Coach Dagwood from Dagwood MMA's recipe for success for World BJJ & ADCC Champs today...

IMO - If unbelievably talented submission grapplers like Damian Maia, Jacare, et al stopped screwin' around with working on their striking they would go farther again in MMA here. Screw the well-rounded model and figure out how to be the best a getting the fight to the ground and then finish it there. Or in the very least keep it there enough to win. Why get caught up being the run of the mill 'go-nowhere' fighter over here that is "jack of NO trades" as well as master of none of them. You're one of the best submission grapplers in the world. Remember that!



Coach Dagwood from Dagwood MMA's recipe for success for World BJJ & ADCC Champs today...


1. Think out of the amero-MMA coaching/technique/strategy box.

2. F*** the striking!!! just learn to keep your hands up and block or evade punches. Become great at eluding offensive strikes at all costs. Not running away, but eluding with head & body movement as well as deflection & blocking. Treat MMA like it is a defensive martial art until your TDA's or when the fight hits the ground.

3. Get the fight to the ground... Get the fight to the ground... Get the fight to the ground!!! Your ONLY focus. All your actions offensively are solely focused on this. Get the fight to the ground or die trying from head strikes. What would you have to lose against a much superior guy standing.

4. Stay F***! away from the American-based gyms & coaches and work 80% on Greco clinches/throw & Judo clinches/throws/trips/TD's. Actually, substitute any form of no-non amero-freestyle wrestling TD's that is available anywhere. Everybody in American-MMA already knows how to defend that shit.

5. Go work with elite amateur Greco & Judo coaching on advanced TD techniques in their sports. TD work, TD work & nothin' but TD work.

6. Watch Fedor & Arona fights 12hrs a day to study unstoppable TD techniques. Techniques that not one gym or coach is teaching here. A good sprawl means shit vs that. Why learn a TD style that every fighter in North American has been taught techniques to endlessly counter? Why are Maia/Jacare/etc. still focusing on a single or double leg TD's telegraphed from 10ft away mode. They should be learning techniques that no one or their crappy coaches know how to counter. All everyone is doing here is learning basic crappy-level wrestling TD's and TD defense.

7. Work with NFL football linebackers, defensive ends, and coaches on how to be explosive "in a step or two" and Knock F***ing guys down! Yes I mean tackle. Knock F***ing people down! Even Lesnar proved that to be effective. If you don't think that the average NFL line backer, or defensive end, could knock down any MMA fighter with a 2-3 step running start in the ring your nuts. Whether their opponent is backpedaling like a receiver or standing his ground to throw a punch or kick... good luck buddy! These guys dip their head and shoulders and fly through the air horizontally way faster than a fighter can backpedal. The amount of force and momentum they have moving forward with only the top of their helmet (head) and shoulders leading is is gonna blow thru any punches or kicks... and knock their opponent down. If their opponent chose to stand and fight, the laws of physics governing mass, speed, acceleration, and momentum dictate that their opponent will be on the losing end of the stick. Also, open grabbing-type tackles will put the tackler in a good grappling grip position before they and their opponent hit the floor.

8. The Cage - Take it out of the fight. Always keep yourself and your opponent away from the cage... At all cost! Even if you have your opponent up against it. If you do have him there, pull him away a good distance. If you can't... walk away. Taking your opponent down against the cage or holding him to it on the ground will only allow your opponent to use the cage as an unfair outside weapon against you to get back up or avoid the TD. This takes a lot of energy out of you. It's an unfair game against cage that you cannot win a good percentage of the time in the long run. My advice, do everything in your power to eliminate that unfair advantage for your opponent.

It is better to restart away from the cage in order to have another shot at taking your opponent down with the above techniques to a place away from the cage. That's your office. They don't have cages in Abu Dhabi to help your opponents get up unfairly. Who in MMA can beat you there?

9. Develop front kicks ala the early Gracie's. This is to be used as a 'defensive kick only' to keep distance and avoid strikes like Jones uses some of his front kicks. Never use this offensively like the Gracie's also did to set up TD's. Only use TD techniques above.

10. Don't do what your doing or have been doing til now... Do something different. The advice and coaching you've been getting evidently hasn't been getting you to where you should be.



IMO - Guys the size of Maia with his submission wrestling pedigree should never have to drop down to 'girlie' weights to be dominant.

nice thread, ts. i really wish that grapplers didnt do the whole "ultimate fighting" thing and stand in front of each other throwing weak shots. part of the problem is with the scoring, if 2 grapplers are on their feet, and one lands a strike, the other is obliged to hit him back, then it turns into a game of "point chasing". longer rounds and less standups would remedy this problem to a degree.

Yeah, there is nothing worse than watching Jacare, Roger Gracie, or Maia trying to be kick boxers. These guys need to get the fight to the floor and finish from there.

CDF47 wrote:Yeah, there is nothing worse than watching Jacare, Roger Gracie, or Maia trying to be kick boxers. These guys need to get the fight to the floor and finish from there.

i guess that some of it comes from the audience and the general perception of MMA from the masses, the folks dont appreciate grappling as much as they should, fighters have to try and stay marketable and they rightfully think that they have to pander to the audience to last long in the UFC

Glenrod wrote:

CDF47 wrote:Yeah, there is nothing worse than watching Jacare, Roger Gracie, or Maia trying to be kick boxers. These guys need to get the fight to the floor and finish from there.

i guess that some of it comes from the audience and the general perception of MMA from the masses, the folks dont appreciate grappling as much as they should, fighters have to try and stay marketable and they rightfully think that they have to pander to the audience to last long in the UFC

Yeah, people should have more appreciation for BJJ. Especially the level of BJJ these three guys are at. It was sweet seeing Maia put Rick Story away easily with that neck crank in the first round. Hopefully he can continue to dominate with BJJ in the WW division.

Jacare needs to follow suit now and start sticking more to BJJ. He should have got that Rockhold fight to the floor or die trying and submit him. Hopefully they rematch and this is his game plan.

Glenrod wrote:nice thread, ts. i really wish that grapplers didnt do the whole "ultimate fighting" thing and stand in front of each other throwing weak shots. part of the problem is with the scoring, if 2 grapplers are on their feet, and one lands a strike, the other is obliged to hit him back, then it turns into a game of "point chasing". longer rounds and less standups would remedy this problem to a degree.

CDF47 wrote:Yeah, there is nothing worse than watching Jacare, Roger Gracie, or Maia trying to be kick boxers. These guys need to get the fight to the floor and finish from there.

For Maia, Jacare, etc... What do you guys think specifically about...

1. My cage strategy?
2. Elite football tackling TD's/training?
3. No offensive striking, just defensive blocking & evasion?
4. Brink back the Gracie front kick to keep their opponents at distance until they can use their new TD techniques? Defense to striking only while standing.?

Dagwood wrote:

Glenrod wrote:nice thread, ts. i really wish that grapplers didnt do the whole "ultimate fighting" thing and stand in front of each other throwing weak shots. part of the problem is with the scoring, if 2 grapplers are on their feet, and one lands a strike, the other is obliged to hit him back, then it turns into a game of "point chasing". longer rounds and less standups would remedy this problem to a degree.

CDF47 wrote:Yeah, there is nothing worse than watching Jacare, Roger Gracie, or Maia trying to be kick boxers. These guys need to get the fight to the floor and finish from there.

For Maia, Jacare, etc... What do you guys think specifically about...

1. My cage strategy?
2. Elite football tackling TD's/training?
3. No offensive striking, just defensive blocking & evasion?
4. Brink back the Gracie front kick to keep their opponents at distance until they can use their new TD techniques? Defense to striking only while standing.?

the cage strategy: easier said than done, its harder to stay away from the cage if your opponent is strong enough to push you there against your will

elite football tackling td/training: a great idea, adding ankle picks to a strong shoot would be highly beneficial too, especially in north american MMA where it is illegal to soccer kick or drop a knee

no offensive striking just defensive blocking and evasion: YES!, i have always thought strongly about this, practise tieing up, pulling guard or at least get good enough under/over hooks to at the very least temporarily remove the danger of a better striker. judo is a good art for this way of thinking.

gracie front kick: i love this idea purely because your opponent may be able to catch your leg and take you down, which is where you ideally want to be anyways. it makes for a good measurement of defense as well

Dagwood wrote:

Glenrod wrote:nice thread, ts. i really wish that grapplers didnt do the whole "ultimate fighting" thing and stand in front of each other throwing weak shots. part of the problem is with the scoring, if 2 grapplers are on their feet, and one lands a strike, the other is obliged to hit him back, then it turns into a game of "point chasing". longer rounds and less standups would remedy this problem to a degree.

CDF47 wrote:Yeah, there is nothing worse than watching Jacare, Roger Gracie, or Maia trying to be kick boxers. These guys need to get the fight to the floor and finish from there.

For Maia, Jacare, etc... What do you guys think specifically about...

1. My cage strategy?
2. Elite football tackling TD's/training?
3. No offensive striking, just defensive blocking & evasion?
4. Brink back the Gracie front kick to keep their opponents at distance until they can use their new TD techniques? Defense to striking only while standing.?

glenrod's responses above are solid. I saw a fight with Jacare in DREAM (I think against Mayhem) where he was litterly diving for takedowns and getting them. It reminded me of football style take the fight to the floor at all costs and it worked. I love the idea that they should go all out and use any unconventional tactic necessary (football tackle,...) to get the fight to the floor.

I also agree that the standup fighting should be limited using mostly defensive strategies as well.

so TS...what do YOU think about my reply?

Glenrod wrote:so TS...what do YOU think about my reply?

What is TS?

Dagwood wrote:

Glenrod wrote:so TS...what do YOU think about my reply?

What is TS?

Thread starter....ie, you

so you want me to reply to your questions, but are unable to answer mine? .hmmm...

Glenrod wrote:so you want me to reply to your questions, but are unable to answer mine? .hmmm...

I'm am old and just figure out that Deadmau5 is Deadmouse not Deadmaufive. Give me a bit and I'll be back to you.

Glenrod wrote:

Dagwood wrote:

Glenrod wrote:nice thread, ts. i really wish that grapplers didnt do the whole "ultimate fighting" thing and stand in front of each other throwing weak shots. part of the problem is with the scoring, if 2 grapplers are on their feet, and one lands a strike, the other is obliged to hit him back, then it turns into a game of "point chasing". longer rounds and less standups would remedy this problem to a degree.

CDF47 wrote:Yeah, there is nothing worse than watching Jacare, Roger Gracie, or Maia trying to be kick boxers. These guys need to get the fight to the floor and finish from there.

For Maia, Jacare, etc... What do you guys think specifically about...

1. My cage strategy?
2. Elite football tackling TD's/training?
3. No offensive striking, just defensive blocking & evasion?
4. Brink back the Gracie front kick to keep their opponents at distance until they can use their new TD techniques? Defense to striking only while standing.?

the cage strategy: easier said than done, its harder to stay away from the cage if your opponent is strong enough to push you there against your will - I agree it's easire said than done. I think a deflecting style or judo or the use your opponents momentum against them-type spins/turns/reversals from various martial arts would be great. Fedor used Judo & Sambo from the clinch to huge success doing this.

elite football tackling td/training: a great idea, adding ankle picks to a strong shoot would be highly beneficial too, especially in north american MMA where it is illegal to soccer kick or drop a knee - Ricardo Arona would have been a highly sought after linebacker anywhere

no offensive striking just defensive blocking and evasion: YES!, i have always thought strongly about this, practise tieing up, pulling guard or at least get good enough under/over hooks to at the very least temporarily remove the danger of a better striker. judo is a good art for this way of thinking. - I know there are many uninformed UFC fans out there that will laugh at this... but Aikido is very good for this or other defensive arts where you deflect and evade. On another note IMO - many Aikido joint locks (wrist are not small joints) could be effective in MMA if someone had high-level skills with them.

gracie front kick: i love this idea purely because your opponent may be able to catch your leg and take you down, which is where you ideally want to be anyways. it makes for a good measurement of defense as well - when Hoyce did it... it was explosive with a lot of forward speed. The opponent couldn't back away fast enough and if there was no real dangerous counter strikes coming at him... he just dipped his head dropped his front leg. He closed the distance then from 3 feet away on the fly running forward at a fast speed for the TD or clinch. You can't close the distance this fast from a kickboxing stance feining a punch from a standing start. No way.


Dag

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you Glenrod.

To me this shows the major downside of the homogenization of MMA. You've got like 10? major camps all teaching the same thing. There is now such a thing as an 'orthodox' MMA style. This really is terrible because MMA was founded to display any martial arts technique under the sun vs each other or at the least Gracie JJ. In UFC style MMA today... everybody is taught basic boxing, some amero-wrestling, some BJJ, and a few basic kicks. The vast majority are not really any martial artist. Most guys are entry-level most everything with maybe a bit of specialty.

There should be nothing orthodox about MMA. Most martial arts' have attacks and defensive countermeasures. Each are like proprietary military weapons design to attack or oppose an opponent's techniques weakness. There are endless martial arts techniques... and don't let the idiocy of most MMA fans tell you that none of them really work. How can you tell they all don't work if no one with high level skills with them has ever used them in an MMA fight. I call complete bullshit.

Smart fighters learning technique that the masses are not. Successful people do what unsuccessful people don't. I would be looking outside my camp for other input from any other martial art's master that I can find. Unknown techniques that ATT & Jackson's don't have counters for.

I'm telling you right here that instead of going for a fairly easy to defend RNC when you've got a guy's back, the guy is flattened out & your hooks are in... grab a wrist thru his gloves and do a basic police arm or wrist lock and push up as hard as you can. It's hard to defend this when don't have hooks in. With hooks in it's extremely hard to roll over & unwind the lock. If you don't tap quick somethings poppin' or breaking. No one has ever considered or attempted this that I know of.

Point is... there should be no box to think outside of in M(ixed) M(artila) A(rts). I can't believe I haven't seen anybody in the UFC watchin' old Ali films and trying to mimic his head movement. Well, I guess Anderson sure has, he's watched it endlessly. Then there is Team Blackhouse itself... I predict you will see the first Aikido wristlock attempt & submission in MMA from Anderson or Lyoto. Whoever they attempt one on, or sub an opponent with... what is their opponent going to do to counter it??? Has ATT or Jackson showed them reliable counters to Aikido wristlocks from compromised positions???

MMA has evolved??? Is evolving??? Ha!