MMA and me; day 247

Once again, we were back at the triangles. Nothing new, just refining technique, and making sure we are going through our checklists. A couple things that I noticed; wrist control is SOOO important. All the time really, but even more so if you want to get good at triangles, and not just peacocking them out. Move them around like a back hoe, but use your feet as well. On a hip, on a knee, keep pressure into your opponent, and even if you don't get the triangle, go for a sweep, or arm bar, or something! Don't ever stop trying for a sub, and never settle for position. When you throw a leg over the back of the neck, put your boot on AFTER you lift it up to start ice picking it further across, instead of before, and you can make it much further, and sink it deeper. When going against a much bigger opponent, if you are having trouble locking in the other leg over your ankle, don't be scared to switch it to a tepee, or to attack the arm, just make sure you are always threatening the triangle as well. Taking breaks on the bottom is sloppy, and lazy, work for top position or control, and use that as a place for a pit stop.

Back in for grappling tonight, but next week I begin my trek towards championship gold. Four weeks to go!!!

MMA and me; day 245/246

Last Thursday, we had a nice day of going back over the triangles we had been working on, but we really focused on the importance of wrist control, and also using the feet on the hips and knees. We also focused a lot on gi specific grappling, and grabbing handfuls of gi whenever and where ever you can.

Yesterday we worked on some drills, but it was a lot of light grappling, that ended up getting a bit harder (like it always does) Thanks to Corby, Andrea, Batman, and of course, Coach Wise.

On a side not, all my blogs this week are going to be pretty chill, and not super detail oriented. I'm taking it easy in the gym this week, and get as prepared mentally as I can, to really hit it hard for the next month straight. There is a tournament coming up, that I plan on winning. I just need a laid back week, to get my body right, but to also start getting my head right. June is going to be a lot of hard work, but if you want to be on top, you'd best be prepared to earn it. We're bringing back gold baby!!

UFC 146

The all heavyweight main card is upon us, and though it bodes to be the fastest main card in UFC history (heavyweights have the shortest average bout length in the UFC at just over 7 minutes), it still promises to be full of excitement, and not lacking in dynamic finishes. Intresting note, none of the five main card fights stand as they were when first booked, due to injury, failed PED tests, and have been shuffled around a bit since the card was announced in early March.

Stipe Miocic vs. Shane del Rosario
heavyweight

In del Rosarios first UFC fight, he will look to put back on track, a surging streak that was derailed by a cart accident early last year. He finds himself facing a man in Miocic who is equally tough, and looking to put his own stamp on the UFCs heavyweight division.

Miocic is a strong stand up fighter, but his ground game is a little suspect. He has a slight height advantage, but for him to win this fight, he is likely going to want to keep it standing. Miocic has got some nasty leg kicks, and is a former Golden Gloves winner. He does have the ability to take the fight to the ground, with a bit of a background in wrestling, but against a grappler of del Rosarios ability, going to the ground is probably going to be a last resort.

Del Rosario is a former world champion kickboxer, but since his transition to mma, he has also found success in the submission department. He even owns a win via omoplata, which in the professional ranks, is impressive indeed. He has very good cardio, and with a big advantage on the ground, and a slight disadvantage at best on the feet, this fight is his to win. Miocic is tough, and the potential for del Rosario not having recovered from his car accident which left him with a herniated disc in his back, are what really make this fight an interesting one. Ultimately, del Rosario is too much, and his unbeaten streak continues.

del Rosario via submission (arm bar) Rd. 2

Dave "Pee-Wee" Herman vs. Roy "Big Country" Nelson
heavyweight

Herman, is a talented, tough, game fighter. He also happens to be a knucklehead, with a terrible fight IQ. For him to win, he will have to be patient, execute a game plan, and avoid the big overhand right of Nelson. The last is possible, but the first two are highly improbable. Nelson is maybe the toughest guy in the UFCs heavyweight division. Along with being extremely talented, he is a very technically savvy fighter, and quite aware of his strengths and weaknesses. With a quickness that belies his girth, he can close distances well, and uses his thick frame to complement his substantial grappling prowess.

Herman has always been a quick learner, and naturally athletic. He is light for the weight class, but has height and reach over most of his opponents, and to beat Nelson, he must utilize that range as best he can, to prevent Nelson from closing into clinches and tie ups.

Ultimately, this is Nelsons fight to lose, as he is simply a smarter fighter. However, if Herman decides to fight using his noggin, and not like an animal, he could make this a very interesting scrap. History tells us that something will inevitably go wrong though, and Nelson will likely finish it in the second.

Nelson via TKO, Rd. 2


Stefan "Skyscraper" Struve vs. Lavar "Big" Johnson
heavyweight

After his first round KO of Pat Barry, Johnson finds himself in the unenviable position of fighting the tallest fighter in the UFC. A hard punching brawler,  Johnson is stout on the feet, but very green on the ground. Struve is younger, more experienced, and a vastly superior grappler, but can get in to trouble because he doesn't move his head well, and tends to take a lot of unnecessary damage.

Johnson needs to make this fight ugly, and not try to get too technical. While Struve could certainly pick Johnson apart with his unreal reach advantage (eight inches) it's in his best interest to get this fight to the ground immediately, and exploit the holes in Johnsons submission defense.As soon as this fight was announced, the thought came to my mind that either Struve was going to get KOd, or Johnson was going to get submitted. I stand by that here, and think that Struve's ability to throw up submissions at will from anywhere on the mat wins him the fight with an early second round triangle.

Struve via submission (triangle) Rd. 2


Cain Velasquez vs. Antonio "Pezao" Silva
heavyweight

Velasquez steps backinto the Octagon for the first time since losing his title to Junior dos Santos, and he takes on newcomer Silva in an attempt to get his first career loss behind him. Silva most recently competed in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix, defeating the legendary Fedor Emilianenko, before being bested by eventual tournament winner, Daniel Cormier. Velasquez has an amazing gas tank, quick hands, and was an All American wrestler at Arizona State, against the heavy hands and bjj black belt of Silva, he will need to be sharp and precise.

Silva has come a long way from the plodding colossus he was in years past. His stand up is getting cleaner, and he is one of the better submission artists in the heavyweight division. He still doesn't have much in the speed department, and has shown to not possess the most sturdy of chins either. Velasquez is another of a new breed of heavyweights that do not push right up against the weight limit, instead, he relies on speed and technique to bring power to the fight, instead of sheer size. In the loss to dos Santos, he was coming off of an injury, but he got dropped with an overhand right because his hands were down, and his chin wasn't tucked. Though Silva doesn't possess dos Santos' speed, he can put your lights out with one punch, so Velasquez would do well to be cautious of the Brazilians power.

Ultimately, Velasquez is a big favorite here, and it is no secret why. Fantastic cardio, exceptional quickness and power, and an amazingly well rounded skill set make this fight more of a when, then if for Velasquez. Barring some kinda flukey KO or submission, I see Velasquez depleting Silvas gas tank early, on his way to a second round TKO.

Velasquez via TKO, Rd. 2


HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Champion: Junior "Cigano" dos Santos vs. Frank Mir

Well, here we are. Dos Santos' first title defense, and it comes against a fighter in Mir who while dangerous, has historically had problems with the kind of offense dos Santos brings to bear. A hard punching, multi combo throwing boxing stylist, dos Santos has run rough shod over the UFCs heavyweight division. Against Mir, he will of course have to be wary of the most dangerous submission artist in UFC history (from a wins by submission standpoint), but he is also fighting a southpaw, and an underrated striker. Though Mir may not light the world on fire with his strikes, his southpaw stance, and the fact that he is a big strong dude are issues that dos Santos would do well to not ignore.

Make no mistake about it, Mir should want to get this fight to the ground, IMMEDIATELY. Standing and trading with dos Santos has historically been a one way ticket to lights outville, and Mir has a notoriously flimsy chin. One area of dos Santos that we know next to nothing about, is his ground game. His take down defense has been superb, and he simply has not been taken off of his feet. He also is not a one shot power puncher, but instead throws blindingly quick combinations and keeps opponents on their heels, which is likely what he will employ against Mir until he wilts from the pressure. Mir needs to measure distance, and either stay on the periphery, or get in to the clinch where he can initiate a trip or pull guard. Shooting in for a take down is not the best idea in general against dos Santos, and for Mir especially since that area of his grappling is adequate at best. He might even pull guard, should that opportunity arise.

Sadly, this fight is more of a "when" then "if" fight. Dos Santos would have to make a huge mental mistake to let Mir get the upper hand. Even though Mir has shown a propensity for snapping limbs, he'll be nowhere near enough to one of any of the extremities of dos Santos to get a chance to do so, and I'd honestly be surprised if Mir makes it out of the first round.

*sigh*

Dos Santos via TKO, Rd. 1 (but I'm rooting hard for you Frank!!!)

MMA and me; day 244

We were back at the triangles on Tuesday, and we worked on a couple new entries. First, from half guard (or full guard, but I liked the half guard variation, so we'll go with that one here) you pummel in for the under hook on the same side as your half guard, like we always do. When they inevitably re-pummel for an under hook of their own, pin their elbow in tight for an entangled arm. Shrimp your hips out behind you to help drop their elbow in front of your top side hip, and bring your top side foot up to their hip, with the toes in and the pressure on the blade of your foot on their hip. With your hand that has their arm entangled, reach up and hang on the back of their neck, while posting up on your other arm. Quickly shuck their head away from their body, which forces them to post on their outside arm, and separates their hands or "opens the gate". From their, swim your bottom side leg through the opening you just created, up around their neck and X your feet behind them. Much like our other triangles, don't try to land it perfectly right away, but instead set it up, then relieve your outside leg to push on their hip, cut an angle, and then get the choke locked in for the finish.

We also worked on another variation from guard which I also liked, because of the back and forth nature of the entry, and the likelihood of being successful due to keeping your opponent guessing and off balance. From full guard with wrist control, shrimp your hips out to the side (the left side for this explanation) and bring your top side knee across their belly. Quickly shrimp back and reverse your hips to the other side, keeping wrist control, and now your top side knee (was just your bottom side knee) will be over the top of your opponents left arm, the shin digging into the elbow pit. Keeping their arms pulled into you, straighten out your top side leg over their back to X your legs behind their head, and you are right back into your entry to the triangle, and you can go through your checklist.

I'm really starting to understand the triangle better, and I am still hoping to land one in competition. It's not my strong suit, so that's why I am very glad we are working on them. Another great day in the gym, and I can't wait for tonight!

MMA and me; day 241/242/243

Kind of an odd week for me, gym-wise. Still doing the hot yoga at 6am (wheee) and with guys having fights tomorrow, we've been focusing mostly on getting them ready. So I'm just going to briefly summarize Tu-Th.

Tuesday was just a whole lotta grappling with Seth and Walid. We basically shark tanked them for an hour, and it was pretty awesome!

Wednesday we did some grappling with puffies and gloves and punches. Everything was going great until I got my ribs smooshed, Nothing hurt, but it put me out for the rest of the day. We covered two new entries for triangles. One from half guard, and one from a kimura/sweep attempt from full guard. We only briefly covered these, so after a full class on them, I will go into more detail. I REALLY like the half guard entry.

Yesterday was more triangle revision. Working on our checklists, boots on, cut an angle, top leg across the back of their neck, under the arm, then leg, then body, elevate your hips. It was nice to go over the basics, since triangles are not my strong suit.

No fighter training for me, due to just wanting a chill week after the tournament. Arlington is in six weeks though, and it is going to be back to the grindstone soon. Until then, time for our boys Seth, Speedy, and Walid to do some work!!!

MMA and me; day 240

Back in the gym on Monday ( I know it's Thursday now, we'll get caught up by the end of the day, YEESH!) and we were back at the triangle. Actually, first we talked at length about the tournament over the weekend, how everyone did, and how we were improving as a team. We then go into a new triangle entry, from side control or high judo. Press down on the far side arm  and try to separate their hands. If they're not coming apart, use your top side knee to press down on their near side bicep and pin it under your shin. Take care not to get your hips too high, or you'll get rolled over. From here, step the same leg, all the way over their head, and tuck your heel into the crook of their neck and shoulder. Adjust your chest so your head is closer to their hip, as opposed to perpendicular to their chest, and slide your leg under their head. It's important to make sure you adjusted your chest, and that the heel was as tight in to their neck/shoulder, or your leg will slide off the back of their head. As it gets in tight, lock your other leg's knee pit over the ankle of the leg under the head, put your boots on, and squeeze your knees together until they tap. You also have their far side arm to work with for kimuras, muscle locks, straight arm locks. You also can work with their near side arm for an arm bar if you didn't manage to separate their hands. You keep it pinned against your chest with a rear naked choke grip, and as you lean over their body, arch your back, until they tap.

It was a nice relaxing class, with a new entry for the triangle, and reflecting on the weekend. Can't wait for Seth, Speedy, and Walid's fights this weekend, going to be great!

MMA and me; day 238/239

In all my excitedness about getting ready for my tournament, I forgot to post the last two days at the gym! Whoops. Ah well, it just means it's another double dose Monday. So at AMMA on Wednesday, we continued to work on the triangle, and introduced a new entry; from back mount. So with both hooks in, and a seat belt grip (for this I'll be describing it from left over/right under seat belt) , you can either grab their left wrist with your right, and pummel your left hand under their left arm pit to grab the same wrist for a paddle grip, OR you can reach across their neck with the left hand and grab their right shoulder, while really digging your right under hook in and hoisting their right arm up. From here, you want to do your best to scoot your hips around to their right side, while maintaining the paddle grip, or the cross grip/under hook. You don't just want to scoot your hips around, it is also important to get your hips out wide from their body, just a bit. From here, you hoist their right arm straight up, relieve your left hook, and snake your right leg straight up across their chest, and over their left shoulder, throwing your left leg over their right (BOOT ON!). Here it gets a little different from a traditional triangle. You can still pinch the knees to assist for the finish, but pulling the head will not help. In fact, pulling the head relieves pressure. So what you want to do, is push their head sideways, which pinches their carotid artery into the shin of your right leg, and will help get the tap.

After drilling the triangle, I rolled with Corby for a bit, and man, that is one tough mofo. He got me out of my zone, and off my game. It's very important to recognize when your opponent is trying to force a pace, or style, and not falling into it. After relaxing a bit, and talking with Coach Wise, I saw the mistakes I was making, and adjusted accordingly. Thank you Coach, Corby, and Danny for helping out, I know it had an impact.

Thursday we revisited all of the triangles we had covered this week. From guard peacocking the wrists, and shoving a hand in between the legs, from mount, and from back mount. We drilled these one at a time methodically, and then rapid fire, one after another.We spent a little more time on the triangle from back mount, since that was new to most of us, but just kept focused on the basics of the triangle. Don't go for the perfect triangle right away, cross your feet in an X first, relieve a leg to push off of a hip and create an angle, go through your steps of under hooks (arm, leg body), pull down on the head if necessary, left your hips. I am still trying to get my triangle better, and with improved flexibility, and attention to detail, it will get there.

Fighters training was non stop grappling, going hard, and continuously. For an hour plus, I rolled with just about every body in the gym, and at the very end, was choked unconscious by Coach. It was on so quick, and pinching both carotids so tightly, that I didn't even have time to tap. Thankfully, it wasn't for very long, and it's something that isn't too scary. Very discombobulating though. Sorry for scaring you Coach, I will be better about tapping sooner!

In other news, the Lockflow Submission Challenge was hosted by our gym, and we had a number of standouts. Brent and Alvin made it to the finals and faced off against each other. Brent snagged the submission win in a great match. Hannah simply dominated her division for the first place finish. Corby put on an amazing performance and took second. Jayce, Jackson, Elijah, and Kirk all had solid days, and though they didn't take home medals, had very impressive showings. Batman had the most ridiculous day. Had a draw, then a loss, then engaged in a 42 minute endurance match before finally snagging the win to get to the finals, then got the win and first place! Seth had a heck of a day. Getting six subs in his first two matches, and losing a very close match to a man with a number of amateur fights and one pro fight under his belt. He was a little ticked, but we all know he's the man! Btw, Seth is fighting this Saturday, so if you want to see the coming out of a very impressive heavyweight fighter, let me know, he's a beast! Oh yeah, I won my division! Two matches, four subs, under four minutes. I'm setting my sights on Arlington next, so a short break, and then it's eyes on the prize!

SO proud of my teammates and my gym. We had a very strong showing, and we're only going to get better.

MMA and me; day 237

We continued our journey into the art of the triangle yesterday, and we started off by revisiting the basic tenets of the submission. Most importantly, once you get a leg up and over their shoulder, push off their hip with your other leg to help cut an angle so you can get that leg straight across the back of their neck, get your boot on of the leg across the back of their neck, throw your other leg over the ankle of the "boot on leg" (keep the boot on!) and then from there go through the sequence of under hooks until you get the tap, near arm, near leg, S grip under the body.

We moved on to working on the triangle from mount, and I really liked this one. Our first option had us getting the triangle from our guard, and if they chose to defend that by stacking you up on your shoulders, you can roll them over into a mounted triangle. The other entry was from mount, and you press both hands on one of their arms, moving back and forth in an effort to separate them. As you break their grip, pin (we'll go with the left here) their left arm to the mat, and quickly bring your right leg up to an S mount type position. The beauty of this position, is that even if they do not reach under the left leg and give you the mounted triangle, they will usually push on your hips, giving you an arm bar! If they reach under the S mount leg, slide your left knee up to their arm pit, reach under their head with your left arm and pull it up, as you flick your right leg underneath their head. From here, depending on your flexibility, you can either roll over your right shoulder into a traditional triangle (go through that checklist!) or bring your left leg around over the ankle of the right leg, keeping the boot on with the left foot, and then sit back and twist your hips, keeping that right knee on the ground, much like the elbow in an arm triangle, until they tap. Great class, thanks to Danny and Riley for all your help with the mounted triangle!

In fighters training, I had to sit out for a bit due to some muscle cramps. Side note, I need to be better about replenishing my body after hot yoga. Lots of water is not enough!! We started with the medicine balls above our heads for five minutes, went into some jogging and then knee push ups over the medicine balls, sprawl drills on the balls, and then a long sequence of ground and pound on the kick shields. 1-2 combos, donkey kong punches, Sakuraba chops, hammer fists, transitions, it was great. We finished with a good long grappling session, and called it a night. Wonderful day at the gym, and I also had day 2 of hot yoga early in the morning! I'M LOVING IT!!!

MMA and me; day 236

We have now moved on to an are where I know I need work, TRIANGLES!!! YAY!!!!! We worked on two different entries, from the guard, and from the mount. From guard, keep it closed, and grab both of their wrists, thumb on the underside, and keeping them firm. From there you have some options, we worked on pea cocking (spreading them out wide) and pulling them in tight, throwing the right leg up and over their left shoulder, crossing your left leg over it, in an X on their back. From there, relieve your left leg and put your left foot on their right hip, and push yourself all the way over to 9 'o clock (going off of your head beginning at 12). If you don't get all the way over, use your left leg on the mat as a stabilizer to scoot your self the rest of the way. Keep your right foot's boot on, and make sure it is straight across the back of the neck. From here you could potentially get a submission, as the main components to the choke are already in place, but we'll get to that later and keep it simple for now. Keeping your right boot on, throw your left leg over your ankle. Do not let the right foot sag and slide your leg over, keep the boot on, and drop your left heel over to sink your left knee pit over your right ankle. At this point, you have a sequence of places you can go with your near side under hook to tighten things up. Start by going under the near arm with a thai clinch grip, then proceed to under the near leg, and then if they still are not tapping, you can go under the body and really get a squeeze. With your legs, all you really need to do is press with the leg over their neck, pinch your knees together, and elevate your hips. All these things in conjunction will get the tap far before you have to go through the under hook sequence.

From the mount, scoot your hips up to a high mount, and sit your right leg out as if to move to S mount. Quite frequently, they will reach under it with their left arm, which just begs you to triangle them. Bring your left knee up into their arm pit, and slide your right leg under their head. If you can't just slide it in, pull the head up to create space. As you slide the leg under the head, roll to the right, across your shoulders, and you end up with your feet crossed in an X on their back, much like after pea cocking the hands from the guard. From here, simply go through the checklist step by step, and finish the sub. Got a good amount of grappling in after class, and was just dead tired after. I started hot yoga yesterday, and while it is going to pay off in the long run, it made for a tired boy by days end. Great day, and an excellent way to start the week!

MMA and me; day 235

As I got to the gym, I jumped right into class and we started working on kicks, and combos using kicks with the taekwondo pads. We began by throwing low 9s and 10s, going back and forth,  then we started with a simple spinning back fist into a superman punch. We then began stacking kicks in front of the combo, starting with a low 10, into the punches. Next we doubled up on the low 10 (staying in place), and finished with the punches. We then worked on throwing hooks from a bent at the waist off to the side position, and then throwing a kick to the head of mid section from the exact same position. The purpose here is to disguise the strike so your opponent doesn't know which is coming. Begin both from the same position, and hide what you are doing until the last possible second. We then moved on to a butterfly kick, where you start off at an angle, step your rear leg forward, back spin while bringing your other leg up and around like a pitcher in baseball, opening your hips and almost leaping into a low 10. You land in a position off to an angle on the other side of their body, where you can go right into a low 9. Excellent class, and we jumped right into the next!

Fighter training was a whole lot of grappling. We first had a few sparring rounds, and I coached Hannah, and Alvin, and they did quite well. We then had many grappling matches, and I was very proud of all of my teammates. I did pretty good, until an accidental knee to the ribcage ended my night. Nothing hurt, just flared up an old injury, but I am feeling good today, and can't wait to get back to it tonight! Last week before the tournament, lets put that work in!

MMA and me; day 234

On Wednesday, we did some more work on defending arm triangles, and also drilling the counter to the defense of arm triangles. So we covered the same things from Monday, answering the phone, and then the counters to those, We also worked on going a step further than answering the phone. As you bring your hand to the side of your head, turn hard into your opponent, driving your face past your own arm, (coach calls this breaking your own nose) and pushing your arm past their head to the mat. From here you can lock up an arm triangle of your own and roll hard in the other direction to roll them over your body and end in a position to finish the submission. We also drilled the opening to the arm triangle from mount. Pushing the arm across, as you swim your other arm underneath it to the mat right next to their head. Back and forth on each side, making sure to get your elbow in tight against the neck, and pushing their arm across their chest and holding it in place with your own chest and dropping your head to the mat. It also makes it easier to help hold their arm in place if you keep your C block on the elbow while dropping your chest on it, and not pulling it out until your head is on the mat. We finished with a solid 15+ minutes of grappling, and called it a night.

MMA and me; day 232/233

Man, where does the time go? Last Thursday, we went over our list of ten arm triangles with a partner for most of the class, drilling position and pressure, making sure to keep the elbow under the head on the mat, and tiptoeing the knees around the head to really tighten up the choke. In fighters training I cornered Reagan, Jayce, Brent, Corby, and Elijah in sparring rounds, and then we moved on to grappling for the last half hour.

Monday, I got to the gym late because of work, so I only got a little bit of technique, but thankfully it was stuff I need to work on; defending the arm triangle, and counters to that defense. SO the usual defense is called answering the phone. Take the hand that is on the same side of the body that your opponent is on, and reach back to the back of your head, as though you were answering a phone, This helps create space, and gives you extra time to continue escaping. From there, you need to turn hard, into your opponent, in a move we lovingly call "breaking your own nose" as you are driving it past your bicep, and it is very much not comfortable. Another wrinkle to this, is taking your "phone answering arm off the back of your head, and attempting to straighten it out as you turn, to get it out and around their head, all the way to the mat. From this point, you are clear of any submission danger, and are in great position to take their back.

I mentioned a couple of counters to the defense, and here they are. As they go to answer the phone, reach under their head with your outside arm, and grab their wrist. Pull it as far over your head as you can, and if they haven't tapped by the time you get it to your far shoulder, continue pulling it as you lift your head off the mat, and they will have no choice but to tap. Secondly, if you are having a hard time pulling the hand out from under the head, grab it with your inside hand, around the back of the wrist, and then get your outside hand there as well. While bending the hand in towards you, drive into them with your shoulder that was applying the pressure for the arm triangle, and they will eventually be forced to tap, This does NOT feel good.

We finished with a great chunk of grappling time, and from here on out, it is going to be a lot of wrestling, bjj, and all around grappling practice for me as I get ready for my tournaments. Time to get it!