Black belt Erberth Santos was the man of the hour at the 2015 South American championship, this weekend, in Brazil.

He won double gold in the superheavy and the open class division.

Here’s an example of why Erberth is regarded as one of the greatest talents of his generation of black belts.

Take a look at the video and see how he goes from the opponent’s half guard straight to the back.

The key is to flatten your opponent back on the ground before you cartwheel and use th hook on the leg to bring the opponent with you and establish the back control.

The brothers João and Paulo Miyao, still purple belts, at the 2011 World Championship (Photo by GRACIEMAG)

At the invitation of Professor Rodrigo Barbi, the brown belt João Ricardo Bordignon Miyao and his burly brother Paulo were in the town of Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil, for a highly sought-after seminar this January. The brothers also visited the town of Novo Hamburgo for another seminar.

At Infiniti/Cicero Costha academy, the Miyao’s dazzled the 80 or so participants with a series of creative positions, such as guard passes and berimbolo techniques.

The brothers agreed to demonstrate one of their secrets exclusively to GRACIEMAG.com.

Check out how João Miyao’s berimbolo seems simple once explained in detail. João starts from spider-guard, uses the X-guard, distances the opponent’s base leg and easily takes the back.

Try it out in training. If you, like the Miyaos, are in Lisbon, maybe the move will help you find success at the European Open.

To check out the brackets for the European Open, unfolding all weekend in Portugal, visit the IBJJF website here.

The de la Riva guard is one of the most dreaded and studied guards there is. Photo by Gustavo Aragão/GRACIEMAG

If your training partner pulls de la Riva guard on you, it’s time for those alarm bells to start ringing, gentle reader.

That’s right, because he may be getting set to stick you in berimbolo and head for your back, or slap a sweep on you and start pressuring you from the top.

First you need to stay calm, because there’s always an escape for whatever Jiu-Jitsu situation you’re in. The trick to putting the guard player through the wringer and avoiding the berimbolo or sweep is to be swift in responding by posturing up.

As taught by Vitor Toledo, an instructor on Atos Jiu-Jitsu team, the trick is to break the neck grip and counter, which can even result in you taking the back and finishing.

Put it to practice, and let us know if it worked for you in training.

This month, GRACIEMAG decided to attack one of the biggest flaws you can have in Jiu-Jitsu: poor back control. That’s right, to be effective with this type of attack, you need to have killer hooks and a clutch that won’t let your opponent escape. To help you in this mission of shoring up your resources, we called on Robert Drysdale and Forrest Griffin.

For the article to catch our readers by the neck, Drysdale and the UFC star teach all they know. It’s packed with can’t-miss lessons and step-by-step positions that can transform the way you attack from astern.

After learning these six training positions, not to mention an efficient warm-up, there won’t be a training partner out there who’ll want to expose their back to or be on all fours against you. We guarantee it!

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And there’s so much more on offer in the latest issue of your favorite Jiu-Jitsu magazine:

Caught By The Wrist

This month, TRAINING PROGRAM hones in on an attack for the detail-oriented submission specialist: the wrist lock. Direct from California, Otavio Sousa breaks down an array of positions for you to latch on to your adversary’s arm where he doesn’t see it coming–and when he least expects it. Add these rare finishes to your collection and test them out in your game.

No-Gi Worlds 2012

They hung up their coats but kept the cards up their sleeves. Learn the guard pass that helped Xande Ribeiro come up spades in the absolute final; see how Augusto managed to mount Leandro Lo in the lightweight contest; and find out what DJ Jackson got up to against the stalwart guard of Clark Gracie; among other thrilling moments from the IBJJF No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu World Championship.

Stretching Means Injury Prevention

The less injurious path in martial arts is the one with a potent array of stretches. GRACIEMAG delved into the theme this issue, printing a feature on the Ginástica Natural stretches that have kept Xande Ribeiro healthy and in one piece as he displays ever more effective Jiu-Jitsu with every year. There are 17 exercises prescribed by Alvaro Romano. Be sure to check it out and take it with you to the academy.

Anderson Silva vs. Jon Jones

How would a glorious showdown between Anderson Silva and Jon Jones go? Our team took the subject on in an upbeat and unprecedented debate.

Face To Face

Find out what superchamp Keenan Cornelius had to teach us about posture, training tactics and techniques, about the will to learn and the advantage to not having any career plan in Jiu-Jitsu WHATSOEVER. You can’t miss it.

A Ball Is A Fighter’s Best Friend

Working out with the help of a Swiss ball is the best way to strengthen ligaments, gain strength and do repetitions of complicated Jiu-Jitsu movements. Learn to work out wisely from the hard-nosed Martin Rooney!

Learn To Finish With Our GMA Rubens Cobrinha

This issue, your special GMA section brings you all the goings-on from the end of the season in the fastest growing Jiu-Jitsu community there is. To boot, Rubens Cobrinha lets us in on some of his his positional secrets.

The Guard And The Strike

Your GRACIEMAG also features 10 tips for building an efficient guard starting from when you’re a white belt, as taught by Roberto Traven; the importance of timing for getting the finish; how stair-running workouts work; how to use nature to further your Jiu-Jitsu and much more.

Planned Training

Evolution in Jiu-Jitsu comes about through good teachers, but especially through driven students. Learn to set goals for your Jiu-Jitsu and training from Zé Mario Sperry.

Want to subscribe to GRACIEMAG right now? Check out our discount offers and waste no time. Click here.

Bantamweight Bibiano Fernandes on bottom against Gustavo Falciroli in One FC 5 main event / Photo: ONE Fighting Championship

A little guy with a massive arsenal of techniques, Bibiano Fernandes, 32, was overjoyed after winning a unanimous decision over his countryman Gustavo Falciroli in the One FC 5 main event last August 31 in the Philippines.

Besides a round of applause from the crowd and the promoters, the Amazonas State native got a hearty embrace from his old black belt chums Renzo, Rolls, Igor, Gregor and Roger Gracie. “Renzo caught up with me and said that I’m one of the most beloved Jiu-Jitsu guys around, that there isn’t anyone who doesn’t like me… Can you imagine that?” said the three-time World Championship-winning light featherweight (2003/05/06) with a chuckle.

In a conversation with Roger, Bibiano was asked about a special move he used early on in the third round, when “The Flash” got hit with a takedown and, woosh, he materialized on his opponent’s back. Check out the move, starting at 16:30 in the following video.

“I explained to Roger that I learned that one in wrestling training in Canada. I plant my foot and pretend I’m falling, and the guy thinks he’s taken me down. But I have a hook in his leg. So I spin over him and land on his back. It’s really efficient,” explained the champ.

What about you, do you feel the move is useful?

Otávio Sousa teaching at GB Irvine / Publicity photo

A Zé Radiola-trained middleweight, Otávio Sousa was the big name at the Spring Open, an IBJJF tournament that saw its first installment last Saturday at the Long Beach Convention Center in California. The young professor of Jiu-Jitsu at Gracie Barra closed out the middleweight division with his teammate Claudio de Mattos and secured the absolute title after closing out with his buddy Rômulo Barral.

“The championship was awesome, super well-organized as always. I feel the IBJJF is to be congratulated for always seeking perfection, just like in Jiu-Jitsu, for championships to go through without a hitch,” said Sousa in praise.

“As for my performance, again I’ll say it couldn’t have been better. I managed to come up with two more gold medals and got the finish in all my matches, all of them via choke—one from the mount and the rest from the back,” he recalled.

What GRACIEMAG.com wants to knows from Otávio is what his special secret to winning in Jiu-Jitsu is, if there is one.

“One of the things I always try to do is push for the finish the whole time to not give my opponent time to think. While he’s defending one finish, I’m already setting up another onslaught,” he said, offering a simple yet precious lesson. Of course, fighting like that takes years of training and a slick plan for attack.

Otávio recalled another recipe, one that’s ever-more necessary in the burgeoning, high-level sport.

Never underestimate anybody

“With each passing tournament I note that you can’t let yourself underestimate anybody; you have to respect everyone and be humble in there. I learned to be like that when I was little; my parents and teacher always told me that by being humble you’ll go far. I feel that’s where it’s at, and these days some athletes are missing that,” he noticed.

A couple of weeks out from the Worlds, coming up in late May, Otávio feels confident, but he says there’s a bit missing for him to get the gold.

“This Worlds is going to go off. Mainly in the middleweight division, where I’ll be fighting, all the competition is burly. I’m going to stay focused on my objectives, with my Gracie Barra teammates, who put in great performances at the Expo,” he said in conclusion.

To help him further improve, Lucas Leite received a copy of GRACIEMAG as a prize upon winning the WPJJC tryouts in NY. Photo: personal archive.

The black belt Lucas Leite snapped up one of the free travel packages up for grabs for the the April World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship (WPJJC) in Abu Dhabi, overcoming five opponents last Sunday at the event tryouts in New York. Following the achievement, he had a word with GRACIEMAG.com.

“My performance came down to the training I did with my partners Pancho, Lapela, João Assis, Bochecha, Sharpei, Yuri and all my students. Not a lot of people know it, but we have same hard core training going at CheckMat here in California,” he said.

Every good competitor knows how each match, besides the adrenaline, brings worthwhile lessons. The current world middleweight runner-up and No-Gi world champion derived his own. “You know, all the belt is for is to tie your gi up, because the browns are just as tough as the black belts.”

BACK-TAKE JIU-JITSU ROUND ROBIN

The bearer of a frenetic game, Lucas is big on launching assaults from his opponents’ backs, and he didn’t hid his hand when GRACIEMAG.com asked him to teach readers how to get good at this aspect of the grappling game.

“To get good at attacking from the back you should do lots of round-robin back-training sessions. It’s like specific training; you start body clinching your opponent on all fours, and you only switch positions once you’ve gotten your hooks in.”

The black belt also pointed out something else that made a major difference in his career. “The watershed for me was when I swapped the São Paulo nightlife for professional training. People think it’s easy to say no to parties and night clubs, especially when you’re 21 years old, but therein lies the secret. If you want to stand out you have to forsake a lot of things. But that’s one’s personal choice,” he reflected.

Now learn from Lucas Leite in practice, in one of his matches from the New York tryouts for the April WPJJC event in Abu Dhabi.

Zak Maxwell on top of Kron Gracie at WPJJC Trials in San Diego, California / Photo: Alicia Anthony/publicity

Jiu-Jitsu black belt Zak Maxwell (Gracie Humaitá) caught his teammate Kron Gracie off guard in the under-74 kg final of the San Diego tryouts for the WPJJC. The Regis Lebre student secured his free trip to Abu Dhabi thanks to the points he scored with a back attack, and he commented on it to GRACIEMAG.com.

JIU-JITSU AND EGO DON’T COMBINE

“I always get something positive from each tournament. Just because I was able to overcome my opponents’ games on that day doesn’t mean I’ll be able to do the same thing and win tomorrow, and vice-versa. I look at my performance without ego or vanity, and so I analyze where I had the roughest moment, regardless of if I won or lost. I had a few tough matches at the San Diego qualifiers, and I could easily see where I need to improve,” said the sagacious Zak.

HOW TO IDENTIFY THE HOLES IN YOUR JIU-JITSU

“I practice a lot of different positions. The sport is always evolving; my coach and I are always studying techniques and observing what other fighters are doing, so we can incorporate that into our Jiu-Jitsu,” he taught.

“The main tip I can give a blue or purple belt is to attack your flaws. It’s to find the holes in your game and try to correct them early on. Being honest with yourself is the right path. By being honest you will manage to become a well-rounded fighter a lot quicker,” said Zak in conclusion.

So being honest then, gentle reader, what flaw will you be attacking in training today? Let us know.

A scene from 2011 Jiu-Jitsu World Championship, Kyra Gracie attacks effectively from back control. GRACIEMAG archive photo.

Carnival in Brazil has drawn to a close. While many spent the days reveling in merriment, others took the off time to rest or keep up the pace in training in preparation for upcoming competitions, like the fledgling San Francisco Open or the Chicago Winter Open, on February 26 and March 3, respectively.

And GRACIEMAG.com too kept the ball rolling, but in teaching the gentle art. Today, we bring you a back-mount escape position to add to your game.

NEVER TURN YOUR HEAD TO THE SIDE OF THE LAPEL PULLED ACROSS YOUR NECK

In the video, SAS team’s Thiago Maia shows how important it is to defend your neck and never look in the direction of the lapel that’s bothering you, as well as to bare your weight backwards and remove one of the hooks. That done, you can slide out your hip to the side of the remaining hook and remove it.

What’s more, he teaches how further along you can even take your opponent’s back and finish with a calf crunch.

Paulo Miyao on his way to gold at 2012 IBJJF European Open / Photo: Kuba Sawicki/MANTO

In Jiu-Jitsu, winning’s great. But what really makes the effort worthwhile is putting on a great show, giving it your best shot, and etching your style into the spectators’ memories.

Slide to back and choke

That’s what young purple belt Paulo Miyao taught us at the  IBJJF European Jiu-Jitsu Championship, winning the light featherweight division with his fantastic guard, and drawing applause from the Lisbon crowd.

Despite the title of the video, the athlete featured is Paulo Miyao, not his talented brother João. Watch and learn:

Watch and finish with greater precision!