Things That Keep You Up At 2 AM:

Let’s get it straight.

No matter how you carve it - BJJ is a pretty weird thing to do and if you stop to think about it for too long, it just might be enough to freak you out 😬 

Most of us are grown-arse adults with full-time jobs and families that are happily paying hundreds of dollars per month to show up multiple times each week (often at strange times of day #shoutoutmorningcrew) and have complete strangers sweat into our eyes 👀 and get as close to breaking our limbs or choking us unconscious as possible, without actually ever doing it (🤞… hopefully).

Objectively… this is nuts. If anyone tried any of this on me outside of the context of a BJJ gym - I’d probably call the cops 👮‍♂️

Yet as well know, over time - these strangers become friends, the gym feels like a second home and the challenge of it all becomes more addictive than anything you’ve done.

So - long before you ‘had the bug 🐛 ’ and given how bizarre it surely seems to those on the outside - how’d you get your start? 🤨

This week’s big question: ⬇️

The last poll’s results:

Last time we asked you - “Rate Your Training Over The Holiday Period”

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ ⭐️ - No jits for me through the holidays. Took a well-earned break.

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ - Managed to sneak a few sessions in amongst all the festivities 😏 

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ - What's a holiday? The jits-train never stops 🚂 

Precisely NONE 🚫 of you savages chose to put your feet up and lose yourselves in a haze of Christmas chaos and New Year madness! 💪 😎 

Commendable effort team - David Goggins himself would be proud 🫡  

The Tap’s ✋, Nap’s 🥱 & Snap’s 🫰From The Mats This Week:

You know the sport is getting big when God himself 💡 is getting involved in belt promotions (#allegedly) 🤦‍♂️👇

1.) What’s Happened & What’s Happening 👀  

While everyone else bangs on about January being a slow and heavily hungover write-off 🍻 - the world’s BJJ elites have been straight-up getting sh*t done 💪 

We’ve seen some epic events play out over the last few weeks with more upsets than your family Christmas dinner 😬 🍖 

And better yet - there are some even bigger events in the pipeline 🗓

There’s more here than my busted little fingers can type about today 🖖 - so I’ll drop some links to all the good stuff with a quick blurb and let you go down the procrastination rabbit hole… 🕳

1.) New Wave has a rough day at the Pit Submission Series 🥋 

This was the Karate Combat organisation’s first crack at a grappling event - and they drew some solid names. Helena did her bit for the New Wave crew but the ol’ dog Vagner Rocha took out Luke Griffith and Big Dan Manasoiu lost to Max Gimenes.

2.) One Championship keeps delivering the goods 🎁 

One 165 hands out some big bonuses as Kade Ruotolo takes out Tommy Langaker in a brilliant match, Garry Tonon gets a convincing MMA win and Shinya Aoki gets the choke on a solid last-minute opponent.

3.) Paris - the city of love, croissants and Euros 2024 🥐 

Tonnes of big names and big wins in this one. Mica Galvao comes back to the IBJJF after nearly 2 years for a minor … indiscretion 💉 … to submit all 4 opponents and take the title 🤯 And even more impressive - Gabrielli Pessanha lands her 10th consecutive major double gold 🤯 🤯 

Hold on to your belts though as the event calendar is just getting warmed up:

• Sapateiro has announced a world championship with a $100k prize pool and an ADCC ruleset.

• Owen Jones and Gabriel Sousa are ready to scrap for Polaris 27

• PGF have put $100k and some massive names on the line for their next season of competition. Check it out 👇

2.) These guys have endless stamina 🏃‍♂️

Rener & Ryron Gracie’s Combatives Program set out well over a decade ago to become the Danoz Direct 📺  ultimate beginner jiu-jitsu video program - and now 13 years (and many angry Reddit threads) later - they’re at it again with their launch of 2.0 🥈 

Gracie Combatives 2.0 looks to address some missing modules from the original launch and update what was originally included to better reflect the evolution of BJJ - and how it applies in an increasingly insane world 🤪

Now they show how to throw sand in people’s eyes 👀 (or maybe it’s how to defend it? 🤔), how to efficiently & effectively damage your neighbour’s tesla 🚙 - and even how to manage the legal considerations of triangle-choking some kid’s angry dad in a local park! 🌳 #renerthelegaleagle

It’s also been shot in Ultra HD 4K so you can actually see the literal excitement oozing out of Rener and almost smell the musty stale sweat of Gracie University HQ! Not actually being on the mats has never looked so realistic 🤩!

Seriously though, kudos to them - these guys have done a lot for getting new people into BJJ … and providing sound legal advice when the price is right 💰😏

It’s worth a watch 👇

3.) Jordan drops some black belt bombs 💣

Jordan Teaches Jiujitsu is one of the better BJJ YouTube creators out there at the moment.

He not only puts out solid technique videos and match analyses, but also gives some great advice on the wider concepts as well as some great ways to approach the sport as a whole.

Like this one 👇

Probably more targeted towards the white belts and fresher blue belts among us - Jordan gives some good pointers on the best way to approach your training to get the most out of the time you put in - as well as how to stay in the game for the long term and not burn yourself out 🔥

As the man says himself - “you're going to be somewhere in 10 years, you might as well be a black belt” ✅ 

Do Less. No, Wait, Do More:

The Good Option: Pass Like They Do In Sao Paulo 🇧🇷 

If you see the biscuit 🍪 - you gotta risk it

The Sao Paulo pass, in my opinion, is no free lunch.

It definitely carries a bit of risk 😬 , but when done well, it can be a strong and effective way through your opponent’s closed guard - especially when they are holding your posture down with an overhook and giving you few other options.

There are a few different ways to do it, and some key detail differences for Yes-Gi 👍 and No-Gi 👎 , but it’s one worth persevering with!

The Velachiraptor himself gives a solid Gi-less run-through of it below.

Grab a cuppa ☕️ and notepad 📝 👇

The Not-So-Good Option: Thinking You're Too Good For A Guard 🤦‍♂️

When you get to a certain point in BJJ - you’ll get so good that you can start to break all the rules and really mess with your opponents (…so I’m told 🤷‍♂️)

You’ll be able to do things like let people take your back so you can submit them with an embarrassing wrist lock 🤌 - or even lie flat on your back in the middle of a competition match and somehow turn that to your advantage 💪 🔥

The problem is - it can be hard to identify whether or not you are actually good enough to pull these tricks off, or do you just think you’re that good? 🧐 👍

Like this guy👇

The Meme Open Mat:

It’s amazing what 1-week can do! 😃 And it’s also amazing what 1-week can do 😞 

Think you’ve got the spiciest BJJ memes going around? Hit reply, send them through to get them featured 🔥 

We Grow You Grow!

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