Sunday 26 February 2012

On the Mat Day 237: Flower Sweep from Guard

Today was a great day. Training went well and afterwards I sat down to watch UFC in Japan with the guys. F-sensei was absent from teaching because he had a ticket to go watch UFC! K-sensei took the class and a surprising number of people turned up. Mostly blue belts with Ogiyama-san who is still at white but close to promotion.

Drills were done with Yoshida san today who just happens to love the flower sweep and armbar. He is a good partner to drill with and when prompted gives tips on positions he knows well. I like the flower sweep too but never remember to use it during sparring for some reason even though I have actually hit it once before. I really should think about doing it but right now I am concentrating more on high guard and most importantly standup to takedown. After reading Marcelo's book I have been constantly hunting single leg takedowns. I got a lot of them today on the other blue belts. Even on Toshi who I have never sparred with before.

I used a great little set up from side control on Akira (who has not been for about 2 months). Caio Terra explains it better than me so here it is.



I was aware of this sneaky setup to the Ezekiel choke using the lapel but have forgotten to use it. I will try to from now on because it really does fool the opponent.

Sitting around watching UFC 144 with the other guys was cool. I got to hear how some of them think about the BJJ and stand up portions of the fights. It is so much better than watching the fights alone. Everyone was disappointed in Akiyama and Yushin's loss. We all liked Edgar's tenacity and found it hard to decide who had won. I think Henderson won but it was extremely close.

Sparring time: 6 x 6 mins = 36 mins

Notable moments: sparring with Toshi's son who is a small 11 year old kid and seeing how great he moved. I just love to see kids doing BJJ because it not only beats sitting on your arse playing DS all day but teaches them self-defence.

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