Marcelo v. Fowler
We'll see how long the clip remains up. In any event, there are two interesting things in Marcelo's top game that I want to focus on.
The first, and most pedestrian, is that he stands up to deal with Fowler's closed guard. Let me say that again: Marcelo Garcia, perhaps the best pound-for-pound jiu jitero currently competing, STOOD UP to facilitate a guard pass. Not only that, but he picked up Fowler in doing so, making it harder for Fowler to keep his guard closed.
Really. I wouldn't lie about something like this. It comes at about 0:39 seconds in.
From Gurgel to Garcia ... real jiu jiteros open the guard standing.Do I even have to write the obligatory "if Marcelo believes in standing up to pass the guard, then ..." line? Of course, the answer to that will be in what I do henceforth when trying to pass the closed guard.
Ahem, the other interesting point was how Marcelinho fought through the half guard. Usually, I'm thinking that you need an underhook on the far side to help pin the guy down as you pass on the trapped side. But if you are trying to pass the half guard by going into south-facing side control (or Bravo's "twister" side control), then overhooking that far arm might makes more sense. You can see Marcelo working the overhook/backstep pass at about 0:49 seconds in.
I'll make sure I've got that straight tonight when working from half guard.
[edited: overhook is over far arm and pass is a backstep]
