King Mo Quote that Applies to Grappling

[Uchi Mata]

'Here's something I do, and I've been doing it for a while. I wear head gear and I wear a good mouthpiece. I work my defense...that's how I work my sparring. I work my defense and counterpunching. I handicap myself. I don't try to make every sparring session a "fight." Some guys go in there like, ‘My goal is to win sparring.' Not my goal. My goal is to go out there and improve. So it's like, ‘Today I'll go work on my jab. Today I'm going to work on my uppercut. I'm gonna work on my single leg.' That's how I handicap myself.

I don't go out there to battle. I used to when I first started. I'd be like, ‘I'm gonna go and knock this dude out in training.' I started realizing that it was stupid to think like that because people aren't going to want to train with me, and that hurts my money, and somebody will eventually catch me on that and knock me out. I thought, ‘You know what? I'm gonna be smart.'

I thought this showed a lot of wisdom on Mo's part, and it's something that not enough people do in sparring, especially against lower belts. Crushing people you can crush is worthless. Doing the same stuff every day to the same people you train with all the time gets worthless pretty fast (talking about day to day training, not peaking for competition). My rolling got a lot more effective when I started focusing on working specific things, connected my rolling to my drilling and positional sparring, even though it meant I didn't get as many taps as I would if I just played my A game all the time. Thoughts?

 

[klnOmega]

Its the best way to train. I'll let smaller and newer guys get guard passes and good position on me all the time. If I wanted to, I could create space immediately and scramble and shut down all their passes, but I need to work escaping from bad positions as well, and that will never happen if I just crush my partners.

 

[devante]

yeah mo is a very methodical and forward thinking guy when it comes to training, fighting; i know him personally and have scouted opponents for him, broke down video for him and gameplans for him. An he has said something very similar to me regarding his training, both his and the training of guys around him, guys who practice martial arts period. Very smart guy..in all realms, he just plays dumb; but very smart guy...you ever have the chance to talk combat sports w/him..i suggest you take it.

 

[devante]

on another note, you can get better vs anyone; your inability to develop or improve is limited by ego or your lack of creativity in your training. All coaches i have met, an usually good fighters take this stance; if you can't find something to work on its a lack in your thought process or your ego. Obv you need better guys for competitions etc..but even lesser guys can help you improve if you have the right frame of mind

 

[Uchi Mata]

yeah mo is a very methodical and forward thinking guy when it comes to training, fighting; i know him personally and have scouted opponents for him, broke down video for him and gameplans for him. An he has said something very similar to me regarding his training, both his and the training of guys around him, guys who practice martial arts period. Very smart guy..in all realms, he just plays dumb; but very smart guy...you ever have the chance to talk combat sports w/him..i suggest you take it.

Why does he play dumb? Quinton Jackson did/does that too, I always wondered if it wasn't a racial thing, as if they thought they had to play the dumb black thug as part of the fight game. I hope that's not the case.

 

[DrJitsu]

I totally agree. I kind of feel like I have three different type of rolls:

1. the guy is way better than me and we both know it - here I work my A-game, which is always evolving- but I do feel like here I'm kind of rolling to "win". I use these rolls as measuring sticks for my progression.

2. the guy is better than me and we roll a lot- we are training partners: I have a couple guys like this and even though we both know they are way better than I am, I feel like neither of us really play our A game because it gets boring and we both know the outcome. We tend to work something in particular that we work out before starting.

3. everyone else- I usually have something in mind that I want to work on everyone else. I'll handicap myself in a particular way, work a position I feel particularly weak in, go for weird/interesting stuff. And the thing I pick usually depends on the guy. For example, I'm smaller and there are some people on some days I just don't want on top of me. I usually don't disclose what I'm doing to the guy before we start.

For me, this approach has kept jiu jitsu really fun and interesting and I always feel like I'm improving.

 

[devante]

Why does he play dumb? Quinton Jackson did/does that too, I always wondered if it wasn't a racial thing, as if they thought they had to play the dumb black thug as part of the fight game. I hope that's not the case.

its not...mo lets people think what they want, and won't go out of his way to prove diff; if you approach him or comment towards him like he is dumb..he gonna keep it moving. If you approach or comment giving him the benefit of the doubt or actually listening to what he says and responding in a respectful/intelligent manner, he will show you that in return.

me and him disagree on a bunch of shit...before i really got to know him, but my comments were always respectful and addressing facts..informed opinions; even now we can have pointed conversations, but never disrespectful..always addressing facts/informed opinions. He respected that..many people who disagree w/him start throwing insults instead of addressing him the way you would others, they talk to like him lie he is dumb and he just doesnt care enough to convince you otherwise.

u respect him and come across intelligently, i GUARANTEE you will get that back from him EVERYTIME...

 

[Clinchster]

on another note, you can get better vs anyone; your inability to develop or improve is limited by ego or your lack of creativity in your training. All coaches i have met, an usually good fighters take this stance; if you can't find something to work on its a lack in your thought process or your ego. Obv you need better guys for competitions etc..but even lesser guys can help you improve if you have the right frame of mind

All this and a bag of chips. It took me a lonnng time to get over the fear of getting tapped by someone lower ranking than myself but once I did, hell, I feel like my overall game improved quite a bit....also became more fun! I also think it helps out the lower ranks, when they get close to a sub or land a sweep on someone higher. I think it helps give them that little boost they need before it's back to getting their ass kicked.

 

[devante]

All this and a bag of chips. It took me a lonnng time to get over the fear of getting tapped by someone lower ranking than myself but once I did, hell, I feel like my overall game improved quite a bit....also became more fun! I also think it helps out the lower ranks, when they get close to a sub or land a sweep on someone higher. I think it helps give them that little boost they need before it's back to getting their ass kicked.

lol so true, im rarely the guy who is on the top end of the totem pole; so every little victory means alot, even if it ends up w/me getting put back into a bad position or subbed. The fact i can get something done, MEANS ALOT; clearly it doesn't mean your on their level, but it means your improving in some way..on some level.

 

[selfcritical]

yeah mo is a very methodical and forward thinking guy when it comes to training, fighting; i know him personally and have scouted opponents for him, broke down video for him and gameplans for him. An he has said something very similar to me regarding his training, both his and the training of guys around him, guys who practice martial arts period. Very smart guy..in all realms, he just plays dumb; but very smart guy...you ever have the chance to talk combat sports w/him..i suggest you take it.

Given his athletic credentials and obvious understanding of the game, it always shocks me that Mo hasn't more more consistently successful in MMA

 

[BajaMaliKnindza]

100% agree with this, when i was white, and especially at blue, i used to treat every roll like a comp roll, regardless of if i was better or worse than my partner. Looking back it was a selfish and egotistical way to train, and didnt really help anyone.

Then towards my late blue/early purple career, i had about a 5-6 week plateau where i was rolling like absolute garbage. The harder i tried to actively smash guys and roll hard the worse i rolled.

So then i just decided that i was just gonna flow roll with everyone regardless of rank/ability and work on some stuff that i wasnt good at (omoplatas, and escapes). Well it worked out tremendously, i instantly started to pick up heaps of stuff and started making awesome gains. Just by rolling light and flowing through positions as opposed to using heavy pressure and fighting inch by inch.

You also get injured less rolling this way

i think Clark Gracie said it best he said something along the lines of

"You get to see more of jiu jitsu when you flow through the positions as opposed to locking down and fighting inch by in inch"

I agree 100%

The only time i really play my A game and apply all my presh is in the 2-3 weeks before a comp.

 

[mattemate]

especially against lower belts. Crushing people you can crush is worthless.

Yeah, but when you get top position on good (yet spazzy) whitebelts that were really good high school wrestlers, going heavy knee on belly for four minutes is pretty damn satisfying.