JohnnyS

It took me 12 years to get my black belt in BJJ.

One of the big keys for the toe-hold is to hold the leg tight to your body first, then turn the foot.

I've been in plenty of fights, but not "combat" as in war.

BJJ will work just fine in a street fight, as many of it's students will testify. You're probably best off learning BJJ for a while, and then start your cross-training in a striking art such as Muay Thai or Boxing. As far as multiple opponents, do a search on this or other forums to find out why a knowledge of grappling is necessary.

Good post Hudson. Those nancy-boy wrestlers like Coleman, Kerr etc are just lucky they've never come up against a decent striker because there's no way they could take anyone down since tackles are too slow. Also, those Judo guys must have poor base to get thrown or swept like they do.

And? The point is, squeezing your legs around the guys waist is a waste of time. You are much better off learning how to do a decent submission. What part of this is hard to understand?

Re Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: Could also be because it's Portuguese spelling

From guard, elbow strikes to the head and heel kicks to the kidneys. From inside guard, punches to the body and head, puls headbutts. From mount, don't punch. If you punch and his head is on the ground, it's like hitting a bowling ball with teeth. You'll break your hands. Use elbow strikes from mount instead of punches. Generally speaking, you need to be in a position of control to apply strikes, or they will be ineffective. Even striking when someone in your guard is more or an annoyance than anything - you're not going to knock the guy out unless the guy lifts his head up and you kick him under the chin ala Renzo vs Taktarov or Bustamante vs Trellingham. So don't think that striking - no matter how hard your strikes are standing - will have much effect on the ground without the appropriate grappling skills to get you into a good position first.

Like I said before, no-one has ever died from being choked in a Judo competition. If I had the choice between being choked unconscious or punched unconscious, I'd definately take the choke.

Check out John Will's books: http://www.bjj.com.au/shop.htm

You think someone would get less damage from being punched and hitting their head on concrete? There's always a chance that someone can get injured when you defend yourself. Having said that, in all the years of Judo competition, not one single person has died as the result of a choke. Conversely, how many people have died in boxing from being punched in the head?

Judo throws are taught, but aren't a focus. Most BJJ takedowns teach how to firstly clinch without being hit, then generally trip the opponent for the takedown. They are easy to learn and can be quickly applied against an opponent unskilled in grappling arts. The problem with some Judo throws is that a) you have to turn your back on your opponent for a lot of them and b) they require a lot of finess to work. In a fight against someone unskilled in grappling, once you clinch and attach your body to theirs it's easy to take them down, without risk of being struck. If you try a Judo throw then you're usually at striking distance. Judo throws work, there's no doubt about that. They do take time to make them work however, and Kano recognised this which is why he wanted people to concentrate on throwing before ne-waza (He says this in one of his books, I can't remember which). More and more BJJ schools actually now focus on wrestling takedowns, because it's immediately applicable to no-gi, and MMA, as well as also working with a gi. P.S For Judo followers, please note that I am not saying Judo throws don't work. They obviously do and can be very effective in a fight if you throw someone hard onto concrete. However, it's a longer process learning this against an opponent who strikes than learning how to bodylock and clinch.

Rickson is revered by all BJJ guys as the best ever. He still makes World Champions tap. Why would he possibly need to fight a worked fight against Takada? That makes no sense at all.

Sanchin is only harmful if you train it incorrectly. When people learn things they sometimes focus on the wrong thing and then it gets perpetuated. Sanchin shouldn't be done so veins are popping out on your forehead, or you get hemerroids.

I'd feel much safer choking someone unconscious than punching him. People have just as high a chance (probably higher) of dying from being punched in the head as thye do of being choked. Especially if after being punched they drop and hit their head on the ground. I know of two people this has happened to in the past 18 months, one of whom was a famous Australian cricketer.

The problem is that I've found Judo guys try to pass the guard and go straight for kesa-katame and in the process give up their back. It's not a bad position, but he chance of sucessfully submitting someone from there who is good (i.e. purple or above) is slight, and the chance of giving your back up is high.

The reason I say that Judo will give bad habits on the ground is that a lot of Judo instructors teach to turtle up, or go straight to kesa-katame. Giving up the back is a bad idea in BJJ because the ref isn't going to stand you up for lack of progress. I definately agree with doing both though, as most BJJ classes don't spend much time at all on throws.

Judo will most probably give you bad habits on the ground, however the stand-up portion is excellent. I'd probably do BJJ for a while first, then start Judo.

Use the search function. This has been spoken of many times here.

The girl was definately out for around a minute before the choke was released, woke up and seemed to be fine.

It was in a comp, the ref wasn't paying attention and the girl doing the choke was inexperienced and didn't know her opponent was out.

I've seen a girl with a choke held on for a minute after she went out wake up okay. Holding the choke on for too long is not something you need to worry about. Even with adrenalin pumping through you, you would notice that the person has gone limp. I certainly wouldn't worry about calling an ambulance - the person will wake up fine, generally in a second or two if you release the choke straight away. If you hold the choke (strangle) on for a few seconds after they go out, then the person will stay out for around 10 seconds. For a common mata-leon choke (rear-naked), it generally takes around 9 seconds for someone to go out if they're doing nothing. If they're fighting and drunk, then they can go out in around 2-3 seconds. There has been no recorded deaths in Judo from the application of strangles.

They generally wake up and don't remember what just happened. They'll usually have amnesia for about a minute, so a lot of times when they would wake up they were confused and i would tell them they were going home and they'd nod and start walking off. It's quite funny really. Sometimes if the guy has been fighting for a while before-hand or was really angry they would wake up and want to keep fighting, but this only happened to me once.

It takes around 4-5 minutes to kill someone with a blood choke. I've choked about 20 people unconscious through training, competition and working as a bouncer. I've never had a single problem.

There are two ways to escape a technique - stop it before it goes on, or escape once it's already on. Here's a version of the first: Before he spins, grab his other ankle so he can't triangle his legs and complete the omoplata. Then posture up and pull your arm free. The best way I've found to escape using the second method (i.e. he's got the omoplata on your left arm but has finished with the submission) is to (i) grab your own belt first with your left hand (ii) grab his belt with your left hand (iii) drop your right leg straight and pull him over your body with your left arm (this is not hard to do). He'll end up on his hands and knees and you should be able to pull your left arm free.