You bet there are! It’s just a fact .. there always are!
BJJ at present, is an art that is enjoying a significant upswing in popularity. As is usually the case under such conditions, it becomes easy for many people to ignore the weaknesses of the ‘art in vogue’ and focus totally on it’s strengths. As a BJJ instructor though, I am the first to admit, as an art, it does have it’s deficiencies.
These deficiencies are quite obviously in the areas of striking and takedowns. There are many individual BJJ fighters who are striving to remedy these deficiencies but by and large, they remain areas of weakness for many BJJ athletes. Takedowns especially, should be of interest to the BJJ fighter, even the BJJ purist (the competition fighter) needs these in his/her arsenal to perform at peak levels.
Takedowns are an important part of any fighters arsenal. The concept of being able to take ones opponent to the ground has been with us as long as has the idea of fighting. Styles such as Sumo, Judo, Greco Roman wrestling and many others, see the takedown as the central theme of their art.
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, because of it’s emphasis on ‘groundfighting’ and ‘finishing’, has not been an art that has specialized in takedowns to the degree achieved by world class Judo players or Olympic level Freestyle wrestlers. But that’s not to say, that takedowns are not a subject of study by serious Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighters.
The Machado Academies in Los Angeles, have provided a venue for exchange between many martial artists. Richard Norton, Gene LeBell, Howard Jackson, Shuki Ron, Cathy Long, Chuck Norris and scores of other World renowned martial artists have come there to study the Brazilian art; but the exchange has certainly not been one-sided. The Machado’s and many of their fighters have enjoyed cross-training with many of these and other ’specialists’; some of whom, people like Mike Swain (Judo Gold medallist) and Tom Hazel (Freestyle wrestling gold medallist) have had much to offer in the way of ‘takedown skills’.
The goods news is that the experienced BJJ practitioner should have little trouble in developing some strong takedown skills. After all, the language of the ‘takedown’ specialist, and the ‘finish’ specialist is one in the same; both sides speak the language of leverage and body-mechanics and fluency in such, allows for rapid cross-skill development.
In short, for those interested in developing an all-round, holistic approach to fighting, whether that be competitive or self-defence oriented approach – don’t neglect to ‘work the weakness’. Plug the holes .. and be more complete.
John B Will 2001
