The Flog!

On occasion we have people attending our class from the jiu jitsu school, or whose backgrounds are in other disciplines, specifically to work on judo throws. They may or may not have had any exposure to judo throws before. We cater to their experience and skillsets, body type, and type of tournament they are entering and teach a few judo throws to add to their arsenal. 

Right now, we have a fellow training with us to help prepare for the NAGA world championships in New Jersey at the beginning of April, 2009.  His matches will begin from standing, so his main concern is taking someone to the ground with control and to land on the ground in control. We haven’t much time to work on the throws, so initially we are working on throws he is already familiar with and then will add perhaps another few to the mix which compliment his style.

Francisco has an extensive background in karate (3rd dan), although in recent years he has been doing BJJ. Since he is strong in karate, we are not concerned with outside leg techniques; he’s been doing these for almost fifteen years.

The start position for these matches is standing and, not unlike Greco-Roman wrestling matches, the competitors tend to bend from the waist, keeping their hips/legs away from each other while keeping their heads close together.  It seems that the most common strategy is for them to simply pull guard as soon as possible.

The opponents grasp one another’s gi collar or lapel and sleeve, sometimes both sleeves at the wrist. Since they are bent forward to begin with, we are working on throws that put the opponent off-balance even further, pulling him forward or attacking at awkward or unexpected angles.

Our philosophy is to win by throwing and acquiring a dominant top position, then maintaining that position while working toward a submission via choke or lock.  Check out the book Mixed Martial Arts Unleashed for an in-depth explanation as to why we feel this is best - we don’t have room in this article!

First off is seoi nage, which Francisco already knows. We are doing a variation on ippon seoi nage, one in which his back is exposed for as short a time as possible, but still allows him to control his opponent in the forward direction. He can do this from standing or dropping to his knees. He can either drop deeply between his opponent’s legs and throw forward, or move farther outside, such that he is on his knees well to the right of the opponent and then the throw is at an angle of about 90 degrees.  He still has a tight grip on the lapel or collar and the sleeve. As soon as he drops to his knees, he angles his right shoulder to the mat: this manoeuvre makes the throw very fast and powerful and also enables the opponent to roll without drilling his head into the floor.  Since he still has control of the lapel and sleeve, he can move quickly into a hold of some kind.  We’ve also added a number of simple entries to this throw for him that involve combinations and action/reaction sequences in order to make the throw more likely to succeed.

Francisco has also used tomoe nage with good success, so we are again doing a variation of tomoe nage, but having Francisco end up on top, in the superior position. Tomoe nage is the high circle throw, in which you drop to your back while placing your foot beside your opponent’s hip or in their stomach. In the movies, you see this done with a powerful leg extension, propelling the opponent up and a long way away from the thrower.  Since we want to stay attached and wind up on top, we’ve modified this so that the leg doesn’t really kick him or even straighten out; it is used to direct him up and over. The arms are more instrumental in the direction. In Francisco’s case, we are also working on hooking the opponent’s leg either with Francisco’s hand or free leg, so that as his opponent goes over, Francisco stays attached to him, rolls with him, and lands on top.

Tawara gaeshi and sumi gaeshi can be executed the same way: as your opponent goes over your head, hook his leg with either your own leg or your arm (or hand), so that you remain attached and go over as well. You will end up on top of him and can immediately go into a groundhold.

There is also yoko tomoe nage, side high circle throw: You use your outside leg, (assuming you are holding one of your opponent’s arms, the outside leg would be the leg further away from him) planting your foot sideways onto his stomach. At the same time, you drop to your back, twisting such that you are about ninety degrees to his body. You can throw your opponent to one side of your body or the other depending on how much he is fighting the throw and/or how deeply you manage to get under him – either way allows you to end up on top.

Another throw which lends itself well to this starting technique of heads close together is a variation of o soto gari, sort of a combination o soto gari and koshi guruma - o soto gari’s leg movement and koshi guruma’s arm placement. If you’re doing a right-sided version, give your opponent a slight jolt to his right, causing him to try to straighten up, then go in at an angle while wrapping your right arm around his shoulders and your left hand tightly grasping his right sleeve. Sweep out his far leg with your right leg and go down to the ground with him.  He’s already in a groundhold when he lands.

 We have also worked on sasae tsurikomi ashi, propping drawing ankle throw: you grasp your opponent’s lapel with your right hand in order to lift his torso, while simultaneously blocking his right ankle and pulling the right sleeve horizontally to the left. As he falls, move your right arm around his shoulders and go to the ground with him. Change the grip on his sleeve as well. You will be in a groundhold (kesa gatame) right away.

Although Francisco has had experience with a few judo throws, non-judo practitioners can pick up these variations of judo throws and handily use them when needed. For videos of judo throws with gi, go to the Traditional Judo section of this website; videos of no-gi judo throws may be found in the Judo for MMA section of this site.

Click here to go to Judo Throws for the Non-Judo Practitioner - Pt 2

ayjay

March 13, 2009

I hope everyone got to see UFC 94 – St-Pierre versus Penn 2 last night: we saw probably the best UFC night that I can remember. Wow, there are some talented guys out there. This time around, no one seemed injured or lethargic and no one backtracked in order to avoid connection. The fights were evenly matched, too.

Nate Diaz versus Clay Guida- Here we had a brown belt BJJ guy (Diaz) with an eight inch reach advantage against a champion wrestler who loves takedowns.

Guida was amazing in round 1: He controlled the stand-up, managed a te guruma (hand wheel) to take Diaz down and applied a neck crush (Full Nelson) which looked deadly.

Round 2 had Diaz finding his reach and connecting, but Guida still dominated, holding Diaz around the torso. Guida attempted another te guruma. Diaz took Guida down with harai goshi a couple of times, but Guida did not let go of his hold.

Round 3 had Diaz doing a little showboating (annoying) and he connected with far more punches, did another harai goshi for a takedown, but Guida stayed attached. Guida, himself, managed a couple of takedowns.

For a little guy, Guida is tough, persistent and talented. Guida, by split decision.

In the Karo Parisyan versus Dong Hyun Kim fight, we had two top judokas competing. We expected to see lots of throws and perhaps some submission attempts. Parisyan did attempt an armbar which he seemed to have on for a long time, but Kim managed to get out, even with the armbar on. Parisyan also threw Kim with an harai goshi in the second round and got side control. There were lots of kicks and punches, mostly by Kim. One punch came to Parisyan’s face while Kim was on his back – very strong and impressive.

Kim had lots of techniques which were surprising from a judoka, but then we heard that he is a top MMA guy in Korea. He was lots of fun to watch.

In round three, Parisyan had Kim in his guard and kicked Kim in the face, causing him to lose a point.

Parisyan won the match by split decision, but Kim was great, and the winner, in my humble opinion.

Stephan Bonnar versus Jon Jones: Jones is a twenty-one year old, with only his third night of professional fights, against Bonnar, who is 31 and very experienced. Most of Jones’s fights had ended by knock-out, so I was unsure of his cardio should this go the full three rounds. In round one, Jones kicked, used knees, took Bonnar down with sasae tsurikomi ashi, did a frightening suplex, a spinning back elbow, knocking Bonnar down, and a knee to the chin. Whew.

Round 2 had Jones doing a spinning back kick, ending in his being in Bonnar’s half-guard, but still in control. There were some great throws.

Round 3 had Bonnar applying some nice punches. Jones ended up in Bonnar’s guard again, but applied some knees to Bonnar’s body. As expected round 3 was slower on both guys’ parts, with neither winning the round.

Jones by unanimous decision. This guy has potential and was thrilling to watch early on in the fight.

The co-fight of the night starred Lyoto Machida and Thiago Silva, both undefeated at 13-0.  Machida’s fighting style is different from most: he is a karate guy, stands quite tall, slightly angling his upper torso backward. He tends to walk backward and when the time is right, comes in for the quick punch or kick. His opponents end up following him around the ring. Unlike a fight we saw last year in which the back peddler was avoiding contact completely, Machida really does go after the other guy, but in his own fashion. Silva is a striker and ground and pound guy, with nine of his thirteen fights ending in the first round. This should prove to be fun.

Silva, as expected, followed Machida around the octagon. Machida would step in and kick, back up, step in and punch, back up, and more of the same. He was in control and Silva accomplished virtually nothing. At the end of the round, Machida took Silva down with a nice sweep. While Silva was on his back, Machida jumped forward into the guard and threw a punch at Silva’s head. Silva’s head had nowhere to go. He was out. KO of the night at 4:59 of the round.

The other co-fight of the night was Georges St-Pierre versus B. J. Penn. GSP is famous for his takedowns, managing 75% of his attempts and Penn is known for landing 61% of his lead jabs, as well as being incredibly flexible. GSP is a karate guy, with BJJ and wrestling thrown into the mix; Penn is a world champion jiu jitsu guy.  I have been looking forward to this fight.

Dave and Mike thought GSP would win by KO in round 1 and Malcolm suggested round four. I have no luck with this sort of thing, so didn’t guess.

Round one had the guys in the clinch up against the fence with knees applied by both. GSP tried take downs, but Penn avoided them nicely. GSP dominated the round.

Round two started with both men punching and connecting. GSP took Penn down and while in his guard, applied elbows, two big punches while in the half-guard and then got side control. He then struck knees to the body and punches to the head. Penn suffered a cut under the left eye.

Round three had GSP’s striking, Penn’s nose bleeding, GSP’s taking Penn down, moving from half guard to full guard, basically going wherever he wanted and doing whatever he wanted. He threw elbows and punches. Penn tried to get up and then tried to take GSP down, but really, GSP controlled everything.

Round four was more of the same: GSP did not let up, punched and elbowed Penn so many times. I want to count them just to see how many were applied. It was astounding. Since Penn moved his head and then moved his legs, the referee didn’t stop the fight, but someone should have. Penn’s corner should have thrown in the towel. During the break, the doctor came to look at Penn and asked if he knew where he was. Penn’s brother said the fight was over.

Joe Rogan blamed part of the decimation of B. J. Penn on his fighting outside his comfortable and natural weight, that he is a natural 155-er and shouldn’t be fighting at welterweight; however, Penn has fought everywhere from lightweight to heavyweight before and tends to go to whatever weight class he wants to win in. He wanted the belt and he wanted to vanquish his previous loss against St-Pierre. No one forced him to do anything.

Georges St-Pierre looked fantastic in this fight, in excellent shape physically, and in complete and utter control.  UFC 94 – S-Pierre versus Penn 2 was certainly worth the money. Fight of the Night.

ayjay

February 1, 2009

Since one of the members of the Hamilton School of Martial Arts was to fight at the Nationals of the Muay Thai/Kickboxing Championships, we opted to go see him live versus watching Emelianenko and Arlovski on PPV. Adam Hensen is a very talented, hard-working, guy. Two years ago, he earned a gold medal in the Jiu Jitsu Worlds in England. (He attended with the Canadian team, coached by Mickey Dimic of the The Hamilton School of Martial Arts; the Canadian team won the team silver.) He has won many events since. We figured we’d show support to someone Dave and Mike knew and had worked out with.

We also got there early enough that we had seats in the third row, ideal for hearing as well as seeing (my being a shrimp) what was happening. Seating is always an experience: in this case, we were in front of members of a team, so we heard specific comments about fighters and abilities as well as fighting instructions from them to the fighters. The best shouts were, “Go Mommy! Go!”, directed to Dagmar Glasser in her fight against Sarah Newman. How often do you hear that?

 All fights were three two-minute rounds and varied from straight kickboxing to muay thai, without elbow strikes. All fighters wore headgear, boxing gloves, shin guards and foot guards.

There were no knock-outs, and all went to decision. The fights were all exciting: we had two womens’ fights and seven mens’. The womens’ fights had the excitement of Gina Carano’s matches. People DO like to see if the women have the same ability to strike as men.  Since I knew no one competing other than Adam, I tended to favour the people who had travelled a long way to attend and had few supporters. In the fight between Theodora Pistiolis and Danika Ellis, I was inwardly cheering for Danika as she was from Nova Scotia and Theodora was in her hometown. Danika gave Theodora an injury on her left cheek which required medical attention, but in the end, Theodora dominated.

Ryan Burgess, from Danika’s club was against Sylwester Organka of a Mississauga club. Organka won this match, but Burgess made him work for it, not giving up and landing some solid punches.

The next fight was again between someone from Nova Scotia, Micky Marshall, and Nenad Cvejic of Mississauga. What an exciting match, with both guys evenly matched and expending so much energy for the entire time! Marshall won, not taking anything from Cvejic, and I think this was the fight of the night.

Adam Hensen handily won his muay thai match against Patrick Pytlik in a unanimous decision. Wow, Adam’s good. When he had Patrick in the clinch, he was in control, with some devastating knees.

The above-mentioned Dagmar Glasser lost her match against Sarah Newman of the local Burlington club, with Newman having a height and reach advantage over the far shorter Glasser. Marco Capobianco’s (Burlington) match against Brian Cortu (Brockville) was again thrilling. Capobianco had high kicks and superior skills, but Cortu did not give up and fought through the full six minutes.

Next came the heavyweights, Robbie Wiseman, about 95 kilos, from Newfoundland (I should cheer for him) versus Sandy Pembroke, 108 kilos, from British Columbia. Wait a minute! They’re from the opposite sides of the country. Who do I cheer for now?  These guys put on a show. What a lot of energy from huge guys. There were a couple of moments when Sandy looked pooped (he had a bad nosebleed and a cut on the head), but then he came back. Wiseman won the match, but not easily.

The lightweights came next: Ross Mylet from the local Burlington club versus Derek Charbonneau from Hanover, Ontario, about two hours’ drive away. The Energizer bunny had nothing on these guys: Mylet was fantastic with high kicks and so much energy. A unanimous decision in his favour.

The last match of the night was between Brian Dickson of the Burlington club and Headley Hinds of the Mississauga club. Hinds tended to have his hands too low and yet would move forward. He seemed to get angry when Dickson clocked him and then would press the issue, still with his hands too low. Dickson backed up a lot, but he made some nice connections both with punches and kicks. Dickson got the win.

This was a very fun night and certainly worth the price of admittance. Live fights have an energy that you certainly can’t get from watching television in your living room. We’re very happy for Adam and congratulate all the participants.

ayjay

January 25, 2009

Over the last several weeks this topic has been ruminating in the back of my brain, partially because of a comment on judoforum after someone had accessed our brand new website.  This person who was a black belt in judo reacted in a somewhat negative way to our site: he stated that instead of showing judo going to MMA, it should be the other way around, i.e. MMA going to judo. This, of course, is not practical, or reasonable: mixed martial artists are by definition combining skills from multiple martial arts.  They would not go from many to one, unless that one (in this case, judo) were the martial art they started from.

Our club has always had an amalgam of other martial arts: Our previous sempai and sensei had interests ranging from wrestling to aikido. Chris Miller, whom you can see in a number of our videos, practiced kendo for several years. A few years ago, Chris’s wife, Hyekyong, was a member of our class. Her background is in hapkido. Dave practiced the jo for many years and is picking it up again.  We had a Korean fellow in our class for a few months who taught us the basics of taekwondo. We’ve all been to jiu jitsu clubs. Perhaps because of our exposure to these other disciplines, we are more apt to discard the judogi and apply our skills to mixed martial arts.

That does not mean that we have abandoned traditional judo. In fact, to advance in our club, no matter the judoka’s previous experience, he or she must follow the curriculum. If people are keen to learn judo and obtain the higher belts, then they must come to the requisite number of classes and be tested for each belt in succession.

If the class members are not interested in traditional judo on a particular day, we are fine with that as well. We teach and re-teach some traditional judo always, though. Breakfalls are crucial. Many people have come into our dojo saying they know breakfalls and that is definitely not the case. Throws and other techniques are taught the traditional way; however, non-traditional methods are also taught.

If a judo club teaches mostly sport judo, then the traditional judo is essential. The judoka who participate in tournaments must all have the same backgrounds in order to compete in the matches. Other than one person in our wee club, we do not compete. We get together to have fun, learn new techniques and practice old ones.

We rarely bow before the dojo or call Dave, “Sensei”, although we used to do both in our old club at Dalewood. I suspect this comes from two years in the Mouse Room. We have no set rules about judogi. If someone wants to come to class and has no gi or a white jiu jitsu top and black pants or any other variation, we’re OK with that. I’m sure that comment will grate on all those in judo-land who are fanatics about white gis (you know who you are). The point of our club is not to wear a certain garment, but to learn and participate. Eventually people serious about working on judo obtain judogi because they are hardy clothes and appropriate for judo techniques. We can show respect to Dave without bowing and calling him, “Sensei”. We can show respect to the dojo without bowing in and out. We do bow before randori or ne waza matches, though.

I’m not certain why North Americans and Europeans feel a need to be so Japanese and so traditional in their attitude in judo.  Judo really has not been around very long – 127 years – and yet we treat it and Jigoro Kano with a reverence that’s stifling. If judo is to continue, we must broaden our approach, let other ideas in, basically evolve the martial art. We can take the best of judo and use it in other areas, other disciplines. Traditional boxing is going the way of the dinosaur, being incorporated into mixed martial arts. I think that judo is far more complex than boxing and has far more to offer mixed martial artists; however, judo clubs must loosen the rules a bit. Even the English language adds new words continually; although some are stupid (e.g. “meh”), others embrace changing technologies and workplace situations (e.g. “upskill” – to learn new skills).

You know the old definition of tradition without change? It’s constipation. Change without tradition is not any better. It’s diarrhea. We are proposing to meld traditional judo into a non-traditional sport, that of mixed martial arts, using the best of both.

ayjay

January 6, 2008