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BJJ Escapes (con't)Now, building a good BJJ defense gets you into a mindset to where you're not worried so much about being in a bad position. You don't mind going for the submission or going for the attack. But some people are afraid they'll miss if they go for it and end up in a position they can't defend or escape from. If your BJJ defense and escapes are good, you'll have a special kind of confidence because of that. And if you're going to be a competitor in MMA or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, or just any sport period, you have to have a lot of confidence. You have to know that your game is well rounded enough that no matter what happens you feel confident in that situation. If it's Jiu Jitsu, I think it's a lot easier to have a confident offense than it is to have a confident defense. You may tap a lot of people, you just pass everybody's guard and a lot of things like that. You're going to feel really good about that. But it's good being able to have someone pass your guard, or have someone take your back, and know with pure confidence that the position is going to be short-lived because you're going to be out of there in no time. And that your defense, being able to protect yourself from submissions, is so good that you're going to get away, and you're going to go right back into your offense. It gives you the kind of game that doesn't slow down. You can push the pace from a bad position. You can actually make your opponent fear what you're going to do while you're escaping, because you're so good at it. They feel that they have no chance to attack you, and as soon as you get away, you're already attacking them again. It's not just the fact that you can go back into it, but the confidence that you'll have because of that. You don't panic. A lot of people panic in bad positions. You see some of those high level guys just freeze in those positions, just holding their opponent, pulling them close because they don't want to allow any space. Or they'll take their back and all they do is try to hold the person's arm so they don't move. It's like they're feeling "Oh my god, I can't believe I did this... and I did something so terrible." Or they'll think "Oh I'm about to get choked, I'm about to get armbarred, I'm about to loose." Because they haven't trained their defense enough. They know it's not where it needs to be. Roger is a perfect example of the opposite. His defense is so good that when someone takes his back he just breathes the same as if he's tapping someone. He's got his hands in place, he's got his body covered up. The person who gets there on him, they're so happy to get there they think "This is my one chance." But no body gets that close to the tap with Roger. And even when it is close, he keeps his composure from start to finish. Good position or bad, the confidence is there. Top athletes in BJJ have that confidence, even in the worst situations. Whenever people freak, out it's hard to bounce back from. Even if they do escape, they could still be in that negative mindset, and not be able to come out of it until the end of the match. That will definitively play a role in their game. If they have confidence in their BJJ escapes and defense, they may never get to that point. They're always in a positive mindset and always at their best. But some guys will just freeze after escaping a bad position. They'll just settle for not getting tapped, as opposed to trying to win the match. And I think anyone who's competed enough is guilty of that. I did that in Brazil. I fought a guy, and he passed my guard really easy, really soon in the match. Now I really thought "This guy is really really good." And as soon as I recovered guard he passed it again. By the time I got back to guard, all I could think was "I've just got to hold this guy in guard" instead of risking anything. Instead of saying "Ok, I'm going to try to flip this guy. I've got to try to tap this guy," I felt "Naw, I've just got to get to guard and not get it passed again." He was so successful. I mean, he actually ran the whole rest of the tournament like that. That was his whole game. He passed everybody's guard, and give them just enough room for the person to barely get back to a crappy half-guard, and he would pass again. You see that sometimes when someone dominates someone else. Say they pass the guard, knee ride, almost submit them, then they mount them. Finally the person traps their arm and rolls them over, and they won't move. Because they don't think the way they should. "Ok, I'm confident, the guy did better but now it's my turn, I'm totally confident being able to beat this guy." It's more like "This guy is way better than me. I don't want to look any worse than I do now, and I definitively don't want to get tapped. I better just try to keep things even." You're not going to grow that way. You have to keep confidence. The upper level guys know it happens all the time. A guy can be losing 20 to 0, but as long as you don't give up, you have a chance. People that don't realize that, they're basically giving up. Even though they don't tap, they're basically giving up. There's nothing in their mind telling them "Hey, I have to try to finish this. I have a chance." As long as you haven't tapped out you still have a chance. And then the ones that do, you hear about all the time. "I couldn't believe it, the other guy was winning 20 to 0. The guy escaped and caught him in a toe hold." Or, "The guy escaped and caught him in an armbar" or "He barely passed through and armbarred right away." People are watching that, and some people would call that luck and say "Awe, he got lucky." And the people that know that fighter will say "Awe well, I think the guy he was fighting was probably over all more skilled, but he was confident enough. He knew he could win. He knew that his defense was good enough not to get tapped, he took his opportunity." He took it, where as someone else might hold back because of that fear, and let the clock run out. Don't be that person. Build your defense and escapes. Make them the best part of your game, and you'll truly be on your way to becoming a champion.
BJJ Escapes (part 1)
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