and back to catch the ball with our chest. Keeping our arms in behind it for under hooks, and dropping our hips all the way to the ground, and bouncing right back up.Lastly, we worked rolling forward to a push up position with the ball under our feet, then raising up to a head stand position with the ball between our legs, and holding it there. This was a little tough, but of all the drills we did, I felt I did best at this one. We finished with fifteen minutes of rolling, and though it's getting better, I still need to improve my pressure from the top side. An awesome class, that really made me work!

MMA and me; day 182

A LONG day at the gym yesterday. Went in early to help get my buddy ready for his fight Saturday, and ended up grappling for almost two hours. A pretty intense session that was a ton of fun, and then it went right into cardio class. (Whoops!)

For cardio we did a whole host of drills that just thoroughly wiped me out. Suffice to say, I had to sit out kickboxing so I could be sure I would survive jiu jitsu.

In Gi class, we worked mostly on getting off of the bottom. We began with bridge dribbles, making sure to keep the hips elevated, and feet flat on the mat while you bounce. We then worked dribble circles, and then bridging and turning drills, finishing up with turning to and holding yourself up on your side, keeping the topside leg extended. Continuing using the bridge and bump to get off the bottom, from bottom mount, we bumped to our hip, pushing away the near knee to slide the bottom knee under it, then immediately shrimp back to the other hip, get a near side under hook, and circle around to the other side and break them down to end in side control with a C block. We also worked escaping from old school side control, which is where the person on top has a C block, and is blocking the near side of the head. Bridge up and turn on your head and shoulder, away from their body, turn your hips, and run away from them on your side until you come around to the far side of their body where you can break them down to the mat. We finished off with fifteen minutes of free rolling, and at this point I was pretty spent, but did my best to push the pace. Very fun day, and I'm quite sore, but happy. Looking forward to see what today brings!

MMA and me; day 181

Last day at the gym before the weekend, and it was a good one. We worked on more escapes from bottom side control, and regaining top position. First, bridging up, and creating space to drop your near side elbow to the mat, and keeping the outside edge of the arm on their hip, while shrimping onto your own hip on that same side, and driving your topside knee across their waist, keeping that boot on around their other hip, and your bottom side leg is straight on the mat. Using the arm on their hip as leverage, straighten your top leg out to bring your other leg through, while bringing your head up to a parallel position with their body and reclaim guard. If you can only get to a butterfly hook with that leg, it's fine. It's preferable in fact, because it's much easier to work a sweep from there. For the sweep, arch your hips to bridge and turn with your butterfly hook as the top side, and make sure to have an under hook with the arm on that side as well. Reach over your head at a 45 degree angle with the under hook as you turn, and extend the butterfly hook to pretty simply flip them to their back, and make sure to pass their legs and end in side control, not ending in half guard. The other sweep from this position we covered, was reclaiming full butterfly guard, and getting under hooks with both arms, and getting the head underneath their chin. From here, clasp your hands behind their back with either a Gable grip, or a hand over hand grip (I like this one because it grinds into their lower back, and it's not exactly comfortable) and extend your legs straight out to essentially bend their body backwards. It's a simple task to roll them to either side, and pass to side control, making sure to avoid half guard. We worked on a couple of reversals from bottom side control next. First was a single under hook, where they have more chest pressure than hip pressure. Bridge to create space, and bring the near side arm into that space like before, but this time, reach it all the way under their waist, and grab the far side of their body. From here, bump your hips, and follow the under hook all the way around their body as you slide out, twisting your hips to help pull yourself out from underneath, and transition around to the other side of their body. From here, it's a simple matter of driving them to their back by reaching across their waist to grab their knee with one hand, and behind them to grab their ankle with the other hand, suck it in to your body while driving your shoulder into them to knock them over, and end in side control. The other reversal, was bumping up to create space, and getting both arms under, continuously bumping the hips to drive the arms through until you have double under hooks across their waist and chest. Keep working until you have your hands on their back, and then brign your knees to your chest and in one motion, explode your hips up while pushing your arms straight back. Swivel your hips to turn to your knees, and keep moving around to the far side of their body, and then drive them to their back to complete the reversal. A great week of classes, and can't wait to get back to it on Monday!

MMA and me; day 180

Yesterday was another day of gi jiu jitsu, and it was fun, and we expanded on more of the things we covered on Tuesday. We started with our shrimping drills, then worked on back and front rolls, and then our shoulder rolls. From there we went to the counter of the counter where your opponent trips you to your butt when you stand up in their guard. From your back, lift their legs up, and arch your hips to further lift their feet off the ground, preventing them from advancing position. Shrimp out your hips to the side, pinching your knees around their legs, and sliding their outside leg over their inside leg. From here, swim your outside arm over their top leg, and under their bottom leg to grab your inside arm in a Gable grip. Pinching your knees together, and using your inside arm on their top leg for leverage, compress their legs together, keeping the grip in tight against your body, until they tap. This is called Breaking the Sticks. From here, you can transition to a toe hold by releasing the Gable grip, sliding your top hand over their free foot, and grabbing that wrist with your other hand, then dropping your head to your hands, and turning your shoulders in an attempt to put their big toe in their butt, until they tap. We worked on another entry to Breaking the Sticks from top side control. Over hook their legs with the arm on that side, and grab the inside of your own leg on the same side as that arm. In one motion, lift their legs and drive that knee under their legs to your foot being flat on the ground, and then reach back to slide their outside leg over the inside leg, and lace your arms over and under like the entry to this position from the previous set. They may try to go limp to avoid the submission, but it leaves their foot exposed to a toe hold, or you can slide the knee under them back to the ground, bring the other knee up around their legs and fall to your side to either put more pressure on the toe hold, or transition to a knee bar by sliding your top side leg in between their legs, pinching your knees around their thigh, keeping your knees into your chest, cupping the heel, and arching your back for the tap. Lastly, we worked on a few different entries to the knee bar from half guard. First, posture up, and step over pass, ending up sitting on their belly, and under hook the leg between your knees, pinch your knees around their thigh, roll to the near side of their body, keeping your butt in tight to their belly, slide your hands up to cup the heel, and arch your back until they tap. The second entry is if they block the step over pass with their arms. As they block it, slide the knee across their belly instead, and go through the same checklist for the knee bar. On this one be careful, because sliding the knee across leaves your foot exposed on their waist, and vulnerable to a toe hold, so use this entry with caution. The last entry, is if they expect you to step over pass. Pass with a back spin to sit on their belly, under hook the knee, pinch the thighs and then roll across their body, keeping the knees in tight, sliding up your hands to the heel, and arching for the tap. If you can't get the tap, swim your outside hand around the foot, trapping it under your arm pit, and arch for a really nasty knee bar. A fantastic day of classes, and I was walking funny afterward, but it was totally worth it.