Mario Sperry Vale Tudo DVD I: Takedowns

Today I am going to review the first video in a series of six from Mario Sperry’s original Vale Tudo (MMA) series.  Though this series is pretty old at this point, it is one of the first places I learned some grappling technique and strategy from.  Mario Sperry is a legend from the grappling world and had a pretty solid MMA career as well (even though he was older).  He trained several MMA legends, including the Nogueira Brothers and Ricardo Arona.

This first video is actually the weakest in the series, not because it’s full of terrible information, it’s just dated at this point.  It’s focus is on securing the takedown.  While some of the strategies used in this video would never be used in today’s MMA world, it still has some good pointers and offers a few worthwhile techniques.  Again, this first video is the only one that doesn’t hold up that well over time, the rest of the series is better.

While some of it is dated, Mario Sperry does offer some great advice that will help anyone secure some takedowns.  Tips like putting your opponents back into a wall, cage, car, etc., so he can’t sprawl back, and using punches to set up your takedowns are still very worthwhile.  This video also ends with a segment on escaping from a standing guillotine (still one of my favorite escapes).

I wouldn’t recommend buying this video by itself, but as part of the series of six videos in the the Vale Tudo series, it’s okay to have.  I’d give this video 2 out of 5 stars.

Fedor: Undisputed King of MMA Review (Part 2)

If you have not read Part 1 of my book review, you may do so here: Fedor: Undisputed King of MMA Review (Part 1)

Picking up where we left off from the clinch, we now move to takedowns and throws.  These are different than wrestling based takedowns most wrestlers are used too.  Fedor is a master of Judo and Sambo.  He shows lots of throws in his book but he also mentions how to set them up with other throws or strikes.  When you combo some of these together it makes them that much harder to stop.  Another good thing about most of these takedowns is that you are left in an advantageous position.  You don’t have to follow someone down to the ground where you can be submitted.  These takedowns usually leave you standing over you opponent, free to reign down strikes.

Next we come to the ground game.  Fedor covers most of the main positions and how to escape them.  Like with the throws, he strings moves together, so if one fails you can immediately move to the next.  This method greatly increases your chance of success.  This is not a grappling only section, he will show you how to pass a guard using strikes to set up a guard pass.

I’ve read a lot of material on MMA, Jiu-jitsu and so on, and these moves are pretty simple yet very effective.  If someone would take the time to drill and perfect all of these techniques and never learned anything else, they would still be a very dangerous and well rounded fighter.  Something else interesting about many of these techniques are that they come from Sambo/Judo instead of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu or wrestling, so many people may not be used to these particular variations.  You might be able to take people at your martial art gym by surprise with some of these.

I highly recommend this book.  You will learn all sorts of interesting variations of moves you have probably never seen, get some philosophy behind why he does things a certain way, and will learn how to string techniques together.  The only real thing missing from this book is some coverage of how Fedor actually trains.  There is no mention of how much he runs, lifts weights, spars, etc.  A conditioning section would have been nice but perhaps we will see some of that in the future.

Fedor: Undisputed King of MMA Review (Part 1)

Today I am going to review the book from the great Fedor Emelianenko.  I have to say, this book is fantastic.  For starters, it’s very well rounded.  From it you will learn a series of striking combinations, clinch techniques and ground fighting techniques.  Not only did Fedor dominate the hardest weight class in all of combat sports for a decade, but he remained humble while doing it.  That is why he is my favorite fighter of all time.

The techniques in this book aren’t overly complicated or fancy, but they work.  The book is broken down into three basic sections: Striking, Clinch, Ground Fighting.  Also, unlike with a lot of other fighter’s books, these are techniques Fedor actually uses.  Learning these techniques will actually allow you to fight with a style similar to how Fedor actually fights.

Striking:  The striking section has some very interesting and unorthodox techniques.  For instance, since most people are trained to lead with a Jab/Cross combo (and everyone is used to defending against it) Fedor uses a Cross/Left Hook intro many times to take his opponents off guard. He also uses hand traps (which are hardly ever used in MMA) to set up his opponents.  You can see this in action in several of his fights, including his extremely dominate performance against Tim Sylvia.  By clearing your opponents lead hand out of the way, it not only takes him off guard and misdirects his attention, but it opens him up for a strike.

The book starts out by showing single punches/kicks and all of their variations (there are multiple variations of even the jab for instance).  After learning the basic mechanics of each punch/kick, Fedor shows how to string them together into combinations.  Each punch sets up your opponent for another strike.  There is a lot of great material here.

After learning to strike from a distance we see how to strike from the clinch.  By being in close and controlling your opponents head and body, you can lead him into your punches, elbows and knees.  Fedor has been very successful in the clinch position during his fights, so learning a few of these combos would be beneficial for any martial artist.

In Part 2 we will cover Throws from the Clinch and Ground Work.

Rulon Gardner Admits He Turned Down Big Bucks to Fight Fedor

It would have been cool to see Fedor fight Rulon Gardner, both are such respectful honorable guys. Fedor has already beat several Olympic medal winners, it would have been interesting. People think the purses from the UFC are big, the UFC is small time, even now. Pride offered Rulon Gardner 1 million to fight Fedor almost a decade ago.