The Difficult Transition From BJJ to MMA: An LMA Perspective
Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) black belt World championships often do not translate to mixed martial arts (MMA) championships, especially at the highest level. This is only noteworthy because, in the early days, BJJ dominated MMA. I can only think of BJ Penn and FabrÃcio Werdum, who were black belt BJJ World champions and UFC champions.
The three common explanations for the limited success of BJJ in MMA include style, specialization to gi, and strict performance-enhancing drug testing.
From the perspective of Liberation Martial Arts, a theoretical framework that emphasizes the causal relationship between conditions and outcomes, there is another explanation.
BJJ tournaments are designed for single-round matches, where the objective is to be the best in a single moment. Consequently, championships in BJJ sort for athletes who excel under these specific conditions. This specialization in BJJ not only prioritizes athletes who thrive in one-round scenarios but also conditions them to excel in such settings.
In contrast, MMA matches consist of three to five rounds, with a unique set of conditions and requirements. This leads to a fundamental disparity in fighter attunements between the two sports. Attunement is not only physical and psychological but also emotional. The differences in concentration and attention span, single burst vs. extended and repeated. It's highly specialized.
Consider the common scenario in MMA where a BJJ champion dominates the first round but struggles in subsequent rounds or succumbs to a finish. BJJ champions are conditioned to the demands of a single round but may falter when required to maintain a high level of performance over multiple rounds.
As Coach Jason and I discussed, even the transition from MMA to boxing is a difficult one because of the changes in conditions and rounds. However, MMA and boxing are still multiple-round sports, whereas BJJ and many other grappling sports are not, which makes the transition even more challenging.
Wrestlers can overcome the pace of multiple rounds using takedowns and control. Since BJJ attempts not to favor takedown specialists over guard players, and since a competitor being on their back does not mean the end of the match but just the beginning, the takedowns of BJJ champions will be far behind that of most MMA wrestlers.
In wrestling, pinning is important, but it's also challenging to achieve, much more so than submissions, so wrestlers get attuned to winning on points and takedowns, which is critical for MMA. In contrast, BJJ places greater emphasis on submissions, which are reasonably attainable even at the highest levels.
Two equally skilled wrestlers might find pinning one another an impossible task, whereas two equally skilled BJJ competitors may trade submissions throughout multiple matches.
If there is only a single round and a submission is possible, it makes sense for an athlete to give 100% effort. Even without a finish, the effort often still results in victory. However, in MMA, this approach can lead to exhaustion, leaving little energy for the remaining time. BJJ and MMA have different conditions, and the best in each sport have different attunements.
For a BJJ champion, transitioning from BJJ competition to MMA is a formidable challenge, but the task itself might be similar to a high jumper that's attuned to a single explosive moment transitioning to competitive marathon running. Transitioning to marathon running is difficult in itself, but now the former jumper must beat other marathon runners who are better attuned to the conditions of marathon running.
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