Winning competitions are a sure fire way to get recognized by your coach when training BJJ. There’s even some gyms Iv’e heard that you can only get promoted from white belt if you compete. Either way, it’s a fast track way to get noticed and get promoted to blue Belt. So I share with you my 8 Simple Steps To Win BJJ White Belt Competitions.
Ultimately being promoted shouldn’t be your goal, you should be looking to get better, but we know that’s why you’re reading this and that’s why you’re here, to win and get promoted.
The following information may be unusual but there’s a set process & moves that when I was white belt I used to win 80% of my fights. To be honest it almost felt like cheating as it worked so consistently. I’m a blue belt now have been for about a year. So I remember what competing as a white belt is like & it’s all still quite fresh to me.
First things first, understandably this is anecdotal evidence from one competitor, but this strategy was devised from reading through the competition data on highpercentagemartialarts.com > In example this article.
It’s a mix of getting into the right position as quickly as possible, and using a high percentage submission.
The below may sound like utter nonsense to most, but I’ll repeat, this is how I won most of my fights.
Here’s the exact process….( I suggest you drill this process)
WARNING FYI : Do not reply on this process alone. You need to be reactive to what other people are doing but this should get you some wins in my experience.
Slap bump… It’s go time. ( Stay relaxed)
- Standing, grab their cross collar and sleeve (Same side, if you can’t get the sleeve don’t worry, you want to just use the collar to pull them into you)
- Pull full guard from that right away. Use the collar to pull them into you , while throwing your foot into their hip then quickly to their armpit ( one motion). Making sure they don’t pass your leg across and pass your guard.
( No, we’re not being hero’s here going for some epic takedown, iv’e seen too many white belt matches where people are kicking each others shins for 4 minutes or simply butting heads… If you’re there to win you want to get into a favourable position quickly, just pull guard.) - Settle into full guard. ( Whoever you’re competing against will likely allow you to go into full guard, it’s one of the few positions white belts feel comfortable with and understand , even though it’s a very bad position for them. It’s simply the position where we have spent most time in the gym, usually)
- If they try and stand up, keep your guard closed & hook their leg to either sweep them or make them go back onto their knees into your full guard again. Most the time they will opt for your full guard (Leg hook example here)
- Go for cross collar choke from full guard. ( Cross collars choke is very low percentage at white belt but don’t worry, it’s just a ploy to get them thinking about their neck, if you get it…cool, but chances are you won’t)
- At this point your opposition’s coach on the side will usually shout something like, “Watch out for the cross collar choke” ( This happened to me about 25% of the time, the consistency was very unusual)
- When they go to defend the cross collar choke…Secure their arm and it set them up for.
- The armbar from closed guard. Below. (I Usually like swing the leg all the way over their head)
This exact cross collar and Armbar.
Now, if you’re in a competition and have multiple fights, this process won’t work over and over due to other people watching your fights and realising what you just did, and then avoiding it.
I found you can do this process twice in a tournament. Usually one after another. First time, people are caught off guard. Second time people don’t think you’ll do the same thing again. As there’s no pattern.
Below is a good mental game plan I would suggest watching for combining the above process with your game plan.
You can go over the high percentage subs and positions at highpercentagemartialarts.com and put your full high percentage game plan together.
