Okay, let me walk you through how I got deep into watching these ADCC submission fighting world championship videos. It kinda just happened, wasn’t like I woke up one day and decided ‘today’s the day’.
Getting Started
It probably started a few years back. I was already training some jiu-jitsu, nothing serious, just hitting the mats a couple of times a week. You know how it is, you start looking up techniques online. One video leads to another. I remember seeing clips pop up, guys doing these crazy fast leg attacks or just smothering people with pressure. The intensity was way different from the regular competition footage I’d seen before.
At first, honestly, a lot of it went over my head. It was fast, technical, and the rules seemed a bit different. No points for the first half? What was that about? But the finishes, man, the submissions were sharp. It caught my attention.
Going Down the Rabbit Hole
So, I started searching specifically for “ADCC highlights” or “ADCC best submissions”. That’s when you really see the killers. Names like Gordon Ryan, Andre Galvao, Marcelo Garcia started popping up again and again. I’d just sit there after training, maybe eating dinner, and just binge-watch old matches.
I made a point to try and find full events, not just highlights. You get a better feel for the strategy then. Watched the 2017 event, then went back to 2013, 2011, even some older ones. Some were harder to find, quality wasn’t always great, but it was worth the dig.
Things I noticed digging through old stuff:
- How the game changed over the years.
- Different styles clashing.
- The sheer grit of some competitors.
Trying to Learn Something
Naturally, I thought, ‘Maybe I can pick something up’. So, I started paying closer attention. Not just watching the subs, but the setups. How they controlled posture, how they managed distance, the grips they used. I’d rewind parts over and over. Sometimes I’d see a sequence and think, ‘Okay, I gotta try that grip break’ or ‘That guard retention trick looks useful’.
Did it magically make me better? Hell no. Trying to copy Marcelo Garcia’s transitions or Gordon Ryan’s leg entries when you’re just a regular dude is mostly a recipe for getting tapped yourself. But it definitely made me think more during rolling. I started seeing openings I didn’t notice before, or understanding why certain positions were so dominant.
Just Watching and Appreciating
After a while, I stopped trying so hard to directly copy everything. It became more about appreciating the skill and the strategy. It’s like watching any high-level sport, really. You see the dedication, the fight IQ. You see guys push through exhaustion, make split-second decisions under crazy pressure.
Now, when a big ADCC event comes around, I try to watch it live if I can, or at least catch the replays soon after. It’s just top-tier grappling, plain and simple. Seeing the best in the world go at it, testing their skills on that specific ruleset, it’s just compelling stuff.
So yeah, that’s pretty much my journey with the ADCC videos. Started out curious, got obsessed for a bit trying to learn secrets, and now I just appreciate it for the high-level spectacle it is. Still watch ’em regularly.
