How is Ari Bolden and Submissions 101 fairing?

[seatea]

I was just looking up what a teepee choke was when it was mentioned in another thread. Lo and behold the very first answer Google provided was a 12-year-old video from the Submissions 101 channel! This brought back memories and got me somewhat curious.

Back when I was a Sherdog regular (around 9 to 5 years ago) Ari Bolden was a bete noire of the grappling sub-forum. He was widely mocked for his YouTube instructionals and--IIRC--was regarded as having no standing in the arts he claimed to teach.

How are he and Submissions 101 doing 2020 (outside of the problems all gyms are facing with Covid-19)? Has there been a redemption arc, or has he merely faded from peoples consciousness due to the fact that there are now so many YouTube channels that teach BJJ techniques now?

 

[Bos Docken]

Redemption in the sense that Ari eventually won the respect of the BJJ/MMA community?

No. Submissions 101 is now just one channel among countless others on YouTube. There is so much online instructional content by much more proven competitors and teachers.

Successive generations of BJJ practitioners don't know or care about Ari, and why should they.

For those who are old enough and been training long enough to remember Ari... he is still widely considered a self-aggrandizing poser. More about image than substance. The kind of guy who gives himself a "badass" nickname.

 

[Kforcer]

Well, his channel improved because he started using experts like Vinny Magalhaes instead of attempting to demo stuff himself.

 

[Bos Docken]

All that said, why should Ari care? All the hate and ridicule has not kept him from accomplishing goals and being a success.

He became a police officer. He was awarded his BJJ black belt.

He has his own jiu-jitsu academy, which is combined with a yoga studio - He married a yoga instructor.

On top of all that, he has more online endeavors and self-promotions than ever: He has a "tactical" instructional series, a "tactical" watch making business, a jiu-jitsu collective for law enforcement officers, his own podcast.

Yeah it is all massively corny, cringy shit. But what are you doing? Are you living better than him?

 

[wufabufa]

I thought I read that Ari is a cop now....not sure if that's correct or not.

 

[maximus__]

All that said, why should Ari care? All the hate and ridicule has not kept him from accomplishing goals and being a success.

He became a police officer. He was awarded his BJJ black belt.

He has his own jiu-jitsu academy, which is combined with a yoga studio - He married a yoga instructor.

On top of all that, he has more online endeavors and self-promotions than ever: He has a "tactical" instructional series, a "tactical" watch making business, a jiu-jitsu collective for law enforcement officers, his own podcast.

Yeah it is all massively corny, cringy shit. But what are you doing? Are you living better than him?

His law enforcement stuff is great. Would you rather be arrested by a BJJ blue to black belt or some guy who knows nothing?
We have seen what has happened over and over with untrained Police. Good on him for pushing the stuff and making an earning from it.

 

[Bos Docken]

By the way he goes by his legal name now, Ari Knazan.

Also he likes to call himself "Viking Cop."

 

[Kforcer]

Yeah it is all massively corny, cringy shit. But what are you doing? Are you living better than him?

Depends on how you measure it but certainly many, many people on these boards are better grapplers than Ari who were more honest about their credentials. And many, many people on these boards were perhaps not as able as Ari were again, more honest about their credentials.

 

[Bos Docken]

His law enforcement stuff is great. Would you rather be arrested by a BJJ blue to black belt or some guy who knows nothing?
We have seen what has happened over and over with untrained Police. Good on him for pushing the stuff and making an earning from it.

Sorry, I cannot get past his ad copy, which claims to teach life-saving grappling skills in 7 hours.

Check it out on the "First Strike - Alpha Nation" system. It is exactly the huckster stuff you used to see in karate magazines in the 1980s.

The Answer Is Found Within The Ground Fighter™ Method

I confess that I can’t take all the credit for the skills you’re about to discover. Like I said, I was lucky to stumble on a ground fighting master of sorts. His deep understanding of what it takes to win a life-or-death encounter — along with my experience putting his methods to work on the streets as a cop and a SWAT Team leader — have resulted in our trademarked protocol called Ground Fighter™. It uses highly specific skills and unique strategies that are working for thousands of men already.

Instantly Incapacitate your attacker with a submission so vicious they will wish they had never met you… (it takes under 30 seconds to learn and less than 2 to apply)

One simple move that lets you Immobilize and Gift Wrap your attacker for the authorities when they finally get to the scene.

The "ground fighting master?" Yeah that's Ari.
Here he is presenting himself as a Dalton-esque super bouncer in 2013.

 

[Bos Docken]

Depends on how you measure it but certainly many, many people on these boards are better grapplers than Ari who were more honest about their credentials. And many, many people on these boards were perhaps not as able as Ari were again, more honest about their credentials.

Are there "many, many" police officers who are BJJ black belts with their own academies and multiple jiu-jitsu business endeavors on this forum? I would doubt that.

There are better grapplers, more honest people, sure. I agree. I am no Ari fan. Just pointing out he has success and accomplishments despite whatever anyone thinks of him and Submissions 101.

 

[Kforcer]

Are there "many, many" police officers who are BJJ black belts with their own academies and multiple jiu-jitsu business endeavors on this forum? I would doubt that.

There are better grapplers, more honest people, sure. I agree. I am no Ari fan. Just pointing out he has success and accomplishments despite whatever anyone thinks of him and Submissions 101.

There are plenty of police officers on these boards who are also skilled grapplers, that is for sure. Clint Crabtree isn't on these boards, but plenty of his students are. Clint is a great BJJ instructor, the long-time owner of Grand Rapids BJJ, a successful competitor and a long-time police officer who never took the cheap path to getting attention that Ari did.

You're making assumptions about the people who post here, unmerited assumptions, in the service of making a favorable comparison between them and Ari.

I agree that there is no merit tearing someone down for no reason, but you are basically doing that to Sherdog in general with the broad brush you paint.

 

[Peteyandjia]

As long as he wasn’t claiming to be a higher belt than he was, I don’t see the problem. He’s a guy who was enthusiastic about the art, & sharing it right when the interwebz & youtube was really starting to blow up. So he did his thing. The fact that he wasn’t a Mundials or ADCC champ doesn’t really bother me, so long as he never claimed it.

 

[Kforcer]

As long as he wasn’t claiming to be a higher belt than he was, I don’t see the problem.

That's basically what he did. I don't really have an issue with him though, I don't really like tearing people down in general, but I take issue with the whole, "How many of YOU guys have done what he did?" thing, which is in a sense, tearing other people down in defense of someone.

I will say I also had an issue because I feel like he sort of copied the LockFlow model and then ignored their existence. I was a big fan of Combat Chaz and his site, which was in many ways like a big family and so that did bother me a bit.

But like I said, there's really no point in going after guys and tearing them down, even if they did fake credentials, IMO. Bring the truth to light, fine, but probably best to leave it at that.

 

[Bos Docken]

There are plenty of police officers on these boards who are also skilled grapplers, that is for sure. Clint Crabtree isn't on these boards, but plenty of his students are. Clint is a great BJJ instructor, a successful competitor and a long-time police officer who never took the cheap path to getting attention that Ari did.

You're making assumptions about the people who post here, unmerited assumptions, in the service of making a favorable comparison between them and Ari.

I agree that there is no merit tearing someone down for no reason, but you are basically doing that to Sherdog in general with the broad brush you paint.

First of all, this forum is mostly dead. Look around you. Do you see "plenty" of police officers who are skilled grapplers posting here? You're fooling yourself if you think there are. It is telling that the name you drop is someone who does not post here.

Look at Sherdog in general. Incel, alt-right, asperger stuff all over the place. Broken psychologies and pathologies on full display. Have you been to the War Room or the Street Coliseum?

Thing is, I actually agree with your poor opinion of Ari. Like I said, he is self-aggrandizing and posturing. I am no Ari fan.

But I recognize he has accomplished more than most.

 

[Kforcer]

First of all, this forum is mostly dead. Look around you. Do you see "plenty" of police officers who are skilled grapplers posting here? You're fooling yourself if you think there are. It is telling that the name you drop is someone who does not post here.

You must not spend much time on the grappling forum here. Plenty of cops and first responders that have posted here. And tons and tons of highly skilled grapplers. I wasn't thinking of the other forums here, but actually, there is a War Room regular I can think of who is a blackbelt under Baret Yoshida had has a great competition record. He's a lawyer and an author.

 

[Kforcer]

Thing is, I actually agree with your poor opinion of Ari. Like I said, he is self-aggrandizing and posturing. I am no Ari fan.

I don't know that we have the same opinion of Ari. You seem to, ironically, dislike him much more than I do. I just take issue with your blanket generalization about Ari Bolden in contrast to the majority of people on the grappling forum. I honestly take issue with people making blanket assumptions about people they don't know in general, because even though you can find plenty of highly skilled grapplers on this sub-forum who have posted footage or detailed their accomplishments in some way, I am certain there are also plenty of other posters who were just as accomplished but simply never brought it up.

 

[Sweeptheleg7]

https://www.mixedmartialarts.com/forums/BJJ/Ari-Bolden-First-Strike:2811954

Ari has always seem kind of shady. Those who have grappled for a while know about his deception. I would hope that he is finally legit now because a person that has grappled that long should have some skill.

Brandon quick lied about his qualifications but he had legit skill and was actually a good teacher. He eventually got a black belt under somebody and now that doesn’t even appear to be an issue anymore

 

[maximus__]

Sorry, I cannot get past his ad copy, which claims to teach life-saving grappling skills in 7 hours.

Check it out on the "First Strike - Alpha Nation" system. It is exactly the huckster stuff you used to see in karate magazines in the 1980s.

The Answer Is Found Within The Ground Fighter™ Method

I confess that I can’t take all the credit for the skills you’re about to discover. Like I said, I was lucky to stumble on a ground fighting master of sorts. His deep understanding of what it takes to win a life-or-death encounter — along with my experience putting his methods to work on the streets as a cop and a SWAT Team leader — have resulted in our trademarked protocol called Ground Fighter™. It uses highly specific skills and unique strategies that are working for thousands of men already.

Instantly Incapacitate your attacker with a submission so vicious they will wish they had never met you… (it takes under 30 seconds to learn and less than 2 to apply)

One simple move that lets you Immobilize and Gift Wrap your attacker for the authorities when they finally get to the scene.

The "ground fighting master?" Yeah that's Ari.
Here he is presenting himself as a Dalton-esque super bouncer in 2013.

Busted out the alt troll account for this post or a recent ban?

I don't disagree with what you said about the marketing. Unfortunately I would say he even paid someone for that which is the worst part. Most people pay for their marketing and you get what you pay for. It looks like everyone's marketing strategy for the last 15-20 years.

My argument is he did exactly what everyone is told to do in his position. He went out and earned a legit blackbelt in BJJ and is now qualified to put out training information based off his chosen field of instructional focus. Is he a multiple world champion? No, but not many people are. Not everyone can achieve that and we are spoilt for choice these days because of BJJ fanatics etc. I started my BJJ journey on puzzle mats in my loungeroom with my dad and a guy who used to learn from books and dvd's. Submission 101 was one of the first BJJ channels and back then a BJJ blue belt was good and a purple belt was a god. Brown and black belts were virtually unheard of. I think a lot of people forget this when they look back on stuff like this.

 

[kjg1672]

I remember watching a video of his in 2008 on how to finish an anaconda choke and wondering why it wasn't working on my training partners, lol. I do, however, remember some of his stuff being somewhat useful. IIRC, Submissions 101 was where I first learned about the lockdown half-guard.

 

[Solidus Snake]

Used to think all the worst about him.

Now honestly I don't care at all. If anything, thinking about all the outrage and the online war against him at the times gives me some nostalgia about that whole era.