Don’t worry, Mick trained for the rest of the class after this little scare!

Like all sweeps, this one relies on the forward pressure/momentum of your opponent. To set up a sweep or any attacks from X-Guard. With my left hand I grab Matthew’s wrist as well.

I pull Matthew’s left hand towards my body. This takes away his base.

I fall onto my left shoulder and kick my right foot upwards.

After Matthew’s been sweeped over I keep downward pressure with my arms/chest and kick over into side control. This is generally the safer option than trying for mount as you can easily end up in half guard.

With the overhook, the technique becomes more upper body dependent. You really have to drive your right shoulder towards the ground. You can see in the picture that I’m almost standing up, pressing down against Matthew to get up.

Here’s the video of the sweeps

Hey Presto, Triangle!

Killa Kirsty & Ciara

Aaron & The Pitbull

The Wizard vs The Rottweiler

Cracka & Aaron

Conor “Yellar” & Stephen

Cracka & Killa Kirsty

Graeme tested for his Purple belt. Graeme’s shown great skill and proficiency with the stand up since we’ve started doing more of it, and despite being a powerhouse of the club (Bill calls him a young Josh Barnett), Graeme’s technical to boot too, and is always seeking out new submissions and cool new moves. Graeme has a quiet confidence about him too, which is great to see.

Graeme’s Wrasslin

Graeme MMA

Andy is the Irish Anderson Silva in my eyes. Very few athletes anywhere can see a submission once and then instanty catch everyone in the class with it. He legitimately submitted myself and Bill during his grading, and if it wasn’t for our humugous strength difference I’d have headed off into the land of nod. Upsettingly, Bill didn’t know how to zoom out and all this was missed on film! Sorry Buddy!

Andy Wrestlin’

Andy MMA

Overall myself and Bill were so impressed with you guys that we were still talking about it the next day.

Well done guys, you truly are club champions!

Back in the days of yore, when I was a humble coach out in UCD (Okay, I was never humble but a coach out in UCD nonetheless) I used to start the year with this technique. I like it, it’s cool, effective, and has a direct application to anyone who remembers being in a scrap when younger.

So Matthew grabs me in a “Tallaght headlock” probably because I stood on his white trainers. Who knows? Either way, I’m in a headlock.

First things first, what not to do, and that’s turn away. Pat Miletich won a match in the UFC because his opponent did this once.

Here, I turn my head in towards Matt. My right hand grabs his right (choking) hand and my left hand grabs his left wrist. You’re not expecting to pull his grip apart, moreso alleviate the choke and stay conscious.

In this photo (below), I’ve my left hand and Matt’s hip. If I’m not in immediate danger of being choked this is a better placement as it will help me bring Matt to the ground.

From here, I step in front of Matt with my right foot, and place my right hand on the inside of his left knee. What’s my right hand doing you might ask? I’m not trying to push Matt over with my right hand, it merely stays in place against the inside of his knee (not the front, the inside). I don’t think I’ve stressed this enough, the inside goddamnit!

I “Elvis” my right knee inward (think that scene in Forrest Gump when Elvis first meets a young Forrest) against Matt’s right knee as I pull back with my left hand and sit down.

Done right, I pull Matt right over me and land on top in side control. (It’ll make sense on the video)

Another method of escaping the headlock, and a far cooler way to slam someone in shown below. In this takedown/escape, I once more step to Matt’s side, so that our legs form a T.Unforunately, this isn’t shown in the photo.

It’s super important that your feet in this escape that I get my feet at least parallel to Matt’s, if not in front of him. This means when I extend my hips I go through Matt, not just hit against him. As I smack my hips into Matt, my right hand goes behind his knee to lift up his near leg (right leg, in this case).

With someone light, you’ll pick them up in the air, and you’re free to slam them. More than likely, your opponent will keep his balance, so you’ll need to sweep the leg. Here, I’m sweeping with my left foot.

Techniques are detailed here in video.

Right, I’m getting a bit delirious from editing videos, time to relax. Enjoy!

Bobby & Kev

Bobby & Matt

Matt & Mark

Tommy & Mark

Kev & Mark

Adam & John

Adam vs Lee

• 18:00-19:00 - Agoge/Clever Little Monkeys
• 19:00-20:00 - Spartan MMA
• 20:00-21:00 - CrossFit

A few observations:

• He’s very aggressive coming forward, though not that technical. He’s really throwing shots to phase his opponent. Staying calm and throwing straights down the centre could land some nice blows. Of course, keeping your hands up is vital!
• The Dublin crowd tends to be louder and more aggressive than the Galway crowd, which often leads fighters into being more aggressive and reckless themselves. Don’t fall into this trap if it’s not in your gameplan.
• He’s not throwing any leg kicks. A few tasty shots could slow down his rush attacks.
• He’s not doing much on the ground submission or striking wise. If Matt’s taken down he should look to sweep, sub or stand up. His shots didn’t look too dangerous, i.e. knock out.
• Patrick goes for the headlock in round one a lot. I have very, very rarely see this pay off in terms of a submission victory in MMA. If you’re looking to stall and get a restart standing the headlock/guillotine is a good option. Otherwise I would dig for underhooks if your opponent drops his head, or use the guillotine to bring him down into side control.
• Twice Shane got caught by the simple ankle pick sweep (made popular by Jim). Really, you shouldn’t be getting caught with this, but it shows that when he stands up in guard, he puts no pressure on the guy on bottom
• They both look tired towards the end of the second round, not establishing position correctly. Conditioning people!

Matthew’s fought Patrick Holohan in the National Submission Championships in June to take the gold. Even though bought are pretty fatigued at this point in the day it serves as a good omen that Matt was able to tap out Patrick and Patrick was able to beat Shane.

Enjoy!