Dave Camarillo, BJJ black belt and head grappling coach of the famed American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, California, sums up his philosophy on the guard in one short statement.
The founder of Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu joined THE INFO, the official podcast of PRO MMA (promma.info), Monday night for nearly two hours and covered a wide array of topics including his roots in Judo under his father Jim, his introduction and subsequent fall out years later with former instructor Ralph Gracie, and his current stable of world beaters that train under him.
No subject was off topic with Dave and it made for an amazing interview. One of the main themes Camarillo stated over and over was the difference between a fighter and a martial artist. Camarillo defines both terms in his blog and he really hits the nail on the head.
MARTIAL ARTIST – A person that values respect, honor, and determination and uses these values as a framework to learn and teach self-defense while positively influencing others.
FIGHTER – A Person that fights for a living. They respect the fight to a high degree.
When talking about the ground game of Lyoto Machida, Dave revealed his thoughts on the guard. He feels that when Machida hits the ground in future fights he will be using his technique in a “fast paced sweeping game style in order to get back to his feet. In my opinion that is the best guard you can have; working to get out of it.”
Continuing on the subject on ground technique, the conversation transitioned from Lyoto Machida to Damien Maia. He touched on how the techniques Maia uses that make him so successful are actually basic. It is his precise application of these techniques that allow him to be so successful.
“I thought Sonnen was going to be his first challenge. When he handled Chael, I was already a fan, but I was blown away. I see a lot of Jiu-jitsu stylists who come in MMA and think they are going to submit their opponent. What they don’t learn is the ground and pound. If you choose to be on bottom, something is wrong,” Camarillo explained.
To hear all of Camarillo’s comments about these and many other topics check out the full episode of this week’s THE INFO, the official PRO MMA (promma.info) podcast, or the homepage of Dave Camarillo.
By: Eddie Constantine