Xande Ribeiro explains his mentality for controlling his opponents. Moves are just moves, but teaching mindset and concepts will greatly increase your mental capacity for improvement in the art of Jiu Jitsu. Mindless repetition will not get you as far as fast as setting an intention for your training and focusing on the details you need to address to keep control of your opponent. Control leads them to only a small number of options to escape, then you wait for them there with the submission.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION:
Xande Ribeiro:
I really think a lot of jiu-jitsu people lost the art of mounting people. Two things that Jiu Jitsu has became: a sweeping company and a back taking company. You don’t see more straight ahead pride to dismantle this guy defense and kill him while he’s looking at it. Sorry if I sounds a little masochist about it. But for me, that’s what Jiu Jitsu’s about. It’s like, “I’m going to destroy your defenses and there’s nothing you can do about it.” You know what I mean? And that’s, for me, what’s special about Jiu Jitsu. Choking them from the front. A lot of times I’ll tell my guys… I just think it’s funny how the black belt specialists go, “Oh, that was a simple cross choke from mount.” I’m like, “Okay, do one.”
Can you cross choke people from the mount without busting their lips? Question number one, can you actually choke from the guard without rubbing their eyebrows out? Can you choke one of the ladies and her makeup will still be on? For me, that’s what it is. Learning how to choke someone from the front is like a neurosurgeon. From the back, it’s all good. I’m not taking away the efficiency of the position. I’m just give you guys something to strive for. You know what I mean? When I have my guys here, that train with me for so many, they know like it is. I’ll train with my brother, for example.
Sometimes people want to turn their back, I put them back on to face me and say, “You look into death.” And luckily, death is a good looking bald guy. You know what I mean? So I think those are the things that our style goes. And you guys are going to see, that actually taking the back and force those things, they become even easier. Because there’s always that struggle before there’s something, you know what I mean? And again, I’m going to a perspective of perfection. You know what I mean? Pressure. Just give you guys something to think about.
Maybe that’s not your style. No problem. You know what I mean? We take the back too. No problem. We do that too. But definitely one thing that I’m always proud about is like, I’m going to dismantle all your defenses and there’s nothing you can do about it, and you’re going to see it. Which sounds, again, very serial killer style, but it is what it is.
