Watching the Black Belt Finals of Mundials tonight before dinner ... I wonder how many people actually stop and watch what Roger Gracie does. I've always believed that you can and should focus on watching the best and stealing from them shamelessly.
From people like Rickson, it is mostly basic principles: leverage, timing and the zero point. Finding that place where your opponent is most uncomfortable and keeping him there.
From people like Roger, it is details like his great leg lace from side control as a way to force either taking the mount or the back. I typically play a bait-and-timing game with most guys when trying to take the mount. And don't have much of a way to get to the back except from a scramble.
So I'm looking at Roger's leg lace. Alex showed me one to use from the back against the lower legs. But Roger attacks higher up, more or less the same way you would for the leg rope pass in Saulo's book.
I've been doing more work to take the back, and have added the arm drag to my to-do list for 2010. But I still want to make the Roger my go-to finish. At least at comparable weights, there is no technical reason why I shouldn't be able to develop that kind of finishing game.
Right now, I pretty much am what I am from my back. I'm adding new things to my guard to be sure. But when it's time to get from the bottom to the top, the half guard is not only my bread and butter, it's my knife, table and chair, as well. I've got my moves and I'm sticking to 'em.
But I can't say that for my top game just yet, despite having some successes here or there. Maybe over the course of 2010, I'll be able to put together a more coherent approach to finishing fights, preferably with the Roger.
