Styles may make fights, but if MMA has taught us anything, it is that the blending of styles makes the truly complete fighter. From the beginning of The Ultimate Fighting Championship—where boxers with one glove fought Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu masters in a full gi, and Savateurs struck out against the giants of Sumo—to the modern development of the Mixed Martial Arts sport, the evolution of the combat arts took a main stage. However, long before the chain-linked cage of “The Octagon” became a trademarked and well-known battlefield, there was already a fantastic history of fighting arts that weaves between the old-school mentality of “my Kung Fu is better than yours”, and the philosophical ideologies in tune with Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do.
To the layperson, Royce Gracie played an integral role in showing the diversity of martial arts to the world, which certainly led to the widespread acceptance of mixing martial arts training. To the martial arts historian, this dichotomy of creating from scratch vs. building upon others to deliver the ultimate fighting style goes back as far as combat itself. Contrary to popular belief, the majority of the arts that suggest they are a complete style “in-and-of-themselves” are in fact built upon blended arts principles—whether they admit it or not. As a blended martial artist myself (since before the days of The Ultimate Fighting Championship), I have been studying these relationships for decades. I would love to write an article on it, but it is such an interwoven history that it would likely take volumes of books to cover. Even then, some of the truth would be incomplete: hidden at best, but most likely lost to the modern world altogether.
The Leg Lace: A Two-For-One
Instead, I’ll use today’s technique breakdown to introduce a little bit of this blending of styles as it relates to the world of grappling, and ultimately our world of modern BJJ. Today’s technique video is brought to us by the coaches at Damage Control MMA, who are ranked and schooled under the CSW (Combat Submission Wrestling) lineage of Sensei Erik Paulson, and the Catch Wrestling lineage of Coach Billy Robinson. Enjoy the video, the step by step breakdown, and a quick peek into the non-BJJ history of submission grappling.
Step-by-Step:
- Begin in top position of Side Control, with opponent’s inside leg framing as a defense to a possible step-over transition to Full Mount
- Bring own bottom leg into opponent’s inside framing leg by posting foot tight to opponent’s lower inside hip/glute and driving knee inside and under opponent’s thigh (shelving opponent’s inside leg)
- Tip: keep own attention focused on opponent’s top half to distract attention from what is happening with the leg setup
- Reach over with bottom arm, hooking opponent’s outside leg and pulling it up and across opponent’s shelved inside leg
- Secure opponent’s outside leg under arm and weave hand down, through opponent’s crossed legs and under the inside shelved leg
- Tip: punch through deep so that the shelved leg can and will be hooked into own elbow, not a shallow control with the forearm
- Hook opponent’s shelved leg (in elbow) and secure control by hooking hand over the knee or just-above the knee, release any control with own top arm, and stand up
- Tip: if opponent turns in and shrimps hips out as reaction to the shelving and hooking control, take a moment to push the inside leg into proper deep shelf position before stepping over
- Step over opponent with own top leg
- Roll back and secure both of opponent’s legs with a Figure 4 control wrapped toward opponent’s bottom and not to the head (which would offer opponent a leg attack as a counter)
- Pinch knees and pull heels in to tighten (standard Figure 4 style)
- Gable grip free arm to arm controlling opponent’s legs and crank opponent’s inside leg into own body and over the outside leg controlled under arm
- Tip: this pressure may begin as a calf slicer, crushing down on the outside leg calf, while continued pressure will eventually create a knee bar on the inside leg (two-for-one)
As a student of the blended arts, my first introduction to submission grappling came from this same lineage of Catch Wrestling and Shoot Fighting. While many of the techniques have deep histories that are shared (and therefore mirrored) with BJJ, there are often subtle differences that make for interesting variations and studies. Some of these nuances are simply language based (e.g. “Chicken Wing” vs. “Kimura” vs. “Gyaku Ude Garami”), while others are application based (e.g. Judo and Catch Wrestling style Scarf Hold vs. BJJ style that prefers the outside underhook in Kesa Gatame), and others are philosophically based (e.g. active use of pressure points and pain compliance vs. “gentle art” practice). One only needs to watch the famous Metamoris 4 match between Catch Wrestler Josh Barnett and BJJ legend Dean Lister to understand that differences in styles are not as black and white as right versus wrong. It is about application! See how my blended background influences my own push/pull relationship with The Gentle Art terminology in this opinion piece.
The Push and Pull of History
Much like the weave of Japanese martial arts and the history of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (Japanese Jujitsu–>Judo–>Kodokan/Olympic/Kosen Judo splits–>Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu–>Gracie Jiu-Jitsu) actually led back to a more combative style that included elbows, knees, headbutts, strikes and kicks (as Japanese Jujitsu did), while focusing more on the ground fighting (as the newer Kosen Judo did or older Judo styles that continued to emphasize newaza), submission grappling as a whole did many things similar.
From the blending of Japanese Judo, English catch-as-catch-can (or folkstyle) wrestling, and Russian Sambo, Shooto was born from Shoot wrestling and the shooters that wanted a more complete fighting style that could also be entered into as sport. The founder of Shoot Wrestling, Satoru Sayama (aka “Super Tiger” or “Tiger Mask”, was a Judoka turned Japanese pro wrestler, who also studied extensively under German wrestler Karl Gotch, and Sambist Victor Koga. Shooto included Muay Thai techniques, as well as the open hand striking from Combat Sambo and Pankration style contests. This was all happening back in 1983—10 years ahead of the Gracies’ delivery of The Ultimate Fighting Championship to the United States. The further back you go, the more you will find that the arts were being blended long before Bruce Lee made it popular (and at the same time to some, quite unpopular) with his philosophy of blending the arts, eventually described in the pivotal release The Tao of Jeet Kune Do.
Science of Skill founder and Micro BJJ’s own Coach Dan Faggella has consistently studied and praised the applications of collegiate wrestling techniques that can be blended into more traditional BJJ to develop more options and paths of success in both gi and especially Nogi grappling competition. Readers may recall a look into that back in Septembers technique article The Turtle and The Hare.
Enjoy this video by grappling master and founder of Shooto USA, Yori Nakamura, for a taste of similarities and differences in submission grappling styles. In fighting, there is no right or wrong—only effective or ineffective!
Image credit: http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/2/12/2783568/mma-origins-catch-wrestling-travels-to-japan-karl-gotch-istaz-satoru-sayama-antonio-inoki-shooto
Image credit: http://mma.uno/page/13/?cat=0
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