Taza and his teammate Giancarlo Bodoni have openly defended their coach John Danaher’s approach to renaming techniques and structuring the art, further emphasizing the unique impact of Danaher on the sport in the latest podcast appearance.
These comments come on the wings of harsh criticism directed towards Danaher’s The American lock dvd which seems to take Americana and rename it.
John Danaher’s release of his latest instructional DVD, Master the Move: The American Lock, has sparked backlash from the Catch Wrestling community for renaming a well-established submission known as the Americana, ude-garami, or top wrist lock.
While Danaher positions the “American Lock” as a fundamental move in grappling with versatile applications, critics argue that this rebranding erases the technique’s deep-rooted history across multiple martial arts. The Catch Wrestling community, citing medieval wrestling manuals and traditional Irish Collar & Elbow wrestling, highlights the Americana’s origins long predating its integration into BJJ via Bob Anderson’s collaboration with Rolls Gracie.
Adding further controversy, the move is also associated with MMA legend Frank Mir. Critics accuse Danaher and others in BJJ of appropriating and renaming techniques to bolster mystique and commercial appeal, drawing comparisons to cult-like practices of linguistic manipulation to foster exclusivity. This debate reflects deeper tensions between BJJ’s modern marketing strategies and Catch Wrestling’s emphasis on preserving historical authenticity.
During an episode of the Giancarlo Bodoni Podcast, featuring Taza the two detailed how John Danaher has transformed the language and methodology of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. According to Bodoni, Danaher introduced terminology and frameworks that have redefined how practitioners understand and teach the sport.
“Everybody uses John’s terminology, John’s systems,” Taza remarked. “I never heard the word system in my life until John started becoming popular. Then everybody’s like ‘oh this is my system, this is the system.'”
Danaher’s influence extends to precise positional descriptions like “chest-to-chest” and “chest-to-back” positions, replacing more generalized terms such as “half guard” and “back control.” Taza emphasized how this approach brought clarity and specificity, enabling practitioners to discuss and refine techniques with greater precision.
Beyond terminology, Danaher’s humility stands out. Taza recalled,
“I’ve never heard him say in like the almost 10 years I’ve been training with him…’I came up with this’ or ‘I invented this.'”
Instead, Danaher adopts a collaborative and experimental teaching style, openly acknowledging when a technique requires improvement. But his use of particular terminology still gets frequently questioned by outsiders.
