Great video! At 49, I received my Brown Belt. Part of the process was a forty minute gauntlet. I had to wrestle a new person, every minute for forty minutes. I had to stand up at the beginning of each round. For three months prior, I did two-a-days. I exercised twice (cycling, running, walking, weights, etc.) if there was no grappling and on the grappling days, I exercised once later in the day. I trained harder, added more rounds, etc. Everyone told me there was nothing you could do to prepare for it. They were right. I was burnt out at about 12 minutes and took a beating for the rest when the gauntlet took place. I tried to fight my hardest against everyone and ended up getting trounced. Ten months later, at age 50, I had to go through another gauntlet to receive a stripe. However, the whole ten months I prepared differently. I had an epiphany. I would just relax. I have always been good at take downs, so I trained them non-stop. I worked on relaxing and would let them push and pull as they wanted, but waited until they made a mistake and then would take them down.Then I would float on them and submit them only when it was a clear path. (I also worked escapes as much as possible so I wouldn't worry about being trapped or tapped.) My second gauntlet was almost like a dream. On the day of the gauntlet, I helped out with other people's gauntlet and then had my own 40 minute gauntlet. I didn't tire until after 30 minutes and didn't started get beat up until the last three or so minutes. I was only subbed a couple of times near the end. I subbed more people, took more people down and switched the narrative for this gauntlet. I actually had someone come up to me and tell me my gauntlet was "beautiful." Another person told me it was like watching one of those old Judo masters where they had people come up to them and effortlessly controlled and threw them. My wife told me later that people were commenting how I was out there for an hour and was still fighting (I helped with the other gauntlets before mine). I realized I had found the key and the growth that I was looking for. My Jiu-Jitsu was there for me. Going with the flow and being relaxed (and skilled) helped me survive the hell of a gauntlet while still fighting back when needed.

Maybe you could make an instructional with bJJ fanatics after you compete against those other styles and explain in-depth what you are referring to about this particular style.

I once got to roll with a very stinky purple belt from my gym. I didn't notice the stench until we started rolling. I am a blue belt, and normally I have an alright time with the guy since he is older, maybe in his 50s. My ONLY goal that round was to not let him get any type of chest to chest. I maintained top position the whole time and dominated him. Listening to your idea mase me realize that I was keeping top position AND my head up as much as possible. So yeah, if that ain't PRIMAL, nothing is 😂😂😂

Could've sworn that old school catch was focused on the top as the dominant/most desired position.

Homie only accepts the tap if you accept Jesus Christ into your heart

Bro...... discovered some basic concepts of Folkstyle wrestling.

Two main points in this video Point 1.Control the head control the body Point 2. Gravity works.

Not only in grappling but I think focusing on relative head position is also the truth in striking. When my boxing coach gave me some simple heuristics on how to position my head relative to my opponent it really opened up everything. In a few months I was able to pull counter, interact with my opponent's guard, hand fight, and just integrate everything way more fluidly. Skills I tried to understand for several years became way more accessible. I'm not pursuing combat sports anymore but my few years of experience in bjj/judo/wrestling felt like they showed a similar direction to what you're talking about and it really seems like this direction is closer to the truth of how we're built and how we're supposed to use our bodies. Everyone fixates on the patterns they see in outcomes, classifying them, and working backwards from there. You've probably heard about that guy using Ecological Dynamics to explore bjj(Greg...Souders?) and I feel like his experimental process is uncovering a similar set of ideas. Keep it up, I hope your journey takes you to the top!

You just made a light bulb go off in my head. I've never thought of grappling that way before. I'd love to learn more about your grappling style and adapt it into my own game.

I think a style like this would be extremely beneficial to learn! Can’t wait to see you apply it against all the competition.

this is old judo mentality excellent sir!

When you mentioned grappling a snake it clicked: you're a genious.

"The way God meant us to grapple" is such a funny phrase haha. I'm looking forward to this "revival" of ancient/primal grappling. This really caught my attention. Good luck in your next tournaments!

I completely relate to that had pretty much same injury on the neck as you, same whole arm was numb couldnt even get my head straight for several months. Few months later a friend attempted similar technique to what i did and got hurt (kataguruma) and now he is paralysed from neck down. I had a pretty solid double leg but now dont use it as much bcs of fear getting hurt like that again and low shots in general, everyday i do neck training since that day. Me and my Coach ( also had neck injury) we play this style now and is much more effective in passing, in takedowns and everything. The guy on bottom has to carry your weight at all times which makes it really exhausting. When passing we adopt that deadlift posture and position hands on shoulders, head and hips of the opponent. I come from Sambo background brown belt in BJJ and my Coach is judo black belt, BJJ 4th degree black belt and pro mma fighter. If you are ever in Miami please come by our gym would love to connect these styles and share info. Hope you feel better by now if you want to reach out lmk. Our gym is called MMA monsters. Thanks for sharing this info!

The search for the meta truth is the way.

My teacher who teaches his own Japanese jujutsu that incorporates very old school judo and all that it has and karate striking and grappling always says that if you are under someone or hit the ground first in fighting you have lost but also emphasized that it does not mean that the fight is over and we are also taught not to have our backs to the ground if possible despite all the techniques we have learned involving such and to keep our head safe. We rather use many hold downs and pins from the standing position for finishing. He has taught this way for the last 50 years

I think you make some great points, and I am excited to see how your system develops. Now 1 wrinkle in your theory. You make a great observation that we are upright bipeds, and I think that shows where the system can go wrong. As bipeds the strongest part of our bodies are our legs, so attacking high can allow our opponents access to the power of their legs whereas low attacks can compromise the power of the legs. You can see this in NCAA Wrestling where the Double and Single score the most. I am really curious to see how you deal with this problem. Subscribed!

you’re on to something brotha 💪🏽🔥

you should look up Glima, its Viking battlefield wrestling. The rules are simple, take your opponent down and the first one to stand up wins. Its all about getting back to your feet after a successful takedown because on a battlefield you have to worry about multiple attackers at all times. its a cool system

I think you really have something special here. You could revolutionize the grappling game like it has been with leg locks

I have been doing the same thing for years, I stay relaxed, I don't fight against what my opponent is doing. Its almost as if your opponent needs you to resist so he can submit, most times no movement on my part, the opponent doesn't know what to do. If I am on top I stay on top I don't try to submit, my position is my submission. I try to exhaust everybody. I don't even sweat, and I don't breathe hard most of the time, some days I train 3 times per day. Some days 18 6min rolls. I can go weeks without being submitted, I may get 1 submission per day out of 18 rolls, and I am not trying to submit it just happens. I give opponents my back, I don't try to escape, I make them escape being on my back.

I agree that a good top game tending towards the pin should be dominant. Especially for self defense

I appreciate your love for martial arts and you sharing what you learn

excellent system, I compete in armored combat/buhurt events (full contact medieval combat with 60+lbs of real armor) and you're basically a dead man when your back in on the ground with all that gear. Shooting for double legs is a death sentence cus someone just has to sprawl and push on your 16lb helmet and now you're a dead man on all fours. So judo and grecco are king in our sport. Armor and weapons changes the grappling game dramatically and seems very inline with what youre describing. you should try it in the future local clubs usually have loner gear if you wanna try it out 👍

Hmm I'm genuinely interested to see the results, you got yourself a sub. Can't wait to see how this goes good luck.

I feel like this makes sense 100% I’ve always been told my style isn’t like a wrestler or a bjj guy but more of an all around grappler. No one can pin it down but after this video it makes sense and I guess I’ve been naturally doing this style since I started grappling 2 years ago. Comes natural to use the strongest limbs first for pinning and frames and then stack up high with head up for the weight to be directly down and then from their I can work and majority of the time have hands free

Love this and can't wait to explore this further

Excellent video. Love this channel. Wise combat wisdom in this one. Awesome. Thank you for your work, love it!

For safety, this is a brilliant strategy. Reduces the number of available risky maneuvers forcing you to stay in the safest positions Edit: I love that you give God credit for the creation. We can only discover and innovate. I also realized it's the same principle in arm wrestling. You always want to be above your opponent's hand and forcing them to hang off you

Love it. I've never had any real issues with BJJ, but I've always had issues with it as anything but a supplemental art. Great skill set, super useful, easy to teach and train and great for getting/keeping in shape. With that said it has a lot of shortcomings as well. Namely once you get tied up the winner tends to be the guy who's buddy jumps in first and nobody wants to be ground fighting on a city street with broken glass and shit everywhere. It sucks, trust me. What you're describing seems to address those issues pretty well. Looking forward to seeing more!

Always watched, this in particular made me sub. You’re thinking in 4D my friend, ossss

Same point of view I developed by myself. Anxious to learn more from your perspective.

You are definitely on the path!

Very beautiful and aesthetic style, wondering how your philosophy takes into account the opponent underneath having the positioning to lift you upwards/slam?

It's cool to see you find your own style. I like when people think outside the box. I teach a takedown class at my BJJ gym. Most takedowns classes are nothing but single leg and double leg takedowns. I got sick of watching beginners shoot in and get front headlocked or guillitoned. So I stop teaching shots. Now I just teach no gi judo takedowns (because gis are dumb) and greco wrestling. It sounds like it's in line with your style. People still like to single leg me. Usually I can just wrap their necks and twist, and choke to defend.

Im convinced. Been thinking about a more "relaxed and efficient " way of grappling and you came out with this. Just waiting for a program now ✌️

I am a Bjj purple belt, who had similar if not worse neck injury , end my replacing my C3-C4 cervial disc with artificial replacement surgery 2 years ago. I had just lots of my game , applying similar concept as you mentioned in this video ( lest inverted position, less shooting , more upwritst stand when wrestle...) the problem I'm facing now is the more distance I keep my neck away from others, I open more chance for them to attack the leg ,(shoot / leg lock ) which I also had knee injury history . like to hear what your advices.

Hey man, it sounds like what you’re getting at is something like the mastery of posture, and maintaining it as the primary goal of grappling. Chris Paines has discussed this idea on his channel as well, and talks about how it largely negates a lot of standard jiujitsu. In particular is insanely hard to sweep or takedown someone who is just keeping their spine aligned and refusing to abandon their posture, and you’ve clearly seen that in your “statue” defense against takedowns. And he discusses that a similar concept can even be used In guard if you’ve already lost the head height advantage of top position. I think if you combine this idea with learning to isometrically maintain a slight brace in the upper body, your ability to apply techniques and resist them are both multiplied to the point it seems like bs. It would be really cool to see a discussion between you and Chris,to my knowledge you’re the only ones excitedly interested in articulating the effects of posture for bjj

You have impressive martial ability. Can't wait to see more.🙏🏼

Some very good points here your on to something putting this together while not forgetting the primal aspect and basics.

I've been playing with this concept for a while now. My grappling style is more akin to Judo and Greco so I fell into this line of thinking naturally

I'm intrigued for sure

Youre out of your mind and I love it.

This is absolutely beautiful

Where can we learn more about this method of grappling?

Thanks for sharing Kajan. Spine and neck injuries are terrifying.

I had a severe injury and completely re-orientated myself to do this where I am always pushing my arms out, keeping my head up all my Homies would make fun of me and call it sloth style because I had to go slower and was always trying to keep my hands in front of me and keep my head away because it really fucked up my collarbone and spine , I was able to roll with way higher belts. Just trying not to get hurt caused problems for them.

I think it is effective if you are already proficient in the 'B side' grappling as you call it. Many traditional martial arts have passed down the same concepts as the primal kombat system, but down the generations the familiarity with the 'B side' techniques faded. That's why during the first UFC competitions, the ones staying upright or on top were too unfamiliar with the "B side", and had no defense against it. Again, I think your insight is very valuable, but only if you are sufficiently familiar with the B side grappling.

Bro, you are one of if not the only guy thinking outside the box on KZfaq. Instead of just being a ‘move database’ you are always providing weird and interesting concepts. PLEASE keep going with this. I troll you a lot but I watch all your shit and you are a very intelligent thinker (when it comes to to grappling ;) ) Develop this and I will buy it. This is what I need, some form of ‘combat grappling’

Good vid. Look forward to hearing how it works in Judo. What does 'higher in the horizontal plane' mean?

I had that same neck injury from shooting a double took forever it did come back to almost normal. The fun part is it forces you to come up with a new way to do takedowns or stand up grappling so if you look at it from that perspective it is what martial arts is all about really making it work for you

Who would ever measure the height of something using a vertical plane or a horizontal plane for that matter? You simply use the vertical axis to measure height, the horizontal plane is unnecessary.

As a multi-discipline grappler who is raising 2 sons to be as well, I have to say I am intrigued. My personal style is more top down dominate so I want to see this in action. Subscribed.

Interesting , how would you attack subs if your contraining yourself to basically stand tall? Truly interested

I appreciate your lessons, thank you.

Everyone at renzos know these concepts

thank you for bringing this to light. I've thought this as well since I've started a jiujitsu couple years ago but lack the understanding of other styles or grappling it it's entirety to properly execute or theorize it. I think it stems from primarily training with weapons that it always seemed like a better safety and control position of having the best elevation and posture

A while back I started using "Post on the dudes head" move when ever someone tried to attack me from the bottom x-guard, k-guard, DeLaRiva, etc.. I was promptly told that it is a "dick move" and while it is not illegal I shouldn't do it. I was like: "wtf? it fucking works, I simultaneously pin the guys head (taking a lot of offensive options from him), and I am harder to unbalance because I'm actually posting." Like simultaneously de-buff for him and buff for me. I think the main reason I was told not to use the move is exactly BECAUSE it works. It just kills a lot of BJJ game. ps. I'm a white belt and as you said this move felt "natural/primal". I don't think I "invented it"... I just did what felt right.

Stand grappling is great. I here just for thumbnail, didn't watched it to the end but standing grappling is great and the thumb made me remember it. Taiji style

Glad you found something that works for your game you have a right to express your faith in your video good for you

Very interesting concept that I want to try! But one question: is this also effective for smaller people grappling with bigger opponents? I'm 5'2", 110 pounds, and I'm not sure the game you mention is the one I should go for. Happy to hear your thoughts.

Thanks Coach. You're shining the light on the original intent of combat sports, that being a safe and preparatory way of training for combat. You're seperating that intent and purpose back out from the modern sports that have diminished the combative nature of warfare grappling. When the Most High God works in our lives many things become clearer. The principle of keeping the head, neck and spine safe with upright posture is evident in other martial arts such as Taichi, which has also been watered down in modern times. I used Ali as an example of this head up and out of harms way principle recently while teaching. He's a fine case study for this in boxing. I like to say "the spine is like a stack of checkers, in that it's strong when properly aligned but upset that alignment and jt crumbles." Godspeed!

waiting for those video competing in different styles, hope you system is successful

What's up with all the God haters? Bro is trying to show us something interesting, and he feels blessed by God. It doesn't run that deep

I'm trying to understand this could you please help me to comprehend this new method please, Your saying keep your body vertical n if your on the bottom on the ground keep your head up higher than your opponent?

What's the difference between the concepts Firas and Ryan shared with you? They sound like the same thing. Can you explain the key differences between these 2 concepts.

Im a white belt but I also discovered that pushing on the back of the head while sprawling would shut down single legs from guys 10x better than me, and they would switch to something else. I also hate fighting from butterfly and half guard and I find just standing up while framing a lot easier. While passing guard going to north south with some leg drags seems a lot more economic than trying bodylocks. Im not good at bjj yet, but I do things you talk about in your video and I feel like I progress faster than other white belts that started with me, I even go toe to toe with some blue belts at times.

Also in case people are wondering META = most effective technique available

Wait heelhooks are not allowed in freestyle wrestling, so that's why everyone was screaming at me

I appreciate you sharing your knowledge. It’s weird how martial artists can still have revolutionary game changers by learning fundamentals of other combat sports. People can go really far by concentrating on technique and application of a small tool bag.

Subscribed. May the Lord bless you on this journey. I'm here to see the challenge

Love this, reminds me of some of the stuff the book “Keep Rolling” covers

Saw your last 2 videos. Both videos you nention primal combat rules. What are the rules and scoring?

I adjusted my approach to focus on these ideas yesterday while rolling and it went REALLY well. I almost exclusively go to deep half, so this was a massive shift in my game but it felt awesome.

Super interesting ideas, I'll try some of these ideas myself. With all due respect, I think you're selling yourself short attributing this to god. All the best in your endeavors. If you're correct, this could be very exciting for combat sports as a whole!

I’m not even a grappler but this is very interesting

Incredible Video

Fascinating. Can you give examples of being higher on a horizontal plane? I’ve also seen videos where Coach Zahabi talks about getting one’s head higher.

Not sure how effective this would he against people larger than you, but I can see it being effective with people of similar or smaller size.

I like it. Please drop some meta basics for this system 🙏🏽

I think a lot of things like this come from people trying to get effective fast. Attacking legs make sense to people, tie someone's legs up and they fall down woth a push, can be learned decently in a month. Learning to properly deny grips while gaining your own, how to control another persons whole body woth just head or arm control, gaining and mantaining a dominant position, these things take years to decades to reaply learn. So, in the ruleset of bjj, it makes sense to pull guard, or just do doubles, because if you can spend more time learning ground techneques, you're usually further ahead in the short term than someone trying to first learn to do an effective hip throw. Shintaro once talked avout how to measure progress in judo because you usually wont be landing throws on people until around purple, so how do you measure progress when you dont have something like finding more and more submissions, or spend more time in mount. People want the quickest way to get to winning. Years ago, it was all about longevity. For a person competing at a high level with high stakes, yeah, sacrafice your body, but for a majority of people, i think they should go back to not just winning, but with part of winning being your physical well being too

This is realy interestin, looking foreward to your style against an wrestler ❤

Dope!

Very interesting points, would like to see more.

Really interested in learning this

What a mind for the game 🥊

I feel this, I have issues with my high crotch and doubles as they damage my neck always. I have developed a more upright judo Greco style that is surrounding preserving my neck, especially with heavier opponents. Good stuff

So, I just left a comment on another video of yours, the one where you were at 10th Planet. That video caused me to find this video... and the things I noted in the 10th Planet video... seeing some of your work in judo, the use of the knees, not being chest to chest... was brought up in this video but this video explained your theory. Look forward to watching all of your videos.

I like the theory, and I think it has some substance behind it! The spoken to by God part is probably where people will start to accuse you of the craziness, but I really hope you can prove it’s success!

Go with this creative inspiration. It leads to innovation. I am a BJJ brown belt. I totally agree with all of what you say here and am thinking of implementing this theory, which only in part has come to me, and only gets unnoticed use. It pays to focus on key concepts like this - those little things - which can change anyone's game up from night to day. I respect your work and am a long time fan of Firas. Thanks for this golden post, and good luck...to your opponents - they will need it!!!

I'm not a grappler, but this makes intuitive sense. It'll be cool to see how you do in this broad experiment.

I actually discovered this too on my own it’s weird but I did wrestling before bjj and when trying to combine the wrestling stance and head control and all that and being low I notice it was harder then when I started judo not too long after to fix my gi game it also help me discover that having an upright posture and trying to keep ur back straight and and treat it like it’s a fight not a grappling match but just in ur head don’t get into spots where u can get smashed on I notice my games was much better I was tapping out blue belts and putting in good matches with purple belts in bjj after like 3months of judo again I have previous wrestling experience so a little advantage to speed up the process but yeha Hopefully this becomes the new bjj I actually like where this might be going be good for street self defense and sport u also learn that ur ground game for top because better if u test it like it’s stand up Sven when ur opponent is sitting don’t sit on ur knee stay on ur feet and figure out ur balance

Thanks for sharing your passion and insight into grappling. I swear I heard Chael Sonnen mention keeping your head and or shoulders above your opponents several years ago...

I like it, your legs are going to be way more susceptible to entanglements though. If you’re dealing with a superior leg locker you’re in trouble.

Well naga actually means serpentine, and usually serpents aren't depicted as the best things to follow 😂😂...I've bin looking into some old school jiu jitsu technique's...got a book called jiu jitsu complete...some good locks and throws in that 👍

Yes, this happens in ground fighting pinched nerves that take training specific muscles to fix the issue plus using the body different than you did before. My pinched nerve is in my lower back, it seems like i can't fix it, at one point i thought i would be paralyzed. I mean it hurt bad to stand. I learned to do bunch workouts to help the pain. Good luck on the ground fighting journey.

Interesting to see how it turns out

Na luta agarrada existem variáveis que os estilos acabam limitando (principalmente o judo e o jiu jitsu), mas que sendo um jogo mais aberto da para experimentar mais e criar novas técnicas. Parabéns pelo vídeo. Abraços do Brasil.

It is wild how often grapplers just let someone control their head…like bro, that’s the command center!

I naturally don’t like getting under people because I’ve always been the smallest guy in the room. I feel like I naturally grapple in this way