Review: 30 Dirty by Sebastian Brosche (with Miha Perhavec)

Summary
This set features 35 'fun' techniques that border on the fringes of acceptable sportsmanship (yet are still IBJJF legal). They have been chosen by BJJ black belt and Yoga for BJJ star Sebastian Brosche. This set also includes a few bonus techniques from BJJ brown belt Miha Perhavec. Although marketed as a 'dirty techniques' set, it isn't as dirty as you might imagine. I consider it more like a primer of 'old school' pain and pressure style techniques. When you view the whole set, you also get the fun bonus of being entertained by Sebastian and Miha's amusing bromance double act.

Information
Available as a digital download here: https://30dirty.com/
Cost: $30
Chapters: 35 techniques


Introduction
I'm a big fan of old-school techniques. When I say old-school, I'm referring to the kind of things 7-degree black belts show you when they teach seminars. For example, Master Mauricio Gomes and his infamous knee on chest. Or Master Fabio Santos with his sneaky wristlock from closed guard.

Old school techniques usually include the kind of things that involve a lot of intense pressure and pain in order to get to a certain position, or elicit a specific type of reaction. I wouldn't call these techniques dirty, or unfair or even illegal, in most cases, they're perfectly legal, it's just that maybe over time, they've been forgotten about. More importantly, they hark back to an era when BJJ was less sport and much more about fighting to win.

So with that said, Sebastian Brosche (he of Yoga for BJJ fame) has released this set at a good time. When the BJJ sporting stars of today are spinning, inverting and footlocking their way to championships and pro fight wins, it's refreshing to look back at some old school techniques applied in a modern setting.


30 Dirty Promo from YogaforBJJ on Vimeo.


Full contents
When you purchase the set online, you receive an email with download link. The download is 2.4 GB in size and comes as a zipped file. Once unpacked, each technique is present as standalone video file.
Sebastian opens with an introduction explaining what this set contains and what he considers 'dirty' techniques to be. He summarises them as those that perhaps exert a little more pain or execute things in a slightly unorthodox manner in order to elicit a reaction from your opponent.

1. Evil side control 
2. Kick in the chest from butterfly 
3. Gollum choke 
4. Reverse rape choke 
5. Closed guard wrist lock 
6. Fist choke from closed guard 
7. Closed guard Ezekiel 
8. Stomper 
9. Lapel choke from back mount 
10. Ankle breaker counter from backmount 
11. Ballkicker leg defence 
12. Ezekiel fistchoke mount top half guard + bonus 
13. Guillotine guard pass 
14. Thumb down throatfist from top half guard 
15. Step on bicep closed guard pass 
16. Renzo Gracie's friendly position
17. Bulldozer 
18. Boston crab  & illegal version
19. Knee on throat
20. Nasty body triangle
21. The James Bond choke 
22. Scarfhold neckcrank 
23. Scarfhold americana 
24. Sneaky lapel Ezekiel 
25. Wristlock trap from closed guard 
26. F@&k you footlock 
27. Ankle lock counter to side control escape
28. Trond side control wristlock 
29. Buggy Choke 
30. Reverse Buggy choke
31. Miha's bonus : Kneebar footlock from X-guard 
32. Miha's bonus : Miha judo alternative 
33. Miha's bonus : Knee shield kimura 
34. Miha's bonus : Knee shield kneebar 
35. Miha's bonus : Kneebar attack open guard

Rolling thoughts and first use impressions
Oh boy, did I have fun with this selection of devilishly evil goodies. I watched this set on Friday evening and during Saturday morning open mat I was able to apply a good 8 or 9 of the techs during various rounds of free rolling. To be fair, they were easier to obtain on lower grade students than the higher grades, but that's true for any new to learn techniques.

Evil side control was familiar. It looks a lot like the nasty and painful, dig your shoulder into their throat, side control that Paul Schreiner shows in his instructional Precise Pressure Passing (see my review). I had fun trying that and it never fails to elicit a reaction from the unfortunate person underneath me.

When I roll, I'm always on the look out for wristlocks. I have to because everyone in my gym likes wristlocks and it's a case of get in there first before they do. I don't know why some folk consider wristlocks as cheating. They may not be gigantic showcase BJJ techniques, but boy do they work and feel great when applied with perfect timing. In Sebastian's instructional he shows three wristlocks that he likes. Of the three, I preferred the folding arms version in Chapter 5. It's not very high percentage, in fact I failed to nail the wristlock in full, but guaranteed, if you try it, the moment you snake your free hand over and under and begin to exert pressure, your opponent will release his grip in fear. This makes it very awkward for him to grip you, so wary is he of the submission. The good thing about this is that it is completely risk free.

Wristlock from closed guard

Chapter 7 Closed guard ezekiel is a technique applied when you are in someone's closed guard. I reckon it's a technique as old as gi grappling itself. The way Sebastian shows it, he includes a number of small details that I hadn't seen before. Instead of the orthodox ezekiel, he prefers to use his entire fist and add the weight of his head to push it into his opponent.

The ballkicker defence to footlock is wicked. It never occurred to me to do this. When I happened to find myself in this predicament during open mat, I was instantly able to escape by using the ballbreaker. I was even nice and delicate about where I placed my foot. You definitely do not need to 'kick' the foot, but an assertive push is more than enough. I like too that Sebastian explains the concept behind the technique.

Place and push, but don't actually kick lol!

The James Bond choke looks intriguing. Its moniker makes sense once you see it. You'll recognise it as some sort of fight sequence finish from a 70's action movie, or from Pro wrestling, who'd have thought it was also a legitimate BJJ submission. The same could be said for the Boston Crab (there are two versions in this set). I haven't yet tried either out as they seem rather specialist in nature, but worth keeping in my memory banks for one day.

Chapter 27's ankle lock counter to side control escape is something very close to what I do regularly. This technique bypasses the established orthodoxy that the top player must always try to progress to improve position after passing guard. Here, the top person sacrifices top side mount and throws himself backward in an attempt to hit the straight ankle lock. By his own admission, Sebastian says it is used as a scare tactic, causing panic with the opponent, maybe even forcing an early tap as a result. This chapter is a good one for his technical details on finishing the straight ankle lock.

The buggy choke chapters towards the end looked crazy and way too much like they required lots of flexibility for me to try so I ignored them. Maybe I'll give them a go if I get a spare moment in class one day but they don't look very high percentage to me. In fact in these clips you can see Miha shake his head in disapproval while Sebastian tries to sell the concept!

Miha is unimpressed

Speaking of Miha, I was very pleasantly surprised with the bonus chapters. I've seen Miha fight before and he does love a tight kneebar so I'm really glad he included a couple of his favourite set ups in this set. I'm taking a close note because I'm trying to build up my own kneebar game (which was kind of non-existent). See below:




Conclusion
This is a great set for BJJ students who are looking to broaden their game. I would hesitate to recommend it to fairly new beginners. Not because I think beginners won't be able to execute these techniques, far from it, they're very easy to do. But because in my opinion they require a certain knowledge of the basics and fundamentals before applying. Another way of saying it is that in order to break the rules, you first need to know the rules. But then again, who am I to say can't watch this set, there are still a lot of great techniques here that are perfectly useful and legitimate for beginners (chapter 1 evil side control for example, or 15. Step on bicep guard pass).

Another factor to consider is that this is literally a random list of techniques. One or two relate to each other, but mostly, they're unconnected. This means trying to learn them all will take a fair amount of practice and drilling. Other BJJ instructionals, such as those from Ryan Hall, are far more concept and theory focused, making them more of a complete system for learning. Sets such as Sebastian's one offer a more ala carte system of learning so you need to just pick and choose a few favourites to try at a time.

Despite the amusingly exaggerated marketing ("Download The Dirtiest BJJ DVD In History! Do It Today, Before IBJJF Files a Lawsuit!"), the techniques here are a bit more tame than you might imagine. For experienced grapplers, chances are you will already know (or at least know similar versions of) many of these 35 dirty techniques. But I'm willing to bet this set includes at least a dozen you've never seen before or maybe haven't tried in a long long time. I can guarantee you guys watching this dvd will start laughing manically to yourself as you memorise the nasty things you are planning to inflict on your team mates.

One of the things I do like is that many of the techniques have been used by Sebastian himself in competition. Often a small insert video appears showing him in tournament action using the technique of that chapter. It lends an air of authenticity to the technique. Yet some of the techniques I think are a bit hard to execute or low percentage and risky to apply. Then again, that's maybe the point of this set: to take a little risk, try something a little old school or unorthodox, play with disrupting with expectations and maybe, just maybe the odds will be in your favour the next time you roll or compete.

Good luck!





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