10 Dumb Things Other People Say About BJJ

Hey, BJJ guys and girls, I bet most of you have heard many of the following irritating things that other (martial artists) have said about our beloved sport. This is my list, feel free to show it to your non-BJJ friends.

Meerkatsu art - Honey Badger Gi v3

I designed the third installment of the honey badger series of gis for Tatami Fightwear. It goes on sale through their store and trusted resellers on Friday 30th January 2015.

Here are more photos:

Meerkatsu Brand - New T-shirts: JiuJitsuHead, Clock Choke and Zombie Apes

I have three new T-shirt designs available at my store - www.meerkatsu.com.

Each was inspired by a different popular culture icon and twisted to give it the jiu jitsu spin. Here is a little more about each product:-

Gi Review - Shoyoroll 7th Son II

Summary
A stunningly designed gi featuring the artwork of MMA fighter, BJJ black belt and tattoo artist Luke Stewart. Luke owns the tattoo shop Seventh Son, hence the name of this gi. This gi was light, comfortable and, despite the in-built liner, cool to wear. There was a slight issue with the drawstring, but apart from that, the gi performed admirably over 2 months of solid rolling.

Information
This gi was only available as a strictly limited edition kimono. As with most previous Shoyoroll batch releases, these gis sold out within a very short time on release day. I bought my model from UK distributor, Grapplers Delight for £150 incl postage.

Disclosures
I have no personal or business connection with Shoyoroll. All views expressed in this review are my own.

Interview - Jinh Yu Frey

Photo by Esther Lin

Jinh Yu Frey is a Pro MMA athlete based in Texas. She officially reps my Meerkatsu brand so I thought it would be a good opportunity for my readers to find out a little more about her martial art exploits:

Mike Fowler and the Unstoppable Sweep plus other stories

Summary

Mike Fowler visited our academy as a guest instructor and taught us a snapshot of his trademark moves that have made him a notable star in the BJJ tournament circuit. Here is my report on the session...

Event - Polaris Professional Jiu Jitsu Invitational

Michelle Nicolini vs Angelica Galvao
Photo by Jiu Jitsu Style Magazine

Summary

Last weekend saw the inaugural staging of the Polaris Professional Jiu-Jitsu Invitational, or just Polaris Pro, at Cardiff St David’s Hall in Wales. It featured eight grappling matches between 16 high level competitors and was available to view via a pay-per-view livestream or as a spectator at the event itself. Each match brought its own drama and exciting action with four matches ending in a submission. The live stream functioned admirably and the event itself proceeded smoothly.

Review - DVD: Ryan Hall, The Deep Half Guard

Summary
The deep half guard is a bottom game position that places you directly beneath the opponent's centre of gravity. By securing your body to one of his legs, it creates a deep instability in his position that will allow you to sweep the opponent with, in theory, a high percentage of success. To novices, it seems counterintuitive to place ones body position in such a seemingly prone manner, but this instruction set quickly reveals the strengths and advantages to using deep half guard.

Ryan Hall explains each chapter with an incredible amount of detail. The entire first disc covers entries to the deep half (which he suggests is not covered as adequately in other instructionals). Disc two covers the actual deep half position in further detail along with sweeps and passes. Disc three continues disc two with somewhat more advanced situations, especially when under pressure.  Throughout, Ryan's familiar high verbal output (ie he talks a lot) will arm the viewer with a firm understanding of the concepts behind an effective deep half position which should ultimately lead to a higher percentage success rate. I enjoyed this set a lot and it helped me overcome my own deep half guard phobias.

Information
Available to purchase from the Ground Fighter website.
Cost - $124.99
Length -  (disc one 1hr 30min / disc two 1hr 51 / disc three 1hr 23mins)

Disclosures
I have no business or personal connection to the producers of this product. I bought this DVD box set directly from the ground fighter website.

Interview - Amber Stautzenberger

Photo by Olivier Martinez

Amber Stautzenberger is an MMA athlete based in Texas. She officially reps my Meerkatsu brand so I thought it would be a good opportunity for my readers to find out a little more about her martial art exploits: