BTG 66 - Trashing Black Belts for Attention

Hey guys, what's going on? Merry Christmas if you're watching this on Christmas Day and welcome to another Breaking the Guard podcast with your host David Avalon. And on today's episode, we'll cover a few topics in the news. First off being uh the combat jiu-jitsu middleweight world championships. Uh you know I've always been somewhat critical with the EBI roles because I always feel like they always end up going to overtime and this I mean out of 17 matches 12 of them finished had finishes uh within the regulation. So that's pretty good. But then my problem is five of them went into overtime which again puts it at about a 30% 29.4% rate of overtime which is in my opinion very high particularly with the finals going into writing time as a deciding factor. That's like the worst way in my opinion for a tournament to end like uh having the writing time in the first matches in the pre because it was a oh I believe it was one two yeah it was three eightman tournament. Oh no 16man tournament excuse me. So having the first opening round go into overtime and be decided by writing time, that's okay, whatever. Not great. But there's a lot more matches to go. But the finals being decided by overtime and by writing time in particular really leaves a sour taste in my opinion. Not fun to watch. Uh particularly because it was a Ryan Akin and um God name slipped. But, uh, another very good grappler, both Temp Panic guys. And it seemed like halfway through they just coasted and they both it looked like they were confident they would win the overtime. But, uh, Ryan was the one that do dominated the overtime. He chose the strategy of just riding the back body triangle and showed a great control of the body triangle. His opponent never got out of riding time at all. and uh his opponent went for going for spiderweb and trying to finish with the armbar. Cal chambers. There we go. Um which I always find if you're going to go into spiderweb ba and for those of you not versed in 10th planet, it's it basically arm bar position, but you're holding the near leg and the opponent has their hands locked and you have your other arm hooked on your thigh. So, it's it's a pretty solid starting position, particularly if you're looking for the armbar. Uh, but not as great for scoring riding time. Uh, if you're going to score riding time, go back mount. And especially Kyle, he's got a really long body, long legs. It would make more sense for in my in my view at least, uh, to try to get the writing time. Um, but that said, congrats to Ryan. He had uh I believe two submission finishes. He had two writing time finishes. Uh there's a good again a lot of submissions there. So I saw the last half of it. So maybe I saw more of the overtimes. I'm like h not as fun to watch, but there was definitely a good amount of finishes uh on that card. Although I didn't see a lot of slapping, right? And that's supposed to be the big deal with combat jiu-jitsu is the slapping, you know? uh at least in this edition they seem to be a bit more grappling based not so much slap based. I think when you have like guys like Vagner Roachcha given slapping they definitely take advantage of it a lot more. Uh so anyhow that was that the combat jiu-jitsu. Uh, next thing that I saw was uh, Sean Strickland, who was a he's doing a great job of trying to control the news and being in the headlines all the time, but he had a video of himself grabbing his black belt and throwing it in the garbage and saying that he wasted 10 years of his life chasing a piece of fabric. Now, uh, that to me is just him being funny. He I mean, I see him in the gym. He does a lot of ground work. I mean, he obviously he loves striking, but it's not like he doesn't wrestle or he doesn't do jiu-jitsu. uh from a bigger standpoint in MMA, the way the rules are set up, he's not totally wrong in that it's a much harder game plan to try to play uh as a pure grappler or even just somebody who's grappling based because it's much harder to uh be able to score your takedowns nowadays because Especially if you're fighting the UFC, you have a really big cage. You're dealing with five minutee rounds. Um, and people are much better versed than wrestling and they know how to keep distance. And there's no stalling calls in MMA. You know, it doesn't happen. At least in the UFC. Back in the days, they' give yellow cards and stuff like that and pride or whatnot, but like in the UFC, there's really no penalty to stalling. So you can really keep your distance and the worst thing that's going to happen to you, you're going to get a boof in the crowd, right? Uh so it's pretty tough to score a takedown. You have to have really good timing, know when to split a punch and slip and and shoot in and or corner the guy into the cage and be able to finish that taked down. And again, even on the cage, if the guy knows how to use a cage, well, it could be very hard to score that takedown, too, because now there's a defensive aspect of using the cage as extra balance. So, it's definitely tricky uh to score takedowns in MMA. And then once you score the takedown, it could be just as hard to keep the guy on the ground long enough to advance position and go for a submission. And you got guys like Derek Lewis that just defies all physics and just pushes you off with one hand without even doing any real technical stand up and he's able to escape. So, uh it's definitely more challenging to play a grappling game, especially if you're not specializing in it. If you're thinking like, well, I'm going to do a lot of boxing and then I'm going to do uh some jiu-jitsu and wrestling and thinking you're going to be able to impose a grappling game plan, it's probably not going to work out for you too well, right? You don't have a lot of time to work on the ground. Uh because it's probably going to take you, you know, a minute or two to score your takedown, which leaves you with two or three minutes to control the guy and then try to land into a finish. It's tricky. Like I said, we just talk about combat jiu-jitsu, which is all grappling and you have like 15 minutes and nobody can finish each other and all they're trying to do is finish each other. So, in MMA, it becomes a bit more challenging uh to do. So, if you're a grappling specialist like a Kabib or Islam, you know, then I think there you can definitely they obviously show they can finish people quite well. they can get people to the ground, you know, they can finish, but they're investing a lot more of their time on the groundwork. Groundwork is a lot more technical. And again, it's not an insult. I think it's just a statement of fact that ground fighting, when we're talking about wrestling and takedowns and jiu-jitsu, submission holds and chokes and sweeps and reversals, there's so many more techniques than there are from standing. In standing, you have punches, you have kicks, knees, elbows. That's about it. And of course, there's variations of, you know, jabs, cross hooks, uppercuts, you know, shovel hooks, and all sort of stuff, but there's much less variation, right? There's not as many techniques. Maybe uh you add footwork in and yeah, it changes things a bit, but they're all very basic. And again, basic is not a slight. It's uh in my opinion, it's a compliment. They're not things that are very complicated, but they're things that are very effective. And if you learn all the fine points of how to throw a proper jab, a proper cross, you will do much better than the average person. I think like the average guy who trains MMA, let's say, probably has like a 50% level understanding of how to throw a punch, right? And they could, that's not to say they can't hurt people. they could knock people out with that 50% knowledge. But the guys who have, you know, lots of specialization and striking and really uh hone their craft, who are approaching 80 and even 90% understanding of the technique, those guys are lethal, right? So, what I'm trying to say is that striking is a lot more uh simple, but there's a lot of finer points that you can grab from it. In grappling, it's a lot more complex. It there's a lot more techniques. I mean, the amount of techniques you can use just like I would say like a striking techniques, you probably have maybe like a hundred or so techniques. If we put everything together, all the different punches, the different angles, types of footwork, right? And again, maybe there's more, but let's just say around 100. When we're talking about grappling, we're over a thousand easily without trying. There's a lot of techniques and then the variations of those techniques like I can do an arm bar from the mount from side mount from half guard from bottom guard from top you know and then there's flying arm bar and then there's a different grips of the arm bar and then there's a different sweeps into arm bar right so like and that's just one move and we can get into like 50 or so different things you can do with it and there's so many more techniques so to the investment of time that grappling requires to get mastery is far more intense than striking arts are. Right? So, and again, what I mean to say by that is to get to the 80% level of understanding of grappling is going to take a lot more time than it is for striking. Right? There's just so many more moves to the point that even in grappling like you have to specialize in certain positions. Are you a top player, a bottom player, and then or you're a half guard guy or you're a butterfly guard guy or you're a smash passer or you're you know you like using throwbys or bull fighter passes a standing passing, right? So like there's so many more techniques that it takes much longer to get that proficiency overall. Whereas in striking there is much less techniques. So you can get higher levels of proficiency in striking to be a lot more uh effective if you invest a lot of time in striking. And and striking tends to be a lot more um reaction reflex based just because of how quick it is. It's also a bit more athletic. Uh, jiu-jitsu doesn't have to be athletic. Of course, being athletic helps, but you could be a slow guy and still do really well in jiu-jitsu. Being a slow twitch athlete in striking is not easy to do, right? Uh, you're going to have a hard time. It's not impossible, but it's definitely much more challenging. That's my opinion. Um, so it makes sense to me that a lot of MMA guys prefer going the striking route and just tying in some anti- wrestling, anti- jiu-jitsu, which is much easier to learn than it is to be like a pro jiu-jitsu game because it's going to take you away from being able to work on your striking more. And if you're looking just by one, what the UFC and MMA fans want to see more, which is knockouts, right? Uh they don't like seeing people hugging on the ground or like f they don't again because it's more technical. It takes a lot more uh knowledge of the game to be able to appreciate it, right? Whereas it's very easy to appreciate striking because we could see a punch, we could see a kick and it's obvious, oh, that's doing damage. But when you see someone passing guard and trying to work into the mount, it doesn't make as much sense to the average person who doesn't understand the ground game, right? So, I could see it from the fighter perspective like, you know, I don't really, you know, want to invest so much time into something that I don't think it's going to pay off as much versus I know the striking route pays off a lot and I could learn the anti- wrestling, anti-grappling much quicker, m much more quickly. So, I get it. On the other hand, me, there's people who are fighters and then there's people who are martial artists, right? I've always considered myself a martial artist because I'm someone who I will do martial arts till the day I die. It's a way of life for me. It's a way of being. I appreciate learning more of the game. That's why I'm still training. I'm still learning things. I still attend seminars. U and I've been doing this now for like 26 years or so. I'm still learning, right? Uh people who are fighters, they are doing this just until they achieved some goals and then they tend to fade away, right? So, they're not interested in learning every little thing about the martial arts. They want to learn just enough so that they can be a champion or accomplish whatever goal they're trying to get to. All right. So, it's a very different mindset. Um, GSP martial artist, Sean Strickland, fighter. Right. Uh, Chel Sonnen fighter. And again, that's not to disparrage anybody. It's just a reality. And I I believe those same gentlemen have said the same things, right? That they are fighters, not martial artists. And they see martial artists as being more flaky, right? uh they think being the fighter makes them tougher. I don't see it that way at all. All right. Uh so it's more of a mindset thing. So I always found it funny when you have somebody who's a professional fighter and has less than a blue belt level of understanding of jiu-jitsu. That to me is like a pro football player that doesn't know all the rules, doesn't know all the plays, right? It's like what are you doing on your free time? This is your career. All you should be doing is learning more about your craft. Um I but I find that the fighters tend to trust their coaches more, their trainers to tell them everything they have to do and they don't do anything outside of that. So I mean there's pros and cons to that. I mean when you have that type of faith in your coach that's great, especially if the coach knows what they're doing. I just think you're going to get more mileage if you have that type of coach and you also have the passion of the sport and of the martial arts where you're continuously trying to learn and evolve because if you're kind of fixed in your position, you're probably not going to learn as much. And I feel like those type of guys when time catches up to them much faster. Uh they become a champion and then they kind of stagnate because they're not creating new skills. They're not learning new things because it's not really in their interest. And then people study tape and they see them fight and they find the holes, the chinks in the armor and then they exploit that. Guys who are martial artists like GSP, he's always evolving. He's he's always becoming a different guy. He's always becoming a better fighter. So, I feel it's one of the reasons that nobody ever really figured him out. They've got close but never got there, right? Um, again, my opinion, you can take it for what it is. But, um, again, I don't think Sean Strickland thinks Jiu-Jitsu was a waste of time because I mean, if he didn't do it, he wouldn't be where he is right now, right? like maybe you don't you didn't care that much for that part of your journey, but it did bring you to where you are now. And I would assume he has to be happy being the world champion, right? So, speaking of MMA, we had Nikki Rod who just got awarded his black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu by Craig Jones. and I guess he was on a podcast with Quinton Jackson and they were talking about him transitioning into MMA and his comment was that he wouldn't do it uh for less than seven figures. Uh and his statement was that he's making close to six figures doing grappling matches right now and he really enjoys training for grappling. He says to him it's easy and it's fun. So it wouldn't make sense for him to move into MMA unless it was going to pay him significantly more because for him the MMA training is not fun and that the risk of injury is much greater for him. So, like he can do a few grappling matches, which in his mind is going to cover what he would do in one MMA match, unless it was going to be a significant payday. And I think personally that's great, right? And I know some people want to see their favorite grappler move into MMA, like they want to see Gordon Ryan do MMA. I've heard people saying, "Oh, you know, Mike was a Messi, you should do MMA, you know, 1FC FC or whatnot." And of course, there's a curiosity of like, how would these great grapplers translate into MMA? But if you're a grappling fan, you shouldn't want to see that because then what's going to happen is everybody who gets good at MMA is just going to move over and go into grappling. I mean, go into MMA and then we're not going to have any good grapplers, right? that basically all the best guys are going to switch over to the sport that pays more. What we want is that the sport of grappling gets more lucrative, which it seems like it has been. If he's making close to six figures just doing grappling matches, that's very impressive. He's coming back from my era where you were getting like 500 bucks no travel to compete in a 16-man absolute, you know, where you're losing money, right? Because a trip getting your coach there was a mess, right? So, it's definitely jumped leaps and bounds. Um, we want to I mean, I want to see the the sport of grappling continue to rise and that means that they have to be able to keep the talent. So, we shouldn't want to see guys like Gordon Ryan move into MMA or Nikki Rod or Craig Jones. Uh, if we want to keep them in the sport and these guys are celebrities, we want our celebrities to stay in our sport or in their respective sport so that sport can continue to grow, right? And like we in grappling there's very few people who I would consider as legitimate celebrities. So if we lose those guys, then the sports fan base is going to diminish, right? So we need the star power to stick around. So good on Nikki Rod for understanding that, you know, of course I wouldn't be upset if he fought MMA there. I you always want to see like, oh, how would this guy do in real combat, but uh like I said, I don't think it works out well in the long term for the sport of grappling. You know, we see now actually the opposite trend on retiring fighters that after they start, you know, getting long in the tooth and they're done with their MMA career, they start doing grappling, right? And it's an interesting transition because they have some name recognition. So they probably can command a better purse than the average grappler would especially of their skill set. But it's definitely a hard pull to jump into because if you're getting out of MMA because you're aging out of it, chances are you're probably not going to do that good in grappling if you're facing young talent that's hungry in there. But, you know, people do what they can to to draw eyeballs and and when you have already established fan base from your MMA career, I'm sure the grappling promoters are not going to frown on you bringing them over into the grappling world. So, uh I think that Nicki Rod setting that ceiling up for himself or that floor price, if you will, of 1 mil to do MMA, that's good, right? And if someone does pay him for that, yeah, he should definitely take it. But otherwise, if he can make the type of money he's claiming to make in grappling, he should continue to do that, right? And hopefully, you know, just like Gordon Ryan has helped raise the floor price for grapplers and all the promotions, if we have more talent to compete with him and continue to raise it for everybody else, that's going to make the martial arts more lucrative for everybody. Closing thoughts here on Christmas. I hope you guys had amazing gifts. I hope that you've had good gatherings with your friends and family, feasted well. I will say that in my opinion uh one of the best things you can do for somebody if you're thinking of a good Christmas gift and uh or just the feeling of Christmas is just to give good positive attention to the people that you care about. Uh especially in this day and age where we have devices and phones, it's easy to find yourself in conversation with your phone in your hand and not giving I uh you know focusing on people looking them in the eyes or even just body posture and just looking away and not giving the full attention to somebody. Uh, so if you're watching this on Christmas day, shame on you. You could be doing better things than just listening to me on Christmas. But, uh, hopefully you hang out with the family and your friends first and then maybe you tune into this later. But just consider that as when you're going to spend time with somebody, actually give them your attention. Try not to have things on your hand or some other activity that you're doing. Actually be there. Be present. Uh your time is the most valuable thing that you have and their time is the most valuable thing they have. So when you share your time with them and actually invest fully into that experience, into that moment, it makes it much greater. And uh hopefully that you can do that and people do that for you. It makes a big difference especially with people. I always tell my wife that when I am teaching I feel the most rewarding teaching experience is not teaching the naturally talented superstar athletes that have everything going on for them right like they're just genetically gifted and they you know sharp mind. and they can pick up patterns and techniques really quick. Very easy to teach because that type of person just about anybody could teach and they will do well. I mean, if you're a good coach, you're, you know, you could take them all the way to the top, but just about anybody can help that guy out. And everybody wants to give that type of person an attention, right? Because they're so talented. They're like, "Oh, it's it's fun to work with somebody who picks up things really quickly, right?" and they're used to that experience. So for them, it's not it's harder for them to be grateful because everybody's clamoring to give them attention. The one that is the most rewarding is the guy with two left feet, you know, that's a little clumsy, shy, that most people don't want to work with, right? Like he's the guy that's picked last in dodgeball, right? That guy is the most rewarding to teach because when you can reach out to them and make a difference and get them to uh do a move properly and see the confidence that comes after doing that, that's the most rewarding because you've made a much bigger impact. That's somebody that's not used to having that type of attention, right? Maybe they get negative attention where people taunt them or make fun of them. So when you can be the one that gives them positive attention and makes a difference in their life, that impact is much bigger and it's much more appreciated by that person because they're not used to having that type of attention. They're not used to somebody giving them worldclass instruction, right? Because that's normally reserved for world-class athletes. But when you can give world-class instruction to your average Joe or, you know, someone who is maybe below average, right? They're not talented, right? But you get across to them and you can see the the change it makes in their life. The way they carry themselves, you know, they start making eye contact with you and they carry themselves with uh a sense of importance. That's the most rewarding in my opinion. And that is accomplished by giving attention. Right? It's very simple. It's not complicated. Right? And when you actually care about making a difference on somebody's life using your attention, right, that I feel it's the is one of the best gifts that you can give somebody. So that's just to drive the point home. I was talking about attention from a family perspective and a relationship perspective, but as an instructor, it's the most important thing because that's what all your students want. They want your attention, right? That's why they're there, right? They're they're giving you their attention by watching you as you teach. And then to show them respect, you give that attention back. And that's why having a class of like 500 people is not amazing, right? I mean, great for you because as an instructor, you're like, "Oh, look how important I am. I have all these people here, right? And they want to learn from me." But for the students, they're going to their attention is going to be split right between 499 other people in that seminar. So it's not as an amazing experience for them, right? Uh whereas when I can focus more on each individual, I'm able to make a much bigger impact and a and a and a better connection with that person. So, you know, if you're an instructor or you're someone that teaches, being able to give your attention and your undivided attention and a genuine sense of care uh for this person's well-being and seeing them improve, it connects at a much greater level than the average guy who's just doing like a nineto-5. He's just teaching this class because he wants to get his paycheck at the end of the week and then go home. doesn't care about what happens to the student afterwards. People can sense that, right? They can they can sense the intention and they can sense that you don't care about being there, right? Great instructors care. They take pride in their work and they take pride in seeing people grow and become better. But you're not going to do that if you don't give your attention. So that's my message today. Again, merry Christmas. I'll see you guys I think on New Year's.