BJJ / Judo Tips: Olympic Grip Fighting With Travis Stevens and Jimmy Pedro.

Which judo throws are best suited for a BJJ player? I see this question asked over and over and while the rules of engagement of the two arts and sports dictate certain limitations, I strongly believe that the best return-on-investment comes not necessarily from training throws, but rather grips. A superior grip artist will have a huge advantage in both jiujitsu and judo over a superior thrower, if that makes sense. This is not something I stand by alone. In a recent interview on the Grappling Central Podcast, Judo and Jiujitsu black belt, Multiple Olympian and Olympic silver medalist Mr Travis Stevens highlighted the importance of having a well-rounded judo game, centered around superior gripping and standing-to-ground transitions.

Luckily, there are some goos resources out there to help you improve your gripping strategie such as "Grip Like a World Champion" by Mr Steven's judo coach, a legend in competitive judo himself, Mr Jimmy Pedro.

Grip Like a World Champion

At it's simplest, grips fighting should enable you to stay safe from the opponent's throws while facilitating your own balance breaks and entries for throws. Here, I've included three videos which link together into a beautiful sequence that takes you from initial contact to dominance to throw. The first is by Travis Stevens himself:

Further, Travis' coach Jimmy Pedro talks to a personal hero of mine, Mr Saulo Ribeiro at the University of Jiujitsu about the Ko uchi gari:

Now that you have an understanding of how to bridge the gap, investigate how to use that advantage to dominate your opponent. Here's one such example, but the onus is on you to flesh out your own gripping game.

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