The Early Days of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

In the early days of modern Mixed Martial Arts (early 90's), BJJ practitioners with no experience in other martial arts were a dominant force. Watch VIDEOS AND ARTICLES ON BJJ POSITION. The GRACIE Family emphasized BJJ position training.

In the early days of modern MMA, being a well rounded fighter was not a pre-requisite for fighting. Martial Artists wanted to prove that their style of fighting was the best. The basic strategy was to fight your opponent where you are strongest. For strikers, this would be on their feet. For grapplers, this would be on the ground.

When fighting a striker, a pure BJJ stylists would first stay out of striking range. When I say "pure", I mean a BJJ stylist that does not cross train in other martial arts. A common tactic was to wait for the striker to commit to a punch or kick, and then take the striker down when he or she is unbalanced. This unbalancing commonly occurs when the hips are committed to a strike. The BJJ stylist would shoot in and attempt to take the striker down. This was not always successful, and there were times when strikers successfully defended the takedown and knocked out BJJ fighters. However, there were times when the BJJ fighters were successful with the takedowns, and began BJJ position control.

When executed successfully, the grappler would take the fighter down. Some of the techniques used for taking the opponent down included using the bear hug, or going to the side of the fighter, and taking him or her down from the side. After executing the takedown, usually the side body position was established. From there, the grappler would go to mount.

The mount is known as the most dominant BJJ position. When this position is established, the grappler would start punching the face of the person on bottom in hopes of making him or her turn over. This was a very common tactic. When the person turns over, the back mount can be established and a choke can we applied (rear naked choke). When the person on bottom attempts to stand up, the grappler pushes his or her hips into the person on bottom, and extends his or her legs. This helps to break the person down.

This was a well known strategy, and executed by many BJJ practitioners. However, it was subjective to the person executing the strategy. Some BJJ fighters would take down their opponent and not establish position control. In these situations, the opponent could stand up, and bring the fight back to his or her feet. This is not where a pure BJJ stylist is strongest. Knock outs can occur when fighting in positions that the fighter does not train for.

BJJ position strategy is used in many fights. The key to winning to getting to and staying in the positions that you are most dominant in. Losing the position and fighting in positions that you are not familiar with can significantly decrease your chances of winning the fight.