Dean Lister during an exciting draw with Xande Ribeiro, at Metamoris last October in San Diego / Photo by John Lamonica/GRACIEMAG

The champion of the ADCC 2003 absolute division and ADCC 2011 under-99 kg division who formerly fought in the UFC, Dean Lister recently taught an instructive and upbeat seminar in Paris, France.

The limber and scholarly fighter shared his arsenal of techniques, such as his lethal heelhooks, with the students.

Note how he places a foot below the leg that is not being attacked. This keeps his opponent from rolling out.

Also worth checking out, at minute 3:30, Lister teaches a slick double attack, for when opponent tries defending his foot by grabbing behind the neck.

UFC fighter Gleison Tibau is now trying his hand at event promotion. UFC publicity photo.

Arena Fight, an event promoted by UFC star Gleison Tibau, will be at Fortaleza, Brazil’s Paulo Sarasate Gymnasium this coming 16th of August. “You can’t do MMA in the Brazilian northeast without going through Fortaleza. The capital of Ceará State is one of the domestic MMA superpowers,” said Tibau.

One of the fighters on the card is Carlos Índio (Dragon Fight/Nova União), who will square off with the American Ryan Thomas of American Top Team. “I have an experienced opponent ahead of me; but I’m ready. Everyone knows that I always show up for the fight, to put on a show for the crowd. They can expect plenty of action,” promised Índio.

Standing out on the rest of the card, Jamil Silveira will take on Carlão Sousa in a match-up that’s sure to provide excitement. “I train at the best team in Fortaleza; I’m 100% prepared. I’m a striker but my wrestling’s really good too; he won’t be able to take me down,” asserted Jamil, who demonstrated a position exclusively for GRACIEMAG.com readers.

CALM AND SELF-CONTROL, JIU-JITSU WILL SAVE YOU

With his opponent mounting him, Jamil doesn’t despair and launches an effective attack from bottom position. Pay attention to how he slips out his hip (just like the focus of the cover story in GRACIEMAG issue 185) and pounces at the leg, wrapping it up and getting the leverage for the heelhook.

With the fourth installment of the event set for September 6 in the town of Mossoró and the fifth for November 8 in Teresina, Arena Fight is already being seen as a watershed show in the Northeastern Brazilian MMA scene. “Part of our aim with Arena is to put on big fights with established fighters and provide the young talent opportunity,” added Tibau direct from Florida.

Arena Fight Fortaleza
Ginásio Paulo Sarasate, Fortaleza
August 16, 2012

Carlos Índio vs Ryan Thomas
Leandro Naja vs Eudes Cachorrão
Jamil Silveira vs Carlão Sousa
Ricardinho vs Genilson Silva
Alison Tenchiran vs Cleisson Trussu
Felipe Minitiuro Queiroz vs Leonardo Balinha Oliveira
Antonio Pedreira vs Regis Silva
Yuri Dantas vs Leandro Silva
Alan Gomes vs Yuri Rafael

Alan Belcher in the fight where he neutralized Rousimar Toquinho / UFC publicity photo

Weeks ago, on May 5, Alan Belcher took Brazilian fans by surprise when he put the brakes on Rousimar Toquinho’s Jiu-Jitsu on the cage canvas at UFC on Fox 3.

Besides neutralizing Toquinho’s attacks, the three-years-undefeated American launched an assault that ended with him winning a first-round technical knockout. Around snack bars and Jiu-Jitsu schools, Belcher’s defenses still echo, and GRACIEMAG.com thought it would be right to revisit the subject.

In the video below, the very Belcher himself demonstrates new tricks to defending the Dreams heelhook with the aid of 50/50 guard.

As the UFC middleweight explains, the important part is to fasten the figure-four and hide the other foot behind the opponent’s back. Furthermore, you’ll need to clutch the opponent to you and pull his elbow. Watch the video to better grasp his explanation.

Godofredo Pepey sinks an americana from guard on Vinicius Vina, who left with his arm in a brace. TUF publicity photo.

The tenth episode of TUF Brazil was chock full of excitement for its viewing audience. Through to the reality show semifinals, Rodrigo Damm of Vitor Belfort’s green team was taken sick and was given medical advice not to compete against blue team’s Godofredo Pepey for a berth in the tournament final. In his place entered former Wanderlei Team member Vinicius Vina, who has represented Vitor’s team since a reshuffle in the second phase.

In the fight, Pepey looked to get the action going on the ground, pulling off a triangle, armbar and deep americana from guard, not to mention a scissor sweep and heelhook attempt, all of which Vina duly defended and responded with punches and kicks.

In the second round, against Pepey insisted in going with the guard attack and sunk another americana. Vina somersaulted to escape, but this time the MG Ceará black belt had the elbow locked down and wrapped up the fight.

“You can see how Pepey does a better job of positioning his body during his second attempt and gets leverage on the elbow. If Vina hadn’t screamed he would have broken his arm—it was at its full extent,” explained black belt Claudio Oliveira, Pepey’s brother and one of those responsible for having taught the fighter his gentle-art skills.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tznVj0y4ejc

Team captain Wanderlei Silva heaped praise on Pepey for his performance. “Sometimes we judge people without justification. The guy’s a warrior, determined, and you could see that he, like me, came from the bottom; he’s moving up the ranks through grit and hard work. He earned my respect and admiration,” said Wand.

Now, Pepey is waiting for next Sunday to find out who he’ll be facing in the final, to be determined between Rony Jason and Hugo Wolverine.

Heavyweight champion Junior "Cigano" dos Santos facing Frank Mir at the pre-UFC 146 press conference / UFC publicity photo

UFC 146 is going down this Saturday in Las Vegas, and there’s no shortage of expectations surrounding what’s about to transpire there. In the main event of the evening, heavyweight title-holding knockout artist Junior Cigano has a high-caliber Jiu-Jitsu specialist in Frank Mir challenging him for his strap.

With his crisp boxing, to nine out of ten experts the current champ is the odds-on favorite to keep his title—the GRACIEMAG.com team too is convinced another “Cigano” win is imminent.

The opinion is shared by Gilbert “Durinho” Burns, who has the utmost confidence in his friend and boxing coach Luiz Dórea, and his money is on a knockout from the reigning title holder.

“Cigano is a monster of an athlete, and he began his career in Jiu-Jitsu. Rodrigo Artilheiro was with me at the TUF Brazil house, and he mentioned how crazy his endurance is. He’s 28 years old, started at 22—he hasn’t been in MMA long but has already shown what he’s made of. I don’t think this one leaves the first round—Cigano drops him. But even if it does go longer, Cigano is in much better physical shape than Frank Mir,” opined Durinho, echoing statements made by Mir, to whom the longer the fight goes, the better.

If you were in Frank Mir’s place, what would you do? What would you do against a fighter with heavy hands and pinpoint accuracy?

“If I were Mir, I’d try to take him to the ground. I’d try to clinch, get the takedown. I’d try to be Rousimar “Toquinho” in there; I’d attack his heel, and always stay clear of Cigano’s hands. To beat a monster like that, you have to frenetically work at taking it to the ground. I’d work on improving my footwork, get good at faking punches and try capitalizing from the clinch. Training would have to be like this: getting the takedown, working on wrestling and going for the foot when on the ground,” said Gilbert in analysis.

The TUF Brazil participant doesn’t, however, feel Mir will be successful in his mission.

“I expect a first-round knockout from the Brazilian. Cigano’s punching is really crisp, he’s healthier for being younger, he has the confidence from being champion and he does an excellent job. All Cigano has to do is be calm and fight,” wagered the 2011 Jiu-Jitsu lightweight champion of the world.

“I think Frank Mir is going to mess up after the first punch lands. Being the champion, in my opinion Cigano doesn’t even need to press the action; he can just be calm, do his footwork and jab, because the knockout will surface,” said the black belt training partner of Vitor Belfort in closing.

Now what do you think, will the outcome of the fight be the one everyone is expecting? To you, can Frank Mir pull off a surprise? What would your strategy be?

UFC 146
MGM Arena, Las Vegas, USA
May 26, 2012

Junior Cigano vs Frank Mir
Cain Velasquez vs Antônio Pezão
Dave Herman vs Roy Nelson
Shane Del Rosario vs Stipe Miocic
Lavar Johnson vs Stefan Struve
Darren Elkins vs Diego Brandão
Edson Barboza vs Jamie Varner
Jason Miller vs C.B. Dollaway
Jacob Volkmann vs Paul Sass
Dan Hardy vs Duane Ludwig
Kyle Kingsbury vs Glover Teixeira
Mike Brown vs Daniel Pineda

Daniel Moraes wearing cap in Alan Belcher's corner during UFC on Fox 3 / Photo: Publicity/GRACIEMAG

Alan Belcher shushed any naysayers when he quashed Rousimar Toquinho’s leglock attempts at UFC on Fox 3 last Saturday. But just how was it that he managed to put a damper on the Brazilian’s ground skills? GRACIEMAG.com, via our contributor Diego Marcello, hunted down the American middleweight’s trainer, two-time Jiu-Jitsu world champion Daniel Moraes of Gracie Ilha team:

WHAT WAS THE SECRET TO ALAN BELCHER’S WIN AT UFC ON FOX 3?

The secret was in putting a lot of study into inner workings of the holds Toquinho uses. From there we did a lot of hard work in drumming up defenses, to prevent him from having his way. We did hours upon hours of specific training for such situations. We developed a variety of different tactics and defenses especially for the types of attacks Toquinho does. We had great help form ADCC champion Dean Lister and Jiu-Jitsu revelation Davi Ramos, both of whom are specialists in footlocks. They were fundamental for us to put our defenses to practice and keep Alan confident and comfortable to defend and win the fight.

WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION WHEN YOU FOUND OUT YOU HAD TO TRAIN BELCHER TO FACE TOQUINHO?

My brother Diego was at Belcher’s academy when they offered him the fight. The UFC offered the choice between [Chris] Weidman or Toquinho. Diego and I were more keen on Weidman, if just because we really like Rousimar, but also because we knew he is one of the most dangerous fighters in the UFC. In the end Alan’s team went with Toquinho because he’s higher ranked. They also believed in my Jiu-Jitsu to put the brakes on Toquinho. We did nearly three months of prep work.

DID THE STRATEGY WORK ACCORDING TO THE INITIAL PLAN?

Truth is, our strategy was to keep it standing. Even though Alan’s a black belt, he knew of the dangers of keeping the fight on the ground, but he’s so talented and was so confident that he went for the straight-out ground fight, and he nearly got the submission. He used our defenses and ended the fight with ground and pound, when he could have gotten up and the fight would have taken a different turn. The truth is that Belcher used Jiu-Jitsu against Jiu-Jitsu.

WHAT’S THE NEXT MISSION?

Now we’re working on some flaws, training a lot and waiting for the next fight. They’re saying he’ll face the winner of Vitor versus Wand, or Bisping. I feel a win over any of those athletes will qualify Alan to challenge for the title, but that’s up to the UFC to tell us, right (laughs)? Best wishes from the Team Moraes family.

HOW ABOUT GIVING OUR READERS SOME POINTERS ON HOW TO DEFEND LIKE ALAN DID?

Well, it’s really common for people to try and stand and kick to escape the heelhook. That’s one of the worst mistakes you can make. What you need to do is understand the basic principle behind the heelhook, know which way to spin and keep calm so you’ll use the right defense. Watch the video and learn:

Toquinho performing his trademark leglock on Mike Massenzio atUFC Rio 2 / Photo: UFC publicity

Desire, strength and a whole lot of pressure—those are the main attributes of Jiu-Jitsu black belt Rousimar “Toquinho”, otherwise known as “Paul Harris”. The former cowboy with a penchant for leglocks, be them heelhooks or kneebars, rarely lets his prey escape the crippling holds.

As was brought up in GRACIEMAG issue 138, where a number of ADCC 2011 competitors put the BTT star under the microscope, his success in wielding the move comes down to force and positioning. Endowed with a T-shaped plate of pectoral muscles, Toquinho fits the enemy foot under his torso, his legs helping to adjust the position, while his torsion technique takes care of the rest.

TAKE DOWN AND FINISH, THE WAY JIU-JITSU TEACHES

On the coming 5th of May, Rousimar Toquinho will be taking on Alan Belcher at the UFC on Fox 3 event in New Jersey, USA. Toquinho has been training hard at BTT headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, and he’s already about at weight for the fight. As his coach Murilo Bustamante always says, the time to “let the beast off the chain” is nigh.

GRACIEMAG.com was at the foot-finish master’s training camp, where he demonstrated exclusively for GRACIEMAG.com readers a double-leg takedown with a leglock follow-up—his specialty. Watch, learn and respond: Will the hold rear its head again come May 5? What do you think, gentle reader?

UFC on Fox 3
New Jersey, EUA
May 5, 2010

Nate Diaz vs Jim Miller
Josh Koscheck vs Johny Hendricks
Rousimar Palhares vs Alan Belcher
Pat Barry vs Lavar Johnson

Card Preliminar (Fuel TV)

Tony Ferguson vs Thiago Tavares
John Dodson vs Darren Uyenoyama
John Hathaway vs Pascal Krauss
Louis Gaudinot vs John Lineker
Danny Castillo vs John Cholish
Dennis Bermudez vs Pablo Garza
Nick Denis vs Johnny Bedford
Mike Massenzio vs Karlos Vemola

Recent UFC signing Milton Vieira will be making his promotional debut on the 23rd of June at UFC Rio 3, taking on fellow countryman Felipe Sertanejo. The BTT black belt renowned for his precision arm triangle took some time out of his training to demonstrate exclusively for GRACIEMAG.com readers a move that works both in MMA and No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu.

The trick is to control the legs when passing, preventing the opponent from moving. After that it’s up to you, you can attack one ankle or two.

And don’t forget, for your safety, only practice this move under the supervision of a qualified Jiu-Jitsu instructor.

“He’s really good but he’s a weird guy. His eyes seem sincere but his gestures speak louder. Early in the match I was cautious about the leglocks. (…) And then I was in a heelhook and we started rolling. (…) We rolled out of bounds and the referee told him to stop. He stopped. And then he cranked it…” Check out Avellan’s full account of what happened in the match in the following video:

In this riveting under-88kg-division match against David Avellan, once again the Minas Gerais, Brazil native celebrated finishing a single matchup twice, just like he’s done before in the octagon. For all the ins and outs of ADCC 2011, only in GRACIEMAG. (With the collaboration of Junior Samurai)