Travis Stevens wins silver using BJJ?

Any combination of "completely under opponents base" and "actively managing distance with legs" is "opponent is going to get swept unless there is an incredibly large skill or size discrepancy"
 
Any combination of "completely under opponents base" and "actively managing distance with legs" is "opponent is going to get swept unless there is an incredibly large skill or size discrepancy"

I play x-guard and 1LX as my primary, and it is by no means an automatic sweep just by obtaining the position. For example, while the technical standup to single leg is a very high-percentage move, it is difficult to get against a strong opponent who is stacking into you and/or controlling you with strong grips until you can control the grips and kick away to create space. You also must have tight control of your opponent's near leg or your opponent can bend his knee into your chest, which will enable him to kill your feet hooking his thigh and hip. So, a strike to the face is creating the same stacking pressure while in turn making it more difficult to control the near leg, which is troubling since basing hard and striking will be the first impulse of any decent MMA fighter no matter how weak his BJJ is.
 
Last edited:
Yes, in bjj competition. Guy kicked my but using it, my instructor teaches it and loves it. I think it's a pile of monkey excrement.

You think a position/guard that you got your butt kicked with is crap? Even if you don't like using it, the fact that you were beat with it should show it's not crap.

Dont you lose to get silver?

And just how many gold medals do you have?
 
You think a position/guard that you got your butt kicked with is crap? Even if you don't like using it, the fact that you were beat with it should show it's not crap.



And just how many gold medals do you have?
Contribute something productive dude. The x guard debate has been exhausted and it's not what the thread is about. use what tech you want, your business.
 
Yeah that's a good move, but I consider it more single leg x or a leg entanglement. Much of it is semantic tho.

What Rafa is showing is just an x guard variation, you can do the standup and back take, it's just better.
 
Judo newaza is its own beast, here is Travis Stevens getting choked the fuck out with a bow and arrow by a German back in sept 2015, he was already a BJJ blackbelt and had competed in Metamoris by then.

Exactly.

And Travis himself is open about it, he says that he only uses judo in judo competitions and bjj in bjj competitions.
In every grappling match i have seen him he pulled guard.
 
Exactly.

And Travis himself is open about it, he says that he only uses judo in judo competitions and bjj in bjj competitions.
In every grappling match i have seen him he pulled guard.

I think Travis says that he doesn't use his judo for bjj because he's doing it for fun and to supplement his judo. He feels his judo would give him an unfair advantage in bjj tournament and he's just testing/refining his ground work.

Judo is his job. I'd be very surprised if he had the same mentality toward it. I think he would say he would do whatever it would take to win.
 
Conor's second arm is doing the job the second X hook would normally do because Nate is standing way the hell narrow. Connor didn't have to bust through the multiple layers of defense you'd normally have to in order to complete the sweep
Make sense...

But, try telling that to the McGregheads who want to believe that he's got the best open guard in MMA because of that one .gif, lol
The other foot can float in x guard, so I'd consider it to be x guard. The distinctive aspect of x guard is crossing that outside leg through the crotch to pressure the far hip. The other foot is then more float-y, it can push on the knee, hook behind the knee, hook behind hip, etc.

He's also using an overhook, but again I'd consider that a pretty basic and common variation.
Hm, ok. Thanks.

The outside leg of which you speak is Conor's right leg in this instance, right?
 
If you go into an mma fight looking to do x guard you will get the beat down of your life for sure and that is a promise.
If I fought MMA, I wouldn't LOOK to be on the bottom at all. But if I did wind up on bottom, I would sure as shit look for a 1LX or butterfly guard, not closed or half. Closed/half just seems to get you smashed unless you're significantly better than your opponent, and skill differentials are rarely that big.
 
I would actually like more judo players to start competing in bjj. You can actually do more judo tech under bjj rules. In the US freestyle judo and sombo scenes are so small that you could beast in their (stateside) tournaments but still have bad tech.
And your threads are epic.

Thanks.

I'm training at a Royce affiliate now, say what you will about the SD stuff in the curriculum, it really doesn't take away from anything, I enjoy that when we stand (and we start many rolls standing) I can enjoy doing the Judo as I learned it, add in some of the wrestling I did, and pretty much take people down without worrying about if I'd be DQ'd in Judo comp (then get subbed by the darker colored belts :) )

I feel like the BJJ I'm learning is closer to Judo as Kano envisioned it than Judo is now.
 
Thanks.

I'm training at a Royce affiliate now, say what you will about the SD stuff in the curriculum, it really doesn't take away from anything, I enjoy that when we stand (and we start many rolls standing) I can enjoy doing the Judo as I learned it, add in some of the wrestling I did, and pretty much take people down without worrying about if I'd be DQ'd in Judo comp (then get subbed by the darker colored belts :) )

I feel like the BJJ I'm learning is closer to Judo as Kano envisioned it than Judo is now.
"Judo as Kano envisioned." True poetry lol
 
If I fought MMA, I wouldn't LOOK to be on the bottom at all. But if I did wind up on bottom, I would sure as shit look for a 1LX or butterfly guard, not closed or half. Closed/half just seems to get you smashed unless you're significantly better than your opponent, and skill differentials are rarely that big.
Some of my bjj classmates had some mma fights. Those wrestlers are really good, hard to control. There is no position that their strength can't get them out of or make dangerous. Good luck.
 
He feels his judo would give him an unfair advantage in bjj tournament and he's just testing/refining his ground work.

Judo is his job. I'd be very surprised if he had the same mentality toward it. I think he would say he would do whatever it would take to win.

I don't Travis would be concerned about having an unfair advantage when competing against high level guys at Copa Podio.
Having an unfair advantage is like the holly grail of high level athletics :)
He has a long podcast interview where he mentions why using judo isn't worth it in bjj: serious danger to knees from guard jumpers, flying armlock, guard pullers and the rules allowing stalling on the feet.
He also briefly mentioned somewhere else not wanting to adapt his throws to bjj so that he doesn't mix up at judo.
 
I don't Travis would be concerned about having an unfair advantage when competing against high level guys at Copa Podio.
Having an unfair advantage is like the holly grail of high level athletics :)
He has a long podcast interview where he mentions why using judo isn't worth it in bjj: serious danger to knees from guard jumpers, flying armlock, guard pullers and the rules allowing stalling on the feet.
He also briefly mentioned somewhere else not wanting to adapt his throws to bjj so that he doesn't mix up at judo.

He definitely has a policy of not using his judo in bjj tournament. He apoligized to Pena for throwing him like he did even though it was completely legal and he was way down on points, he seemed frustrated by the ground game. He could have thrown Spriggs too but didn't, I think a throw would have won him one of their matches.

This guy us operating on a different level, he really walks the walk. We're not seeing his best at copa podio, that's specific training for him.
 
Some of my bjj classmates had some mma fights. Those wrestlers are really good, hard to control. There is no position that their strength can't get them out of or make dangerous. Good luck.
I'm not worried about it. Wrestling isn't a cheat code.
 
That he developed at renowned Jukoka Renzo Grazie's academy.

He's a BJJ brown, or black.....but come on, pretending like an Olympic Judoka only knows a bow and arrow choke bc of BJJ? fuck off, mate
 
He's a BJJ brown, or black.....but come on, pretending like an Olympic Judoka only knows a bow and arrow choke bc of BJJ? fuck off, mate
I think you are missing the point. If you want good hands, you train with a boxer. If you want to kick, train with a taekwondoist. If you want good ground work..you get the point. Other martial arts contain punching, kicking and grappling but the above arts are specialized.
 
Back
Top