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"It's Science" Videos

It's Science: Gianni Grippo

Full Article In The Next Issue Of Jiu Jitsu Style Magazine

Gianni1

Notable Study Stats:
• 100% of passes were of a leg drag variety
• No sweeps or passes occurred from half-guard
• Won 80% of his matches
• Submitted his opponent in 50% of wins
• Scored first in every match he won
• His average match length was 8 minutes
• 75% of sweeps came from De La Riva or Reverse De La Riva

Abstract: All matches observed of Gianni Grippo, used in this small sample, occurred at IBJJF events, inside his weight division, and in the years 2012-2014. Only techniques, occurrences, and outcomes that were recorded are displayed in the data below (i.e. if no butterfly sweeps occurred, there will not be a representation of that in the sample data charts). Matches were selected at random based on freely available matches online – selected using a random generator from 20 total total IBJJF matches that occurred in in the study timeline. This is a limited sample – but given the estimated amount of matches in this time period – it is well above the percentage necessary to create a scientifically validated trend sampling.

The Breakdown: Gianni Grippo is the youngest competitor we have ever studied. In fact, he has been a black belt competitor for only 1 year so far. It’s a credit to his diligence as a competitor that there is actually a large enough sample to conduct a breakdown. With that in mind, Gianni already displays the characteristic we tend to see in all of our top-competitor breakdowns. Grippo has an incredibly defined tournament strategy and gameplan. This leads to a high winning percentage (80%), and a strong submission percentage (50%).

Gianni is well known for his De La Riva and reverse De La Riva guard game. It’s easy to see why this happens to be the case. This is the foundation that Grippo’s primary strategy is built around. 75% of all of his sweeps that we recorded occurred from DLR or RDLR guard, and he uses these sweeps and attacks to setup his passing and submission techniques. In fact, you could argue that the broadest approach Grippo takes is from the guard. In our study Grippo used 4 different sweeping positions and 4 different sweep-types to attack his opponent from the bottom. As the game further unfolds, Grippo becomes more and more defined in his approach. The only type of pass we recorded Gianni executing in the study was a leg drag pass. What’s more, this leg drag passing strategy led to two separate roads to the back. These roads included a back take from the pass it self, or a back take from an attempted escape once he was able to establish side-control.

Grippo’s submission game was even more defined. The only submission we recorded during the study were chokes from the back. It becomes clear upon reflection that Gianni Grippo has become an expert in walking each of his opponents into a very familiar fate. He has one of the most defined strategies of any competitor we’ve studied; and it all starts from the DLR or RDLR guard.

Taking everything into account, it is obvious that Grippo’s end-game involves the back, and he reverse engineers it from his strongest and most diversified position, open guard. The only downside to having such a defined game is that it paints a very clear picture to opponents as to what your comfort zone is. However, Gianni has seemed to understand this. Recently, in a post on his brand new blog, GianniGrippo.com, ….

Read the rest of this article in the next issue of Jiu Jitsu Style

grippo stat sheet

 

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"It's Science" Videos

It's Science: Royler Gracie (Legends Edition)

royler its science


 By: Tyler Bishop
(stats located below)

Foreword:

Thank you for making It’s Science one of the most popular jiu jitsu pieces on the internet and inside our little community. As many of you may already know, the full length articles, stats, etc. of all our competitor profiles are featured in every issue of Jiu Jitsu Style Magazine. This particular one will be released in the upcoming issue of JJS next month.
This particular episode kicks off our new series of statistical breakdowns featuring legends of the sport. Hopefully this new series can help us further paint a picture as to how jiu jitsu is evolving, by taking a closer look at where is has come from – competitively of course. I found no place more fitting to start than with the Gracie families most decorated sport jiu jitsu competitor, Master Royler Gracie.
This piece was of particular interest to me, as I viewed Royler’s style – from the outside to be different from many modern competition approaches, and I thought that an analysis of his game would prove to be a stark contrast to many past studies. I was both right and wrong. While his game does differ from many of past profiles, the results that he achieved were surprising in light of the results. His ability to play the top and achieve success is primarily where my attention goes in this breakdown, but I don’t think we should stop at that. Royler’s game is as clearly defined as any of the others we have observed in times past. I hope you will enjoy observing the results as much as I did collecting them.


Abstract:

All matches observed of Royler Gracie used in this small sample occurred in his respective weight division between 1994 and the present day. The sampling includes a mixture of both gi and nogi competition. Only techniques, occurrences, and outcomes that were recorded are displayed in the data below (i.e. if no butterfly sweeps occurred, there will not be a representation of that in the sample data). Matches were selected at random based on available matches – selected using a random generator from available matches. This is a limited sample, and one without many of our normal controls such as; unified rules, time limits, etc. This makes the data a little more skewed than what we would normally like to see. However, the data collected did end up accurately representing insightful trends that we can use to draw logical and rational conclusions. As jiu jitsu grows, so does that data.


Breakdown:

Royler Gracie, his name alone bears a connection to the sport itself. As the most decorated sport jiu jitsu competitor of Helio Gracie, Royler, is known for his flexibility, mysterious pressure, and fierce competitiveness. In fact, Royler recently competed once again at the age of 48 against Eddie Bravo in a thrilling match at Metamoris. It’s hard to deny the strong competitive will Royler possess. In fact, the famous picture above almost encapsulates Roylers mystique in-of-it-self. But, what techniques, strategies, and gameplans makeup the Royler Gracie style?
Let’s begin our review of the statistics below with a breakdown of the start of the match. Royler, like many of his generation, proved to be primarily a top game player. He displays a dynamic and smothering style of passing that he has leaned on heavily throughout his career, and the best way to execute that strategy is to start on top from the start. Roylers initial takedown of choice was the ankle pick and a wrestling style double or single leg attempt. It’s fair to mention that because many of these matches occurred in ADCC that many of these takedowns could have been specifically tailored to that format, thus giving them higher incidence than if this study was of only gi competition. These techniques accounted for approximately 78% of all of his initial takedowns.
Another strategy often used to arrive at the top position was a basic sacrifice throw in which he would drop his opponent down quickly into a butterfly style sweep in an attempt to gain the top position. Even if the throw did not work initially, Royler’s butterfly guard proved to be one of his “go to” assets on bottom. His flexibility, combined with his mastery of the technique, allowed him to secure quite a few sweeps from this position. In fact, nearly 42% of the sweeps we observed in the study were from butterfly guard. The nest most common position that he would sweep from was a simple collar sleeve open guard variation (best way to define it) – in which Royler would use butterfly hooks and scissor style sweeps to overtake his opponent. This style of play accounted for approximately 25% of his sweeping positions.
Once on top, there is a reason why many in the jiu jitsu community still refer to the knee through style of pass as the Royler Pass. Of all the competitors we studied, none averaged a higher pass rate than Royler Gracie. Royler passed the guard on average 1.6 times per match. Our next closest competitor was Gui Mendes with 0.78. Royler passed the guard more than twice as much as many of the modern competitors we have recently studied.
Royler’s guard pass of choice was  his signature knee through (or knee cut) style pass. 11 of the 24 guard passes we observed in the entire study were classified in this style (45.8%). However, Royler also utilized leg drag, torrendo, and reverse sitting half guard style passes with a high degree of success as well. Royler executed the majority of these passing sequences from his knees or from the half guard – which is very much juxtaposition from where we have seen it with the majority of the other competitors we have studied. In fact, no other competitor had the majority of their passes start from a kneeling position.
Royler recorded 88% of the submissions we observed from either the back or mount position. 50% of the submissions were chokes from the back while armbars and collar chokes made up the rest. 53% of the matches we observed ended with Royler finishing his opponent by submission.
In the matches we observed he was victorious in 13 of them. He has shown the type of spirit throughout the course of his career that you would expect from a decorated legend like himself. However, the numbers do reveal something very interesting. The dynamics of his style are unique qualities that – in many cases – we have yet to see replicated by any other competitor. In his last match against Eddie Bravo you could still see architecture of his proprietary game. And, while it’s likely we have seen the last of Royler Gracie in the competitive jiu jitsu world, it’s likely there is still a lot we can learn from the matches and legacy he has left behind. This is only a start.


Notable Stats

  • Highest average pass rate per match of any competitor studied so far (1.6 per match)
    • Passed the guard twice as much as the next closest in this category (Gui Mendes)
  • 88% of submissions came from the back or mount
  • Knee through style of pass was used to pass in 46.8% of successful attempts
  • 1/2 of total submissions he secured were chokes from the back
  • Scored first points (when applicable) in every single victory
  • 45% successful passes started from opponents half guard

royler stats graphic

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Live Technique and Perspective Videos

The Evil Jiu Jitsu Truth: 3 Ways To Prevent Regression

regression
By: Tyler Bishop
“Dude, screw it. I think I am getting worse”, said my friend as we changed in the locker room after class. Not exactly the kind of thing you would expect to hear from a purple belt after class, right? So I asked him, “What’s up? Just having a bad day”? His reply helped me uncover something about jiu jitsu that I think most of us know deep down, but shy away from. He answered me by saying, “Nah, I just don’t train right. I just come in and roll, and now these little jerks are starting to berimbolo my face off. I am just behind. I think I probably use to be better than I am now”.
As a white belt or blue belt it’s not uncommon to view jiu jitsu as a linear upwards projection. You start knowing absolutely nothing.  And although we all advance at different velocities, everyone can learn and progress through jiu jitsu. However, what many fail to realize – especially early on – is that jiu jitsu is not something that remains a simple time in = development out formula. We often assume that if we put time into jiu jitsu we will receive that equal output back out in terms of progress. It’s confusing, because this formula actually is 100% correct when we start jiu jitsu. You’ve heard the saying “there’s no where to go but up”, right? It’s easy to see that some get more output from their time in while others might receive very  little, but it’s easy to recognize this formulas existence… in the beginning. But as we progress through jiu jitsu, the evil truth that can be convenient to ignore is that once we have progressed to a certain point of competency in jiu jitsu that formula actually disappears.
Gasp! You mean that I could show up to jiu jitsu, train all night, and not get any better. Yes, that is what I am proposing – and not only that. I am suggesting that there are circumstances in which you could actually regress.
It’s no secret that we all get older, develop injuries, and so on, but the truth is that losing performance in this manner is normal. However, developing an inefficiency in our development in performance due to training habits or methods is unnecessary. It’s easy to prevent. My friend that I described in the beginning would have to do very little to turn his regression into progression. The only thing he has to realize is that his effort must now be more thoughtful than it was before. He can no longer rely on the formula that works in the beginning (time in = development out). He must now start to strategically consider his progression when attending practice, and take additional steps to encourage his development. Let me break this down by recommending 3 easy strategies…

#1: You have to want to get better, and think about your progression outside of jiu jitsu

If you show up to practice and are counting the others around you to take take control of your progression you have already fallen behind. Your training partners and instructors should have your best interests in mind at all times, but that doesn’t mean they know all of your struggles, strengths, weaknesses, and so forth.  You have to want to get better for yourself. This means leveraging the resources around you to get better, not counting on them to do it for you.
To take matters into you own hands, simply start planning your development outside of class. Think about new positions that you would like to learn or work on. Ask your instructors questions about these new positions, or pull a classmate aside at an open mat and work through the position. This kind of forethought will help organize your training and will provide some focus that can lead to steady progression.
In a worse case scenario in which you are truly crunched for time and training, try subscribing to an online academy and analyzing techniques outside of class. Pay attention to the details, and find time to drill these techniques with a teammate. By Taking extra time to work on the techniques that matter to you, your efforts to improve are likely to increase as well.

#2 Challenge yourself, and step outside of the norm

Guess what? It’s pretty easy to show up everyday to class and roll with the same bunch of folks day in and day out. Maybe you avoid the big guy, the new guy, or the guy that’s really good. Why? It’s convenient, easy, and comfortable. However, progress is usually a little bit more difficult than that.
To push your development along, try training and rolling with new people at your academy. Their reactions and style may force you to improve or adjust your “go to” techniques. These adjustments are a form of progress.
I have a really talented training partner that has helped me significantly develop my guard game. He is so incredibly strong and talented that there are certain techniques that just don’t work very well against him. This was not a fun thing to learn or develop. It meant having my guard passed a lot! However, training with him has helped me make my guard that much harder to pass.
This is actually one of the quickest and easiest ways to develop, but it is often the most painful. Don’t worry about your pride, or about being uncomfortable. Just think about getting better.

#3 Take private lessons

You’re not the best in the world. Chances are, you’re not even close. Hopefully, you’re not even close to the best at your academy. This means that there are a lot of people around you that you can learn from. One of the best ways to learn from a  higher belt or instructor is to do a private lesson with them.
Many good instructors can help you pick out and identify exactly what you need to work on, but I think it’s better if you have some of this already in mind. But just like in number 1, don’t just have something generic in mind and show up counting on the instructor to learn for you. Have some specific things in mind (i.e. I want to learn how to make my De La Riva Sweeps better – rather than – I want to learn sweeps).
Private lessons aren’t cheap, and can be a waste of money if you don’t invest yourself into really learning and applying these techniques. I have taught private lessons before then watched the person I did the lesson with roll for an hour without trying a single one of the techniques we trained. Make sure that you get your money out of your lesson. Insist on the techniques you learn. Force them down the throats of your training partners. Accept the failures and learn from them. That’s the only way/ If you are afraid to try the techniques you will have wasted your dollars ( or pesos).

I hope this has all been helpful. It’s easy to forget how easy progression was at white belt, but often we do very little different when that progression wears off. Hopefully, this can provide some much needed motivation to help you improve your jiu jitsu.

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Live Technique and Perspective Videos

Pass The Guard Like Rodoldo Vieira

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqeV9SlVFSY?rel=0&w=560&h=315]
Check out this weeks breakdown of Rodolfo Vieira’s passing game. Pressure, level-change, and deflection are the names of the game!

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BishopBjj News

10 Things Learned At The Pan Jiu Jitsu Championship (13')

pan jiu jitsu
Pan Jiu Jitsu 2013

By: Tyler Bishop
The 2013 Pan Jiu Jitsu Championship is in the books. We are starting our extensive study of the event this week, and the results of the study will be up in about a month. It will piggy-back off of our 2012 studies of the Worlds and 2012 Pan. We hope to include elements of comparative analysis from year-to-year, and will attempt to see how the game may be changing this year compared to last.
Until science can tell us what really happened, we will have to rely on our objective observations. So, what are 10 things that we learned at the 2013 Pan Jiu Jitsu Championship?

  1. Buchecha is the world’s best. He proved it last year, and gives us no reason to believe this year will be any different. Galvao made that last match exciting, but Buchecha had it well in hand.
  2. The rules are too complicated for the referees. Throughout the entire event you could see the same transitions and movements scored differently on every mat. The new penalties for stalling come quick, and often penalize the wrong competitor. And finally, advantages are often awarded carelessly and do not meet rulebook criteria. Ask a referee about any of these things and expect sightly different answers from most of them. The rules are in desperate need of clarification and simplification. The referees cannot keep up, and it’s not their fault. This is a major issue. To maintain the events professionalism, things will have to get better.
  3. Hard work pays off. Caio Terra has been competing more than ever, and finally overcame Bruno Malficine. Malficine has had his number as of late, but Terra was able to capitalize on Malficines recent injury and close the gap between them. The Worlds may be the stage for another epic rematch.
  4. Your gi is probably not legal. No seriously, this is not a joke. There is a strong chance that over 50% of the gi’s you own would fail IBJJF inspection. It had to be a record number of people sent away to buy gi’s and belts this weekend. I literally watched a checker walk through the warmup area and point at 8-9 people in a row and tell them that none of them would pass inspection. Those same 8-9 people simultaneously exploded. The rulebook criteria does not go over all the new specifications. This did not effect Jena or myself, but I watched hundreds of others turned away in a panic to find a new gi. This harkens back to #2 – the IBJJF has to communicate with the competitors better – and this starts with simplicity.
  5. Chokes from the crucifx/omoplata come on quick. If you missed Clark Gracie’s come from behind, last second victory over Lapela do yourself a favor and get on YouTube. Rarely can someone tap and pass out at the same time, that choke must have been tight!
  6. Berimbolo may be losing it’s appeal, maybe. The Budovideo’s crew tells me that there was less berimbolo incidents this year. Wait, what? Is that even possible? Was this popular new technique really used less this year than last? Our study will discover the true story, but these guys watch more matches than anybody else, so I trust their professional opinion. It will be interesting to see if this is really the case.
  7. While everyone slowly converts to Atos, Alliance quietly dominated the competition again. Atos is certainly in the presses for their individual accomplishments and rapid big name additions, but it is Alliance who continues to reign supreme.
  8. This is still a fringe sport. While thousands watched the stream online with careful attention, little did they know that in many cases only 10 people may have been watching the same thing live. Jiu Jitsu will continue to grow but there is very much a cap on it’s true popular potential.
  9. Gabi is big. Gabi Garcia was born to be larger than your average female. In fact, she was genetically gifted to be a lot larger. Unfortunately for her, there are very few others her size on planet earth, much less doing jiu jitsu. Her weight class is all but empty now, and the absolute – while entertaining to watch – has become empty to watch with her in it. All other females are outweighed by over a hundred pounds and give up almost a  foot in height. How long will victories against these opponents be fulfilling for her?
  10. The last 2 minutes of black belt adult matches are when you should start watching. 10 minutes is a long time to fight for points. Oncea competitor gets up on points, many times this signals the end of the action. This is because the competitor down on points saves their energy to score at the end, and the competitor that is ahead bides his time and has no sense of urgency. This is why so many finals matches are boring to watch, and often all the excitement is in the end. Could there be a clean way to fix this?

We hope you have enjoyed these observations. Post your recent observations of the 2013 Pan below.

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BishopBjj News

Pan Jiu Jitsu Preview

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4GoX-7q75A?rel=0&w=560&h=315]
In honor of the largest jiu jitsu tournament in the word, the Pan Ams, we’ve decided to start our preview with a look at the past. The video above highlights some of the best moments and most fierce action from the past years Pan Ams.
Speaking of the past, BishopBjj.com specializes in evaluating and measuring past jiu jitsu activities. The 2012 Pan Ams was our first large scale study on jiu jitsu ever conducted. We continued that effort at the 2012 World Championships, and will keep it moving this year with our evaluation of the 2013 Pan this week. This is very exciting – as it will mark the first time in history that we can evaluate real trends in jiu jitsu empirically. For some, this could not be more boring, so below we have done our best to make it interesting.
Last year, we observed that nearly 80% of adult black belt matches resulted in the first person to score being the winner. I suspect this will not change much this year. This was a trend that was largely intact at the 2012 Worlds as well. However, as tactics, positions, and strategies change there is no telling what effect this could have on the scoring paradigm. What do you think, are first points going to be just as valuable this year as they were last year?
Is guard pulling here to stay? Well obviously there will always be guard pullers, but at black belt adult last year nearly 70% of competitors pulled guard. Will this trend continue in 2013? My belief is that the trend will begin to swing back in another direction this year as advanced guard games have been studied more and new techniques have been developed, but it is hard to predict. The other question is if it continues will it remain a successful strategy? Last year the money was on guard pullers. They won nearly 60% of their matches. The only more successful strategy is taking the opponent down, which resulted in a victory rate of almost 73% (note: they also score first, so it’s kind of a double-whammy). Also, will we see this trend expand into the larger weight classes like we started to see in the worlds study last year, or will the big guys continue to fight for the top position? these will all be very interesting questions to answer
Finally, who’s going to win, and who’s going to steal the show? Last year Rafael Mendes stole the show by defeating Cobrinha with a nasty armlock, and Bruno Malficine prevented the lighter Mendes brother, Guilherme, from joining his brother atop the podium. Who will be this years standouts? It’s extremely likely that someone from the young crop of fresh black belts is able to surprise several veterans this year, but it’s hard to tell who will be the one to step up. What are your thoughts?
We will see you there, and will be providing daily media updates (including fresh footage), so stay tuned and keep checking the site everyday!!!

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BishopBjj News

2012: A Jiu Jitsu Year In Review

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzIOlzVrhyQ&w=853&h=480]
2012 was a great year for BishopBjj.com because it was our first year in existence, and it would be hard to imagine that it could have gone much better. We’ve had over 100,000 unique visitors since March, and our YouTube account is nearly double that. We can’t wait to see what the New Year brings. Make sure to watch our buddy Phil’s deep thoughts after the video above!
Our studies, research, and unique perspective on jiu jitsu has attracted the attention of some of the people we respect the most in this industry, and for that we are truly humbled. We want to make sure to thank the people that have helped make this site so great this year. Everyone listed below deserves your attention if you love jiu jitsu.
Neocell Sport
– The only reason we can train twice a day everyday is because of NeoCell Sport. We genuinely believe that.
BudoVideos (Budo Jake and Budo Dane)
Science Of Skill
The Jiu Jitsu Lab
BJJ Eastern Europe
Jiu Jitsu Mag
Gracie Humaita St. Louis
Royler Gracie
GracieMag
DSTRYR
Subculture USA

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BJJ Study and Statistics Articles

Jiu Jitsu World Championships Full Study (Free) – 2012

For the very first time ever we are making our Revised 2012 World Jiu Jitsu Case study available for free online (which includes our additional stats from the December issue of Jiu jitsu Magazine), and are providing unbridled access below. We don’t need an e-mail, name, phone number… nothing! You just click the report below, and pages of unprecedented jiu jitsu knowledge will be at your fingertips.
case study cover pic

2012 World Jiu Jitsu Case Study

This entire project took Jena and I months of planning, film watching, and research to complete. The report itself still doesn’t accurately reflect all the intricacies of jiu jitsu competition that we learned while completing this project. However, our hope is that the 2013 studies will be even bigger and more powerful, with greater in-depth analysis. We’ve appreciated the tremendous feedback we’ve received from researchers that work for major universities, Google, Adobe, the government, scientific journals, and more. Neither Jena nor myself have degrees that merit true scientific study. This is a passion, and we originally started it to provide ourselves with an edge in competition strategies. The entire process got out of hand, and three months later we completed the Pan study –  which we used to prepare for the 2012 Worlds. I can say unequivocally that using the information in this study has improved our competition jiu jitsu seven-fold.
In 2013 we plan to return to the “It’s Science” series with more in-depth competitor breakdowns along with several other new series that will focus on the statistical elements of jiu jitsu. Obviously, our largest projects this year will be the new studies. We want them to be bigger and better than ever – which means they will take even more time and energy than they did this year. We have had a ton of people that are far more qualified than ourselves volunteer to help us work on these projects (which is fantastic!!!). But, this all takes a lot of time and effort, so all of your feedback, support, and attention makes it fun to do what we do. Thank you for all of your support from the bottom of our hearts.