Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

An attacker stands beside you and holds you in a headlock. In this lesson, BJJ World Champion Leandro Issa teaches how to maintain proper posture to control your opponent, defend the headlock and throw the attacker to the ground.

When attacking the neck with the collar choke from the full mount position, the person on bottom is forced to either submit or defend the choke with their hands. This creates the opportunity for an arm bar attack. In this lesson, BJJ World Champion Leandro Issa demonstrates how to use…

Another method for attacking the elbow joint is to immobilize the wrist and press down on the elbow with both hands. This straight arm lock can be applied from various positions, and it works best when the opponent’s arm is in a vulnerable position across your shoulder. In this lesson,…

In this lesson, an attacker stands behind you and grips you in a bear hug. BJJ World Champion Leandro Issa teaches how to quickly escape this dangerous position and throw your attacker to the ground.

The spider guard allows great control of your opponent’s arms and opens up many opportunities to sweep. In this lesson, BJJ No Gi World Champion Bruno Pucci teaches how to sweep a kneeling opponent with the scissors sweep from spider guard and take the mount position.

An attacker grips you around the chest in a front bear hug. In this vulnerable clinch situation, it is important to create space between you and the attacker to escape their positional advantage over you. In this lesson, BJJ World Champion Leandro Issa teaches how to defend against the front…

When passing the guard it is important to methodically control an opponent’s legs and hips to prevent them from regaining full guard. The scissor step technique allows you to maintain control over these key areas as you progress from within your opponent’s guard to a well established side control position.…

The knee on stomach position is an advantageous position which allows the person on top to apply great downward pressure on an opponent. Often, this pressure will provoke reactions that become opportunities for submission attacks. In this lesson, BJJ No Gi World Champion Takeo Tani demonstrates how to apply the…

The elbow escape from bottom position can create many opportunities to gain the upper hand in a fight as grapplers scramble and transition from one position to the next. In this lesson, BJJ World Champion Leandro Issa teaches an escape from side control. The leg over position allows great control…

The spider guard not only provides excellent control of your opponent’s arms but also affords great freedom of movement in your hips. In this lesson, BJJ No Gi World Champion Bruno Pucci teaches how use hip movement in the spider guard to swing beneath a standing opponent and execute the…

An attacker stands facing you and grips your shoulder. In this lesson, BJJ World Silver Medalist Almiro Barros teaches how to counter this threatening gesture by applying a standing joint lock.

As you and your training partners improve at both passing guard and retaining guard, you will increasingly find yourself in the half-guard position. From top position in half guard there are submissions that can be attempted, however the better option is usually to pass the half guard into side control…

In this video, MMA Champion Mitch “The Dragon” Chilson of the Evolve Fight Team provides an introduction on getting started at Evolve University.

When passing the guard it is important to control an opponent’s legs and hips to prevent them from regaining full guard. From a standing position in his opponent’s open guard, BJJ World Champion Leandro Issa teaches a variation of the bull fight guard pass as a method for obtaining side…

The guillotine choke is when an opponent pulls your head down and grabs around your neck. It is a common move among street fighters and seasoned grapplers alike. In this lesson, BJJ World Champion Leandro Issa teaches how to escape the standing guillotine choke by taking the attacker to the…

An attacker stands facing you and grabs your throat. In this lesson, BJJ World Silver Medalist Almiro Barros teaches how to counter this threatening attack by applying a versatile standing arm lock.

Another important skill for passing guard is stacking your opponent. Used well in combination with the scissor step technique, the passing the guard underhook technique allows you to maintain control by stacking your opponent as you progress from inside the guard to a well established side control position. In this…