BJJ was created on the premise of enabling a weaker more technical opponent of defeating a bigger and stronger individual. This is a tale as old as time but despite that it never gets old. BJJ is also refered to as The gentle art making it all the more controversial when prominent BJJ athletes get accused of PED use.
But regardless of the contemporary chemistry conundrum it’s always fun to get out of that headspace and explore something classic.
Recently a clip featuring a BJJ black belt and a bodybuilder friend went viral. The two had an 80lbs difference between them with the Body builder tipping the scales at 280 lbs.
Despite the mass difference, the two appear to be of similar height. The grappling session starts standing with the body builder hand-fighting vehemently.
BJJ black belt appears patient and tries to not overplay his hand, aware of his weight deficiency. But he quickly changes gears, level changes and dives for a double leg takedown.
He successfully lands it but the joy is short lived – because the body builder quickly spazzes out of it using a body lock type to roll him out of side control and over own head.
The match wasn’t submission only – this meant it was now 2-0 for the body builder.
BJJ Black belt finds himself playing a variation of the guard with the body builder using esoteric holds including one on the neck. He appears to be sort of pressuring the neck with his forearm to create space but he’s not exactly successful.
The black belt is quick to go for a classic setup for an armbar triangle from closed guard. This is very old school in terms of setup. But faced with a man who vastly outweighs him he abandons it and instead opts for an open guard that allows him to try and set up a short armbar.
After a while he has to scrap that too as to not over extend himself and allow for the passing of the guard.
He quickly spots the space bodybuilder left between his base and the tatami and swims for a single leg type x guard sweep
However with more mass the body builder is able to not get swept immediately. By waiting for the right time and not forcing the technique he spots the tight moment and effortlessly gets the bodybuilder to a knee. From there he postures for a simple get up making it 2-2.
And with 2 minutes on the clock, the body builder appears to be gassing, making it easier for the black belt to gather momentum and quickly pass to side control. He’s able to stabilize there and earn the points making 5-2 for the bjj black belt. At which point he uses superior flexibility to advance to mount and make it 9-2.
The mental strain is getting to the body builder and he’s as good as done at this point. And here he succumbs to a classic armbar setup.
