Recently after a BJJ session, one of our newer athletes walked up to me and said:
"Just wanted to tell you Liam that this stuff saved me in a confrontation. I had to make a quick decision and before I knew it, I used the hip throw from your classes, had the guy on the ground and controlled him"
I looked at him with wide eyes and thanked him for the kind words.
Something I taught helped save a person's health and well-being in a real-life confrontation.
Can you put a value on that? I think not. I felt chuffed to bits.
I asked him later on if it was OK for me to share his story with you all in the form of an interview (names left out for privacy reasons). I hope you enjoy it.
BJJ in Self Defence:
How old are you and where are you from?
29, Northumberland. Lived in Manchester for 10 years now though.
Where were you when the incident happened?
In Santa Marta, Colombia.
What time was it?
1am maybe
What exactly happened? Where you on your own or in company of others?
Outside a bar, a female Colombian friend was waiting outside with a cut foot. (I've no idea why she went outside in the first place.) After much discussion, I arranged with the doorman to let myself and the girl back inside to bandage her foot. For some reason and completely unnecessarily, a friend of the girl, a young lad, kept arguing with the doorman. Everything got aggressive and the doorman hit the lad. To be honest, the lad probably deserved it. I tried to calm everyone down and the doorman seemed to then take a dislike to me. He was posturing up at me and I felt he was going to swing for me, so I moved in towards him, to his side, and pulled his far arm in so it was trapped. He then got me in a playground-style headlock which I slipped out of and then took his back. We stood there for quite a while before I realised he wasn't going to calm down. So I thought it best to hip-toss him to the floor and get myself out of there. So I did.
Everything calmed down, we were walking away, then the little bell-end of a lad (and the girl) went back for more. My mate then arrived and correctly pointed out that I shouldn't be trying to defend some Colombian lad who I hardly know. So I let him go back and get an absolute kicking from the bouncer and a few of the bouncer's mates. I went off with my mate to a party, we pulled some fit Argentinian birds and generally had an awesome night. The end.
Why did you do what did?
Because I felt that he was going to hit me. So it was best to get in there first. Also to give the other lad an opportunity to move away.
How did you feel at the time? What was your thought process? Where you thinking much?
Slightly worried that I was getting involved in a fight with doormen in a notoriously dangerous country where its not uncommon to carry knives and guns.
And pissed off that this little dickhead was starting fights needlessly with people much bigger than him, knowing that I would have to get involved to help him out. My thought process was - I don't want to get involved in a brawl with Colombian bouncers, so I'll try and calm the situation down, then give ourselves time to get the fuck out of there.
How did you feel afterwards? What were your thoughts?
I felt a bit guilty for leaving the young lad but that quickly subsided. A bit pissed off that the female Colombiana probably wasn't going to shag me after I left them in the shit. And also quite happy that I was able to get out of there quickly without getting caught up in an ugly fist (or knife or gun) fight.
Also, I was secretly happy that I looked pretty cool when I hip-tossed the guy. But also disappointed that not many people saw it!
Ha-ha. How long have you trained in Martial Arts? How long of that in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? How often do you train (BJJ and other activities)?
Not long. I've been training in BJJ since August (2011) I think. I did a bit of Muay Thai a few years back. How often do I train? Not enough!
I thank my friend for the very candid answers.
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Liam "The Part Time Grappler" Wandi
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6 comments:
Awesome I use bjj every night that I work at the bar. it really is useful and it works
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Is a hip toss considered BJJ? I thought it was judo.
It would be nice if my instructor taught us some judo also. Not going to happen though. I don't think he knows any.
@Chaos. Jiu Jitsu is a life saver! Thanks for the comment :)
@Annon. Thanks mate I'll see what I can do to fix that.
@JJ Maniac: The hip toss can't really be locked to a specific art. I actually learned it back in my Karate days and Martyn, out coach at the Labs, learned it in Bujinkan Ninjutsu. It's in all old school jujutsu traditions and that's how it made it's way into judo and later on into Jiu Jitsu. It's even in Greco wrestling.
As for your instructor, I'm sure he knows plenty. It might be worth scheduling a private session with him. Sometimes instructors WANT to teach stand-up but struggle to do so when classes are full and mat space is limited.
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