Thursday 14 April 2011

The De la Riva Sweep. BJJ Nova Forca

With my Judo Club being closed for the Easter holidays and the Newaza competition coming on Sunday the 17th April it was obvious what I would need to do and that was to go back to Nova Forca for some Newaza BJJ style.

Oli accompanied me again and we were greeted by some familiar friendly faces on our arrival and we made ourselves known to Ricardo who welcomed us back. The warm up was unusually easy tonight but I wasn’t complaining as I had come here for some groundwork as I feel my cardio is pretty good at the moment.

Ricardo wasn’t wearing a gi tonight as he was mainly focusing on teaching some of the guys MMA style techniques. The vast majority of us however were wearing gi’s and we were shown by another Black Belt a De la Riva Sweep. Now I have heard of this sweep but it wasn’t until I read Meerkatsu’s post on his excellent blog about Ricardo de la Riva’s recent seminar in the UK that I realised that it was named after a person, who obviously invented the move.

The technique involved the person on the bottom using the spider guard, a technique I have wanted to learn how to use since Ricardo used it against me when I rolled with him last summer and made me feel totally helpless. The only problem with the technique that we were shown last night was that it involved Uke standing up, something which is not allowed in Judo Newaza, thus making the move redundant. Still it was a very nice sweep to learn and the mere fact that I got to play spider guard made it very worthwhile.

Following this sweep we worked on some variations and by the time we had drilled those we were almost 2 hours in to our 3 hours class.

For the last hour we got to spar and first up for me was Oli. I decided not to do my usual, which is to pull guard and instead attacked Oli and got him on his back and ended up in half guard. From here I struggled to get my other leg out and all the time Oli was attempting to sweep me. I remembered something that Graeme showed me many months ago in Judo which was a technique to get out of half guard by lying on Oli but sort of on my side and across his body so that he cannot see what I am doing. I then proceeded to work my leg free and had full mount. I was then looking for an armbar but unfortunately Oli defended this ended up in my half guard where he then attempted to pass. The rest of our roll mainly consisted of me on my back whilst Oli tried to pass my guard. I think he actually got the mount on me when we were told to change partners.

Next up was Ryan, a blue belt and fellow Judoka Red belt. This time I decided to pull guard on Ryan and he was quick to posture up. I tried Spider guard on him and as he attempted to free his arms I could hear his gi ripping. He said not to worry about it as the gi was very old so we carried on regardless and the more he struggled to more ripping noises I could hear. I eventually got Ryan close enough to me to attempt this pass http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng7kjXO77Eg which I was shown last September by Ricardo. Ryan sensed the danger and defended himself and slowly but surely got himself free of my guard and eventually got full mount on me. From here he attempted an armbar but luckily I defended this and I ended up in his guard. I then concentrated on keeping a strong base so that he could not sweep me and time was called quickly afterwards.
So after two rolls with a Judo Brown belt and a BJJ Blue belt I was yet to be subbed, which is not bad.


Next up was a senior white belt who pulled guard immediately and tried spider guard on me. I managed to break his grips but then he played the rubber guard, a move only the very supple can pull off. It did feel weird to be held in this guys guard with his legs around my head and it was the first time anyone had ever done this against me. Still I did manage to posture up and break free of his guard but in doing so he threw up a triangle. I managed to get both my arms back inside his guard but he was then able to sweep me and had full mount . Time was again called quickly afterwards.



I was now starting to feel pretty tired but after a short time sitting out I was ready to go again. I scanned the room and found a small looking white belt and figured I might have an easy roll with this guy. We started and he pulled guard quickly but I never indulged him and controlling his legs I passed to side control or Mune-gatame. I stayed in this position for a little while as I was trying to grab his arm for a Kimura or Ude-garami. Sensing this he kept his arms close to his body so I quickly got full mount and slowly worked my way up his body in preparation for getting an armbar. I grabbed his right arm and slowly got in to position and viola I had my first sub of the night.

We started again and this time he seemed reluctant to pull guard, preferring instead to wrestle with me. I then grabbed him close and actually threw him with a sort of Uki-goshi where I ended up in Kesa-gatame. He seemed a little surprised by this, maybe because BJJ’ers don’t normally try this sort of thing but I do know that a couple of the guys sitting out suddenly took notice of our little tousle.
From Kesa-gatame I turned in to Mune-gatame and from there I was able to submit him with a Kimura or Ude-garami.



I was pretty pleased with my two submissions against this guy even though I was a lot bigger than him but next up was a guy who was at least my size and a Blue Belt. Again he pulled guard and was able to control my posture and sweep landing in the mount position. I kept my arms close by as I didn’t want to give him any presents and then tried to bridge and roll but in doing so he grabbed my arm and went for an arm bar. I managed to escape by turning in to it but he was then able to take my back and he then got a body lock on me. He was squeezing pretty hard around my waist whilst trying to get a choke on me and as I was defending his choke I suddenly had the overwhelming urge to throw up. I quickly tapped and he could see I wasn’t feeling great. I actually had a mouth full of vomit but not wanting to make a mess I swallowed it down and excused myself. There was only about 10 minutes of the class left at this point but I as I couldn’t get the taste of vomit out of my mouth I decided it would be wise to sit out the remainder of the lesson.


So I have learned that it may be possible to last the distance should I fight Ryan on Sunday but I am unlikely to get the opportunity to attack him and therefore would lose on points.
I’m still not sure whether I should pull guard in my first fight and try for the old faith full San-gaku-jime or if I should try and get them down first. At least if I am on top it looks like I am being the aggressor.



A good lesson tonight despite being sick and this morning I am as usual covered in bruises and feeling a little stiff. Hopefully this is good preparation for Sunday.

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