SLC MMAExploring MMA and Jujitsu in Salt Lake City Utah

Happy Halloween 2011!Filed Under: Rantings

Hope you guys enjoy your trick or treating, pumpkins, and dress up.  Don’t eat too much candy.

Tags: holidays

ABC’s of MMA – Table TheoryFiled Under: Instruction, Rantings

When I first started grappling, I heard the word “base” a million times but couldn’t really define it.  I remember Sensei Valladares judo-throwing me to the ground like a sack of potatoes and telling me, “You need better root – stronger base.” I totally agreed – but really had no way of acting on the advice, since the whole notion of base was nebulous.

At length, I finally got what everyone was talking about.  My hope is that with a few visuals, beginning students don’t have to struggle like I did. My intention is give them some thinking tools to demystify groundfighting and the structures they see.  Below are two videos I shot in my spartan home-gym/dungeon while going over some wrestling with my friend John Ares. Certainly, I’m no a master, but I found this type of explanation to help me out a good deal.

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More to come.

Tags: ABC's of MMA, base, grappling, structure

Fall Break 2011 RoundupFiled Under: Rantings

Many students, such as myself, are vacationing heartily on fall break. If you’re not wasting time as effectively as I am – perhaps you have a real job/kids/responsibility – you can make up for it by watching these videos below.  Happy fall break.

Tags: Ameri Do Te, bas rutten

Working the Cage in MMA October roundupFiled Under: Instruction, Local

Today I was drilling some basic pummelling while being pushed onto the cage wall and wanted to provide some video resources about fighting off the cage, or using the cage to one’s advantage. Pay special attention to how the fighters use their balance, grips and base (hips, legs, and foot placement) to achieve their results.

Click through the pictures to see the videos.

Razor Rob shows how to nerf (obviate) the underhook when being pushed up against the cage and perform a sit-down takedown to get into side control.

Our local Brandon Ruiz shows some cage work defense with two techniques: a chest punch to get back your underhook and a slick two-on-one (controlling their two arms with one of yours) control to get your back off the cage.

UFC champ Frankie Edgar shows how to cut off the movement of your opponent and keep them on the cage with this drill.

Adam “Soul Horse” Song from Cageside MMA shows the proper base and pressuring technique to keep your opponent on the wall. He also demonstrates how to knee, footstomp, etc from this position. The discussion of how to base is brief, but essential.

Revolution MMA’s Joel Gerson shows a foot-sweep type move that exploits the opponent’s balance and base.

A couple of guys from ProFightNetwork show a knee catch takedown from the cage – keep that head tucked! – and then follow up with some excellent instruction on ground and pound.

Kenny Florian shows defense against ground and pound by securing a grip (two on one is great) and then wall walking back to his feet.  The move is related to a turkish getup.

Kevin Kearns (Burn with Kearns!) and Marcus Davis show a similar drill, the cage crush, that help you work getting back to your feet. Bosu ball used for resistance.

Another local man, Brian Yamasaki from DamageControl MMA has his wrestling buddy, Dave Seljestad show a single leg takedown when you’re pressing your opponent up to the cage.

Some guys from The Pit show various techniques in this long (12 mins) video instruction, including tips on finishing the double leg takedown while pushing your opponent onto the fence.

Brad Daddis shows how you can escape side control by walking your feet up the cage and rolling your opponent over. Pretty slick move.

Let me know if your thoughts – I learned a ton from these vids and would love to learn what you might have to offer too!

Tags: Brandon Ruiz, Brian Yamasaki, cage work, fighting off the cage, frankie edgar, Kenny Florian, takedowns, using the fence

ABC’s of MMAFiled Under: Instruction, Resources

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The ABC’s of MMA has been a pet project of mine for quite some time. The idea was to construct a manageable curriculum for my students up at the U to be able to quickly gain their bearing in the sea of mixed martial arts techniques.  I worked with my instructors and friends to narrow down what I felt were the most basic and useful techniques in MMA. To accompany these techniques, I wanted to codify a variety of warmups and drills I used over the years that help condition the body and strengthen ability to do the moves.

Next, I wanted to systematize it in such a way that it was easy to remember, teach to and track progress on. In essence, the ABC’s of MMA are to help someone develop a workable vocabulary of fighting techniques and training drills. It’s not meant to be everything to everyone; I’m not a guru and don’t know all mastery points for the moves contained therein. However, I think you’ll find it a slick way to organize teaching and learning.

The format of the program defines the three main areas of MMA (striking, grapling and conditioning) and has 3 levels of difficultly for each area.  If a coach thinks X is more important to Y, it’s easy to adapt or insert parts into the 9-cell program.

Below are two PDFs that define  the curriculum and help you keep track of your personal progress. The intent of the checkoff list is for your instructor/coach/mentor to initial each block after you show proficiency.

Explanation of the ABCs of MMA program

Checkoff list for the ABCs of MMA

I’m currently working on fleshing out instructions for each individual move inside the ABCs.  I hope you find the approach laid out here to be useful. If you have any ideas or would like to help, let me know.

Tags: ABC's of MMA, training ideology, u of u