Niel Melanson's New Book and Style

[Zach Enlow]

ok gents, 6:15 of this video is where talks his thoughts on the rubber guard. if you watch only a few minutes before, he goes over his variation of "London" or his "shoulder pin" and why he likes it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQNb6y-B_nc

[BrySnave]

The Irish collar tie he uses is similar in theory to the rubber guard. He keeps his opponent broken down and really close so they can't punch him. He is kind of using a legless rubber guard to keep his opponents close. He also uses London a lot to set up triangles. It seems like he understands grappling (especially from the guard) for mma really well. His theory is either be in really close (with the Irish collar tie) or be far away (k-guard) so your opponent doesn't have an opportunity to punch you.

Here is a video of his Irish collar tie
http://youtu.be/8nD2Goq33yw

Here is a video of K-control (K-guard)
http://youtu.be/FisQnxxoJWM

And here is one more K-guard video
http://youtu.be/bizcQ0wZQkg

[Eddie Bravo]

Lots of peeps on the Atama forum are bashing him but at least he's specifically trying to figure out the best guard for Mma. I just need to see him sparring against dudes his size with some decent skill before I bother dissecting it. This dude is giant so a lot of his material may only work on smaller guys, again, we don't know until we see sparring or comp footage

[Drew Ash]

Ive never gotten used to the 3 finger grip

[chronic_jiujitsu]

Attachment 2546

I'm having a hard time understanding this. Not in the sense that I don't think it's effective, I just don't have a black belt in judo or know catch wrestling so it's hard to understand how he's playing it with my (very) limited jiujitsu background.. So how's he preventing the opponent from sprawling back and using his right arm to smash his legs to the mat and swiveling around to twister side/side control?

[BrySnave]

I think I read somewhere he has a really rare disease that caused him to go blind. He had surgery and they were able to give him something like 75 percent of his sight back in his right eye. But I think the doctor told him that he can't grapple anymore cause if he gets bumped wrong he might go blind again. So I don't think your going to see him training or competing. I think it also said in the article that he had to have like 3 of his toes amputated. Really sad... Couldn't imagine not being able to do something I love.

[Zach Enlow]

Ive read similar things about him and that he cant roll much. He speaks about how he got his black belt in Hayastan Grappling from Gokor and Karo. He definitely has negativity surrounding him. Again, one of the main reasons for the post.

@chronic_jiujitsu - you would be surprised how much of effective hitting is taken away by it, but then again Ive never used it against somebody like jon jones. In my experience, as soon as the guy tries to transition from there, I almost always can lock up Mission Control or get a Free New York.

[Chad C.]

I think I read somewhere he has a really rare disease that caused him to go blind. He had surgery and they were able to give him something like 75 percent of his sight back in his right eye. But I think the doctor told him that he can't grapple anymore cause if he gets bumped wrong he might go blind again. So I don't think your going to see him training or competing. I think it also said in the article that he had to have like 3 of his toes amputated. Really sad... Couldn't imagine not being able to do something I love.

I'm sure I read this same article. He was like a US Marshal when he was diagnosed. He's also friends with James "The Thinker" Smith (if anyone knows who that is), I think they were in the military together.

[Chris Herzog]

Melanson's legit. He's got a black belt in judo (he's been in Karo Parysan's corner many times), extensive knowledge in catch, and a black belt in BJJ. I don't recall who awarded him his rank in BJJ, but Randy Couture hired him on as the head grappling coach at Extreme Couture, so it's safe to assume that he's credible. Forrest Griffin trains with both Melanson and Drysdale (I assume for a good reason, otherwise he'd just do all of his grappling at Drysdale's).

I heard he has no rank in BJJ, but calls what he teaches Jiu Jitsu.

[Zach Enlow]

Zog, he states he has a black belt in "Hayastan Grappling." So no jitz ranking, but definitely a worthy school in my opinion.