Rolling til the Submission

This week I got to drop into a school while back in North Carolina for National Guard training. It was an enjoyable class that was focused on positional drilling and rolling, something that can highlight weaknesses and I always enjoy training. At the end, we got into what I consider the best part of any JiuJitsu class and did about 30 minutes of rolling for 7 minute rounds.

Side note on this story: I tend to shy away from writing about rolling because I believe submissions that happen in a school should stay in a school. It can really come across as unprofessional to be bragging about who tapped who during class. It also can discourage tapping amongst students. I hold to the belief that if you are tapping you are learning and discouraging the act is a quick way to hold back progression. I will make an exception here with the hopes of highlighting one of the really fun parts of traveling JiuJitsu, and hope that it is read as such.

During one of those rolls on Thursday night, my partner and I rolled in gi and had a flurry of exchanges of sweeps, attacks and escapes. Nothing at all malicious, just two practitioners fighting hard to be the one to catch the submission, which at the end of the round, neither one of us had. We exchanged smiles and gratitude for the roll and moved on to more matches. At the end of class he came over and asked "No gi?" "But of course!" I excitedly replied, now always eager for an opportunity to sharpen my no gi game. "You down for leg attacks?" and "It wouldn't be right if we didn't." was my reply. A slap and a bump of fists and it was on! It wasn't spoken out loud, but neither of us felt right ending the night without the closure of a submission, and we both knew that this time there wouldn't be a timer to end the math.

While the school slowly emptied out, we battled back and forth across the now empty mat. My partner was a phenomenal grappler. A pro MMA fighter, his game focused on getting on top and staying there. He maintained an impressive pressure from someone that weighed close to 50 pounds less than me and was close to impossible to shake from a position that I recognized would give him the ability to land match ending blows. The roll remained primarily defensive for me. The top pressure and arm isolation meant I was constantly having to wiggle out of arm-bar, head and arm triangles and triangle attacks. Any time that I would escape, a quick leg attack would return me to the defensive and resume the energy crushing top pressure.

My arms tiring and energy sapping, I smiled as a appreciated the style of his game. My own attacks had been rapidly escaped and the combination of leg, arm, and choke attacks left no room to rest while I was worn down from pressure. I saw an opportunity for a personal hail Mary and jumped to the honey hole to attempt a heel hook. My unfamiliarity with the position resulted in me leaving my foot in the wrong position, and instead I found myself quickly tapping to a counter heel hook. We both smiled, shook hands and thanked each other for the roll that had gone well over 30 minutes.

This is rolling till submission thing that can occur is one of my favorite aspects of traveling JiuJitsu. Something that I have fortunately gotten to enjoy many times while traveling, particularly since getting my purple belt. It's the "One more round?" question that gets asked after a tough roll where a submission doesn't happen. Or maybe it does but you just really enjoyed the challenge of the roll and want to get more of it. I like to think of it in my head as Goku traveling around the world looking for a new opponent to test himself against. He doesn't do it for bragging rights or to prove anything. He just does it because he loves fighting and the opportunity to get better by being pushed by a tough opponent.

Going to a tournament is always a great experience, but there's something special about that competition flavored match that can naturally occur within the confines of a school. It's one of the things that I really enjoy about JiuJitsu and hope to find when dropping in to a new place.


As always, thank you for taking the time to read and be apart of my journey. Hopefully I will see you all on the mats soon!

About the Author:

Steven McMahon earned his Kyuki-Do Black Belt in 2011 from Grand Master Kim at Kim's Black Belt Academy and his  BJJ Purple Belt in January 2017 under Professor Charles Nunley. He currently trains out of Wakizashi BJJ  in Oak Harbor under Professor Eli Trevino. He is an active competitor at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Army Combative tournaments.