The Grapple Hut Huddle Feb. 2023

Aggressive Hugging News & Technique Discussion for the month.

THIS MONTH'S BIG GRAPPLING EVENTS

Feb. 25 - ONE Fight Night 7: Lineker vs Andrade 2 (on Amazon Prime US)
Feb. 25 - Tezos WNO: Gordon vs Pena II (on FloGrappling)

THE NEWS

Early into the year, FloGrappling announced a major deal that could affect how things in the professional aspect of grappling play out when they announced a seven figure deal with ADCC Champion Gordon Ryan. It is not at all surprising that Ryan received such a lucrative deal given his accolades and recent showing submitting arguably one of the All-Time Great’s in Andre Galvao in their Superfight at ADCC 2022, as well as capturing a divisional championship in the same event. The non-exclusive deal is the biggest in the history of jiu jitsu, grappling, and probably even most combat sports. It was big enough news that Forbes covered it, in what I can only recall being the first time jiu jitsu was mentioned exclusively outside of an MMA discussion on their platform.

Around the same time as Gordon Ryan’s deal was announced, the second biggest news of the year came out towards the end of January. It was announced a two year broadcast deal between ADCC and the UFC’s online streaming platform UFC Fight Pass had been signed. The deal will start beginning of 2023 and run through the ADCC World Championship due to take place in 2024. This will also include all the ADCC Open and Trials events in the build up to the World Championship. In total that’s a reported 40 or so events across that time. To say this is a big deal is a bit of an understatement. For years FloGrappling have had a near monopoly on the premium grappling events and given the past two events held under Flo’s oversight being rife with numerous complaints and issues, this at least lets us see how the grappling world’s biggest event can look under different broadcasting partners and ones that know a thing or two about putting on a big event. The UFC has already ran a few grappling events with their invitationals, as well as partnering with Chael Sonnen’s Submission Underground event series for a bit. Also on Fight Pass is the Polaris ProGrappling organization that also run events focused around grappling. In short, this marks the first time a large streaming provider has made a play for the fairly niche sport of grappling and its better for the audience. FloGrappling’s subscription model is set at a fairly steep $30/month, where as UFC Fight Pass is half the cost of that and you get access to a lot more content that is likely to keep you on as a subscriber (unless you REALLY like FloEquestian’s coverage of horseback riding).

Marcelo Garcia, one of jiu jitsu’s pioneers and genuine contender for Greatest of All Time, broke the news that he was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Per his post on Instagram, he is set to start chemotherapy treatment for three months followed by surgery to remove the tumor that was found.

“Please keep me and my family on your prayers,” Garcia, 40, wrote. “Get your check ups, listen to your body, all I had was hiccups after eating and I’m glad I went to see a doctor.”

For those that aren’t fully aware of his impact on the sport of jiu jitsu, Marcelo Garcia is a member of the ADCC Hall of Fame’s inaugural class in 2022. He is also the only ADCC competitor who has won a weight division four different times in four different ADCC tournaments. Also, let’s not forget to mentionhis accolades in IBJJF competitions where he won five world titles from 2004 to 2011 before focusing on coaching in New York City.

In a rather odd (in the sense it sort of came out of nowhere), or potentially clever, move the UFC announced a deal with collegiate wrestler Bella Mir. Now, you may think to yourself, “Hey, isn’t that former UFC Champion Frank Mir’s daughter?” and you would be right.

In what is being described by some outlets as a “potential new method for talent development” it was announced that by the UFC that Bella Mir, a wrestler at the University of Iowa, as the promotion’s “first NIL (name, image, likeness) ambassador.” NIL deals have become more and more frequent amongst collegiate level athletes ever since the NCAA were pressured into loosening restrictions on what student athletes can leverage their celebrity in the collegiate sport space into money-making opportunities. In addition to this deal with Bella Mir, the UFC also inked a deal with the University of Iowa to sponsor its wrestling programs.

“The partnership between Iowa wrestling and UFC is a perfect fit,” men’s wrestling coach Tom Brands said in a December press release. “We both celebrate tough, physical athletes who compete at the highest level. There is a bridge between wrestlers and fighters across the two sports. With this agreement, it is even more significant.”

TECHNIQUE: THE BODY LOCK

If you’re like me and are not one of those super speedy and all over the place guard passers (aka stupid young person with their stupid youth and speed), then may I introduce you to the Lord & Savior of all sloth tier top players? Yes, I’m talking about the body lock pass. In this video, Lachlan Giles breaks down the standard variation of the body lock pass. There are of course more nuances to the pass than this but I’ve been using this breakdown, as well as Nick Rodriguez’s post ADCC 2022 video, to better implement the technique into my game.

In his instructional, which is highly recommended, Lachlan breaks down the bodylock pass into five key stages.

1. Forcing the back of the uke off of the mat.

2. Connecting hands behding the uke’s back.

3. Clearing the knee line on one side of the uke’s body, which is the side you’ll be passing to.

4. Freeing your secondary leg.

5. Securing side (or mount) position.

These five steps aren’t necessarily what needs to be done in that exact order but they are what is needed. Here is an example of a body lock pass in action featuring Nick Rodriguez at Fury Grappling:

As mentioned, there doesn’t need to be all these steps followed in order. Here is a clip of a competitor at the ADCC 2022 Trials competing and pulling the body lock pass off using a slightly different setup and finish.

You’ll notice the top player didn’t start from the more “standard” position (which is usually top butterfly guard) but secured his top position off of that initial scramble. In addition, the top player also had their outside leg free very early thanks to the scramble/roll back they did that saw them get on top. From there they used their free leg’s foot to pin the uke’s inside knee to then free the top player’s inside leg and secure mount.

Adding to all of this, Craig Jones discusses a small variation of the body lock pass in his instructional, Power Top, where he uses his outside hand to pin the uke’s leg while using his inside hand to wrap around the uke’s waist.

While I have limited success with the foot post technique Craig shows there, the more “standard” form of the body lock has, personally, helped me with my guard passing against a fair deal of partners while in the gym. This new angle/method of attack does seem to be useful depending on the situation, but also to me opens up concerns of losing the midsection pressure as you have a less secure grip.

PROS & CONS

The main pro to using the body lock pass is that once their waist is wrapped around and your shoulder is applying pressure, it becomes quite difficult for the uke to make any distance from you.

However, as Lachlan points out in his DVD, your hands are thus preoccupied and there is a chance of losing your base as compared to having them free and is something that you do need to be mindful of.

This was my initial discussion of the body lock pass. Again, I am far from an expert but is something I’ve found success with in my guard passing game as of late and seems to be trending as well in the more high end competitive scene.