Hi name is Matt Arroyo. I am a TUF 6 Veteran and ADCC 2015 Veteran. I have been training since 2003 and got my black belt from Rob Kahn (Royce Gracie’s first ever black belt) in 2009. I have trained with almost every grappling champion you can think of from Marcelo Garcia, Andre Galvao, Robert Drysdale, Matt Serra, Cyborg, Rodolfo Vieira, Keenan Cornelius, Royce Gracie, and so many others! If there is one thing I learned by training with all these animals ....They all had amazing defense!
If You Don't Have Good Defense, You Will Never Make It Up The Ranks Or Become A Great Competitor In BJJ! Defense has to be number one! Think about any sport! Defense wins games! Why is this? No matter how good your offense is, if you keep getting scored on all game (i.e. submitted) you won't be able to keep up and win! Helio and all of the Gracie family harp on this subject all the time! When we saw Ryron Gracie vs Andre Galvao at Metamoris, it went the full 20 minutes and Ryron was able to stay out of all Andre's submissions... Everyone thought he would be crushed! It ended up being a draw! How can you lose if you don't get submitted? Yes I understand in certain tournaments there are points...but in my opinion if you don't get tapped, you always have a chance to win!
I Knew I Had To Develop A System Of Defense That Can Be Easily Used By Anyone, Any Size Or Strength! I remember when I was a white and blue belt I would get submitted over and over and over in training...It was so frustrating!! Even though my coaches said it was an essential part of growth in BJJ, the feeling of being dominated and having to "give up" (i.e. Tap out) over and over was disheartening... I knew something needed to change if I was going to advance through the ranks and be able to some day compete well in tournaments...Then I discovered the secret to defending submissions ! The secret is...Don't ever get fully in them!
I discovered that there are typically 3 stages to a submission. Stage 1 moving the body in a way to get a grip. Stage 2 is the process of getting your grip for the submission... Stage 3 is locking in the submission and applying pressure. What I realized is that it was much easier and energy efficient to defend the submission at stage 1! It progressively got harder and used more precious energy as the stages went from 1 to 3! Then the light bulb turned on in my head! I knew I needed to put a course together that explains not only how to get out of a full locked on stage 3 submission hold, but also how to stop it in it's infancy!! I am Very Proud to Introduce You to My "BJJ Defense Blueprint"
