Jackson's Mixed Martial Arts - The Ground Game is one of the newest releases from industry leading publisher Victory Belt.

Greg Jackson is known as a master gameplanner.  Although his gameplans have recently come under criticism for being boring or lacking in risk-taking, Carlos Condit’s recent KO win over Dan Hardy at UFC 120 and Diego Sanchez’s win over Paul Thiago at UFC 121 show that Jackson still has a few tricks up his sleeve.  Following up on the success of Jackson’s MMA: The Stand Up Game, Victory Belt has released a second instruction manual courtesy of Jackson, the natural follow up – Jackson’s Mixed Martial Arts: The Ground Game.

From VictoryBelt.com:

Greg Jackson was raised in a neighborhood where he had to fight to survive. He tried every martial art he could get his hands on, only to find they all lacked practicality. He developed his own system instead, and is now the most accomplished and celebrated mixed martial arts coach in the world. In Jackson’s Mixed Martial Arts, he brings you into his stable of fighters, which includes UFC welterweight champion Georges St Pierre, former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans, and top ranked contenders Nate Marquardt, Keith Jardine, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone and Joey Villasenor. For the first time he unveils his methods of ground fighting that have enabled his fighters to dominate every MMA promotion and every grappling competition in the U.S. Every ground fighting situation is addressed from ground and pound to passing the guard, along with loads of submissions.

The six chapters cover the following aspects of the ground game:

  • Chapter 1 – The Full Guard
  • Chapter 1, Part 2 – Inside The Full Guard
  • Chapter 2 – Guard Variations
  • Chapter 3 – Side Mount
  • Chapter 4 – Head Control
  • Chapter 5 – Rear Mount
  • Chapter 6 – Full Mount

True to the name, the book is not merely an instruction manual on submissions, but the ground game as a whole.  Jackson discussions numerous aspects of each of the positions described in the chapters, submission transitions, sweeps, passes, numerous strikes, and position establishing techniques.

Through the six chapters, Jackson demonstrates almost 300 pages of techniques.  As with all Victory Belt published instructional manuals, the various techniques are photographed from multiple angles so that readers can pick up on the nuances necessary to make the most of the instruction shown, and as with The Stand Up Game, the sections are color-coded for easy reference.

For the specific techniques, make sure to check out the book.

Something I’d like to highlight is an extra section that preceded the instructional sections.  As with The Stand Up Game, where Jackson addressed street fighting and real-life application of techniques, Jackson chose to address nutrition in this most recent release.  Over ten pages, Jackson addressed various aspects of nutrition; everything from breaking down nutrients, estimation of caloric needs, nutrition before, during, and after workouts, and tips for meal planning, meal and snack suggestions and some brief comments on supplement usage.

In the time that I have been involved in and reporting on MMA, I have visited a number of gyms around the country and observed training regimens of numerous fighters and training camps.  One of the common denominators between the most successful camps is that they take an holistic approach to training, recognizing that success in the cage does not come from someone simply hitting it hard in the gym.  As mentioned on a recent episode of The Cageside Beat, one of the most overlooked aspects in training is the application of proper nutrition.  Here, Jackson provides everything from simple recipes to how much fluids to take in to the negative conditions that can occur when proper nutrition is not followed.

This is just one in a number of recent releases from Victory Belt, who continues to lead the field in MMA and MMA related instructional manuals and DVDs.  Additionally, Victory Belt has extended their reach to include more health related materials, such as The Paleo Solution.  Stay tuned to Pro MMA Now for reviews of the following Victory Belt releases:

Randy Couture – Xtreme Training

Andre Galvao – Drill to Win: 12 Months to Better Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Cung Le – San Shou: The Complete Fighting System

Erich Krauss – The Ultimate Mixed Martial Artist

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