In this exclusive video series, Renzo Gracie remembers Pride 1 and explains how he developed his guillotine choke.

Luca Atalla

Tokyo Dome, Japan, October 11th, 1997 – Despite over 40,000 people in attendance, there’s silence in the arena. The public respects the fighters, who are engaged in a chess game.

Renzo Gracie sets the choke up on Akira Shoji. Not even the TV commentator understands the submission hold. Renzo is doing what would become known as an arm-in guillotine.

Shoji struggles, but, eventually, gets his head out of the trap and goes the distance. It’s the third match of an evening that would become one of the most historic ever: the debut of what many consider the best MMA organization ever – the now-defunct Pride FC.

Twenty years later, Renzo remembers all the details of how the frustration of not finishing the choke would help him refine one of his most lethal attacks.

We know  you want to learn the move. But, before that, go to gallerr.com/academy and enroll in “Renzo Gracie — Mastering Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu” with 50% off. Learn all of Renzo’s secrets in over 225 videos for $30 – only until this Friday, at midnight.

Back to business. So, this is the history behind the choke, but we don’t submit people with history, do we? Watch next the mechanics of the guillotine, and all the concepts behind it.

To wrap up this video series, Renzo does a walkthrough to give you a killer arm-in guillotine.

Ready to rumble? Hunt for a head in your next training session. And let us know how that goes.

P.S.: Gallerr Academy is celebrating Pride FC’s 20th anniversary. Renzo Gracie — Mastering Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for only $30 – over 225 videos! Enroll now before this offer ends.

Image: Flograppling

Helsinki, September 25, 2017

Thanks, Finland. It’s time to head back to New York.

I am overwhelmed by the amount of support I received before and after my fight here.

Kikuta is sturdy, and many people forgot he is also a former ADCC champion.

So I knew it wouldn’t be a walk in the park. If it were an easy fight, why bother having it?

The best part of the match was at the end. I was winning, and he attempted an arm-and-head guillotine against me.

That was a compliment.

Back in 1998, when I finished our fight with this hold, people didn’t even believe it was possible to submit others with it, and now my poison turns against me. Priceless.

As you know, I got the victory, but this is the less important part of my workday. What matters is that after this experience I am a better fighter, and therefore a better teacher.

So I encourage you to also get out of your comfort zone. The outcome is always positive for those bold enough to take risks.

And don’t ever undervalue the advice of taking Jiu-Jitsu with you at all times.

The art will help to unleash your full potential.

Before catching my plane, let me congratulate my fellow ADCC competitors. It’s unbelievable how high the level on those mats is. I learned a lot by watching you all this weekend. So thank you.

See you in 2019. Definitely.

Renzo Gracie

P.S.: The offer of taking my online course “Renzo Gracie: Mastering Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu” for only $30 was supposed to end last night. But I demanded Gallerr Academy keep it for a few more days, so enroll now before they stop listening to me.

P.S.2: I will add a few extra things to raffle along my ADCC shirt, so keep tuned for the announcement. It will be cool stuff, and if you become one of our online students, you have a chance to win. So come join our family now. 

Helsinki, September 21, 2017

Renzo here checking in. I’m already in Finland, where I will have fun this Sunday, fighting my old buddy Sanae Kikuta at the ADCC.

Perhaps you weren’t even born when we first met at Pride 2, back in February of 1998.

They say the best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. And the second-best time is now.

So at 50 years old plus some, I can’t thank enough to be invited to fight as a pro. And don’t expect this will be even my last fight.

The other day I was telling Luca, my partner at Gallerr, that I am getting in shape.

Then he said: “But Renzo, the fight is this week.”

I answered: “Not THE fight. A fight. I am going to have a bit of fun while I get back in shape.”

I screwed up my ACL a few days before my last grappling match against Sakuraba, and now, nearly three years later, I’m getting ready again.

So since my body is well, why not to have a bunch of fights before this year ends?

But that’s enough about me. Let’s take this opportunity to talk about you.

• How’s your training going?
• Do you think I can help you somehow in reaching your goals?
• Please let me know. Talk to me on Facebook, Instagram, or come by the academy.

Meanwhile, one little thing I can do in advance is this:

Until midnight of the day of my fight against Kikuta (this Sunday, September 24), I asked Gallerr to give 50% off of my course “Mastering Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.”

You may be asking yourself: But what is “Mastering Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu”?

Well, we put up this free e-book here where you can see how comprehensive the course is. It is like a Jiu-Jitsu from A to Z.

Download the e-book for free now and you will see what this course carries.

Also, let me tell you 13 things about this course:

1. It’s 225 videos. You read it right: 225!

2. I show my favorite moves, including the guillotine secrets and history behind it.

3. Escapes (i.e., do you know how to get rid of a tight triangle attack?)

4. We have many guests: Frank Edgar, Tom DeBlass, Gregor, Cachorrao, Neiman and many, many others.

5. Interviews: I talk a lot in this course, but not only me. Listen to John Danaher, and I guarantee you will be a smarter person afterward.

6. Understand the concepts behind the movements. Are you aware that one of the main things that can stop you from submitting people is the spring motion? Use it in your favor.

7. What is a “go for the kill” attitude? Understand and develop this, and it may help you in other aspects of your life.

8. Self-defense techniques. Imagine being caught by surprise with a rear naked choke. Worry no more. I’ve been there and had to come up with a way out. Now you will have the solution thanks to my misfortune.

9. Look, if you don’t know how to escape the several different ways you can get trapped in a headlock, you’d better do, because odds are one day you will face a good judoka who will get there and give you a hard time.

10. Among many guard positions we teach during this course, I should highlight the hand-on-the-collar sweep and attack, one of the favorites of my uncle Rilion, a very lethal way of defending the guard.

11. Do you know you can actually finish people with the americana? And even more impressive, from the bottom, with your opponent in side control?

12. Fundamentals. The course “Mastering Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu” has a lot of fundamentals. I mean, a lot. Out of all things I listed, these are the ones that will make you good, so please don’t overlook them.

13. Did I mention the course has 225 (two hundred and twenty-five!) short videos?

Trust the advice of this 50-year-old guy here: take advantage of this flash offer and enroll in this course now. I guarantee you will improve your Jiu-Jitsu.

But, if you don’t, just send an e-mail to Luca. Tell him the course sucks and that you want a refund. You have a week to do so. So you have nothing to lose. Enroll now and be part of our family.

On the other hand, if you like it, please let me know. Post on Instagram something about the course and tag @gallerrapp and @renzograciebjj – I will gladly comment and perhaps repost it if you get creative.

See you Sunday,

Renzo Gracie.

P.S.1: Fun fact: I won the first ADCC in 1998 just a few days after I fought Sanae Kikuta in Japan for over 50 minutes. Sunday it will be 15 minutes, maximum. Life is way easier now.

P.S. 2: I will hand the ADCC t-shirt I’m going to wear Sunday, signed, to one of you. So if you enroll in the course until Sunday, you may win it. Go.  [UPDATE] Offer extended until midnight of this Friday, September 29.