Popovitch's BJJ- Mixed Martial Arts Blog

After watching many Mixed Martial Arts(MMA) fights and training with top level fighters I came up with the most important aspects I believe someone needs to master in order to be able to succeed in mixed martial arts fighting.

I will write some of the fundamentals I believe are essential from a grappler point of view since my expertise is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu/Wrestling.

The fundamentals:

Setting up to take the fight to the ground-
You need to have good boxing or kickboxing skills, you don’t have to be great but you have to be able to strike to set up your takedowns. I recommend a wrestler/BJJ to learn boxing first and then try to learn kickboxing. For a grappler boxing feels relatively easier to learn than kickboxing.

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I trained with Juan Carloz Santana from the Institute of Human Performance (IHP) for the World Submission Wrestling Championship ADCC 2007. One of the things we worked on was to simulate my matches through cross training . Here is an example of some of the exercises we did.

Drag the tire (as shown on video)

Flip the tire 2 times (As shown on video)

Push the car around the block (As shown on video)

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This time I am going to go over one of the most effective foot lock/heel hook submissions from the guard.

This position is great because it gives you the opportunity to finish your opponent with the basic foot lock or a more advance position, the heel hook. Also keep in mind that this position can be very effective for MMA as well. By keeping your opponent in a closed distance it limits his ability to strike, giving you a perfect situation where the submission can be applied.

1 – Start in the closed guard controlling your opponent’s wrists.

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One of the most common problems while training for tournaments is the injuries you sustain while training hard for a short period of time. You have about 2-3 months to get ready for the tournament but a shoulder, knee, or back injury could keep you on the side line for weeks sometimes.

Taking weeks of training will not only regress your progress but also will mentally make you weaker for your matches. In the back of your head you know you didn’t train like you planned and you might doubt yourself while progressing in the tournament.

What I found out over the years is that even though many times I had injuries that caused me to stay away from sparring and drilling techniques, there are training variations in other sports that can simulate my matches.

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