Dan Faggella is a BJJ School owner at Black Diamond Mixed Martial Arts in Rhode Island, a no gi pan am champion, and is also a writer for Jiu Jitsu Magazine, Jiu Jitsu Style (UK), among others. He founded The BJJ Science of Skill as a blog to share his BJJ World Champion interviews and breakdowns.
In wrestling, we have Ben Askren as the quintessential "Funky" grappler. In BJJ, there’s oodles of innovators in different positions, but in terms of "Funk" from the bottom, Jake Mackenzie is a pretty strong example of a player who uses the unexpected and the unorthodox to his advantage.
Tech 1: 50-50 Back Take / Slicer
Above is an example of just such a setup from the 50-50 Guard. Its one of many, be certainly worth breaking down. The detial I like most is the kick-out of the slicer at the end. Notice how Jake’s left foot is placed directly behind the opponent’s low leg, "shelfing" the opponent from turning in – giving him just enough time to race his hips to the back of the opponent’s hips.
In real time it’s pretty darn essential to BOOT that left leg our fast and get a harness as soon as possible – though it’s worthwhile to note that even in a bad situation you might be looking at side control.
Tech 2: Tip-Back Sweep
Here’s another sweet competition match worth watching (with yet another nice back take and choke):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJJj7fKwMlo
The back take is cool (knee-on-turtle… sick!), but I want to put attention on the tip-back sweep from this position. Notice how Jake controls the sleeve on the near side, preventing his opponent from basing up or posting out to prevent the attack itself. When done correctly (IE: this match), it leads into some nice passing scenarios.
Anything that gets me thinking about new ways of taking the back is worth my time – hopefully you guys dig this breakdown! If you want to see Jake’s newest guard games in action, check out his Fresh "Competition Guard" Series with Cyborg (here).
All the best, and keep rolling hard and keeping your dial tuned here to OTM!
-Daniel Faggella