Sun, Sparring and a House Full of Competitors

Photo by bjjpix.com

The season is changing here in Rio. The weather in the city is moving away from the cooler winter temperatures towards the hot summer climate. This past week we have had almost no clouds in the sky and temperatures in the 30's all week. The great weather has been perfect for heading to the beach to enjoy a fresh agua de coco or hanging out around the pool in between training sessions. With the return of the hot weather has also brought the return of another famous past time here at Connection Rio---pool surfing. I will never get tired of watching people trying to ride the surf board from one side of the pool to the other...about 95% of the time they fail miserably. Currently we also have a large number of active competitors in the house, so the house mats have been almost in constant use, with guys either sharing techniques, drilling, or rolling live.

Week in training

Training with Kit Dale. Photo by bjjpix.com

I went into this week wanting to hit it hard, and I did. The week started off with some hard wrestling on Monday, in which we worked a lot of defense and countering takedowns. With a string of successes utilizing wrestling in both grappling and MMA the guys have really been focusing on greater improvement with takedowns and defense. The level of the wrestling has been picking up over the last few months and as the Brazilians improve it forces me to adapt and improve as well. On Thursday's wrestling session we kept it short and sweet for an intense drill session with everyone working hard pushing the pace as hard as we could without losing technique. With all the work timing on my setups and chain wrestling is starting to feel sharp again and I am becoming more confident in my takedown work.

This confidence has carried over on the mat for BJJ as well. I made it in to Nova Uniao several times this past week for more awesome training. I have been opening up my game, attempting more techniques and not being afraid to try something new. For instance, there is a really nice submission I learned from Leo Santos from top half that I have been drilling a lot. While its not difficult technically it is a much different style of attack than I normally go for. While rolling I saw an opening and went for the submission; the guy I was rolling against defended the choke but as he did he opened himself up for the pass and cross side armbar. As I am adding these “new tools to the tool box” it is opening up my ability to go for my normal attacks.

In striking the biggest area of improvement has been staying relaxed. 

After Striking training in Rocinha.

My recent work training in Rocinha has been paying off. The footwork drills and technical sparring has helped me stay calm and get a good flow to my style. With my muay thai I actually started to check kicks and use a mix of punches and kicks. I even managed to land a superman punch (something that if you have seen my striking I never do). My coaches have all been commenting on my improvements. I think at this point we can upgrade my kicks from bad to not good.... and trust me, that is an improvement.

On Saturday I returned to full MMA sparring for the first time since I hurt my ankle in mid-June. For my first session back I didn't take the easy route. First I sparred with Carlos, a new arrival from Columbia. Carlos is considered one of the top fighters in Columbia, currently 12-0 professionally in MMA (and most of those by KO). He is solid on the ground but where he shines in on the feet. I have never sparred against someone who moved and mixed their strikes like him. He is constantly changing angles and directions only stopping to unleash lightning fast shots. I managed to stay calm and keep my defenses up to avoid the worst of it (narrowly), and I finally was able to pin him against the cage and take him down in the last 45 seconds to work from ground and pound. Talking with him after I learned his boxing coach used to be one of Muhammad Ali's regular sparring partners, which explains the way he moves. Next I sparred against Pequeno and we traded shots back and forth. I was able to use an overhand right to set up a single leg. He defended so I switched to the double lifted and finished, but as soon as we hit the mat he shot back up to his feet and continued on. For the last round I sparred with Milton Viera. I was able to work some nice body shots and get in on some nice shots against the cage, but he pretty well handled the round. This includes a perfectly timed head kick, which if I hadn't had my hands up I would have been taking a nice nap. The shot fired me up though and I finished the round working some dirty boxing against the cage. It was a great first day back to sparring and I am already looking forward to getting in more good work next week.

Nicole and I at Rock in Rio this past Sunday.