10 Things you need to know to be a Mixed Martial Arts Fighter #4


Everyone knows that the Mixed Martial Arts Craze is taking over America and everyone wants to be a part of the craze. The problem is that 99% of the Martial Arts Schools in America can’t teach you all you need to know to become a great MMA fighter. Why? Because the teachers don’t know all the skills necessary to become a great MMA fighter and so they only teach a little of the skills required and thus they only produce very poor MMA fighters.


So what exactly are the skills you need to know to be a great MMA fighter


  1. How to punch like a Boxer, not a karate player

  2. How to kick like a Kick Boxer or Tae Boxer, not a tae kwon do player

  3. How to do takedowns like a Wrestler

  4. How to do ground jiu jitsu with No Gi

  5. How to do conditioning for a fight

  6. How to eat like a champion

  7. How to prepare for a fight mentally and physically

  8. How to control your mind and emotions before, during and after the fight

  9. How to use the ring

  10. How to do physical conditioning


During the next few weeks I will be going over each of these skill sets and how and why you need to know them if you want to be a great MMA fighter.



The 4th Skill set you need to know to become a Great MMA Fighter is How to do ground jiu jitsu without a GI.


There is nothing that can win an MMA fight easier than using ground Jiu Jitsu techniques. If you are relying upon beating your opponent with stand up alone, you are usually going to be trading a lot of punches and kicks, and that means you usually are going to be hit or kicked a punch of times. Believe me these hurt, and the less of them you take the better. That brings me to my skill set for today, gtround Jiu Jitsu without a GI.


I have been practicing Jiu Jitsu for 45 years and I know a lot of GI techniques, standing techniques and ground techniques without a GI. I always roll these days without a GI because it is so much more practical than rolling with a GI. I simply have never been in a fight in the streets with someone who was wearing a GI, or even a Coat. If you train in GI Jiu Jisu you will learn many more techniques than you will learn in ground Jiu Jitsu, because the Gi gives you so much more leverage, power and control. A wet sweaty person is much harder to hold and control than a nice thick GI. In your MMA fights you need to learn to control by positions, holding and movement rather than grabbing the GI and using it for security and control.


On the ground without a GI your options are much more limited and your finishes are much more difficult, but it is also much more fun and practical to train without the GI. You will learn how to control your opponent using only your hands and legs and body position. If you watch the MMA fights now the person in the guard is usually the person in trouble, as they struggle to hold their opponent down, and he gets lose and smashes some punches or kicks to their head or body. The facts are that is you really Know ground Jiu Jitsu without a GI, you DO have an advantage. The reason that the people in the fights in the guard are getting beaten up is that they do not have a great ground Jiu Jitsu game.


Watch BJ Penn on his back and you will see someone who knows how to win the ground game from the guard. Watch Anderson Silva and you will see someone who knows how to win on the ground on your back. Watch Royce Gracie when he was in the first 3 UFC’s and you will see total domination of another fighter from the guard. This is what will happen in a real street fight against someone who has no training in Jiu Jitsu, if you know your basics of ground Jiu Jitsu without a GI you will dominate them as easily as Royce Gracie did in the first 3 UFC’s.


I have done this hundreds of times in the dojo and the gym. Anytime I ask someone if they want to roll and they say, they don’t know how, or never had, but would like to try. I always defeat them with ease and speed. They simply have no defense against a good ground game if they have never trained in ground Jiu Jitsu.


If you are currently taking Jiu Jitsu classes and you are wearing a GI in most classes, if not all. Then I strongly suggest you ask your teacher if you can train without the GI in All classes. Most regular Jiu Jitsu classes are 90% with a GI, because the teacher can show so much more and it is a completely organized system of training, just like a karate class. If you want to train only with no GI you will have to have a teacher who will let you and how understands your needs and desires. You should not insist on only no GI training if the teacher doesn’t allow it, and your shouldn’t Only do no GI training. You need to learn to use the GI because it adds so much to your Jiu Jitsu game. But in a MMA fight it has no practical value.


There are lots of tricks, techniques and finishes that require different hand positions, body positions and control points that you must learn if you want to control and finish a fight with no GI. For example in the basic arm bar lock in GI Jiu Jitsu you wrap the GI with one hand and this prevents his escape, then with the other hand you hold the back of the GI around the neck and then finish with the arm bar. With no GI you control the arm by holding the wrist and elbow of the opponent and then hold the back and side of the head before you do your turn. You also use your feet and legs much more in no GI Jiu Jitsu for controlling your opponent. You can even use your head as another “arm” in NO GI. There are great, powerful, easy to do techniques you can do with no GI that will allow you to defeat your opponent.


I am doing a new DVD that shows The 25 Deadliest No GI Jiu Jitsu Finishes. I will be showing 4 to 5 techniques for each of the 4 major control areas in a Jiu Jitsu fight, the guard, side control, the back, the mount, and North South positions. If you learn and master these techniques you will be able to defeat 85% of all the MMA fighters you will face in the ring.




Everyone knows that the Mixed Martial Arts Craze is taking over America and everyone wants to be a part of the craze. The problem is that 99% of the Martial Arts Schools in America can’t teach you all you need to know to become a great MMA fighter. Why? Because the teachers don’t know all the skills necessary to become a great MMA fighter and so they only teach a little of the skills required and thus they only produce very poor MMA fighters.


So what exactly are the skills you need to know to be a great MMA fighter


  1. How to punch like a Boxer, not a karate player

  2. How to kick like a Kick Boxer or Tae Boxer, not a tae kwon do player

  3. How to do takedowns like a Wrestler

  4. How to do ground jiu jitsu with No Gi

  5. How to do conditioning for a fight

  6. How to eat like a champion

  7. How to prepare for a fight mentally and physically

  8. How to control your mind and emotions before, during and after the fight

  9. How to use the ring

  10. How to do physical conditioning


During the next few weeks I will be going over each of these skill sets and how and why you need to know them if you want to be a great MMA fighter.



The 4th Skill set you need to know to become a Great MMA Fighter is How to do ground jiu jitsu without a GI.


There is nothing that can win an MMA fight easier than using ground Jiu Jitsu techniques. If you are relying upon beating your opponent with stand up alone, you are usually going to be trading a lot of punches and kicks, and that means you usually are going to be hit or kicked a punch of times. Believe me these hurt, and the less of them you take the better. That brings me to my skill set for today, gtround Jiu Jitsu without a GI.


I have been practicing Jiu Jitsu for 45 years and I know a lot of GI techniques, standing techniques and ground techniques without a GI. I always roll these days without a GI because it is so much more practical than rolling with a GI. I simply have never been in a fight in the streets with someone who was wearing a GI, or even a Coat. If you train in GI Jiu Jisu you will learn many more techniques than you will learn in ground Jiu Jitsu, because the Gi gives you so much more leverage, power and control. A wet sweaty person is much harder to hold and control than a nice thick GI. In your MMA fights you need to learn to control by positions, holding and movement rather than grabbing the GI and using it for security and control.


On the ground without a GI your options are much more limited and your finishes are much more difficult, but it is also much more fun and practical to train without the GI. You will learn how to control your opponent using only your hands and legs and body position. If you watch the MMA fights now the person in the guard is usually the person in trouble, as they struggle to hold their opponent down, and he gets lose and smashes some punches or kicks to their head or body. The facts are that is you really Know ground Jiu Jitsu without a GI, you DO have an advantage. The reason that the people in the fights in the guard are getting beaten up is that they do not have a great ground Jiu Jitsu game.


Watch BJ Penn on his back and you will see someone who knows how to win the ground game from the guard. Watch Anderson Silva and you will see someone who knows how to win on the ground on your back. Watch Royce Gracie when he was in the first 3 UFC’s and you will see total domination of another fighter from the guard. This is what will happen in a real street fight against someone who has no training in Jiu Jitsu, if you know your basics of ground Jiu Jitsu without a GI you will dominate them as easily as Royce Gracie did in the first 3 UFC’s.


I have done this hundreds of times in the dojo and the gym. Anytime I ask someone if they want to roll and they say, they don’t know how, or never had, but would like to try. I always defeat them with ease and speed. They simply have no defense against a good ground game if they have never trained in ground Jiu Jitsu.


If you are currently taking Jiu Jitsu classes and you are wearing a GI in most classes, if not all. Then I strongly suggest you ask your teacher if you can train without the GI in All classes. Most regular Jiu Jitsu classes are 90% with a GI, because the teacher can show so much more and it is a completely organized system of training, just like a karate class. If you want to train only with no GI you will have to have a teacher who will let you and how understands your needs and desires. You should not insist on only no GI training if the teacher doesn’t allow it, and your shouldn’t Only do no GI training. You need to learn to use the GI because it adds so much to your Jiu Jitsu game. But in a MMA fight it has no practical value.


There are lots of tricks, techniques and finishes that require different hand positions, body positions and control points that you must learn if you want to control and finish a fight with no GI. For example in the basic arm bar lock in GI Jiu Jitsu you wrap the GI with one hand and this prevents his escape, then with the other hand you hold the back of the GI around the neck and then finish with the arm bar. With no GI you control the arm by holding the wrist and elbow of the opponent and then hold the back and side of the head before you do your turn. You also use your feet and legs much more in no GI Jiu Jitsu for controlling your opponent. You can even use your head as another “arm” in NO GI. There are great, powerful, easy to do techniques you can do with no GI that will allow you to defeat your opponent.


I am doing a new DVD that shows The 25 Deadliest No GI Jiu Jitsu Finishes. I will be showing 4 to 5 techniques for each of the 4 major control areas in a Jiu Jitsu fight, the guard, side control, the back, the mount, and North South positions. If you learn and master these techniques you will be able to defeat 85% of all the MMA fighters you will face in the ring.