Grappling

Pro Sub League: X-Mission Review

by Brad Doerges on November 17, 2006

in Grappling, Jake Shields, Jeff Glover, Marcello Garcia, News, PSL, Randy Couture, Sam Yang

November 17, 2006 – Pro Sub League, the people who brought you LA Sub X have put together another installment, this time labeled X-Mission. Held in Culver City, California in a packed house seating over a thousand fans and many B level celebrities, would witness the return of Randy Couture to some form of competition.

There was a lot of hitches, like the first show, this show was also 2 hours behind and there was no organization as trying to get people in or managing the lines. It was put together by grapplers though so what can we expect? Luckily the fights went by fast and continuously.

The rules were a little different. 1 pt for a takedown, 1 pt for mount or back mount, and 3 pts for near submissions or catches. 2 4 minute rounds and 2 1 minute overtimes. In the end no matter what the rules are, the good players always seem to come out on top.

The first match of the night was Mac Danzig (KOTC Champion) vs Alan Zborovsky. I heard a lot about Mac before this fight and was waiting to see if he would live up to his hype which he did. Alan did a good job taking Mac down and passing his guard, but Mac had great guard work, surprisingly from an MMA fighter who is not known for his jiu jitsu. Mac forces a scramble and overwhelms Alan and applies a deep kimura for catch pts. Alan hangs tough and escapes only to be caught in a north south choke and the referee had to stop because Alan was clearly out. Mac wins by choke.

The second match was black belt Jeff Glover of Paragon and Cobra Kai Jiu Jitsu vs Shane Rice who is a brown under Rickson Gracie. Glover had beaten Shane twice in previous matches and this was supposed to be Shane’s revenge match, with Rickson himself in his corner. Jeff is relaxed and doesn’t seem to exert himself at all, or explode into moves, instead flowing from move to move and using his great flexibility. Glover attempts to jump guard but fails to earn any pts, he goes for triangles from the bottom but not tight enough to secure any points. Jeff secures a single and switches beautifully into a kneebar to earn 3 pts. In the second round, its Jeff working from his guard and Shane is not able to come close to any catches. Jeff wins 3-0.

The third match pitted Rafael Luvato Jr. vs Roberto Camargo. Rafael is well known for his gi game, but in his 2nd or possibly third fight with Camargo he had the most one sided fight of the night. It was competitive but he came through with a takedown, a guillotine attempt and an armbar attempt that put him up 7-0 giving Rafael Luvato Jr. the win.

The fourth match was last minute replacement Andy Wang vs Kron Gracie who is the son of Rickson Gracie. There were rumors that Andy was already defeated mentally. It wasn’t a lopsided affair as Kron did secure a takedown and a straight ankle lock attempt for 4 pts, which Andy protested. Later in the fight Andy was able to secure the top position and pass Kron’s guard and land in sidemount and momentarily in mount, but guard pass and sidemount do not earn any pts and the mount was not held long enough. Kron wins 4-0.

Replacement Alberto Crane (Mundial Champ) took on even more last minute replacement Joe Camacho. Crane dropped to his signature half guard and from there swept Joe and attempted a guard pass to a D’Arce/Danagher choke which Joe was able to survive and eventually fight out of. In the second round Crane quickly took Joe down, mounted him and then text book armbarred him for the submission win. Crane by armbar.

Vladimir Matyushenko and Vinicius Magalhaes had the worst match of the night, both warned for stalling with Vladdy winning by 1 pt after 2 rds by a takedown. Vinicius did try to engage and Vladdy used his wrestling to keep Vinicius at bay and basically stall. Most unimpressive. Vladdy by 1 pt.

The co-main event of the night was Jake Shields (Shooto Champ) vs Marcello Garcia (ADCC Champ, Mundial Champ). Jake was the much bigger fighter but Garcia was game. Marcello jumps to guard, Jake passes to a half guard and Garcia uses the half guard to transition to a single leg takedown and take Jake down. Marcello applies a guillotine from the top and after a brief scramble, Jake had to tap. Marcello by guillotine choke.

The main event Randy Couture vs Jacare. Everyone was expecting Jacare to destroy Randy but Randy once again proved everyone wrong. Jacare engaged early and tried a single leg but realized he was not going to take the much bigger Randy down. Randy had a huge size and strength advantage over Jacare. Jacare worked his guard and tried for armbars and triangles but none of them earned him any pts which made Wallid Ismael scream at the refs. Jacare seemed to realize that Randy was too strong to submit upper body wise and Jacare switched to kneebar attempts, the last one being close until the rd ended.

In the second round its more of the same with Jacare attempting knee bars and Randy actually trying to take Jacare’s back. The fight ends 0-0. First over time, nothing happens. Second overtime the two grapplers engage but neither is able to do anything to the other fighter. The fight ends as a competitive draw. Randy was too experienced and strong for Jacare to overcome like everyone imagined.

Until the next Pro Sub League

The Professor

Event Photos By Brad Doerges

http://mma-fighter.com/forum/threads/16653-Pro-Sub-League-X-Mission-Review

Tagged as: LA Sub X, Marcello Garcia

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Randy “The Natural” Couture PSL X-Mission Post Fight Interview

by admin on May 26, 2006

in Grappling, Interviews, Ronaldo Souza, Sub-X, UFC, Videos

Culver City, California Friday, May 26, 2006 – Randy “The Natural” Couture talks about his Professional Submission League X-Mission fight with Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza. He discusses his training with Dean Lister that helped him in his match against the ADCC champion.

“The Natural” also talks about the possibility of coming out of retirement.

 

Couture PSL X-Mission

Tagged as: PSL

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Exercise Ball Ideas for Grapplers and MMA’ists – Hywel Teague

by admin on July 7, 2004

in Grappling, Hywel Teague, MMA, Training

Using an exercise ball, also known as a Swiss ball, should be considered by anyone involved in grappling or mixed martial arts. A wonderful tool for building core strength and stability, the multitude of exercises you can do with it can make it a fun and challenging part of anyone’s workout.

There are literally hundreds of exercises you can perform with a standard sized exercise ball, but I will focus on a couple that have direct benefits for grapplers.

Just as in grappling, when using the exercise ball you are not using isolated muscle groups. By utilising the exercise ball you not only target major muscle groups but also the stabilising, or support muscle groups. By properly exercising these you can enable your body to become more efficient and improve your overall strength and balance.

A quick analogy can bring this home. If you had a hundred men carrying a large weight, you would place the strongest men under the heaviest part of the object. The weaker men could get by with supporting the less heavy parts. This is fine, but if the weight were to be replaced with a huge tank of water, then you would encounter problems. First, the distribution of the weight would change as it moves along, and the stronger men would not necessarily be supporting the heavier areas. The weaker men would be called upon to help stabilise the load and could end up failing if it is too much for them.

This is just like the strain your muscles are under when you are grappling. If you rely on only the strong major muscle groups, they will not only tire out quicker, but if the load you bear were to shift and your preferred muscles could no longer take that weight then the weaker supporting muscles would be called upon to act and you risk not being able to cope. Also, major muscle groups are more efficient when supported and surrounded by strong stabiliser muscles.

So if that’s not enough and you still need persuading to try using an exercise ball in your next workout, just check out the fun stuff you can do with them.

Exercise one
As a great warm up, pick up the ball between your legs and play guard. Basically shadow roll with the ball between your legs and you will feel your core muscles brought into action. Rather than simply hit the abdominals, you will feel most of your torso working as you move the ball around.

Pick the ball up and keep it off the floor while moving your hips, extending and retracting your legs, sitting up, and mimicking moves you might use while using an open guard.

Exercise two
Another good warm up is to shadow roll, but this time play top position. Sprawl on the ball, and then transition from position to position, all of the time aware of where your balance is. You will find the ball trying to get out from underneath you as you move your centre of gravity around, but don’t lock it up, rather keep your movement fluid and smoothly ride from one position to the next.

After a suitable warm-up and playing with the two drills mentioned, you can work any core stability exercises you wish, but for now I will focus on some very applicable exercises for grapplers.

Balance exercises
One of the best ways to actively target stabilising muscles is through balance and proprioception exercises. By sitting, kneeling or standing on the ball you will develop core strength as well as improve your balance.

 

 

These three balance exercises will almost certainly help you in a fundamental area of grappling, and that is maintaining your posture in your opponents guard. Whether kneeling or standing in his guard you will find it easier to keep good posture and avoid being swept.

Try the three balances shown. To begin with, hold each balance for as long as feels comfortable. This may not be very long as you become used to it, but try holding it for extended periods of time until you can hold it for a minute or so.

To stand up on a ball correctly, you must take great care and only do it under trained supervision. Use a partner for the first few attempts, but once you are comfortable enough you can do it alone. As an idea of how to stand up unassisted please watch the following video.

As you become more adept at maintaining your balance as shown, you can add in supplementary exercises to make these more difficult.

The first set of exercises we will look at is simultaneously balancing while throwing a ball.

Start by sitting on the ball and either using a partner or a wall, throw the ball and then catch it, making sure to keep good balance. Then progress to kneeling and even standing as you become more comfortable with each exercise.

By performing these exercises you not only test your balance but the action of throwing and catching the ball will exert force upon your body in many different directions, much like trying to keep posture while someone is attacking you with their guard.

 

So now that you‘ve got these simple yet amazing exercises down, what do you do next?

Well you impress your friends by jumping about and shadowboxing while stood on the ball, of course! Rocky would be proud.

Take care, have fun and experiment. Try these exercises only under trained supervision and in a safe environment.

Article Submited by Hywel Teague.

Hywel
hywelteague@hotmail.com 

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Tagged as: Exercise Ball, Stand up

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