Bjarni Baldursson of Straight Blast Gym in Iceland put together an excellent tutorial on two aspects of his half guard, and he was happy to let me share them here.

What I found especially interesting about his material is how it’s very similar to Eddie Bravo’s, but has little variations. His lockdown has a slight difference in foot placement. He gets the underhook much like Eddie does with the Jaws of Life, and he gets the butterfly hook almost like Eddie’s Super Stomp, but neither are exactly the same.

I like to see…

I was going to save this for after I’d covered everything about my tournament, but I couldn’t resist the urge to share it after receiving my copy of Mastering the Rubber Guard by Eddie Bravo yesterday.

From what I’ve seen, the most common problems with (and arguments against) rubber guard are getting stacked, getting passed too easily, the demands on one’s flexibility and the risk of injury. I’ve experienced all of these problems myself and had mostly given up on rubber guard because of them.

It wasn’t until I attended Eddie Bravo’s seminar…

Consider this the first edition of Aesopian’s Tournament Tested Techniques. I’m starting off the series with the north-south escape that saved my bacon in the final match of the light weight blue belt division.

This move takes some flexibility in your back and hips, and long legs certainly help. I don’t recommend it as your main escape from north-south, but it’s well worth knowing so you can use it when the situation calls for it.

I am in the unfortunate situation of being stuck under north-south. I need to make sure he…

This is the last video I have of my matches. I fought two more after this, including another division final against AJ, but unfortunately, the camera was out of batteries by then.

The first 35 second of this match you’ll see AJ fighting with a purple belt. I didn’t include this for their sake but so you could see me (who you’ll only be able to see the back of, on the right side of the screen) when I go to my knees and Eduardo, the ref (and my coach) says…

This is the first of the last two videos I have of my matches at the Tampa Invitational. This was a fun match since were from the same school. My instructor, Eduardo, referees too.

The Yeti Match

My first match in the absolute was against Yeti, another blue belt. He had fought in the heavyweight division (195 lbs. and up), and I think he’s around 240 lbs. I weighed in at 157 lbs. that morning.

Right before the match starts, you can see me say “I’m gonna get yetied.” And I do. He…