Hit me that this is the first site I visit every morning (and about 20 times per day), but I've not introduced myself.
My name is Marc, I live in South West United Kingdom and have been doing Muaythai for around 10 years. Jiujitsu I've been doing for just about 2 years (although I did do MMA before this, although nothing like what I do today).
Over the first 18 months of these 2 years I got 'OK' at Jiujitsu. I won a number of local gi tournaments (despite having never trained in the gi!). But until recently I didn't really understand 'jiujitsu' or have gameplans. I guess I was what Eddie calls 'The Triangle' guy. When I was rolling I would have one aim: get to guard and triangle. Eventually I started to get bored of triangling people in my gym or at competitions (not in an ignorant or big-headed way: but in an 'I want to do other stuff to' kind of way). I guess it would be like if you had a stand-up match every week and the only thing you really knew how to do was the jab: you'd want to learn the other punches, the kicks and the more elaborate stuff (knees & elbows) too.
I was researching a number of people I liked watching roll and my favourites were Eddie and Marcelo (although I like Glavao & Mendes bros too), so I started copying their stuff in class and this made things more interesting. At first I found it hard, although I had decent success with Rubber Guard. Then I found MTS and MGiA and everything changed
My personal belief is that Eddie is the best teacher of No-Gi JJ around. Everything he does he breaks down in simple terms, uses great and memorable metaphors and keeps you interested. He obviously has true passion too. Another thing I like about Eddie is that you can tell it doesn't come easy to him. He has put the reps in, he has put the time in and he is good because he is dedicated (he isn't the JJ version of Naseem Hamed, Amir Khan, etc).
Eddie has completely changed how I look at JJ: now I see it as something that I react to as it happens. I don't go in with that single game plan. I have 3 submissions from top mount, I know that when in half guard I want underhooks, if I can't get them I want to be thinking about an overhook and a butterfly, if I'm on top I don't want him to get those overhooks; I want to get that head and arm control and work my pass.
Whereas I used to train Jiujitsu twice a week and Muaythai 5 days a week, I now do the opposite. My Muaythai is decent, but Jiujitsu is like a new toy. Every day I am learning something new: one of you guys (such as Chris H, Ben E or Brandon M) and I genuinely feel excited about getting down to class and growing as a JJ guy. I'm not entirely sure what my aims are: I guess I'd like to win a few bigger competitions (once I get brave enough to enter them!) and perhaps one day be able to give back by starting my own class (a few years down the line, of course). For now though: I just want to keep learning and being part of the community.
Thanks to everyone for making this place what it is - hope you now feel you know a bit more about me! Probably too much!
My name is Marc, I live in South West United Kingdom and have been doing Muaythai for around 10 years. Jiujitsu I've been doing for just about 2 years (although I did do MMA before this, although nothing like what I do today).
Over the first 18 months of these 2 years I got 'OK' at Jiujitsu. I won a number of local gi tournaments (despite having never trained in the gi!). But until recently I didn't really understand 'jiujitsu' or have gameplans. I guess I was what Eddie calls 'The Triangle' guy. When I was rolling I would have one aim: get to guard and triangle. Eventually I started to get bored of triangling people in my gym or at competitions (not in an ignorant or big-headed way: but in an 'I want to do other stuff to' kind of way). I guess it would be like if you had a stand-up match every week and the only thing you really knew how to do was the jab: you'd want to learn the other punches, the kicks and the more elaborate stuff (knees & elbows) too.
I was researching a number of people I liked watching roll and my favourites were Eddie and Marcelo (although I like Glavao & Mendes bros too), so I started copying their stuff in class and this made things more interesting. At first I found it hard, although I had decent success with Rubber Guard. Then I found MTS and MGiA and everything changed
My personal belief is that Eddie is the best teacher of No-Gi JJ around. Everything he does he breaks down in simple terms, uses great and memorable metaphors and keeps you interested. He obviously has true passion too. Another thing I like about Eddie is that you can tell it doesn't come easy to him. He has put the reps in, he has put the time in and he is good because he is dedicated (he isn't the JJ version of Naseem Hamed, Amir Khan, etc).Eddie has completely changed how I look at JJ: now I see it as something that I react to as it happens. I don't go in with that single game plan. I have 3 submissions from top mount, I know that when in half guard I want underhooks, if I can't get them I want to be thinking about an overhook and a butterfly, if I'm on top I don't want him to get those overhooks; I want to get that head and arm control and work my pass.
Whereas I used to train Jiujitsu twice a week and Muaythai 5 days a week, I now do the opposite. My Muaythai is decent, but Jiujitsu is like a new toy. Every day I am learning something new: one of you guys (such as Chris H, Ben E or Brandon M) and I genuinely feel excited about getting down to class and growing as a JJ guy. I'm not entirely sure what my aims are: I guess I'd like to win a few bigger competitions (once I get brave enough to enter them!) and perhaps one day be able to give back by starting my own class (a few years down the line, of course). For now though: I just want to keep learning and being part of the community.
Thanks to everyone for making this place what it is - hope you now feel you know a bit more about me! Probably too much!
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Originally Posted by Joe Firth
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