The Neon Belly Podcast

ADCC has an incredibly unusual ruleset and point system. To help everyone get more familiar with these rules before the West Coast Trials this weekend on Flograppling (https://www.flograppling.com/events/7379684-2022-adcc-west-coast-trial) I wanted to talk about some of the unique aspects of this tournament. I've been watching ADCC live since 2009, and despite becoming very familiar with the rules over the years, there are even a couple new things I didn't know until recording this.
For some footage of things referenced...here's the Craig Jones vs Mason Fowler match from 2019 where you can see multiple instances of Craig not getting scored on due to him having a submission locked up while going from top to bottom. The link is time-coded to 7:44. Notice Craig is never on bottom in this transition for more than 3 seconds without the guillotine locked up. As long as that guillotine is on, points can't be scored against him: https://youtu.be/Quwf3HA9d20?t=464 Also, at 8:41 (https://youtu.be/Quwf3HA9d20?t=521) Craig rolls for a kimura and ends up on bottom, but because he initiated the kimura, points are not scored.
Here is the moment where Rafa Mendes avoided a -1 in the finals for ending up in guard because he initiated an anaconda choke on Cobrinha: https://youtu.be/5-IZHyH1Vro?t=114 and again later in the same match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-IZHyH1Vro&t=359s
Here's the exact moment in the Keenan Cornelius vs Romulo Barral match where Keenan was gets a -1 for having a knee on the mat for 3 seconds during the points-period (2nd half) of the match: https://youtu.be/4Ij4DaVhhO4?t=474
Here's the Gordon Ryan vs Xande match I referenced in regards to regulation vs OT having more weight in the event of a judge's decision: https://www.flograppling.com/video/6012782-xande-ribeiro-vs-gordon-ryan-adcc-2017-world-championships
Feel free to reach out to me anytime at https://www.instagram.com/drewdarce/

We're back! It's been a long time. Life has been wild this past year, and things are starting to get easier--I didn't want to upload until things could be consistent. Thanks for being patient, and for the kind messages! In this episode I talk about my love/hate relationship with deep half guard, and why I'm currently staying away from it as a primary guard. I also talk a little bit about the instructional that I'll be filming this July. I think it'll be unique, something new to the table, and I hope that folks are able to enjoy it!
Much love!!!

We're back! On this episode we're talking about Rafa Mendes, his protege Cole Abate, and Rafa's contributions to the NoGi world. Below are some links from some of the techniques and rolling moments discussed in the episode. Thanks for bearing with me. I've had a summer filled with a lot of loss and illness; life goes on, and I'll continue to strive to make the best of life! I appreciate everyone's support so much! Shouts to Less Impressed More Involved's BJJ's Rafa Mendes video this week:
Rafa Mendes vids:

• Anaconda Choke Lesson
• Guillotine Choke Lesson
• Rafa anaconda vs Andre Galvao
• Rafa armlock from arm saddle vs Andre Galvao
• Rafa darce vs Keenan Cornelius false reap
• Rafa anaconda vs Cole Abate false reap
• NoGi Leg Drag lesson
• Rafa guard retention study
• Rafa NoGi Flow
• Rafa NoGi Highlight

Some things I didn't cover in the episode were tempo shifts--moments of speeding up and slowing down. Rafa told us that was a critical element of his JiuJitsu. A massive thing that I didn't discuss is Rafa was one of the first people to really seek out the bottom arm seatbelt (weak side) back control position, and strongly advocated body triangles over hooks. Rafa and his brother Gui also notoriously avoided playing half guard, and they thought it was a poor position for smaller grapplers on bottom position. They were also huge proponents of 'active toes' and not playing top positions on the tops of the feet.

When we have bad training sessions, they usually fall into 2 categories. In this episode, we break down these major categories and some approaches to handling these experiences. This is important not only to improve, but more importantly to keep us optimistic and from circling the drain with negative thoughts and feelings about this very demanding sport.
Also, I was on my friend Mat Skaff's podcast yesterday talking about ADCC History, some of the best matches there, ADCC 2022, and some other ADCC trivia. If you want to listen to that, it's here: Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/6MdgixoEtorqteqvYxbzLI?si=UKDZs0mnSQqajp0fc9Amhg Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/adcc-history-with-drew-darce/id1483521780?i=1000553233494

"I wasn't a good student, and even now I never say I am better than anybody, but I know I love jiu-jitsu more than anybody." - Marcelo Garcia. 2010.
Flashback to May of 2007. The legendary Marcelo Garcia is a 2x ADCC champion, and more importantly is The People's Champ. He's on a quest to get double gold medals at his 3rd ADCC. 3rd time's the charm--he's submitted all 7 of 7 opponents in regulation on his way to the Absolute Finals, and he's the smallest man by 24 lbs / 11kgs to get this far (and to this day, no one else has accomplished either feat.) We are about to see the single greatest display in the history of submission grappling. And yet...Marcelo falls short of Absolute Gold and loses by submission to Robert Drysdale.
When Marcelo was asked what he could have done different, he smiled and said simply, "I need to be faster." Marcelo also joked and said he actually did have 8 for 8 submissions for the weekend...if you included the one where he himself tapped! He could've made so many excuses, but instead he made none while also not taking himself too seriously.
I always loved this story, as told by Josh Waitzkin and Sam Sheridan in The Fighter's Mind. Josh was Marcelo's 1st black belt, and the subject of the film, Searching for Bobby Fischer, about his time as a young chess prodigy.
Josh states, "Marcelo doesn't think in shades of grey. Everything is black and white...I'm more of a grey-type guy, so it can be frustrating, because at times Marcelo seems overly simple. But it's incredibly powerful...In the chess world, there were plenty of guys like him who I envied, guys with pure clarity and no existential dilemmas, without angst..."
We all could be a little more like Marcelo Garcia. =)
Whether it's on the mats, or in life, relationships, family/friends, careers, etc, I appreciate the beauty and simplicity of this type of thinking. It doesn't come naturally to me, but I want to take the next month to strive to find one through-line or theme where I think I can improve in in Jiu-Jitsu, relationships, career goals, family, friends, etc, and pursue that one theme in each of those areas.
And even if we can't be like him on the mats, we can borrow a valuable method that he uses to solve problems in order to improve our own lives. I also find it admirable that Marcelo went out on his shield, and I've noticed in my own life that I could stand to take more risks.
Big shout outs to Riccardo Ammendolia for his historical highlights and analysis of Marcelo Garcia! I watched some of the footage below in researching this episode. PS. This is the first but certainly not the last time we will talk about Marcelo on this podcast!
- Video essay exploring Marcelo Garcia's overall ADCC greatness: https://youtu.be/c6it1SsW8TI
- Marcelo's historic RNC over Shaolin at ADCC 2003: https://youtu.be/X_8O-fq-NI4
- Highlight of all of Marcelo's 2005 ADCC Matches: https://youtu.be/sia_yuGN5qI
- Highlight of all of Marcelo's 2007 ADCC Matches: https://youtu.be/j-ZbtfIfUtY
- Marcelo's ADCC 2007 Absolute Finals loss: https://youtu.be/OQzpE8kiZtE?t=8
- Marcelo Garcia Highlight video by Rob Degle: https://youtu.be/5fV7YYgE9OM
- Amazon Link to The Fighter's Mind & The Art of Learning: https://tinyurl.com/bdej6r5z & https://tinyurl.com/yckzyby5)