JohnnyS

Sho-ju, we're not talking about any old Judo finishing hold, but The Judo Finishing Hold!

What exactly is the Judo Finishing Hold? Can you give a Japanese name for it?

It's a great interview. Thanks for posting it.

The article had some relevance in 1997, but things are a lot different now e.g. all bjj'ers know leglocks now, the BJJ fighters who fight in the ring all do wrestling to help their takedowns.

Fat Donkey, That won't work on someone who knows what they're doing. If you're in a fight with someone, you've got around 2-5 seconds to escape from a properly sunk in choke. I've had guys try to bend my fingers back and while it's annoying, it doesn't hurt anywhere near as much as when I bend their elbow backwards.

It's not a move that would sound like it would work, but it really does. Royce Gracie taught it at the last seminar he did in Melbourne. It works because when the guy passes his arm around your armpit to choke you, you can catch it and trap it. It's more of a preventative move than an escape.

Gumbi is correct. Say the guy has your back with his hooks in. Your right arm goes over your head so your right bicep is against your right ear. This means he cannot get his hand through the gap to grab your lapel. Your left hand is going across your body, your hand just under your right armpit. When your opponent tries to reach around with his right hand, your left hand grabs it, your right arm comes down and traps it and you move onto your right hip, squashing his arm and nailing his bottom leg to the ground. Then shrimp your hips out and escape to side control.

I've done both stand-up and grappling and I don't think either one is worse than the other in terms of injuries - I've received more than my fair share doing both.

BJJ has many tall, long-limbed champions such as Comprido (which means Long), Roleta, Pe De Pano and many others.

Matt, The majority of BJJ schools concentrate on the ground, just as the majority of Judo schools concentrate on throwing. Most BJJ schools will teach some takedowns and wrestling, but the % of training time spent on takedowns is not the same as that done in Judo schools.

BJJ concentrates more on the ground, Judo concentrates more on throwing.

In bjj it depends on talent, time on the mat, instructor, number of people at your level and better etc. Usually 2 years to blue, a few more to purple, a few more to brown and then black belt is up to the instructor. People seem to be getting their belts faster now because there are more better people, so the junior grades get more exposure to the advanced guys which helps them to progress faster.

When people fight they get adrenaline coursing their system. One of the effects of adrenaline is tunnel vision. You are just as vulnerable to an attack from an outside party if you're standing or on the ground. I've seen plenty of people trading blows with one person and then get his from behind.

If they're going for a kneebar on your right knee, hook your right ankle behind your left knee (like a triangle). You're now susceptible to a knee-wrench, but at least you've escaped the knee-bar.

Treebranch, If the guy on his back is decent then he'll be controlling his opponents arms making it very difficult for him to reach for anything.

Wolfman, Wong Shun Leung was a famous WC master from Hong Kong who fought many times and died around 10 years ago I think. Your comments suggested that it's easy to defeat a boxer yet this is not what a lot of other WC guys say.

Wolfman, what you're saying goes against what most WC guys say. Even Wong Shun Leung said Western Boxing works well against WC!

Are you sure about that rb? I've heard from a few Judo instructors that I had to let go of the armbar when they stood up, which obviously creates bad habits. Defense to armbar? Standup! A good way to get a broken arm.

Sambo doesn't allow chokes, you can also be pinned if the guy is in your guard and looks to be holding you down. Also, they have a rule similar to Judo where you can't apply standing locks, so if you armbar the guy from guard and he stands up you have to release the lock. You can also win with a throw (similar to Ippon).

Drunken Monkey, I was directing my question to alanseijas. I've trained a small amount of WC and I understand their theory (a bit anyway). But it seems to be either a beginner thing or an ignorance thing that some people dismiss things outside their art and say that they are easy to deal with e.g I've heard some WC guys say that the hook is easy to beat because it's slow and has to travel in a circle. Your response, Drunken Monkey, was well thought out and reasoned. I've dabbled briefly in a few arts and it's funny how often you'll hear someone say "This is the correct way to throw a punch - the other ways are wrong". It's interesting that I could say the same things for WC as you could for boxing. What most people seem to miss, and you haven't, is that it's not wrong - it doesn't fit their thoery of fighting.

I think you're being mis-lead about how easy it is to beat the hook. You train at a wing-chun type school right? Wing Chun guys seem to have this habit of saying how the straight punch always beats the hook, but this obviously isn't the case or the wing chun guys would have such a problem with the Choy Le Fut guys, or boxers. Also, if the straight punch always beat the hook, then why don't boxers just use jabs and crosses? Hook, upper-cuts and body-rips are all useful. But like any technique, there is a time and a place.

My questions were asked politely. I don't mean to be aggressive - but statements saying some kung-fu guy that no-one has ever heard about could beat one of the most feared boxers in history are ridiculous and disrespectful to Mike Tyson and the people who actually get in the ring and fight.

What pure striker from a TMA could possible beat Iron Mike? In terms of sheer attributes Tyson would be so far ahead of his opponent: great fitness, great reflexes, great timing. Let alone the power of his punches and his experience. Please name one single fighter who you believe could match these things. Also, what makes you think the centre-line theory would over-come boxing. What advantages does it have over boxing theory?

I'm not really that interested in MMA anymore. I'll watch the UFC if there are good fights on, but otherwise I don't really care. I do think it has been good for the martial arts. I think the last ten years have seen an unprecedented jump in the evolution of martial arts with regard to what people see as effective, training methodologies and fight tactics. Hopefully this will start to trickle down to ALL schools in the future. Obviously some people won't change due to either ignorance or because they do martial arts for non-martial reasons, but the majority of people want to learn how to defend themselves effectively, and I think the UFC has been and will be a major catalyst of change for self-defense courses and martial arts in general. As an aside, I think it's unfair to call Royce Gracie rude, obnoxious etc. Apparently he is a very humble and friendly guy.

Please tell us which style/s this is?