Each week sports reporter ROBERT CARRY tries out martial arts from around the world. This week it’s Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA
It’s not that often that a young guy from a working class area gets to lock horns with a garda without fear of being subdued by a swarm of his cohorts, spending a night in the cells and facing a drunk and disorderly charge in the local courthouse the following day. But that’s exactly the scenario I was faced with last Wednesday at Loughlinstown’s Next Generation Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) class.
BJJ is a fighting style that centres on the idea of how to subdue your opponent, should you find yourself rolling around on the ground with him. Jiu-Jitsu started off in Japan, but the BJJ variant came to be mastered in Brazil by the Gracie family, who mixed the Japanese submission art with elements of judo grappling. The resultant intercontinental hybrid fighting style proved its worth when Royce Gracie went to the US for the early Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) events that pitched fighters from different martial arts backgrounds against each other inside a caged ring. The skills of boxers, tae kwon do experts and karate black belts were made redundant once the fighting hit the deck, with Gracie almost invariably forcing his opponents to tap out via some nasty joint lock or choke hold. Gracie won the first, second and fourth UFC tournament and left the world of martial arts fully aware that being able to punch and kick was not enough – if you were going to mix it up in a open-rules tournament, you had better learn how to fight on the ground.
Since then, the various MMA ring and cage fighting events (one of which packed out the Point in Dublin recently) have been inextricably linked with the BJJ style, and so it was in life-long martial arts enthusiast Dave Jones’ Next Generation class. Dave believes that MMA is not a fight style in its own right, but is rather a blend of borrowed skills aimed at preparing you for three different fight stages.
He explains: “MMA is a way of training and of incorporating three different fight ranges. The first is striking, ie punching and kicking while on your feet; second is the clinch, the point at which boxers would be separated but in MMA can involve knee strikes and takedowns; and finally, ground fighting. Where you pull the skills for each range from is up to you, but good fighters recommend you get Thai boxing for the striking, judo and wresting for the take-downs and BJJ for the ground fighting.”
Dave, 32, splits his classes at the Loughlinstown Leisure Centre between grappling and striking, and I opted to forgo the first half of the Champions League final in favour of learning how to ground-fight. After a few stretches, we were paired off and took to the mats while Dave demonstrated wrestling techniques that we then practiced on our partners. These moves, which might have been quite basic in comparison to some of those taught, were exceptionally technical but also extremely practical.
Next up was a game of ‘winner stays on’. The idea was that two guys face off and whoever pins their opponent on their back is the winner who then, as a reward, gets to fight the next person. I have to say that despite being flung around the room while Dave’s radio blared house music in the background, this was probably one of the most enjoyable things I’ve done for this column. I was the smallest of all the guys I fought, and they were obviously more experienced than me ¬– this basically meant the results were a bit of a foregone conclusion.
However, I did actually win one when I went up against a guy who, as reward for his prowess, had just fought three bouts back-to-back. The round of applause I got when I took him down and pinned him banished the pain my previous losses had left me with. Well, almost.
After some more technique training, we were again paired off for another round of fighting – this time starting from a seated position on the mat, with the aim being to force your opponent to submit by applying an arm lock or choke hold. I was paired with John, a man whose appearance meant he scarcely had to tell me he was a garda. He was a big lad but he was still somehow deceptively strong, probably because of his likeable, I’m-friendly-but-don’t-push-me demeanour. After our first ‘roll’ I became aware that the best I could hope for out of this man was to last a few moments before being forced to submit. And so it was, tap after tap. John saw fit to throw me a compliment at one point, saying: “I take it you’ve done some sort of ground fighting before then?” I answered: “Nah, only on the streets bud, ya know yourself.” I couldn’t resist it.
MMA has proven particularly popular in Eastern Europe, benefiting perhaps from the crossover from wrestling, which has traditionally been strong in the region, and this is reflected in the diverse Loughlinstown class.
The whole cage-fighting concept does leave a lot of people cold, but Dave, who himself was a professional cage fighter and appeared in the UK’s first ever cage tournament, says its reputation is somewhat undeserved.
“If you take the Olympic sports of tae kwon do, wresting, judo and boxing and blend them together, you’re left with MMA. The cage might add a bit of menace to the proceedings but it’s there for safety – rings are too dangerous because fighters will tend to either get tangled up in the ropes or fall though them. The idea might seem barbaric, but the guys in there are highly trained and are prepared for it.”
In a one-on-one fight, BJJ – as trained for MMA – is basically unbeatable. Even a Thai boxer will only get in a couple of shots before generally succumbing to a takedown and submission. Unfortunately, as a form of defence, this is where it falls down. As anyone who has braved O’Connell Street at closing time will tell you, one-on-one fights are rare. This means that the last place you want to end up if set upon is on the ground with your attacker, because as sure as night follows day a third party will start raining down boots until you let go of his buddy. And then all you can do is curl into a ball and wait for John the garda to come help you.
BJJ is a fighting style that centres on the idea of how to subdue your opponent, should you find yourself rolling around on the ground with him. Jiu-Jitsu started off in Japan, but the BJJ variant came to be mastered in Brazil by the Gracie family, who mixed the Japanese submission art with elements of judo grappling. The resultant intercontinental hybrid fighting style proved its worth when Royce Gracie went to the US for the early Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) events that pitched fighters from different martial arts backgrounds against each other inside a caged ring. The skills of boxers, tae kwon do experts and karate black belts were made redundant once the fighting hit the deck, with Gracie almost invariably forcing his opponents to tap out via some nasty joint lock or choke hold. Gracie won the first, second and fourth UFC tournament and left the world of martial arts fully aware that being able to punch and kick was not enough – if you were going to mix it up in a open-rules tournament, you had better learn how to fight on the ground.
Since then, the various MMA ring and cage fighting events (one of which packed out the Point in Dublin recently) have been inextricably linked with the BJJ style, and so it was in life-long martial arts enthusiast Dave Jones’ Next Generation class. Dave believes that MMA is not a fight style in its own right, but is rather a blend of borrowed skills aimed at preparing you for three different fight stages.
He explains: “MMA is a way of training and of incorporating three different fight ranges. The first is striking, ie punching and kicking while on your feet; second is the clinch, the point at which boxers would be separated but in MMA can involve knee strikes and takedowns; and finally, ground fighting. Where you pull the skills for each range from is up to you, but good fighters recommend you get Thai boxing for the striking, judo and wresting for the take-downs and BJJ for the ground fighting.”
Dave, 32, splits his classes at the Loughlinstown Leisure Centre between grappling and striking, and I opted to forgo the first half of the Champions League final in favour of learning how to ground-fight. After a few stretches, we were paired off and took to the mats while Dave demonstrated wrestling techniques that we then practiced on our partners. These moves, which might have been quite basic in comparison to some of those taught, were exceptionally technical but also extremely practical.
Next up was a game of ‘winner stays on’. The idea was that two guys face off and whoever pins their opponent on their back is the winner who then, as a reward, gets to fight the next person. I have to say that despite being flung around the room while Dave’s radio blared house music in the background, this was probably one of the most enjoyable things I’ve done for this column. I was the smallest of all the guys I fought, and they were obviously more experienced than me ¬– this basically meant the results were a bit of a foregone conclusion.
However, I did actually win one when I went up against a guy who, as reward for his prowess, had just fought three bouts back-to-back. The round of applause I got when I took him down and pinned him banished the pain my previous losses had left me with. Well, almost.
After some more technique training, we were again paired off for another round of fighting – this time starting from a seated position on the mat, with the aim being to force your opponent to submit by applying an arm lock or choke hold. I was paired with John, a man whose appearance meant he scarcely had to tell me he was a garda. He was a big lad but he was still somehow deceptively strong, probably because of his likeable, I’m-friendly-but-don’t-push-me demeanour. After our first ‘roll’ I became aware that the best I could hope for out of this man was to last a few moments before being forced to submit. And so it was, tap after tap. John saw fit to throw me a compliment at one point, saying: “I take it you’ve done some sort of ground fighting before then?” I answered: “Nah, only on the streets bud, ya know yourself.” I couldn’t resist it.
MMA has proven particularly popular in Eastern Europe, benefiting perhaps from the crossover from wrestling, which has traditionally been strong in the region, and this is reflected in the diverse Loughlinstown class.
The whole cage-fighting concept does leave a lot of people cold, but Dave, who himself was a professional cage fighter and appeared in the UK’s first ever cage tournament, says its reputation is somewhat undeserved.
“If you take the Olympic sports of tae kwon do, wresting, judo and boxing and blend them together, you’re left with MMA. The cage might add a bit of menace to the proceedings but it’s there for safety – rings are too dangerous because fighters will tend to either get tangled up in the ropes or fall though them. The idea might seem barbaric, but the guys in there are highly trained and are prepared for it.”
In a one-on-one fight, BJJ – as trained for MMA – is basically unbeatable. Even a Thai boxer will only get in a couple of shots before generally succumbing to a takedown and submission. Unfortunately, as a form of defence, this is where it falls down. As anyone who has braved O’Connell Street at closing time will tell you, one-on-one fights are rare. This means that the last place you want to end up if set upon is on the ground with your attacker, because as sure as night follows day a third party will start raining down boots until you let go of his buddy. And then all you can do is curl into a ball and wait for John the garda to come help you.
