The Art of the Guillotine
Last night, I returned to London Shootfighters for three hours of combat training. For the first hour and a half, I was taught Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu by a three-time world champion (everybody at London Shootfighters is pretty much the best at what they do).
Step by step, Simon and I were taught how to escape from positions of weakness and turn them into positions of strength, concluding with a type of armbar capable of tearing a limb right off. Although it wasn’t as exhausting as wrestling sparring (nothing in the world is), it was a valuable lesson and one that we could put to good use immediately afterwards – in the MMA class.
Not being exhausted from 90 mins of hard wrestling beforehand, this week’s MMA class was far more bearable. In fact, I managed to submit every sparring opponent I was given, though they also managed to make me submit more than once each. This is a huge improvement, however. As a wrestler, I have no trouble grappling with these people, but simply don’t know enough submission moves to actually win anything!
This time around, the hour of learning different types of guillotine-choke paid off, as did the BJJ class. In fact, I was awarded a free protein shake, for successfully winning via use of a guillotine!
As ever, training against Simon (who is 6′ 6″ and 90+ kg) was an exhausting endeavour, but one that prepared me well for fighting men my own size.
Soon, SOON, we shall be lords of combat!!