Born to Brawl

Talk the Talk: Born to Brawl 1.4.08

“Talk the Talk”

OK folks, I’m back from the holidays and with that comes the second edition of Born to Brawl.  In my absence there’s been some marquee fights that have happened: Wanderlei Silva vs Chuck Lidell, Georges St. Pierre vs Matt Hughes, Fedor Emelienanko vs Hong Man Choi etc. Guys like Kawajiri, Misaki, and Bustamante have fought since then as well and the IFLGrand Prix Finals happened too.

 Instead of trying to cover all of those fights I’m going to go over some terminology.  For those of you that are new to MMA, learning what is being said is key to understanding what you’re viewing. Learning to ‘talk the talk’ is essential to expanding your MMA horizons because context clues won’t always help since much of the parlance is taken from other languages.

 This list is in no way complete as it would take enormous amounts of time to enumerate every technique, position, term and all their variations. I’m assuming that because boxing is an old institution in the U.S. the majority of you will know what jab, cross, hook punches are so I’m going to skip those. There are also a wide array of wrestling techniques and the throws of the Nage-waza that I’m intentionally leaving out.  

I tried to insert pictures but they won't format correctly. Sorry all.

 Common Terms:

1. Ground and pound: to take your opponent to the mat and use assorted strikes (usually punches and elbows) to damage him aka GNP
2. Takedown: any variety of methods used to change the combat from standing/clinching to ground fighting.
3. Lay and pray: Derogatory term for a fighters GNP prowess. It essentially means pinning an opponent to score position but not to finish the fight and hence win a judges’ favor.
4. Passing the Guard: To force your opponent to release his hold around your hips and move around his legs to gain a superior position.

 Common Positions:

1. Guard: the person ‘in guard’ is the top position. The person ‘guarding’ is on their back with the legs wrapped around the hips of their opponent.  This position is used to minimize the leverage the opponent can gain to rain strikes from the top position. There are several variations of the ‘Guard’ position i.e. butterfly, open, half, rubber etc. 
2. Mount: The person ‘in mount’ is the fighter on the top. The person ‘being mounted’ is on the bottom. The top fighter has their knees above the hips of the opponent and is minimizing their defensive capabilities and aiming to TKO via strikes or set a submission. Considered a superior position. 
3. Half Guard: The fighter on the bottom has both legs locked in a ‘figure 4’ around one of his opponents’ legs. Typically this is the result of a halfway successful attempt at ‘passing the guard’ of the man on the bottom. 
4. Back Mount: When your opponent is belly to back with you. It exposes the neck for chokes and head for strikes.  ‘Getting your hooks in’ refers to having back mount and then hooking your legs between the legs of your opponent in order to control their hip movement. Considered a superior position.
5. Thai Clinch: When one fighter is holding the crown of the head on another fighter to control body movement. Typically used in conjunction with knees to the head and body. So called for its origins in Muy Thai Boxing.  

Common Techniques:

1. Armbar aka ‘kakegatame’: to straighten the arm (thereby ‘barring’ it) so that the fulcrum of the pressure is against the elbow. Commonly this is done with the legs over the head while holding the wrist to break the arm. There are variations to this such as ‘Japanese style’, from guard, from mount, branch straight from side mount, far side, Brazilian style, inverted etc.  It is sometimes incorrectly called a ‘straight armbar’. All armbars are straight (hence the term ‘bar). 
2. Triangle Choke aka Jiujigatame: The fighter applying the choke has his legs in a ‘figure 4’ around the head and arm (just one) of his opponent. Proper application of this technique causes hypoxia (and consequently blackout) by closing the carotid arteries in the neck. Contrary to popular misconception this is not an air choke.  
3. Kimura: a shoulder lock with the wrist below the shoulder. Primary objective is to tear the rotator cuff in the shoulder. Named after a famous Judoka. Can be executed from standing, top or bottom positions.  
4. Americana aka Key Lock: Also a shoulder lock but it is a wrist above the elbow lock. Americanas also tend to put preasure on the elbow as well as the shoulder.
5. Guillotine Choke: What you may have seen in school as a ‘front head lock’. This is an asphyxiation choke. The blade of the wrist acts as a trachea crusher to cut the air. Can be applied standing or from virtually any ground position.
6. Rear Naked Choke aka RNC aka ‘Mata Leo (Lion Killer)’: The fighter applying the choke is belly to back with his opponent with one arm snaked around the neck while the other arm is placed behind the head to apply pressure. Depending on your instructors’ methodology it can either be a hypoxia or asphyxiation choke. It is most effective as a hypoxia choke. 

 That is the most basic list I could compile for terminology.  There are quite literally dozens if not hundreds more that could be listed but this is enough to get you started with a basic understanding of what is going on for your next (or first) viewing.  If any of you have questions regarding a technique, its origin, application, name, effectiveness, mechanics etc. please email me at santi_ostinati@hotmail.com  and I’ll be happy to help out. Just put Born to Brawl in the subject line.

1-4-08

02:15, 2008-Jan-4 .. Posted by crotiaus

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Nice site

04:09, 2008-Jan-9 .. Posted by thewalruswasjohn

Hey. I'm writing the boxing column on the enterto.com sports page. Just wanted to say hola, as we are covering similar sports.