Pride Total Elimination 2003 - The Classic Ragdoll "Mirko Cro Cop is a martial artist, part of the Croatian Parliament and a member of a special forces anti-terrorist unit. Also, after kicking 25 brave human heads into low orbit, he is personally considered Croatia's only space program. (He is for ages 10 and up, Aqua Battlebike sold seperately.)..."
UFC 22 - It's Ragdollin' Time "Brad Kohler had so many muscles that he was more thumb than man. And when he took a big step and wound up for a double splash page Thing vs. Hulk haymaker punch, everyone in the entire world saw it coming except poor Steve Judson. This punch was such a force of nature that local wildlife left the area the night before. The fact that Steve Judson woke up later, not dead, means that he will spend the rest of his life being hunted by military researchers wanting to harvest him for tank parts."
I salute you, cracked magazine, for being able to make time disappear, 2 hours at a time. Read the rest by clicking on the link above.
This isn't as much of a singular move as it is a series of transitions that you should practice.
When you get a mount, and your opponent immediately begins to shrimp out, if you're not very good at keeping your mount, it may be a better idea to move off into side control rather than get trapped in half guard/closed guard after you've worked so hard to get a better position.
I'll run you through the first 1/2:
-Start in mount
-Opponent begins to frame/elbow his way into an escape
-As your opponent begins to turn towards your leg, throw your arm diagonally over his head, and plant your elbow on the floor to trap it. This way, you have a good range of movement with that arm.
-Post out with the other hand, and with that side's leg, throw it over the other side to get to side control. Drive that knee to the hip, then get the posted hand over to the hip as soon as possible to sprawl and establish your position.
-To move to a north south, post the hand that's on his hips straight down to the floor to continue blocking his movement while you switch your hips, and being the leg closer to the hips up to his shoulder, then toss the other leg over that one to establish north-south.
-Continue, except reversing the steps to get to side control on the other side, and back to mount after that.
Fluid Mechanics midterm for the summer session at UCLA, working on construction of the new restaurant in downtown LA that my parents are opening (You can see pictures here), and other issues that have been just bogging me down these last few days.
Most readers who have been around for a while and know my track record know that I don't post very often during times when I'm busy as shit, or if I'm going through some issues that are pretty important. If you saw me posting during those times, the steps I would write about would likely go something like: "Well, after you put your foot on his hip and trap his arm, go f**k yourself." And so, QED, I don't post during those times.
Also, at UCLA, they have this neat little arcade game called the "Barber Cut Lite" and they hang up brand-spanking new Nintendo DSi and Sony PSP handheld systems to attempt to win. And guess what? Yours truly got one of these damn things! But since I have a DS Lite already, I'd rather just sell it, so I put it up on Ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160352028213
Hey did I mention? If anyone wants to show off their awesome writing skills, I'd be more than willing to post it up: just shoot me an email at ysc87@hotmail.com telling me what you intend to write about, and after you do write it, if it's not a complete pile of crap, I'll put it up, with a link back to your own website, if you have one.
I got inspired by the neck training with the weights that Doug did in part 3, so I did the same. My neck is in so much pain right now. On fire. I am so stupid.
That being said, this was another great Fight Quest episode. This episode, if nothing else, showed me that I have a lot to work on in terms of the Muay Thai Clinch.
That's a hell of a combination of strength, timing, and flexibility. Holy christ, I'm seriously considering going to the pool right now to try this.
[Insert joke about BJ cardio and work ethic.]
-y
Shutting Down the Half Guard - Stephen Kesting I'm not sure if you guys subscribe to the grapplearts.com newsletter (subtle hint to go sign up), but Stephen Kesting put up a video on how Brock Lesnar shut down Frank Mir's half guard, and what we can learn from it.
And the commentary: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brock Lesnar probably wouldn't be on my list of people to invite to a book club or an evening of wine tasting. But love him or hate him, you have to admit that he's a hell of a fighter and force to be reckoned with.
What I found most interesting about Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir at UFC 100 was that it was a case study of how to shut down the half guard.
Frank spent most of the match in the half guard, and I have no doubt that he has a TON of highly effective sweeps and attacks from there.
But that night none of his techniques worked on Brock...
Of course it's partially that Brock Lesnar is a very large human being. I mean he actually cuts weight to make it down to the upper limit for heavyweights (265 lbs)!
He's also explosive, incredibly agile and has great endurance.
Let's start by taking a look at two strategies that form the foundation of most successful half guard attacks:
1. Being on your side, facing your opponent, and 2. Getting your body under his center of gravity
Now in the fight Frank Mir was basically never able to apply either strategy, and it wasn't only Brock's physical attributes that shut down Frank Mir's half guard game. There was a lot of deliberate technique there too!
Brock deliberately kept Frank on his back and/or facing away from him, and also didn't let him get under his center of gravity.
How did he do this? At various times in the fight Brock used the following techniques and tactics:
* He stiff armed his neck (keeping Frank away), * He pinned the head and moved his body back * He turned the head away with his forearm * He secured the far underhook and applied chest pressure * He used his head to grind into Frank's jaw, and drive into the chest and armpit * He grabbed the far armpit to turn Frank's face away and place it directly in the line of fire
Finally, when Frank tried again to turn in at the very end of the fight, Brock let him turn, and secured the far wrist. The brutal flurry of unanswered blows that ended the fight came right after that.
The thing is that there are counters and preventive measures to all these half guard top position techniques and tactics. And I'm sure that Frank knows them and practiced them.
It's just that when the size difference is that large then your timing has to be razor sharp in order to apply your game. And a bit of luck helps too...
A rematch between these two fighters is inevitable. Maybe the next time Frank will be sharp enough or lucky enough to impose his half guard game on Brock!
I'd like to add that Mir was holding on to the Lockdown, preventing Brock from passing, but also locked his hips to Lesnar's. When the Lockdown isn't working, you have to let it go to be able to attack a little more freely.
Ever see a MMA fight where you see the fighter who is pulling half guard suddenly turn into the opponent and shoot his hand under the non-trapped leg? It's because that person is either working a sweep, or looking for a kneebar. While initially, if you're not experienced, it looks impossible to pull off a kneebar from such a position, watch the video above. This setup is becoming more and more popular as Sambo grows.
Since I'm short on time, I'll just explain the first technique shown, as it is the base for the variations shown after.
1. You're in half guard, and you managed to squeeze the outside knee in to prop your opponent up on it.
