IBJJF Half Guard Battle (Video)

[James O'Brien II]

This is the video from the IBJJF NoGi Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championships hosted in New York September 28th, 2013.

In the 1st 10 seconds missing from this recording.
I went to shake hands with my opponent. He grabbed my wrist and attempted to set guard. I broke his grip and jumped on his neck for a Marcelotine. This is where the video picks up.



The final score was 4 points to 4 points.
Lanoir Lenny had 2 advantage points.
And I had 0 advantage points.

Lanoir Lenny went on to place 3rd out of 19 competitors.

Reviews and critiques are always appreciated.

Thanks for reviews in advanced.
I hope everyone enjoys!

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Thoughts and Review

My biggest error came in the form of preparation.
I hadn't drilled for 10 days leading up to this competition.
I had a 3 hr session schedule 2 days prior to this tournament,
but my training partner called off sick.
I blame my lack of control, being impatient, and having lazy transitions to an insufficient amount of repetitions. Though coming into this tournament just weeks after dislocation my right elbow.
I don't feel it played any role in this match.

0:04 seconds into the video I'm almost certain the 1st advantage point was to be awarded to me. Our feet were entangled so it could have been an honest mistake.
Does anyone think otherwise?

0:15 seconds the ref calls for us to be moved to the center of the match.
I'm not sure the clarity of the video, but I had my opponent's left butterfly hook trapped.
Upon re-positioning us to the center of the mat. I tried to ensure I received the same position. I felt the ref did a poor job ensuring this. My opponent began yelling to the ref he had closed guard. The ref said go and my opponent went from closed guard.

- In hindsight this match has me thinking I should be more aggressive and
be less sporting.

- Starting from closed guard caused me to have a mental lapse. I was frustrated.
My goal this tournament was to avoid opponents' closed guards and press the action.
After my opponent received a free pass I did a well enough job getting my mind back to business.

1:19 - From his closed guard he became predictable. I shut down at least 4 armbar attempts before knee slicing and getting stopped in Z-Guard.
- Advice on this transition would be helpful. -- I would have liked to end in top side or leg drag.

1:43 - My opponent starts a transition from Z-Gurd Kimura to an armbar.
Halway through the transition we end up out of bounds.
I know that can be corrected by keeping my elbows tight while on top in Z-Guard.
Also. Continuing to defend myself at all times. Even when the ref instructs us to stop will prevent an unsporting transition that occurs out of bounds.

- My opponent did receive another advantage point for this transition.
Giving him 2 advantage points total.

Upon the restart I break my opponents grips as he falls to the ground. I am unsure of how stalling rules are applied there. I should have employed better technique while passing or I should have asked the ref to stand him back up.

2:54 - I need to better study the deep half guard.

3:10 - Rubber Guard - I need to be more patient when playing with my rubber guard. He was already tired by this point, but to crush him and wear him down with my rubber guard could have been my keys to victory.

4:00 - Spiral Guard

4:33 - Electric Chair Sweep - I wanted to drill the Electric Chair Submission into my muscle memory before this tournament. With the idea I could be in the position to end matches with it.
I was also lazy with my passing transition.

5:00 - With my lazy passing transition after sweeping I allowed him to tornado sweep me.

5:26 - Lockdown to Old School - Again lazy passing after the sweep.

5:55 - I was hip tossed from top side control. How embarrassing.

[sean applegate]

You tapped at 2:12....I would say work on your breaking and passing guard.

[James O'Brien II]

You tapped at 2:12....

"And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids."

Haha (:

Once we went out of bounds I was in his closed guard.
I discontinued defending, anticipating a restart.
Entirely my fault. You must protect yourself at all times.
Then the referee called for a restart.
My opponent continued to attack.
That is where you see me tap his leg.

Even though tapping 'out' consists of tapping at least 2 times.
I did knowingly slap his leg as a gesture for him to disengage for the ref had clearly yelled "Parro"

Initially I did not agree with the call of awarding him an advantage point for this transition because the movement from his closed guard to 'spider-web' was done entirely out of bounds.

Upon review. I now lean towards awarding him the advantage point. Simply for the fact that he chained his attacks together.
Starting with the Kimura from Z-Guard.

[sean applegate]

The advice remains the same.

[Louis Ho]

Always fun watching you compete. That dude was no joke. Good job, James.

[James O'Brien II]

The advice remains the same.

I've been having a hell of a time finishing my passes.

I need help figuring out and solving this problem.

Any insight?

[James O'Brien II]

Always fun watching you compete. That dude was no joke. Good job, James.

Thanks, Louis!

He was, who I thought he was, I just left him off the hook. Hmph.

[Matt Wallace]

Man, that was a tough roll. Good job overall! Don't feel too bad- that was not a standard hip toss, dude! Only advice I can give on Z guard is that you can often Fishnet and disrupt him that way. If you can gain a little traction with the downward pressure you can often sprawl, aiming your chest for his topside knee to make his legs sandwich down and then tiptoe around towards the back. Not an "everytime" solution but there's some play in there.

As far as passing advice, I'd say you are doing the hard work easy and the easy work hard ;-) You're getting the pass just not keeping control. Passing is not only moving from position to position but from one pressure to another. Once you pass you have to look to apply physical pressure to hold the position. That's job #1 after clearing. THEN you can transition again. But the longer you hang out in limbo and don't pin the guy (by usually using the floor) the higher his chances of countering you are. For instance, in that hip toss scenario I'm willing to bet the reason why he was successful wasn't position but because you had clinching pressure which is based off both centers of gravity being in the air instead of driving pressure which would have drove his waist towards the ground. I hope this makes sense!

Kudos to you for putting it all on the line at the big show; MAJOR cajones, bro! I'm hesitant to offer advice because I'm an eternal learner and very respectful of your hard work but if I gave you any ideas then it was worth the possible flame suit B-)

[Cora Sek]

James: great match bro. Since we been working on our guard break and passing a lot these days, just want to share what has been working for us. By all mean, just take it if its will work for you. I'm just sharing.

[Cora Sek]

This one is a great tech that can be done with Gi or without. Cora has used this against much bigger boys who have strong guard and she been very successful with it.