The Supporter Fighting Style
The Story of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
When the doors of the now-defunct McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado, opened on November 12, 1993, the small pool of eight fighters who had agreed to compete that day and the attendance of less than 8,000 people who had gathered to see them do it had a clear objective in mind: to find out, once and for all, which fighting style was the most effective in a no-holds barred tournament.
For 40 odd years, since Western countries started to learn about Asian martial arts in the aftermath of World War II and judo, aikido, karate, kung fu, muay thai, and other styles became known to a global public, the great question many had put forward was, Which one is a superior, more effective fighting method? karate boasted great popularity, judo had the same plus some Olympic credentials, and boxing enjoyed the most solid commercial appeal, while aikido and kung fu held an aura of almost supernatural efficiency. But despite some previous attempts to pit one style against another, the rules and regulations governing competition for each were too dissimilar and gave an advantage to the specific martial art they were designed for.
That day in 1993, representatives of multiple fighting schools like savate, sumo, kickboxing, taekwondo, and boxing solved the issue by removing all rules except the most safety-related, basic ones. Aside from biting and eye gouging, everything else was permitted; grappling, striking, elbowing, kneeing, and head-butting were all fair play. There was no time limit for the matches, and they were to end only by knockout, submission, or if one of the fighters threw in the towel.
At the end of the night, none of the major, more popular martial arts styles came out on top. Instead, the representative of an obscure subset of judo that originated in Brazil was crowned as the world’s Ultimate Fighter: Royce Gracie. Gracie’s modus operandi was similar in all those initial fights: he would protect himself from punches and kicks while waiting for an opening, he would then shoot a take-down, grab his opponent, and drag him to the ground, where he would easily find a position of control and choke or submit at will. Gracie would go on winning for several more tournaments, and through him, the world discovered the art of Brazilian jiu jitsu (BJJ).
One of the reasons why BJJ proved so successful initially was that it arrived at a time when there was a general dismissiveness in the world of martial arts toward all grappling styles of fighting. It is true that judo and Greco-roman wrestling were both highly popular, but they were seen more as point-based sports. When it came to real fighting, the striking styles were considered much more effective, and standard wisdom held that a good punch or kick could stop any takedown attempt by a grappler. But as BJJ pioneer Carlos Machado said in an issue of Black Belt Magazine from 1994:
After the clinch, it doesn’t matter what happens, one way or another, we’re going to hit the ground, and we’ll be in my world. The ground is my ocean, I’m the shark, and most people don’t even know how to swim.
The history of BJJ is closely linked to judo’s founder, Jigoro Kano. After the initial success of judo in Japan, Kano understood the need to grow internationally, and in 1904, he sent one of his more advanced instructors, Mitsuyo Maeda, to the United States in order to spread the teaching of the new discipline. Maeda was a seasoned fighter even before studying judo, and during his tour in America and Europe, he accepted and won a large number of fighting challenges. Eventually, he settled in Brazil, where he opened a school that was known as Kano’s jiu jitsu, using the name of the original discipline judo had emerged from.
Maeda’s academy become popular and grew. One of his students was a man called Carlos Gracie, who eventually started his own training school. While judo in Japan was oriented toward the safer sport aspects of competition, Maeda’s influence meant his jiu jitsu style, as the Gracie family received it, was more geared toward actual fighting efficiency. In order to keep the sense of urgency alive and avoid being constrained by potentially inefficient sport regulations, the Gracie students engaged regularly in open challenges, where they pit their art against other types of martial arts.
Another of the key difference between BJJ and its parent style of judo was developed by Helio Gracie, younger brother of Carlos. Of weaker constitution than his siblings, Helio was unable to perform many of the standing judo techniques taught by Maeda, so he focused on perfecting the ground-fighting aspects, where technical skill was more relevant than power or size. These highly specialized sets of moves are the stamp by which BJJ, in general, and the Gracie style, in particular, have become famous and represent a highly logical use of the fighter’s stronger muscle groups against the opponent’s weaker points, applied with minimal effort.
The Principles of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
BJJ is, in summary, a wrestling fighting system similar to judo, from which it derives. The same as judo does, BJJ uses a set of techniques based on balance, leverage, and biomechanics. But where the former is rather strict in the form of these techniques, the Brazilian influence on BJJ has given it a strong sense of improvisation, flexibility, and personal customization that is not seen in the original style.
One of the premier BJJ world instructors and a renowned coach is the New Zealand-born John Danaher, who, in addition to a black belt from the Gracie school, holds a master’s degree in philosophy from Columbia university and is often described as “BJJ’s thinking man.” Danaher describes the basis of BJJ as a four-step process, where the practitioner maneuvers to gain a dominant position and submit the opponent. The four-step approach is an excellent summary of what makes BJJ such an effective fighting style, simultaneously simple in conception and complex in execution.
Step 1: Take Your Opponent to the Ground
In a standing position, any person, even an untrained opponent, can push, punch, or kick abruptly. And because this is a natural stance for human beings, it allows them to instinctively generate a large amount of explosive power. Taking opponents to the ground removes their capability for unpredictable movement and reduces the number of angles from where they can hit back.
Step 2: Pass the Legs
Once the opponent is on the ground, the next step is to get through the obstacle that the legs represent. The legs have a larger amount of muscle mass than the arms, and an intuitive defensive reaction when lying on the back is to use them to kick up and front so they need to be neutralized quickly. BJJ has developed multiple techniques to get out from leg reach, pass the line of the hips, and safely move into a position near the head or torso.
As with Step 1, the objective is to reduce risk and uncertainty during the fight.
Step 3: Set a Dominant Position
Passing the legs is not enough to control the opponent because he is still free to rotate on his back and reposition himself. Now the objective is to secure a position from where the practitioner can hit or submit without the risk of being hit back. Some BJJ basic controlling positions ranked from lower to higher level of stability include the following:
- Knee on belly, where the practitioner stands over the prostrated opponent and controls him by pressing with one knee on the center of mass, usually the belly or lower abdomen.
- Mount, where the practitioner sits on top of the opponent’s hips, one leg to each side. This position allows for control just using the legs, same as when riding on horseback, and leaves both hands open for attack or defense.
- Back mount, where the practitioner grabs the opponent’s back and uses heels and hands to hold onto him. From back mount, he is safe from most strikes while being able to attack the neck and the head.
Setting a dominant position may be enough to hold the opponent (or make him submit using blows if such rules apply), but BJJ’s trademark versatility relies on the wide range of submission techniques it has available. In order to finish the fight with maximal safety and minimal effort, the practitioner can either choke the opponent or apply arm or leg locks, putting pressure to the joints.
The four steps remain the same whether a BJJ practitioner faces an untrained opponent or another BJJ expert. In the second case, however, the fight becomes like a complex game of physical chess, where both fighters know the rules and need to trick or set up each other to find an opening and move from one stage to the next until reaching checkmate.
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu’s Business Learnings
for the Supporter
One of the most striking peculiarities of BJJ is how its Brazilian origins have given it a refreshing sense of informality, not common in the world of martial arts. Where other styles tend to be serious and strict in their manners, BJJ is not, and this becomes evident even in the nomenclature it has chosen. In judo, the original source of BJJ, sparring in free form is called randori. But that rather formal term was eventually substituted in the Brazilian incarnation of the art with the more friendly “rolling.” Although BJJ sparring is highly demanding and intense, and its objective is to improve technique and performance by competing with a resistant opponent, it is very telling of the Brazilian influence that its practitioners selected a colloquial term that has connotations of relaxation and playfulness.
This informality is what makes BJJ sparring or rolling a rich ground where business learnings that align very well with the supporter behavioral style can be found. Some of them include the following:
Building upon Each Other
Taken at surface value, rolling resembles a wrestling match where two people grapple on the ground. But upon closer examination, it becomes clear that it is actually as close to a chess game as it is to a physical contest.
As in chess, one person cannot play alone, and reaching checkmate hinges upon finding and exploiting any error made by the opponent. A chess game is “a combination of moves where each playing piece is moved according to precise rules and the objective is to put the opponent’s king under a direct attack from which escape is impossible,” and it takes place in three stages:
- The opening, where players move from the initial starting places to take a central dominant position.
- The middle game, when both attacking and defensive moves happen.
- The endgame, when a combination of moves puts the king under attack and submission occurs.
Similarly, rolling in BJJ is a process where the players’ collaboration in the frame of confrontation builds the match. Although a proficient practitioner could, in theory, apply submission to the perfectly defended, unmoving guard of the opponent, both players have to, in a sense, collaborate via attack and counter attach, move, and defense, until one gains a controlling position. In doing so, they teach each other what they should and should not be doing as well as what the holes in their game are.
Supporter behavior, even in a confrontational situation, is comparable to a BJJ rolling session and can learn to build upon others because it is, at its core, (a) collaborative and (b) communicative.
a) Collaborative because supporters do not do everything by themselves as the formal styles tend to but rather build upon the works of others and have others build upon their work in order to accomplish the task at hand.
b) Communicative because the supporter makes progress not by focusing on the task itself but rather by accomplishing the task through information exchange and personal contact with others.
Flowing and Staying Loose
The differences between BJJ rolling and sparring in any other martial art are noticeable from the onset; where judo or karate matches start with a formal bow, BJJ rolling partners slap their hands and bump their fists in an informal and friendly manner. The difference may seem trivial but it reflects strong conceptual distinctions between this particular style of fighting and the others discussed in this book. The relationship between practitioners is no less competitive or stringent but strives to establish a relaxed atmosphere, where those about to fight commit to keep the bout friendly, fair, and respectful.
BJJ fighters consider a fundamental condition for effective rolling is for it to be done in a relaxed manner, following a flowing pattern that allows the fighters to move seamlessly from one technique to another until finding the correct one from where to submit the opponent. As opposed to other sparring activities like boxing or karate, where the fighter can stay relaxed but still needs a certain degree of aggressiveness to prevail, in BJJ, rolling placidly can bring more wins than doing it harshly. In fact, it has some additional advantages: for one, rolling is a highly demanding physical activity and is usually set in standard 5-minute rounds. Doing it calmly, especially when facing more skillful fighters, helps conserve energy to go through several bouts. Being relaxed also allows the fighter to give up control of the fight; this does not mean letting the opponent control them but, rather, staying open to follow where the opponent may lead in order to exploit a gap. By giving up control, the mental pressure required to constantly maintain the initiative reduces, decreasing overall stress.
Similarly, the supporter can “roll” in a business environment using a relaxed approach and can work on developing a type of “antagonistic empathy” with his opponent in a constructive way so that at the end of the process, both have improved.
Using Frames and Levers
BJJ rolling emphasizes the use of the fighter’s skeletal structure to move or push the opponent around, rather than relying on muscle power. By using frame-based movement, fighters can support their own weight as well as the weight the opponent throws on them without wasting energy, so a skilled BJJ practitioner will align the bones on arms and legs to use as levers and multiply the amount of force they use. BJJ black belt Rob Biernacki1 describes this as follows:
We want to use frames and levers against our opponent, and deny the use of them to our opponent. We seek to change frames into levers and levers into frames.
When we combine this with an understanding of alignment, we can see that BJJ is the art and science of utilizing frames and levers to affect our opponent’s base, posture, and structure, while maintaining our own. This leads to control, vulnerability, and ultimately submission.
If we consider the volume of marketing communication or business promotions as the raw “muscular” power necessary for a company to develop and sell a product or service, the supporter’s biggest skill lies in developing personal contacts and close emotional relations. By treating such relations as a frame network, the supporter can develop an asset that goes a long way in supplementing expensive and time-consuming corporate processes and act as a lever to quickly expand business with minimal “muscular” effort.
Overlooked for almost a century, BJJ has gain deserved popularity in the last two decades as an effective fighting practice and has evolved from an overlooked status to the central stage in the martial arts ecosystem. Similarly, as evident in the increasing number of empathy-driven CEOs and managers the supporter behavioral style is becoming an untapped source of valuable leadership by doing what it does best: being humane.
1 M. Mullen. 2016. Jiujitsutimes.com.